Conference on Value and Recognition of Youth Work

The conference is part of a strategic cooperation project “Strengthening youth work in Europe by supporting the implementation of the European Youth Work Agenda” (SNAC EYWA), of 15 National Agencies and SALTO Resource Centres that has the aim to contribute to the EYWA by mobilising the EU youth programmes for youth work development within the Bonn Process and by setting thematic impulses.

The overall aim of the conference is to contribute to creating more recognition of youth work and to provide a platform for further reflection on the different dimensions of recognition. So far, recognition as understood in this way addresses the following four areas:

• Self-recognition (valuing our own and others work as a field and gathering evidence of the impact of our work).
• Social recognition (other professions and the public acknowledging and valuing youth work as a professional field contributing to society).
• Political recognition (young people/youth work are included in policy development, and adequate political, legal and financial framing conditions exist).
• Formal recognition (‘validation’ of learning outcomes and the ‘certification’ of learning processes in youth work, also the training and education of youth workers - within youth work and in formal education).

AIMS OF THE CONFERENCE:

• To share and explore good practices and strategies for strengthening recognition and to bring together what is already happening within the youth work sector (from different recognition dimensions and from different countries)

• To learn about good practices in relation to recognition in other sectors

• To create an overview of the current state of recognition of youth work (building on a communication campaign prior to the event and a collection of initiatives during the event)

• To create a common message about the value of youth work that can be communicated to others external to our field with one voice

• To empower participants and facilitate capacity-building to increase commitment to recognition (by increasing knowledge, tools, resources, networks etc.)

• To develop strategies and action-planning to further strengthen the recognition of youth work

• To develop strategies and action-planning to create strategic alliances with other sectors

• To explore the opportunities of the EU youth programmes for implementing measures to strengthen the recognition of youth work

TARGET GROUP OF THE CONFERENCE:

The conference aims at empowering those stakeholders who are already engaged in the professional debate on recognition, and who are looking for additional cross-border exchange and inspiration, resources, and practical tools as well as strategic alliances within and beyond the youth work community of practice.

It mainly targets stakeholders from the youth work community of practice, but representatives of other sectors with the scope of their work having an impact on validation and recognition of youth work are also warmly invited and welcomed.

The selected participants should be motivated to actively participate in the conference and to contribute to the follow-up of the conference.