Impact Lab for Youth Work : Designing Impact-Oriented Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges

DESCRIPTION OF THE TRAINING COURSE:

Impact Lab for Youth Work is a 5-day training course bringing together 24 participants, residents of European Union Member States and third countries not associated to Erasmus+ programme, to explore how Erasmus+ youth exchanges can become powerful learning experiences.

While Erasmus+ offers strong opportunities for youth work development, many youth exchanges struggle to create clear learning pathways, meaningful impact, and sustainable results. Challenges often appear in learning design, the strategic use of non-formal education methods, inclusion, and the transfer of learning beyond the project itself.

This training course responds to these challenges by focusing on impact-driven design of youth exchanges. Participants will explore how to plan and implement youth exchanges as structured learning processes, how to align objectives, activities, and methods with the real needs of young people, and how to work in international partnerships that support quality and impact.
 

AIM

The aim of the training course is to strengthen the competences of youth workers to design and implement Erasmus+ youth exchanges that create clear, meaningful, and sustainable impact for young people, organisations, and local communities.

OBJECTIVES

O1: Develop a clear understanding of what quality and impact mean in Erasmus+ youth exchanges, by exploring the full project cycle—from needs analysis and learning design to evaluation and follow-up—using non-formal and experiential learning approaches.

O2: Strengthen their ability to design youth exchanges as coherent learning processes, aligning objectives, activities, non-formal methods, and expected learning outcomes with the needs, realities, and learning styles of young people.

O3: Improve their capacity to build and manage international partnerships through co-creation, shared quality standards, and a common, impact-oriented approach to the development of Erasmus+ youth exchange projects.

TARGET GROUP

• The target group for this training course includes youth workers, trainers, youth leaders, youth project managers, and volunteers who are involved in, or plan to be involved in, the design and implementation of Erasmus+ youth exchanges, and who want to strengthen the quality, learning design, and impact of their youth exchanges.
• Residents of European Union Member States and third countries not associated with the Erasmus+ Programme.\

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Analyse the learning and impact needs of young people and communities in the context of Erasmus+ youth exchanges, using needs analysis as a foundation for project design.

Design Erasmus+ youth exchanges as structured learning processes, clearly connecting aims, learning objectives, activities, non-formal education methods, and expected learning outcomes.

Apply impact-oriented thinking when planning youth exchanges, identifying how learning, participation, and follow-up activities contribute to short-, mid-, and long-term impact.

Select and use non-formal and experiential learning methods strategically, based on learning objectives, group dynamics, inclusion considerations, and desired impact.

Integrate evaluation and reflection processes into youth exchanges in order to assess learning outcomes, measure impact, and support continuous improvement.

Plan meaningful follow-up and dissemination actions that support the transfer of learning results to organisations, local communities, and future Erasmus+ projects.