Discursive quality development of Open Youth Work Erasmus Project

Project Title

Discursive quality development of Open Youth Work

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; Quality Assurance; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

The project “Discursive quality development of Open Youth Work”, or DISQ-OJA for short, aims to make Open Youth Work and its effects measurable, visible, comprehensible, and accessible.
DISQ-OJA aspires to strengthen and develop qualitative youth work. The project builds on the participation, engagement, and empowerment of numerous project participants and focuses particularly on youth work structures placed in rural areas. Its purpose is to position the dynamic and complex field of Open Youth Work effectively in terms of public awareness and to increase its social recognition.

The project “Discursive quality development of Open Youth Work” is organized transnationally. It consists of a strategic partnership between the Platform of Open Youth Work Tyrol (POJAT) and the umbrella organization of Open Youth Work of South Tyrol (NETZ). The transnational cooperation promotes the quality development of Open Youth Work. Quality instruments that have already been tested are evaluated and anchored in the field of Open Youth Work in South Tyrol.
DISQ-OJA builds on the Erasmus + project “Participative Quality Development in Open Youth Work” that took place from 2014 to 2016. As a result of the strategic partnership – between the Austrian nationwide Open Youth Work Network (bOJA), the South Tyrolean umbrella organization of youth clubs, youth centers and youth culture associations (NETZ), the Professional Open Youth Work Europe (POYWE) and the competence center for non-profit organizations and social Entrepreneurship (NPO&SE of the Vienna University) – a comprehensive set of qualitative methods was developed alongside a documentation software for the field of Open Youth Work. DISQ-OJA intends to deepen and reflect upon these proven quality instruments and develop them further.

The project encompasses several project activities and plans to involve numerous players: in so-called specialist trainings, the two-person POJAT team trains six NETZ employees as Qualitative Process Moderators and conveys knowledge and experience on the “IT Database” and the method of the “Quality Dialogue”. Building on this, the South Tyrolean umbrella organization of Open Youth Work invites numerous youth workers from its 55 member organizations to so-called multiplier training courses. In these courses, South Tyrolean youth clubs, youth centers, and youth culture associations get a broad insight into the IT Database and can test its application. In addition, Quality Dialogues are held and implemented in four South Tyrolean youth organisations. The project team selects the participating youth organisations based on six defined criteria and accompanies them through a local quality process.

The importance of Open Youth Work becomes visible through the quantitative collection of data and the securing of qualitative insights from the Quality Dialogues. The project strengthens the skills and self-confidence of the youth workers. It promotes dialogue between young people, teammates, umbrella organizations, network partners, and stakeholders. DISQ-OJA enables process-oriented, realistic goal setting for Open Youth Work, as well as the definition of transnational quality standards and quality measures. The regional reference points POJAT (Tyrol) and NETZ (South Tyrol) grant local and transnational quality development of the field of Open Youth Work through continuous, professional support. They are responsible for the public dissemination of the project results and to sustain discourses at a regional level. The project supports a transnational professional identity and forms the basis for maintaining and expanding existing Open Youth Work offers. DISQ-OJA wants to professionalize Open Youth Work and integrate it sustainably into the local, social, educational, and cultural fields. The results and experiences of the project influence the adaptation and further development of the Quality Dialogue method established by bOJA.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 21903 Eur

Project Coordinator

Dachverband Offene Jugendarbeit Tirol & Country: AT

Project Partners

• netz I Offene Jugendarbeit EO