Youth Leaders Across Borders Erasmus Project

Project Title

Youth Leaders Across Borders

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; Access for disadvantaged; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

The ‘Youth Leaders Across Borders’ (YLAB) project was a strategic partnership between 4 high quality youth leadership organisations from the UK, Germany, Sweden, and Poland.

The project objectives for YLAB were;
To produce new training resources that work across borders that
1. Promote youth leadership, health improvement and citizenship by generating young leaders from disadvantaged communities who are well placed to get their peers moving
2. Widen the appreciation and policy commitment to informal youth learning at all levels of Government and NGO’s
3. Support target group agencies to provide disadvantaged youth with access to innovative, informal life-long learning and training that develops soft transversal skills advantageous in the labour market: confidence, communication, leadership and reliability.
4. Pay particular attention to the gender gap.
5. Develop practice across borders and internationalise youth leadership work by co-operatively producing an open education resource that works in the EU context.
6. Work towards the accreditation of a new youth training in programme to enhance internationalised youth work.
The 30 month project has created open access, training resources that improve the leadership skills of young people, particularly those with fewer opportunities. The 6 modules enable young leaders to promote healthy behaviours to their peers, learning from Europe-wide best practice. Resources have been developed in 5 languages to increase access: English, Welsh, German, Swedish and Polish.
The transnational nature of this project has added value. The unique training resource created, has stimulated 37 young people to be active and identify themselves as global citizens. The project has positively impacted on the views of these young people, in understanding their lives in a wider international context, increasing mobility, fostering intercultural dialogue, and increasing participation in European democratic life.

The project had four participating organisations;
StreetGames UK – The leading UK charity committed to ensuring disadvantaged young people and communities lead healthy active lifestyles. Engaging with over 1,000 locally trusted organisations, StreetGames engages over 30,000 young people aged 12-25 each year across the UK www.streetgames.org
V4Sport Foundation Poland – With the mission to increase the number of people physically active in Poland, V4Sport works with both national and international partners to achieve this mission, basing its work around 5 pillars. Advocacy, research, innovative social campaigns, cross sectoral cooperation and capacity building. http://www.v4sport.eu/
Brandenburgische Sportjugend Germany (BSJ) – The ‘Brandenburgische Sportjugend’ is an umbrella organisation covering youth work and sport activities for young people from over 2600 clubs in Brandenburg. The work is guided by the aim to use sport as a tool for youth work. BSJ offers projects regarding sport, youth-work and social-youth-work including crime prevention, integration through sport, street soccer for tolerance, and voluntary opportunities including European Voluntary Service. http://sportjugend-bb.de/
SISU Idrottsutbildarna Sweden – SISU is the educational organisation attached to the Swedish Sport Confederation. Its main organisational aim is to work with sport clubs and sport Federations, developing and delivering education, training and development programmes. Working across 21 districts, over 3 million people are members of sport clubs in Sweden. http://www.sisuidrottsutbildarna.se/
The project consisted of the following activities;
Delivery of 3 Intellectual outputs to develop youth leadership training, training resources and an interactive website; 5 Transnational Project Meetings; 4 Multiplier Events; 5 Learning/Teaching/Training Activities, including 1 blended mobility event and 4 train the trainer events.
YLAB has resulted in high quality teaching and learning resources that are relevant and fit for purpose to enable young leaders to gain a better understanding of their leadership skills, potential and how they can apply themselves in international contexts.
The project has achieved the following impact;
• 37 young people, 78% of those with fewer opportunities, have accessed and shaped the training content, as well as develop themselves into international youth leaders
• 63 international trainers have been trained to deliver the training, in addition to the 8 trainers that developed the training form the 4 partner organisations
•240 people attended multiplier events, to understand the project and how it could be beneficial to them and their organisations and communities
• Social media – direct followers 19,745 and followers of the key partners and influential individuals who promoted on our behalf 29,230
• Newsletters/ press releases – across the partners’ circulation of circa 357,000
The full project results can be found here; http://www.youthleadersacrossborders.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 207111 Eur

Project Coordinator

STREETGAMES UK & Country: UK

Project Partners

• FUNDACJA V4 SPORT
• Sportjugend im Landessportbund Brandenburg e.V.
• Sisu Idrottsutbildarna