The project aims to become a tool to implement the recent council conclusions on the Mobility of Young Volunteers and Cross-Border Solidarity.

This will be achieved by a series of activities to strengthen the visibility of volunteering in the programme and foster the collaboration on volunteering and solidarity among stakeholders. Different activities will support the development of European volunteering and strengthen the cooperation in Europe and beyond.

Objectives

• Increasing the knowledge about the European Solidarity Corps programme and its impact
• Supporting the knowledge exchange around European volunteering and solidarity
• Advocating for better conditions for European volunteering
• Increasing the visibility of European volunteering
• Fostering the collaboration among stakeholders and strengthening the community(ies) of practise

Background and Needs

With the new programme generation starting 2021, the European Solidarity Corps programme has undergone a shift towards a pure volunteering scheme for local and international volunteering.

There is a need to explore the following questions together as a network of National Agencies:

• What does the shift to volunteering imply for the community of practice?
• What are the new trends? What are the risks?
• How can we improve the conditions for different strands of the ESC (Individual, Teams, Solidarity Projects) and look deeper into complementarity of national and EU volunteering?
• What is needed to strengthen European volunteering?

Find the all documents here.

Read also

Call for Evidence | Have Your Say on the Erasmus Plus Programme

Research on volunteer-based youth work

L'articolo SNAC | Strategic National Agencies’ Cooperation 2022–2027 proviene da Youth Networks.

3rd EUROTUREC Conference

The team of the EUROTUREC project (ref. num. CSD-VI/372), with the support of external experts from the National Agency and NGOs with expertise in the sector, hold a conference to provide information about the Erasmus+ KA2 Partnership for Cooperation Call and to create a space for networking between potential applicants.

The conference takes place online, on February 25th from 13:30 to 16:00 CEST (15:30-18:00 Turkish Time), and it requires prior registration by February 22nd. 

There are only 15-20 places available, so please be specific in the info you put in the form to increase the chance of being selected.

The Schedule

Preparation task: each participant will have to prepare in advance a 1-slide presentation of their own organisation. 

Find out more about KA2 Erasmus+ Partnership for Cooperation Call here.

Read also

Erasmus+ Youth Project Writing Challenge

L'articolo 3rd Euroturec Conference: KA2 Erasmus+ Partnership for Cooperation Call proviene da Youth Networks.

• foster youth participation in democratic life;
• support social and civic engagement;
• ensure that all young people have the necessary resources to take part in society.

Now that it’s been three years since the EU Youth Strategy’s implementation started, the European Commission has published a report on the state-of-the-art, referring to that 3-years period.

EU Youth Strategy

The EU Youth Strategy focuses on 3 core areas of action, around the three words:

EMPOWER

CONNECT

ENGAGE

With “Engage” the EU Youth Strategy aims towards a meaningful civic, economic, social, cultural and political participation of young people. Connections, relations and exchange of experience are a pivotal asset for solidarity and the future development of the European Union. This connection is best fostered through different forms of mobility. Empowerment of young people means encouraging them to take charge of their own lives.

The implementation of the EU Youth Strategy is meant to go across-sectors, and this is way in 2017-2018 they developed 11 European Youth Goals. These goals identify cross-sectoral areas that affect young people’s lives and point out challenges.

EU Youth Strategy Report

What comes out from the first report? Has the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy moved forward?

The Commission has just adopted the report which assesses the EU Youth Strategy’s first three years of implementation.

As shown in the EU Youth Report, the COVID-19 pandemic hit young people heavily. In response, the EU has significantly reinforced its support and encouragement measures dedicated to young people. Ongoing policy initiatives such as the European Education Area, the updated European Digital Action Plan, the European Skills Agenda and the Youth Employment Support package are all dedicated to boosting opportunities for young people and ensure their personal, social and professional fulfilment. The Commission is also increasing its efforts in involving youth in key European initiatives.

To facilitate the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy and the Youth Goals, the year 2022 was announced to be the European Year of Youth and the main highlights of the EU Youth report will feed into the Year.

Read the full EU Youth Strategy Report.

Read also

European Solidarity Corps: Get Inspiration For Your European Project!

The Youthpass Strategy is Out

L'articolo EU Youth Strategy (2019-2021) Report proviene da Youth Networks.

Lines of actions for Knowledge Alliances

Furthermore if you have in mind a project who aim to:
* develop new, innovative and multidisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning;
* stimulate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills of higher education teaching staff and company staff;
* facilitate the exchange, flow and co-creation of knowledge.

Activities supported by Knowledge Alliances who are:
1) Boosting innovation in higher education, business and in the broader socio-economic environment:
* developing and implementing new learning and teaching methods (like new multidisciplinary curricula, learner-centred and real problem-based teaching and learning)
* organising continuing educational programmes and activities with and within companies
* jointly developing solutions for challenging issues, product and process innovation (students, professors and practitioners together)

2) Also, developing entrepreneurial mind-set and skills:
* creating schemes of transversal skills learning and application throughout higher education programmes developed in cooperation with enterprises aiming at strengthening employability, creativity and new professional paths
* introducing entrepreneurship education in any discipline to provide students, researchers, staff and educators with the knowledge, skills and motivation to engage in entrepreneurial activities in a variety of settings
* opening up new learning opportunities through the practical application of entrepreneurial skills, which can involve and/or lead to the commercialisation of new services, products and prototypes, to the creation of start-ups and spin-off

3) Similarly, stimulating the flow and exchange of knowledge between higher education and enterprises:
* study field related activities in enterprises which are fully embedded in the curriculum, recognised and credited
* set-ups to trial and test innovative measures
* exchanges of students, researchers, teaching staff and company staff for a limited period
* involvement of company staff into teaching and research

For that reason Knowledge Alliances may organise learning mobility activities of students, researchers and staff. They support/complement the other activities of the Alliance and bring added value in the realisation of the project’s objectives. Seems like mobility activities do not constitute the main activities of a Knowledge Alliance; extending and scaling-up these activities would need to be supported via the Key Action 1 of this Programme or other funding instruments.

Beneficiaries of Knowledge Alliances

First of all, a participating organisation can be any public or private organisation established in a Programme Country or any Partner Country
Hence, such an organisation can be:
* A higher education institution
* Also, a public or private, small, medium or large enterprise (including social enterprises)
* A research institute
* Certainly a public body at local, regional or national level
* An organisation active in the field of education, training and youth
* Even more, an intermediary or association which represents education, training or youth organisations
* An intermediary or association which represents enterprises
* Also, an accreditation, certification or qualification body

Timetable
Publication of the call for proposals: 25 October 2017
Deadline for submission: 28/02/2018 (Midday CET)
If approved: Project start date: 01/11/2018 or 01/01/2019
The duration of the project must be chosen at the application stage. Consequently, it can vary from 2 to 3 years.
In exceptional cases, the duration of a Knowledge Alliance may be extended, upon request by the beneficiary and with the agreement of the Executive Agency, of up to 6 months. In such a case, the total grant will not change.

How does it work
Organisations interested in participating must do so as part of a consortium, including:
* a minimum of six independent organisations from at least three Programme Countries
* of which least two must be higher education institutions (HEIs), and
* of which at least two must be enterprises/businesses (consultancies and intermediaries are eligible on the understanding that they demonstrate pertinent experience and commitment in the relevant field).

Discover more grants and funding opportunities by exploring our page

Read more about Knowledge Alliances here.

L'articolo Get familiar with Knowledge Alliances Grants proviene da Youth Networks.