SALTO Inclusion & Diversity organised the conference with the aim of focusing on creating greater visibility for inclusion & diversity and building bridges between stakeholders in the EU youth programmes.

The participants exchanged good practices, looked over achievements and learned more about the Inclusion & Diversity strategy.

Inclusion & Diversity in Erasmus Plus

The Inclusion & Diversity Forum 2021 was structured around participatory activities, such as:

• round tables;
• presentations by national and international experts;
• workshops on specific topics;
• best practices.

Purpose of which was to highlight the work that has been done in the past generation of the EU youth programmes, as well as the new formats and possibilities in the new Erasmus+ programme and European Solidarity Corps, and in the new Inclusion & Diversity Strategy.

To explain how to drive Inclusion and Diversity in Youth Programmes (Erasmus Plus and European Solidarity Corps) SALTO made available a roadmap.

How To: ID in Youth Programmes

The five main points on how to drive Inclusion and Diversity in your European projects are:

1. Increase commitment and buy-in: through increased knowledge, awareness and understanding, people should feel inside themselves why I&D are so important and connect their beliefs to their attitudes and actions. Nobody should doubt that this is (one of) the priorities.
2. Active outreach, to have more young people with fewer opportunities in the EU Youth Programmes: it is not enough to just say ‘we are open to all’ but there should be some active effort to appeal to and reach out to (organisations working with) specific (underrepresented/disadvantaged) target groups. Going the extra mile – not just waiting for them to come. It is about promotion to specific organisations/networks that represent young people with particular needs.
3. Reduce barriers: take away as much as possible all obstacles – and if not possible, support beneficiaries to overcome the obstacles, either by upskilling them and increasing confidence and know-how, or with structural support. Give the (potential) beneficiaries the tools/skills to make it happen. Aim towards a system for the programmes that is flexible enough to accept and support all people with different needs, not asking the individuals to adapt to a system.
4. Maximize the impact of your European projects;
5. Mainstreaming Inclusion and Diversity: all E+ youth & ESC projects should be ‘inclusive with diverse participants’ by default. In the ideal case, there should not be any special I&D projects anymore. The basic setup of all projects should cater for different needs and diverse backgrounds. It’s not about ‘normalising’ the topics, but embracing it, making it ‘every day’ and encouraging for everyone and anyone to be ‘within the circle’.

To see the above steps in more details, visit the roadmap.

The ID Forum 2021 website is everyday-updating with new contents and information about how to consider Inclusion and Diversity when writing your European project.

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SALTO Awards 2021

The SALTO Awards 2021 are a recognition to the work done and also an occasion to inspire young people, decision makers and applicants of Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps to have a greater impact.

The vote goes to a project that you reckon as of great impact, considering the following areas:

• Digital transformation: evolving integration of digital technologies into the society and youth field;
• Environment and climate action: towards a Sustainable Green Europe with the power of youth;
• Media and Information literacy: promoting critical thinking and media literacy to foster youth participation;
• Solidarity and volunteering: changing Europe for the better with “the power of together”;
• Youth participation: shaping Europe’s democracy through youth engagement, connection, and empowerment.

Successful Criteria of European Solidarity Corps projects

To be impactful, it is important that the youth projects constitute the following values:

• Sustainability;
• Visibility;
• Involvement;
• Inclusivity;
• Solidarity;
• Digital advancement.

SALTO Awards 2021 Celebration

On November 11th 2021, S.A.L.T.O. will be celebrating the SALTO Awards 2021. You can join the event online in livestream at 5-7pm. See the event.

The five main nominations for the best projects of the year are:

1. Digital transformation;
2. Environmental and Climate action;
3. Media and Information literacy;
4. Solidarity and Volunteering;
5. Youth Participation.

Each nomination category will be represented by the top-5 projects and the member of the jury board, who will announce the winner.

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L'articolo European Solidarity Corps Projects With SALTO Awards 2021 proviene da Youth Networks.

The 2021 Call for Volunteering Teams in High Priority Areas projects closes on October 5th 2021 at 5pm (Brussels time). The online presentation, for anyone who has missed it out, is available for consultation.

Volunteering Teams in High Priority Areas

Volunteering Teams in high priority areas are large scale, high impact projects supporting voluntary activities carried out by young people from at least two different countries coming together to express solidarity by implementing short-term interventions that address common European challenges in policy areas defined each year at EU level.

This year’s priority is focused on COVID-19 impact and recovery, particularly through supporting the health and social care systems with activities tackling prevention, promotion and support in the field of health; addressing major health challenges (i.e. life-threatening illnesses like cancer) and promoting health, healthy lifestyle, physical activity and well-being overall.

For the purpose of this call, applications for funding could:

• contribute to the improvement of health and well-being of vulnerable people, including persons affected by chronic or life-threatening diseases (e.g. cancer);
• contribute to building inclusive societies.

How To Apply

The 2021 Call is still open and your organisation can apply through the EACEA website.

Prior to application, it might be useful to go through the EACEA informative session, as such provides organisations with information on the proposals submission procedure in e-grant.

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Find more information about the ESC Traineeships and Jobs ending and its consequences too.

In the present article you will find some qualitative assessments with respect to the new functioning of the European Solidarity Corps for the seven-year period 2021-2027.

Relevant Changes of European Solidarity Corps

Surely the most relevant change is the end of single projects with its substitute, the multi-annual plans. We can identify as consequences:

• The increase of initial work to act as a lead body, upon the new accreditation, which includes a three-year plan and a description of management and organisational aspects of the applicant;
• The end of the process of sending ESC funding applications (commonly “ESC projects”) as we have known it so far: it will no longer be necessary to send specific projects;
• Both of these changes lead to a greater weighting of the substantive elements of quality and, on the other hand, to a decrease in the weighting of the “cosmetic” skills of the project developer, in hiding reality behind nice words.
• Another consequence of these changes is the restructuring of activity monitoring. The decrease of design work and the streamlining of the writing part in the projects should lighten up the work of the National Agency, which already faces an increase in mobility. We hope that this streamlining of formal monitoring (invoices, long descriptive texts, etc.) will see a balancing toward a greater attention on the part of the National Agencies to the most effective evaluation and monitoring: the initial accreditation phase and the ongoing monitoring.

Evaluation: First Step

The initial accreditation goes through a telephone or face-to-face on-site interview. This method allows a dialogue between the agency and the volunteer, and is also useful in improving the volunteer project. It is therefore not just an evaluation, but also a collaboration. The rejection of the accreditation in this sense goes often with a description of the parts to improve and can become an important training moment for the organisations themselves.

Evaluation: Second Step

The second moment of evaluation is the training and evaluation cycle (the training on arrival and the mid-term evaluation). In these meetings, the representatives of the National Agency meet the volunteers face-to-face and can check with them how things are actually going in the project, if they receive training support, what the practical conditions are and whether the organisations are complying with the ESC rules. This, more than filling cold online questionnaires like the mobility tool, is a very effective monitoring moment. It allows to collect elements that can also lead to serious consequences for organisations with big gaps. Indeed, if an organisation, as a Lead Organisation, had a high number of bad feedbacks from volunteers, it would run the real risk of losing its qualification.

Final considerations

This greater focus on the concrete management of the projects and not on the ability to write nice words when applying for grants seems to us an extremely positive aspect. Many times we have seen organisations that were very good at writing but not in carrying out activities, which nevertheless managed to receive large grants. From now on such organisations will have to pay more attention to the real quality of the activities they propose. And instead organisations that work with care and professionalism will have less work to do in planning and will be able to concentrate their efforts on what really counts, namely the quality of the volunteering experiences.

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The last EU Youth reports are also available for consultation.

EU Youth Report 2021

The report usually includes:

• a joint Council-Commission report (political part);
• supporting documents (statistical and analytical part).

The EU Youth Report evaluates the progress with respect to the overall objectives of the framework. It shows the progress regarding the European priorities for the most recent work cycle and identifies good practices. This last part presents data and information on the current situation of young people in Europe. The benchmark refers to the EU Youth Indicators dashboard.

The 2021 EU Youth Report aims at to highlighting the initiatives and actions the EU Member States ,young people, and youth organisations took, to implement the EU Youth Strategy since 2019. It also informs the next three-year Work Plan for the EU
Youth Strategy.

In addition to last years, the 2021 Report will focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of young people in the EU too.

Why It Matters

The EU Youth Reports has got a wide broadcast. It is a point of reference for EU Officials and other institutional stakeholders over Europe. It represents also a valuable resource for policy makers.

This can be, in fact, the starting point from which start building new practices and policies for young people. As it provides insights into the current situation of young people, plus an overview of the policies and initiatives affecting them, it allows to look at what has been done so far and better plan the future actions and policies that would further benefit young people and youth organisations.

For Your Organisation

But what’s the impact of the report on your organisation?

The EU Youth Report is a good opportunity to showcase the work that your organisation has been doing on
local, national and European level, and that can contribute to reaching the objectives set in the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027. In fact by implementing projects and activities, youth organisations contribute to advancing youth rights, and supporting public authorities in implementing youth policy measures. They should therefore be considered as crucial partners.

As the Report will highlight initiatives and actions carried out by youth organisations, it can contribute to the recognition of the
role youth organisations play in bringing European cooperation in the youth field forward.

How To Contribute

The European Commission is looking for good practices and examples around the three main priorities of the past EU Youth Strategy:

• Engage
• Connect
• Empower

To facilitate the process, EU Youth Forum has created an online board for submission.

The deadline for contributions is May 3rd 2021.

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It is off recent news on the Erasmus Plus Guide 2021-2027 that the initiative EU Aid Volunteers is now part of the European Solidarity Corps. The European Solidarity Corps offer a funding for public and private organisations to run volunteering projects in their own country or abroad. Such projects address societal challenges, environment protection, social inclusion, and much more. ⁣⁣Besides giving an access to the EU funding, the Corps allows your organisation to bring new ideas into your working environment, boost your green credentials & step up your European and international profile.

EU Aid Volunteers

EU Aid Volunteers is an opportunity to promote:

• cooperation among active European citizens,
• working together with communities in countries experiencing humanitarian crises or post-crises.

At the same time, it encourages partnerships between local, national and global organizations.

Unfortunately, despite the great outcomes of the initiative, EU Aid Volunteers has seen a stop due to the pandemic. Recruitment, training and deployment were suspended until further notice. Indeed, the initiative provides that European volunteers go undertake their experiences on post-crisis or critical countries. Which means that part of projects happen in extra-EU countries, where security and safety might have been tough to manage during the most uncertain times.

However, thanks to the situation easing all over the world, the initiative will start back in letting organisations propose their project from January 2022.

Sending and Hosting Organisations

Each organisation wishing to take part in EU Aid Volunteers needs to meet the high quality standards of volunteer management of the EUAV legislation. This guarantees the certification.

• EU-based Sending organisations submit an evidence self-assessment form. It shows that they comply with and commit to all the standards and procedures of the EUAV initiative.
• Hosting organisations based in non- European Union (EU) countries complete a self-assessment form and submit it together with three references. It is to demonstrate their capacity to comply with and commit to the requirements of the initiative.

More information on Hosting and Sending Organisations.

if your organisation has already received the certification, you can start looking for partners.

What To Expect

• Volunteering Opportunities in humanitarian aid projects worldwide (online or in presence);
• Technical Assistance, for European organisations working in the humanitarian sector in third countries, to strengthen their capacities to participate in the initiative;
• Capacity Building, for local staff and volunteers of organisations in countries hit by disasters or crises to foster a more effective and principled humanitarian response.

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Homepage

You can reach out to the Erasmus+ 2021 Forms from the website. The page is accessible even if you do not yet have an EU Login account, however most of the actions you can perform as an applicant or awarded beneficiary require signing in.

The Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps platform is the single entry point to the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes for the Multi-annual Financial Framework 2021-2027. It enables applicants and beneficiaries to:

1. Search for registered organisations participating in Erasmus+ or European Solidarity Corps decentralised actions.
2. Register their organisation for participation in Erasmus+ or European Solidarity Corps decentralised actions.
3. Submit applications for grants and/or accreditation for decentralised actions.
4. Manage ongoing projects.

Identification Numbers

The identification numbers of Youth Exchanges and Youth Workers Mobility Projects have changed. KA105 is no longer what to refer to. The new identifications numbers are in fact:

• KA151-YOU: Youth Exchanges of entities with accreditation.
• KA152-YOU: Youth Exchanges
• KA153-YOU: Youth Workers Mobility Projects
• KA154-YOU: Activities with youth participation

Erasmus+ 2021 Forms: What Changed?

The titles of each section is slightly different, for example you will find “rational”, “details”, “management”, “details”… There are new questions: the first one about sustainability, that requires the explanation on how to maintain the outcome of the project after finished and how to guarantee that the results are beneficial after the project is over. The second one is about the usage of virtual tools (in line with the the European strategy for a larger digitalisation). In this section is necessary to explain whether you will use virtual activities before, during or after the project. The third one, is a question about environmental sustainability. So keep in mind that if you are forecasting to include any eco-friendly feature in your project, this must go here.

Did We Spot a Typo?

On the Erasmus+ Guide 2021 we have seen that for each participant is provided €575 funds with reference to the preparatory visit. However, if we try to put in the participants, the system goes with only €400 per person. So we might want to ask, the typo belongs to the Guide or to the Form?

Good News vs. Bad News

Stay tuned for more considerations to come.
In the meanwhile, read also:

A Glance Through The Erasmus+ Guide 2021

L'articolo Erasmus+ 2021 Forms: Let’s Have a Look proviene da Youth Networks.