MILONGA – International Volunteering towards fraternity Erasmus Project

Project Title

MILONGA – International Volunteering towards fraternity

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 : Capacity Building for youth in ACP countries, Latin America and Asia

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

According to the Global Unemployment Trends for Youth 2015 report of ILO, youth unemployment rates remain stable at 13%, but are still well above the pre-crisis level of 11.7%. Consequently, affected young people worldwide start out with weaker early-career credentials and show lower confidence and resilience in dealing with labour market opportunities and setbacks over the course of their working lives. Effects that are further enhanced by the growing mobility between systems and sectors (education, training, family, labour market, permanent employment, unemployment, etc.). In this “liquid” context, it is crucial to reinforce those capacity building opportunities which allow young people to get actively involved, gain skills and demonstrate their potential.As the Erasmus report study in 2014 highlights, 92% of employers are looking for transversal skills, such as openness to new challenges, problem-solving and decision-making skills, confidence, tolerance towards others’ values and behaviours, while 64% consider an int’l experience as important for recruitment. In this context, int’l volunteering can be a valuable tool as it facilitates the:- initial exposure to the world of organized work: it represents an important trial period and gives chance to experiment and put preferences in practice – “employability” through the improvement in soft skills, such as knowledge of other countries, ability to interact and work with individuals from different cultures, adaptability, foreign language proficiency and communication skills.- Documented work experience.- re-entry into regular work after breaks.This impact depends on the quality of host organizations’ staff which often differs across countries showing an unbalanced distribution of opportunities. It is, thus, fundamental to set easily accessible and comprehensive tools, methodologies and guidelines for the efficient management of such opportunities through training, coaching and mentoring. Moreover, youth unemployment challenge requires a multi-stakeholder approach: in this sense, Latin American partners’ experience highlights a virtuous practice of networking among NGOs, enterprises, universities and local institutions and offers a wider range of youth capacity building activities, adding to the int’l volunteering the possibility to participate in internships and other training opportunities. The project will indeed enhance the quality of partner NGOs’ staff to provide int’l volunteering opportunities; identify and develop areas of synergy among stakeholders in the youth and volunteering fields in order to ensure collaboration and exchange of good practices, scale-up and improve existing youth-related programmes according to labour market needs and using ICT technologies. It aims at both increasing the quantity of youth volunteering opportunities available globally and improving the quality of the volunteer experience, which is crucial for the long-term sustainability of the project

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 150000 Eur

Project Coordinator

FOKOLAR-BEWEGUNG EV & Country: DE

Project Partners

• UDRUGA ZA EKONOMIJU ZAJEDNISTVA
• SOCIEDADE MOVIMENTO DOS FOCOLARI
• SECCION DE LOS FOCOLARINOS (FOCOLARES MASCULINOS) DE LA OBRA DE MARIAMOVIMIENTO DE LOS FOCOLARES
• ASSOCIAZIONE INTERNAZIONALE NEW HUMANITY
• MOVIMENTO JUVENTUDE NOVA
• PAG-ASA SOCIAL CENTER FOUNDATION INC.
• OPUS MARIAE REGISTERED TRUSTEES