Youth.Info: Future Youth Information Toolbox Erasmus Project

General information for the Youth.Info: Future Youth Information Toolbox Erasmus Project

Youth.Info: Future Youth Information Toolbox Erasmus Project
July 7, 2020 12:00 am
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Project Title

Youth.Info: Future Youth Information Toolbox

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Transnational strategic partnership project “Youth.Info: Future Youth Information Toolbox” aims to increase quality and outreach of youth information services on local level by creating and applying user-friendly methods on evidence and future based youth information needs and involving peer-to-peer youth information educators.

Youth information and counselling field lacks research on youth information needs and its service impact. Youth field in general has been rather reactive and not future-looking proactive service provider. Future foresight methodology successfully works in other policy areas however has never been adapted for the field of youth (information) work. There are several effective information services already developed on the European level. Exchange on it and creating of design-thinking based approach to the service development is still missing. Peer-to-peer work in youth information has been already explored as an optimal support for reaching out new target groups, however there are still no empowering tools for youth information workers on the local level.

Therefore this project targets to: 1) research and understand youth information needs by building on existing research design (ERYICA, 2013); 2) explore possibilities for applying future foresight in the youth information work and provide insights on what challenges in the field are to come; 3) develop, co-create and pilot 3 open user-friendly, evidence and future based youth information services, that could be used by local youth information providers; 4) empower youth information workers and peer educators to use participative peer-to-peer approaches in delivering youth information services and therewith increase the reach-out and awareness of young people on specific topics; 5) build political awareness on the impact of youth information and counselling and support development of national youth information structures in Latvia and Lithuania.

This project involves youth information workers (8) and peer educators (25) from Germany, Austria, Ireland, Latvia and Lithuania as also reaches-out to even more practitioners through ERYICA and EPTO networks. Project’s academic partner Abo Akademi University (Finland) ensures the evidence and future based research as also evaluation of the project.

Project starts with the youth information needs survey and service impact research activities. It will continue with exploration of the use of the future foresight methodology in the youth information field. Pilot foresight activity will be conducted on European level, involving all relevant stakeholders in a participative manner. This will lead to reports on youth information needs and future perspectives to be taken into account. Based on this evidence, three different information services/products will be created by national youth information coordinators involved and piloted by their partners in other project countries. This is done based on design-thinking methodology. After collecting feedback during the meeting, products will be finalized and released for public use by local youth information workers. European peer training organization (EPTO) will elaborate a training course for empowering youth peer educators to use services created and to multiply them to rather marginalized target audiences. This will be evaluated throughout the project and presented in a high-level visibility event, that will bring policy-makers, practitioners, young people and researchers to highlight the impact youth information and counselling services have. Further dissemination activities will ensure that the insights from research, guidelines on how to conduct foresight activities, information services and the peer-to-peer training course are sustainably used by ERYICA and EPTO network members as also other practitioners and researchers.

Main results of this project are reports on youth information needs and future challenges, three innovative, evidence and future based information delivery services, manual of a training course for peer-to-peer in the youth information work.

This will lead to the following impact: youth information workers will build their capacity through understanding changing information needs and behaviours of their target group. Local and national youth information providers will be empowered to use future foresight and design-thinking approaches in their service development. More young people will be reached out to and informed on for them relevant topics by young peer educators and peer-to-peer work. On the political scale, both on European and national levels awareness of the added value created by youth information services will become more visible. This will be expressed in the support for the development of national youth information structures in Latvia and Lithuania.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 132864 Eur

Project Coordinator

VIESOJI ISTAIGA CREATIVITAS & Country: LT

Project Partners

  • AGENCE EUROPEENNE POUR L’INFORMATION ET LE CONSEIL DES JEUNES ASBL
  • EUROPEAN PEER TRAINING ORGANISATION
  • BUNDESNETZWERK OSTERREICHISCHE JUNGENDINFOS VEREIN
  • NATIONAL YOUTH FEDERATION COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE
  • LABDAROS IR PARAMOS FONDAS “JAUNIEMS”
  • Jugend- und Familienstiftung des Landes Berlin
  • ABO AKADEMI