The TOSCA initiative is a comprehensive program designed to provide organisation support and enhance the capacity of entities that actively participate in Volunteering Actions of the European Solidarity Corps. Its ultimate goal is to ensure high-quality and impactful outcomes for the projects undertaken by these organisations. By providing a wide range of capacity-building activities, such as training sessions, coaching, and mentoring, TOSCA empowers these organizations to effectively plan, implement, and evaluate their volunteer projects.

In this article, we will discuss the objectives and benefits of TOSCA and how it ensures quality and impact in respective projects.

Objectives and Benefits of TOSCA

TOSCA fosters a supportive community for European Solidarity Corps, building project design and implementation competencies while providing clarity and support.

TOSCA’s goals and benefits are as follows:

• Increase understanding, awareness, and dedication to the European Solidarity Corps’ fundamental quality requirements;
• Develop skills in the planning and implementation of European Solidarity Corps initiatives with a focus on quality;
• Provide formal clarity and support for the program’s opportunities, guidelines, structures, priorities, regulations, and processes;
• Enable people to voice critical issues and requirements and provide assistance when possible;
• Create a supporting community of European Solidarity Corps organisations;

For more information about the topic, you can watch this video explaining what kind of approach TOSCA has in defining quality in European Solidarity Corps Volunteering activities.

Conclusion

TOSCA plays a vital role in supporting and building capacities in organisations to ensure quality and impact in respective projects. The program fosters a supportive community of organizations involved in the European Solidarity Corps, building competencies in designing and implementing quality projects, and ensuring clarity and support. By achieving its objectives, TOSCA ensures that the activities of the European Solidarity Corps are based on core values of solidarity and contribute positively to society.

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L'articolo TOSCA: Building Quality and Impact in European Solidarity Corps Volunteering Actions proviene da Youth Networks.

Introduction

The Erasmus Programme officially started in 1987 and today, in 2022, it turns 35 years old. 13 million participants learned, worked or had the chance to train abroad. Every year, more than 600,000 Europeans take advantage of the opportunities offered by Erasmus+. For those who have participated in an Erasmus project, it is not easy to describe in a few words what has been experienced. Yet, often different protagonists use the same words:

Inspiration, friendship, social inclusion, diversity, networking, opportunity, change, love.

To celebrate this anniversary, the Europe Union organized a series of events to tell the experiences and stories of the protagonists.

Erasmus+ 35 years – 35 experiences

The first of the events to mark this anniversary was held on 20 September, where Vice-President Margaritis Schinas and Commissioner Mariya Gabriel met 35 Erasmus+ participants and representatives of the programme’s founding group.

Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President responsible for Promoting the European Way of Life, said:

“Erasmus+ is a 35-year success story that has provided life-changing opportunities for millions of people. I could not think of a better and more convincing example of what the ‘European way of life’ actually means. 

Each participant shared personal experiences and told their own stories. If you want to read the stories of those who have participated in an Erasmus+ project, click here

The final event will be held on 14 December, where participants are welcome from all areas that have benefited from Erasmus+.

The event will feature speakers from benefiting organisations, individual Erasmus+ participants, national agencies, and Erasmus+ programme creators. This will be the day’s schedule:

Morning sessions

• opening and plenary sessions
• plenaries on Erasmus+’ origins, evolution, positive impact, and novelties

Afternoon sessions

• smaller group discussions with inspiration sessions based on ongoing or completed Erasmus+ projects
• roundtable discussions on global Erasmus+ priorities and their mid-term impact

Evening

• photo exhibition
• cocktail and standing dinner
• concluding art performance

To learn more about the 35th anniversary of Erasmus+, click here

CONCLUSION

Erasmus Plus is a great way for students to learn about European history and culture, as well as strengthen their language skills. It’s also a fantastic opportunity for students to meet people from different countries and share the experience of living in a foreign country.

Being part of the Erasmus Plus world can change your life, as Eleni Theodouru, who is a former Erasmus+ student from Greece, declared:

The Erasmus+ programme sparked a new life full of experiences, friendships and international career opportunities. I recommend it to everyone and especially people with disabilities like myself. It is a catalyst for our transition to an inclusive Europe!

L'articolo Celebrating 35 Years Of Erasmus+ Programme 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.

The international seminar will explore the role of youth work in supporting young people’s access to social rights. Furthermore, it will foster peer-exchange on the approaches and frameworks of cooperation between local authorities and youth workers, in order to promote social inclusion for young people. The seminar will bring together up to 50 youth workers, youth specialists and representatives of local and regional authorities who will meet and exchange practices related to the promotion and implementation of the two Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ Recommendations ( Enter! and Youth work Rec)

The seminar will be held in Kazan, Russian Federation from 9-12 October 2018, and will gather youth work practitioners and local authorities in a 50-50 model. Please share this information with the youth workers, youth organisations or local authorities that you work with and who could contribute with their experiences in working on social inclusion with young people.

Objectives of the seminar:

1. To develop an understanding of Council of Europe standards and tools of youth policy, youth work and youth participation for interventions aiming to combat discrimination and social exclusion at local and regional levels;
2. To consolidate experiences and good practices of youth work and youth policy on access to social rights in the Russian Federation and other states parties to the European Cultural Convention;
3. To identify and explore challenges in working with the Enter! and Youth Work Recommendations and devise future plans for their implementation;
4. To identify good practices and youth work approaches which support the social inclusion of young people and their access to social rights;
5. To support and strengthen the networking and cooperation between different stakeholders and partners interested in the implementation of the Enter! and Youth work Recommendations.

Detailed information and online application forms

L'articolo International seminar: From Policy to Practice proviene da Youth Networks.

Building on developments in the region, the activity aims to make a contribution to strengthening youth work in the region, by analysing its state of play and identifying the support needed from youth work policy, and in turn will consider the crucial role that youth work can play in supporting youth policy at different levels.

The seminar objectives are:

• to strengthen the knowledge about youth work in South East Europe;
• to explore current challenges and needs that youth work as a field has in SEE and how youth policy can respond to them, at different levels, through frameworks, capacity building, and support tools;
• to enhance synergies between different relevant actors in the region for the development of the youth work sector;
• to analyse the crucial role that youth work can play in supporting youth policy at different levels.

The event will gather up to 50 participants, representing the triangle of youth work practice, policy and research.

Background information

Increasing knowledge and supporting the development of youth work and youth policy in SEE has been for several years one of the objectives of the EU-CoE youth partnership. In this framework, the EU-CoE youth partnership organised in 2016 the peer-learning seminar ‘Getting Across’, which brought together 55 participants involved in youth policy and youth work, particularly in the Western Balkans. The event reaffirmed the role of youth work in supporting young people in exclusion situations and generated guidelines for increasing the quality and impact of cross-sectoral youth policies and youth services.

From 2017 onwards, EU-CoE youth partnership has carried out a research project on the educational paths of youth workers, which aims to collect data and analyse the formal and non-formal education paths and career steps of youth workers, as contribution to the quality development in the youth work field.

Moreover, youth work is today very prominent in the priorities and processes of the Council of Europe and of the European Commission.

Slovenia, furthermore, has established, over the years, a strong youth sector and a well-developed cooperation within South-East Europe in different policy areas affecting youth, while its Office for Youth has been fond of deepening regional cooperation in the field of youth, contributing to the implementation of the Council of Europe Recommendation on youth work.

L'articolo Peer-learning seminar on youth work and youth policies proviene da Youth Networks.

If you are between 25 and 35 years, have networking skills and are interested to foster your expertise in regional development, cultural cooperation and sustainable tourism, please refer to the  Call for young professionnals

Objectives
(1) Increase the visibility of the four EU macro-regions (Adriatic-Ionian Region, Alpine, Baltic Sea and Danube Region) as well as the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Programme through the involvement of young professionals;
(2) Disseminate information and knowledge on cultural cooperation, regional development and sustainable tourism in the 4 EU macro-regions;
(3)Develop a platform for the exchange of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-up businesses, as well as innovative and creative industries in the field of Cultural Routes;
(4) Stimulate the peer-to-peer exchange among young people working in the 4 EU macro-regions on regional development and on cultural tourism.

Structure
The network will be managed by its members under the supervision of Routes4U. Among the network members 4 young professionals
(1/EU macro-region) will take the responsibility as coordinators for their respective EU macro-region; the role of President will be rotating among the 4 coordinators. The mandate of coordinators will be of 2 years; the mandate of president will be of 6 months. The activities of the network will be developed by the members and coordinated by the President and the coordinators.

In line with the objective of the Routes4U Project to “enhance the participation of networks and association, involve local stakeholders and encourage bottom up processes” and to put a “special attention to young people and women entrepreneurship”, we are looking for young professionals to create a network (refer as “Routes4Youth network”) on regional development through the Cultural Routes in the Adriatic-Ionian, Alpine, Baltic Sea and Danube Region.

The young professionals will be in charge of carrying out a variety of tasks, such as:
* Creation of a macroregional network of professionals including a mentoring programme with senior professionals;
* Development of an action plan to increase the visibility of young professionals in the four EU macro-regions;
* Dissemination of information on regional development and cultural cooperation in the four EU macro-regions;
* Strengthening of professional knowledge and expertise through trainings and courses on the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe programme.

Eligibility Criteria
Professional experience: A minimum of 2 years working experience in at least one of the following field of expertise (internships can be counted as professional experience):
-Economic development;
-Regional development;
-Sustainable tourism;
-Cultural cooperation;
-Cultural tourism;
-Cultural heritage;
-Any other related field to Cultural Routes in the four EU macro-regions.

Academic Background: A Master’s Degree in Social Science, Humanities, Science, Management or other related fields OR about to attain the Master’ Degree (planned by March 2019); or a Bachelor’s Degree and at least 2 years of professional experience.

Nationality: Of one country of the EU macro-regions.
-Adriatic-Ionian Region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.
-Alpine Region: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Switzerland.
-Baltic Sea Region: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.
-Danube Region: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Romania.

Age:Minimum 25 years and maximum 35 years when joining the network.

Languages skills: Proven fluency in English (written and spoken)

If you are interested in applying, please fill in before the 30th of September 2018 the online form
Note: You will berequested to attach a CV to the form.

More information about the Routes4U Project

L'articolo Routes4Youth network – Call for young professionals proviene da Youth Networks.

The Europe 2020 strategy, adopted by the European Council in June 2010, is the European Union’s agenda for jobs and growth for the current decade. As a main objective, the strategy strives to deliver high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion in the Member States, while reducing the impact on the natural environment. To reach this objective, the EU has adopted targets to be reached by 2020 in five areas: employment, research & development (R&D), climate change & energy, education and poverty reduction.
These have been translated into national targets in order to reflect the situation and possibilities of each Member State to contribute to the common goal. A set of nine headline indicators and additional sub-indicators, compiled by Eurostat, give an overview of how close the EU is to its overall targets.

Today Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, issues the 2018 edition of the publication “Smarter, greener, more inclusive?”, which provides information on past trends and latest statistics useful to monitor the progress towards the targets of the Europe 2020 strategy.

A complete picture of trends in the Europe 2020 headline indicators

The analysis in the Eurostat publication is based on the Europe 2020 headline indicators used to monitor progress towards the strategy’s targets. Other indicators focusing on specific subgroups of society or on complementary issues are used to deepen the analysis and present a broader picture.

The publication aims to shed light on the trends in the headline indicators over the past years and helps understand the factors behind the changes observed so far. Since 2008, substantial progress has been made in the area of climate change and energy through the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, the positive trend has however slowed down. In the area of education, the EU is within reaching distance of both headline targets. The most recent developments in R&D investment and poverty alleviation are less promising, while the EU’s employment target can be reached if the growth recorded over the past few years continues.

For more information
Eurostat website section dedicated to the Europe 2020 strategy.
Eurostat scoreboard on Europe 2020 headline indicators.
Eurostat publication “Smarter, greener, more inclusive? – Indicators to support the Europe 2020 strategy” (2018 edition).

L'articolo How is the European Union progressing towards its Europe 2020 targets? 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.

The course included basic information, so it could be of particular interest to those starting off in the field of youth. This course was open and free for anyone interested. It doesn’t have specific requirements, except for intermediate English skills.

Course Date: Oct 8 – Nov 18, 2018
Duration: 6 weeks
Commitment: 4 hrs/week
Course Type: Instructor-led
Credential: Certificate (free)

Objectives
By the end of the course, learners will:
* Understand the “basics” of youth policy (concepts and definitions, scope, objectives, actors, European and national levels).
* Become aware of the relevance of the key elements for youth policy (cross-sectoral, knowledge-based, participation, inclusion, youth work).
* Understand how to build a framework for youth policy (identifying key issues, priority areas and themes).
* Understand the major steps for youth policy development, implementation and delivery, and evaluation.
* Reflect on the future of youth policy and their future engagement in youth policy.
* Gain motivation and information about different ways of getting involved in youth policy.

Target Audience:

Our course is open and free for anyone interested. We encourage in particular youth policy makers from different levels, youth workers and youth leaders, youth NGOs and youth researchers to join the course.

MOOC’s structure

Module 1: Introduction
* It included basic user orientation on the Canvas platform
* Introduced participants to the structure, objectives, methodology of the course
* Included a short self-assessment questionnaire that users fill in to assess their prior knowledge on youth policy

Module 2: Youth policy essentials
* It included information about the main concepts and definitions of youth policy, actors and roles, history, objectives of youth policy
* It included information about the link between the transnational and the national level of youth policy

Module 3: Key elements of youth policy
* It included information about the main elements needed for youth policy to develop
* It included 4 sections with theory and examples on : cross-sectoral co-operation in the field of youth policy, evidence base for youth policy, social inclusion of young people, youth participation and youth policy

Module 4: How to build a youth policy framework
* It included information about practical mechanisms to develop a youth policy strategy

Module 5: Implementation of youth policy
* It included information about the delivery of youth policy, as well as monitoring and evaluation of youth policy

Module 6: Future of youth policy and course closing
* It included information on recent developments, opportunities and future trends in youth policy in Europe
* It included the evaluation of the course by participants.

Course is offered by partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth.

EU-CoE youth partnership

The partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth is meant to create synergies between the commitments and activities of the two partner institutions in the youth field in situations and on issues that justify a common European approach.
Youth policy is an important focus of the work of the EU-CoE youth partnership.

MOOC team
Laimonas Ragauskas – Instructor
Mara Georgescu – Instructor
Sandra Roe – Instructor
Ron Salaj – Instructor

Enroll here

L'articolo Enroll for a 6 weeks MOOC with Essentials of Youth Policy proviene da Youth Networks.