Do you need a guide to create your international mobility project, while coordinating on its writing together with your partners?

S.A.L.T.O. Youth provides the QualityMobility.app, a tool to use on your mobiles to create your own project and apply for funding, with 16 easy questions and tons of resources.

QualityMobility.app

The QualityMobility.app is a mobile application developed by JINT/SALTO with the goal of serving associations and organisers as a guide to write European mobility projects.

Within the app you can write a project in collaboration with partners, assess its quality following the EPLM principles for learning mobility, and download it in view of a funding application.

The App features insights by project organisers with experience in the field, as well as a dynamic library where you can add ever-changing tips, references, and resources. The application is multilingual and accessible from any device (PC, smartphone, tablet).

How to create a project on QualityMobility.app

Here are a few step to follow:

1. Click on “Create Q!” in QualityMobility.app, give a name to your Q! and specify what kind of project it is (exchange, volunteering, seminar…);
2. Invite your partner organisations on Q! and write your mobility project with them by answering 16 simple questions;
3. If you run out of ideas click on the light bulb icon and access over 200 useful resources for your project (tips, checklists, videos…);

You can also rate the quality of your project:

1. Click on “Rate Q!” in QualityMobility.app and think about any mobility project you’ve organised in the past;
2. Rate the project according to the 20 Quality Principles for Learning Mobility;
3. Click “submit” to see the results and get helpful resources to make your next mobility projects flawless;
4. Send your partners to rate the same project and compare your ratings on “Q! Evaluations.”

Access the MobilityQuality.app.

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Teaching Life Competences | Online Free Course

L'articolo Create and Evaluate International Mobility Projects | QualityMobility.app proviene da Youth Networks.

S.A.L.T.O. Youth has launched an online learning session that ran from 1st to 24th June 2021. Six stand-alone online information sessions to present different opportunities and priorities of Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps 2021-2027. And also to share SALTO-Youth Resource Centres’ strategic actions and offers to support quality in the programmes.

Young people participation, as a process, can happen anywhere and everywhere. For example, it can happen either at home or online, in formal or non-formal settings, on an individual basis or as a group. Youth participation is an important concept for young people, adults and the society. The reasons being in terms of empowerment, respect of human rights, efficiency and people’s development.

Think Tank on Youth Participation

If you have missed the online learning session, S.A.L.T.O. Youth provides an always-available source for learning on young people participation.

The Think Tank was established by SALTO PI in 2018. Its purpose is to define challenges around young people participation, to propose priorities, to co-create solutions and synergies among stakeholders, considering the cross-sectoral dimension.

The Think Tank’s work contributes in developing new or additional expertise for:

• the National Agencies of Erasmus+/European Solidarity Corps;
• youth workers;
• youth organisations and young people;
• key stakeholders involved in European youth programmes, such as the European Commission and the Youth Partnership.

The Think Tank meets regularly on the basis of projects and needs. 

How To Find Information

The resources, materials and information about young people participation are available on the Participation Pool.

In order to keep yourself up-to-date on the latest news and trends about young people participation keep an eye on S.A.L.T.O. Youth Participation.

Read also

Online Training for International Youth Work

Training for Organisation and Staff

L'articolo Enhance Youth Participation proviene da Youth Networks.

Today we want to share with you an interesting article on the matter, that comes from the blog Enplug. It displays 11 great tips to be more efficient and focused while working from home.

Remote working allows employees and workers to work outside of a traditional office. It lies on the assumption that works, to be carried out efficiently, doesn’t need to take place on a certain space.

Tips to be More Efficient and Focused While Remote Working

Most of us all, have already seen the advantages and disadvantages when remote-working. Try to point them out, it would easily come to your mind how many distractions we do have at home. At the same time, the beneficial effects are equally clear. Raymond Chiu of Maid Sailors sets out 11 great tips to help out all the current home-based workers.

To have a clue, it goes through:

• Plan and structure your day;
• Tidy up;
• Remove unnecessary distractions;
• Establish a dedicated workplace;
• Use productivity tools and app;
• Schedule regular breaks;
• Utilize productivity apps;
• Prioritize tasks;
• Create a To-Do list;
• Come up with your working hours;
• Know when to clock out

Get the chance to know how to manage yourself as a remote-worker. To have a comprehensive idea of what each of these tips is about, please see “11 Great Tips to be More Efficient and Focused While Working From Home“.

Read also

How To: Positive Organizational Culture

L'articolo How To: Useful Tips for Home Working proviene da Youth Networks.

Youth Exchanges are a great opportunity for youngsters as they allow groups of people from different countries to meet, live together and work on shared projects for short periods. Furthermore the activities carried out are different and meaningful, such as:

• workshops,
• exercises,
• debates,
• role-plays,
• outdoor activities.

Youth exchanges last between 5 and 21 days (excluding traveling time). They are open to people between the ages of 13 and 30. In addition it is also possible to apply as group leader if at least 18 years old. Youth organisations and informal groups of young people are the players that manage Youth Exchanges. Find more information about Youth Exchanges here.  

A Youth Exchange needs content – behind the content are tools. Tools for Youth Exchanges is a training that enables participants to explore tools around group processes, (intercultural) learning, involvement of young people and how to facilitate these tools during a youth exchange. 

TYE Training Online Course on Youth Exchanges

For this reason, TYE has launched a Training Course online, that answers those needs.

The topics of the Course will be:

• Interactive, diverse and engaging online learning experiences, tools and activities;
• Practical preparation for a new generation of Erasmus+, especially Youth Exchanges;
• Content about Erasmus+ accreditation and strategic approach to international youth work;
• Individual and group coaching to support participants in applying learning to practice.

The Course values important topics that could be a great resource for any organisation already undergoing, or willing to do, Youth Exchanges. Specifically, it might be useful to go deeper into how to increase awareness of group processes and group development online and offline, and to develop competences in designing and facilitating educational workshops online and offline. Plus, the Course explores explore digital and non-digital tools to:

• support the learning process, including debriefing and recognition of learning;
• explore tools and models that promote intercultural learning and dialogue;
• experience online methodologies and approaches in support of realising a youth exchange project – virtual or in-person;
• develop strategic approaches to international youth work, including understanding of Erasmus+ accreditation;
• prepare for the new generation of Erasmus+, especially Youth Exchanges.

Online Webinars

Through S.A.L.T.O., TYE has organised 6 webinars in the span of 3 weeks between 23 Feb-15 Mar 2021. The webinars will take place on the following dates:

• February 23rd, 2021
• March 1st, 2nd, 8th, 9th, 15th, 2021

The webinars will last up to 2 hours at 10.00 to 12.00 Brussels time / 9.00 to 11.00 Dublin time / 11.00 to 13.00 Athens time.

The training course is mostly for voluntary and professional youth workers, working directly with young people and who have had experiences with ERASMUS+ Youth in Action. Finally, participants must be at least 18 years old and have a good level of English.

To register for the webinars go to website.

Read also

SALTO Launched a Survey on the Training Needs of Youth Exchanges

L'articolo Tools: Training on Youth Exchanges proviene da Youth Networks.

For this reason we present you a new tool, released through the S.A.L.T.O. platform, that focuses on digital media, creativity, social media, web design, online learning and critical thinking. It is also the result of an ESC project, the “#DigiMedia ESC volunteering Project”, carried out by Association TEAM4Excellence. This tool is in fact a Magazine that resulted after the implementation of the above-mentioned project.

All the activities were practical, result-oriented and created on the basis of an integrated approach to gain the best outcomes and reach the goals. Giving the successful completion of each activity, the participants were able to:

• prepare the learning materials for non-formal learning for different groups of youth;
• do weekly analysis for the volunteering activities;
• use ICT in youth work;
• create viral online campaigns relating to youth work;
• design learning materials for creative thinking development;
• illustrate the importance of young people participation in social activities;
• use creativity and joy while doing your tasks, thus adding more value to the cause;
• use intercultural and language skills for better communication and understanding others.

Whether your organisation is planning to submit a project proposal or just wants to implement an ESC volunteering project, it is useful to take in consideration the pros&cons and the How To of this tool, as it equips you with practical examples on how to carry out such activities, with the support of a gathered experience in the field. It includes workshops, webinars, contests and other activities organized during the project period.

Read also

How To: Positive Organizational Culture
How to Improve Work with Foreign Children, Volunteers and Organisations

L'articolo How to: ICT and Volunteers’ Activities proviene da Youth Networks.

Imagine the possibility to have Europe and all what you need to know about it in the palm of your hand. Now it is possible, thanks to “Citizens’ App”, an app for Smartphone that provides you with all you need to know about the EU. You will be always updated about events, initiatives, policies, projects…

The app, developed by the European Parliament, will give you the possibility to monitor EU work, even at a local level. 
As creators declare, it “records the achievements of the European Union, explains our current work, defines our future goals, and describes the European Parliament’s role in them”

The app

It is quite easy to use, has a very intuitive interface and you will have the opportunity to personalize it as you want. In fact you can filter contents according to your location and to your interests, choosing among 20 different topics. It is also possible to search for events directly on an interactive map.

In this way you will get notifications every time something is happening around you or there are relevant news or initiatives related to the topics you are mostly interested in. You can add events to your own personal calendar, bookmark initiatives ad share them on your social media.

In the section “Europe and I”, you can get information about what are opportunities, for your passions, job and family. Furthermore, you can find analysis of the trends that will define the future of the Union.

Lastly, in the app you can even find dossiers about the most relevant topics, like immigration, environment and data protection.

Finally the app is available in all the 24 official European languages.

How to download the app

So, what are you waiting for? Download the app!

It is available both for Apple and for Android.

L'articolo Citizens’App: Europe in your hands proviene da Youth Networks.

That became clear after the conclusion of the project. It took two years (from March 2016 to February 2018) and many experiences into working, educational and family contexts, it came out that using methods of community mediation really help in solving critical situations. Besides, what has to be reminded is that Community Mediation is first of all a way of life than merely a method.

The participants started their work from the analysis of the needs and the necessities of the communities they went to visit. Then, after building a strong connection and acquiring a direct knowledge of the surrounding context, they set their goals and objectives.

A complete toolkit is available on the CoMedY website. Here below the working methods.

Development of local projects:

“The participants could be roughly divided into two groups: youth workers and coordinators of the partner organizations, and young volunteers. The first explored the Community Mediation methodology and tried to understand how to apply it in the different local contexts, both during the Training Courses and through study visits in Latin America. Volunteers of the European Voluntary Service underwent a preliminary period of volunteering in their respective sending organizations and local communities. At the same time, they received baseline training on the Community Mediation approach in order to contribute to the implementation of a Community Mediation-inspired local project (…) The Portuguese representative went to Mexico, the Italian one to Argentina and the Spanish referent went to Peru.”

This way, it was possible for all the participants to acquire the right working method, adjusting it to the specific needs and necessities of the locals. That was crucial for the whole Community Mediation concept: to understand the social parts involved in the critical situation and to make them main actors of the decision making process is in fact the pivotal part of the mediation.

Training courses:

Then there was the involvement of stakeholders, plus two representatives for every participant organization. For the European, the training courses took part before the departure, in order to get familiar with the concept and the methods of Community Mediation and to be able to put them properly in place, being already familiar with the approach.

Final evaluation:

Eventually, the final evaluation represented a great tool to get an overall idea of the results of the project, the efficiency of the methods, the impact either on the participants and on the EVS volunteers that took place to the exchange and, in the end, to reflect upon what was left after the project had ended.

For a more specific description of the project and its tools, here you will find the complete toolkit, with a complete overview of the main notions and concepts for a correct approach to the Community Mediation.

L'articolo CoMedY: Community Mediation as a tool proviene da Youth Networks.

The situation of young refugees in European societies is an important topic for human rights, democracy, living together in diversity and social cohesion. Among different sectors working for and with young refugees, youth work offers a diversity of spaces and initiatives for young refugees to become a full part of their communities and to have a voice in all matters that concern them.

This publication offers practical tools for youth work on the inclusion and participation of young refugees at local level. It focuses on youth participation and inclusion as key dimensions to build inclusive societies and, at the same time, to create an enabling environment for young refugees to be fully fledged actors of their personal and community development. It tackles the following themes: intercultural learning; access to social rights; young women refugees; youth participation and mental health and trauma.

About STEP-by-STEP

The Guide encompasses a variety of experiences and practices of youth work, including from the so-called transit and host countries, as well as working with unaccompanied minors, young asylum seekers and refugees. Step-by-Step will not tackle in an exhaustive way the different realities of young refugees across Europe. Instead it gives a general overview of the main challenges and possible practices in the youth work field with these young people who are refugees. In addition, it chooses to focus on the young person rather than the profile of the country, meaning that it is important to consider the context, needs and aspirations of that young person and, if we are working with young people “on the move”, it is also important to be able to define the best way to work with them. The authors are aware that realities change depending on whether young people are in transition, on the move or if they have reached their final destination.

The publication is addressed to:
► youth workers and other professionals and volunteers working directly with young refugees;
► policy makers who co-operate with the youth sector at the local level, so they can develop programmes to support youth work further or types of funding for youth organisations working with young refugees.

This publication has two chapters.
■The first chapter, “Youth work and young refugees”, puts the emphasis on the role of youth work in the inclusion and participation of young refugees in Europe, highlighting its added value and, at the same time, underlining the main challenges and needs of the youth sector.
■ The second chapter, “Support, tips, examples and possibilities for youth work with young refugees”, offers tips and good practices on the specified themes, while reflecting on the specific challenges and contributions of the youth field in each one of them.
■ At the end of the publication, suggestions for further learning on youth work and young refugees are included.

This publication was developed by the partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth, on the basis of three seminars and workshops held in 2016 and 2017 and a collection of good practices of youth work with young refugees. The practices were collected between May and July 2017, through the online survey “Youth Work and Young Refugees in Europe: Speak about Your Initiative!”, and we have included in this publication those practices that provided sufficient information about their youth work with young refugees.

Read it here.

L'articolo Step-by-step together – a guide for NGOs working with young refugees proviene da Youth Networks.