Europe Goes Local Project Lab to support rural youth work

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE PROJECT LAB

Project Labs in the frame of Europe Goes Local (https://europegoeslocal.eu/) are international training and networking events that bring together officials and practitioners in youth work to strengthen the usage and exploitation of the possibilities offered by the Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps programmes for youth work at the municipal level.

Specifically, the Project Lab aims to:

• provide information and training on the possibilities of the European mobility programmes, and how to use them;
• present and curate good practices in using the programmes, with a focus on youth work at the municipal level;
• support partnership-building and networking, with a focus on youth work at the municipal level;
• allow for project development with a focus on the usage of the European mobility programmes, and provide coaching thereof;
• provide direct contact and support by the network of National Agencies to the potential project promoters/beneficiaries

In the bigger picture, Project Labs contribute to the promotion of the European mobility programmes, bring them closer to municipalities, and enhance the impact, recognition and visibility of youth work at the municipal level.

PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS

• basic knowledge of European mobility programmes
• connected to youth work at the municipal level. In case the participant represents an “independent” institution (eg an NGO), then a mechanism is needed to check the relation to youth work at the municipal level (eg endorsement by a municipality or sending NA, description of relation to municipal youth work in the application form, …)
• available to join the main event (Project Lab) as well as pre-ceding webinar
• willing and in a position to develop and commit to co-operation projects using the European mobility programmes, enhancing youth work at the municipal level
• ideally already has an idea or preference for possible co-operation projects or themes

FORMAT, SETUP AND EMBEDDING OF THE ACTIVITY

With the project labs, we offer a package of activities to prepare the participants before they meet in the residential event.

Events:

• Inspirational webinar to showcase good practices in how to use the European mobility programmes to enhance youth work at the municipal level. That webinar is open to the general public.
• Meet & Match: there is a mandatory online meet-up before, where participants get to know each other and get to know existing and potential ideas/wishes/needs for co-operation projects.
• Project Lab: residential activity 14-17 November (14th and 17th will be travel days).

The Inspirational webinar and Meet & Match session will take place on the same day, please, see the indicative week above. The specific date will be defined later on.

Digital embedding

The Europe Goes Local intranet will be used as an online support tool where the trainers and participants will be able to interact and share materials in relation to the event.