Call for Trainers

European Academy on Youth Work event, 4th edition, 5 - 8 May 2026 - Call for facilitators and digital facilitator

Description

CALL FOR 3 FACILITATORS (INCLUDING 1 DIGITAL FACILITATOR)

What is the European Academy on Youth Work (EAYW)?

The world around us is in constant change. The global and societal developments are affecting the lives of young people, youth workers and communities. How does youth work as a field of practice need to evolve to stay future-ready and future-relevant? What needs to change at the individual level, and what needs to shift at the level of youth work systems? What needs to remain and to be nurtured? How can individual youth workers and youth work systems prepare for these changes?  These are questions that the EAYW is bringing back to the European youth work community.

The EAYW is a strategic partnership of National Agencies of the Erasmus+ programme, youth field, and the European Solidarity Corps[1] and SALTO-YOUTH Resource Centres. The EAYW aims to promote the development of quality youth work, to support its capacity to react to current and future developments, and to contribute to creating a common ground on youth work and youth work policy. To this end, it focuses on supporting innovation and future-preparedness in youth work as a response to the trends, challenges and uncertainties faced by young people in today’s fast-changing societies. 

The EAYW offers a platform for reflection, exchange and knowledge gathering on trends and developments in and with relevance to the youth field in Europe, and on innovative youth work responses to these trends and developments. In this way, it contributes to a European youth work ecosystem that supports quality development, innovation, resilience and future-readiness in youth work.

Based on this focus, the EAYW evolves around biennial residential (and to some extent hybrid) key events, which bring together around 150-200 stakeholders from the European youth work community of practice for open conversations, peer-learning and networking on issues of relevance for taking youth work forward. Leading up to, and following up from these events, the EAYW supports additional opportunities for research, knowledge building and exchange.

Geographically, the EAYW addresses stakeholders from the wider European context and Europe’s neighbouring countries South of the Mediterranean.

More information: www.eayw.net

The 4th EAYW event: Emerging Futures of Youth Work: How Ready are We?

The 4th EAYW event will invite youth workers across Europe (and beyond) to reflect on their current practices, the core principles and the societal role of youth work, in relation to the emerging trends, such as demography, technology, climate crisis, ongoing world conflicts, shifting global values, etc.

With its specific forward-looking perspective, the next EAYW event aims to contribute to the further implementation of the current European youth work and youth policy frameworks, in particular the European Youth Work Agenda and the outcomes of the 4th European Youth Work Convention, as well as the new generation of European youth programmes and the new European Youth Strategy.

Based on the experience of the previous editions and the outcomes of the Futures of Youth Work research, the 4th EAYW event should be a space for open conversations, reflections, discussions and hands-on experiences, leading to outcomes that support the further development of youth work, in view of its potential role in the future.

The event will bring together 150-180 professionals from the European youth work community of practice for knowledge-building, peer learning and networking and a joint exploration of steps that need to be taken by youth workers and youth work as a field of practice to evolve further.

The event will be the last EAYW event under the current generation of European youth programmes. Key features of the fourth EAYW identified so far should include:

• Harvesting and sense-making: increasing the value of past achievements of the EAYW and making them more accessible, while remaining relevant and connecting them to current youth work practices.
• Creating value for the youth work field.
• Building up resilience of youth workers and youth work to the global challenges with an eye to both ends of the scale: local and global.
• Supporting connections beyond the borders of youth work.
• Identifying what are the roots that youth work needs to nurture and what needs to change.
• Remaining clear on principles and strengthening connections to what is happening around us.
• Suggesting a different way of approaching the future.

The programme should include examples of practice connecting current practices with future-oriented thinking and stimulating innovative approaches that address societal trends and challenges.

The group of participants will include an international group of students in youth work or related fields from different universities in Europe.

The EAYW Advisory Board and the Steering Group are currently exploring the idea and potential of creating a guiding tool, or "futures compass", with key messages for youth work that is flexible and focused on values, resilience and future-readiness, which could be initiated in the process leading up to the EAYW event and be co-created by various stakeholders in youth work.

[1] National Agencies of Austria, Belgium-FL, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Requested trainer profile

The facilitators will be jointly responsible for:

• The development of the methodological approach and the programme of the EAYW event, in close communication with the coordinator of the EAYW, the EAYW communication expert and other members of the preparation team,
• The overall preparation and implementation of the programme,
• Contacting and briefing experts to be invited to the EAYW and
• Communication with additional facilitators who might support the implementation of smaller workshops.

The digital facilitator will work together with the other two facilitators to build the concept and programme of the EAYW event.

In particular, the digital facilitator will be responsible for creating digital support for the event according to the needs and objectives defined by the facilitation team:

• Identify, prepare and take care of the digital tools (to be defined jointly during the preparation process) used prior to the event and during the programme to support the process of knowledge building and communication in the group of participants, and to keep track of reflections, discussions and final evaluation outcomes,
• Support the work of the video production and broadcasting team,
• Communicate with, and where necessary support the work of the EAYW communication expert who will oversee the communication of the EAYW with the wider public.

Facilitators are expected to have:

• Sound experience in facilitating large-scale events for different stakeholders, in English language, in European youth work and related fields,
• Ability to think conceptually as well as affinity for creative training and facilitation methods and approaches,
• Broad knowledge of the main themes, current structures and developments in European youth work,
• Experience in, and some “passion” for facilitating processes supporting innovation and forward-looking approaches connected to emerging trends and developments and the related challenges and opportunities for youth work, and how to translate this topic into an appropriate methodological approach for the event that stimulates creative and open-minded reflection, exchange and action.

All facilitators should be able to use digital tools in international educational events.

The digital facilitator should have broad experience and the ability to suggest and use digital tools to support communication among the participants, the implementation of the programme and the production of outcomes, and to introduce those to the team and to the participants where needed. The programme is expected to include hybrid or blended elements.

Working conditions

Preparatory process

The facilitators and the digital facilitator are expected to participate in preparatory meetings in the following periods:

• 1 September – 10 October 2025 – 1 day online
• 27 October – end November 2025 – 2-day residential prep meeting in Slovenia
• February 2026 - 2 days online
• Arrival on 4th of May 2026 for ½ day preparation meeting before the start of the event

Availability should be indicated in the application form.

In addition, the preparatory process will include regular short online meetings, to be defined jointly by the preparation team.

Payment

Full board & lodging at the residential preparatory meeting and the EAYW event will be covered and travel costs to both meetings will be reimbursed by the organisers.

The selected facilitators and the digital facilitator will each receive a fee of 4.550 EUR (based on 13 days of work) upon completion of all tasks. The fees can be paid in two rates (after the residential preparation meeting and at the end of the activity).

NOTE

As an integral part of the EAYW, onboarding activities are envisaged in the months leading up to the residential event. They might include a virtual gathering and exchange with the participants and/or reach out to the wider community of practice (e. g. in the form of 2 - 3 webinars). These activities are to be more closely defined, and contracts will be made separately for this part of the process.

Team composition

The facilitators will work closely together with the coordinator of the EAYW, the EAYW communications expert and other members of the preparation team.

The EAYW is developed based on the decisions of the EAYW Steering Group and the guidelines developed by the EAYW Advisory Board. The Steering Group is composed of representatives of the participating National Agencies and SALTO Resource Centres, the Advisory Board of different stakeholders from the youth work community of practice. 

Application & selection procedure

Apply no later than: 20 July 2025
How to apply:

All applicants must fill in the online application form available at  https://movit.typeform.com/to/WinueSVw

Applications should highlight the background of the candidates in relation to the theme of the EAYW. Applicants will be selected on the basis of their competences and suitability for the required tasks, with reference to the selection criteria indicated above.

Attention: The application form needs to be filled in one go, it cannot be saved as a draft but must be submitted immediately.

As a part of the application, candidates are invited to share some ideas and reflections on the approach and priorities of the next EAYW 2026 in a short video of up to 2 minutes length (filmed with your mobile phone or other devices at hand). You can select specific aspects or elements that you would like to highlight and explain briefly how you would approach them during the activity. The link to the video can be pasted in the form.

For more information

Sonja Mitter Skulj, EAYW coordinator
Phone: 0038614304747
Email: