Dissemination and Exploitation of results of Youth in Action projects (Valorisation)

• SALTO Inclusion developed a practical manual, called "Making Waves", for youth workers on how to create the biggest possible impact with their youth project.
• With lots of tips about increasing the visibility and improving the dissemination and exploitation of the project results.
• Download it here

Youth in Action projects lead to very positive results and it is important to multiply these outcomes as much as possible. Actually, with relatively little extra investment, the impact of a project can be proportionally much bigger. Therefore, all project promoters are requested to focus on valorisation (giving more value) through a well planned dissemination and exploitation of results.

Disseminating results

Inclusion projects mostly have a great impact on the lives of young people with fewer opportunities or lead to a wide variety of useful outcomes. Some of these project outcomes can be tangible products (a magazine, new youth work methods, art work, a collection of good practice, etc.) but many are also "intangible" (the personal development of the young people, a change in attitude, a new youth work approach, etc.). Nevertheless it is essential to document these outcomes and to spread information about them to relevant stakeholders.

This is important for inclusion organisations (sharing the good work they are doing), for young people with fewer opportunities (giving them recognition and positive attention) but also for the Youth in Action programme (showing the effect that Youth in Action projects can have on people, organisations and society).

There are a wide variety of dissemination mechanisms that projects can use: paper publications, mailing lists, websites, databases, CD-Roms, audio-visual, media... It is important to plan the dissemination of the results from the very beginning of the project and adapt it to the intended target groups.

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Communicate the benefits of Youth in Action

In general, the possibilities available for inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities in the Youth in Action programme should be spread to relevant networks at EU level, like for example the networks of the European Commission's Directorates General on employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, and health and consumer protection, the Fundamental Rights Agency, as well as to relevant national Ministries or organisations working with these target groups. Furthermore, the benefits (for organisations and young people) should be communicated more explicitly, as well as good examples from previous projects.

Possible communication activities are:

• Develop lists/publications with the potential benefits and possibilities of the Youth in Action programme for young people with fewer opportunities and spread them using media, places and formats adapted to different target groups.
• Develop lists/publications documenting the potential of the Youth in Action programme as a tool for youth work and an overview of the support available and spread this to the organisations working with young people with fewer opportunities.
• Information moments and meetings (involving former participants) for organisations working with young people with fewer opportunities should be organised to give them the opportunity to get more information and inspiration and possibly network with former project organisers.
• Good examples need to be documented in an accessible and attractive way and spread to relevant organisations using appropriate channels and methods so that they could get a clear and realistic picture about what a Youth in Action project could look like and what it involves.
• When producing information material for specific target groups, youth workers or young people from this target group should be actively involved to ensure the relevance of this material.
• The National and Executive Agencies, in cooperation with their regional networks (if any) and other structures like the SALTO Resource Centres and Eurodesk network should adapt these information tools to their own local reality and to the target groups (language, youth work concepts, support systems for the excluded, etc.). They should reach out actively (via appropriate channels) relevant youth workers from organisations that are working with young people with fewer opportunities.
• National and Executive Agencies should spread the information about the possibilities within the Youth in Action programme to different levels, not only targeting umbrella organisations but also a diverse range of local and regional target groups (including young people who are not formally organised in youth organisations, youth councils, etc.) and institutions as well as national, regional and local policy-makers.

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Exploiting the results

Valorisation goes further than only giving information about the outcomes of a project, it is also about making its impact reach as far as possible. Youth workers working on inclusion projects should spend time and effort on multiplying their results to other projects, people and spheres. The impact of the project should not stop at the last project-day, but should continue to have spin-off effects.

For instance:

• Youth workers could document the lessons learned from a project and coach similar projects with their expertise to increase their quality. The learning from a project would thus also benefit other projects and young people with fewer opportunities.
• Specific findings from organising an inclusion project could be communicated to policy makers, and lobbying for increased accessibility and inclusion for specific target groups could be done based on the concrete project experience.
• If an inclusion project aims specifically at stimulating the personal development of the young people with fewer opportunities, measures should be in place to safeguard the sustainability and continuation of this change process, also after the project.
• National Agencies could collect good inclusion practices and organise forums where inclusion organisations can learn from each other - a coaching system could be developed in which experienced organisations (youth workers, young people) are teamed up with beginning inclusion organisations, so that their experience is transmitted to others.
• Expert inclusion organisations can be used as resource persons for information meetings, training courses, seminars, etc. so that they can pass on their experience.
• Information could be spread to the Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna.
• Information about inclusion projects' good practices could be fed into events like for instance: the European Years for Equal Opportunities (2007) and Intercultural Dialogue (2008), which both mainstream youth, and in the campaign "All different-all equal".

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