RISE for common systems for documentation of youth work and non-formal learning Erasmus Project

Project Title

RISE for common systems for documentation of youth work and non-formal learning

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Recognition (non-formal and informal learning/credits); Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development)

Project Summary

There is in Europe an often stated lack of comparable statistics on both youth work practice in it self (what, when, how and to what extent) and the actual outcomes in terms of which and how many young people it reaches and what informal and non-formal learning they actually acquire. Our project, “RISE for common documentation of youth work and non-formal learning” addressed and tried to contribute to the solution of this situation. In order to develop and strengthen youth work it is necessary to build a system through which we get the ability to compare what we have been doing with the results obtained – this is the overall aim of our project.

In the grant proposal we have presented our two objectives:
• To develop a common system for documentation of youth work.
• To develop a common system for documentation of non-formal learning.
The first objective, to develop a common system for documentation of youth work, was approved while the second one was not. Therefore, the project have focused solely on developing the on-line documentation system – The Logbook.

The strategic partnership project “RISE for common systems for documentation of youth work and non-formal learning” was implemented between 1st of January 2015 and 31st of Decembers 2016 by four partner organizations: KEKS (Sweden), CDYSB (Ireland), DJST Hunedoara (Romania) and EANU (Estonia).
Two of the partner organisations are official authorities at local and regional level and in different ways responsible for youth work and the well being of young people. KEKS and EANU are umbrella NGO handling youth work development questions for networks of local municipality departments for youth work in Sweden and Estonia.

The main activities of the project were to analyse the needs and realities of documentation of youth work in the partner countries and develop an on-line documentation system of youth work and all the necessary support systems needed to implement them and make them user friendly, including user manuals and other material needed for a sustainable introduction in an running of the systems.
The different actors involved in the project were as following:
– PMG (Project Management Group) in charge of the project management, development of rutines and templates for project management and monitoring, evaluation, organizing multiplier events, reporting etc.;
– SDG (System Development Group) working with the structuring, developing and delivering the intellectual outputs approved in the project;
– reference group involved in the mapping of needs and realities of documentation of youth work in the partner countries. The reference group was composed by youth workers, municipality and NGO staff.
– test users involved in testing the preliminary on-line documentation system with the purpose of giving feedback for the further development and adjustment of the documentation system – The Logbook;
– external contracted experts, contracted through a call for tender, that have programmed and developed the on-line documentation system;
– participants to the multiplier events organized as part of the project.

The activities implemented in the project were the next:
– six Transnational Project Meeting in which the PMG have met for managing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting the project;
– six Learning, Teaching and Training activities in which the SDG have meet for exchanging knowledge and experience about documentation of youth work as well as in order to work with the development of the on-line system for documentation of youth work;
– mapping of the local realities and needs for documentation of youth work in the partner countries;
– development and testing of the preliminary online system and the user manual;
– call for tender and contracting of the IT company that have programmed and delivered the on-line system for documentation of youth work – The Logbook;
– seventeen multiplier events organized in the four partner countries: six in Sweden, five in Romania, three in Estonia and three in Ireland. The events have reached 475 persons;
– project management activities (development of rutines and templates, communication, visibility, dissemination, setting of qualitative and quantitative indicators, monitoring, evaluation and reporting).

The result of the project is The Logbook that will make it possible to compare how different youth work practices affect outcomes. It will also lead to a huge database available for future researchers active in the field and it will create a common ground for the exchange of best practises on a European level.
The potential longer terms benefits of this is of course that it could hopefully strengthen the position of youth work in relation to other sectors and make it even more obvious that it is essential for Europe and European youth that more effort and money has to be invested in non-formal education and learning, i.e. in the youth work sector!

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 170798 Eur

Project Coordinator

KEKS STODFORENING & Country: SE

Project Partners

• Eesti Avatud Noortekeskuste Ühendus
• Directia Judeteana pentru Sport si Tineret Hunedoara
• City od Dublin Youth Service Board