”VOICE: Value, Opportunities, Inclusion, Cooperation, Empowerment in Youth Work with Minors"

Our Partnership Building Activity will focus on strengthening the quality and recognition of European youth work with minors, with special attention to the role and responsibility of youth practitioners. 

Our main themes:

• Creating a space for exchange of experiences and best practices on how to design and implement inclusive, safe, and impactful Erasmus+ projects involving under-18 participants.
• Highlighting the central role of youth workers during all phases of Erasmus+ projects—preparation, implementation, dissemination—and ensuring that their contributions are recognised and supported by partner organisations.
• Strengthening the youth workers’ competences of youth practitioners to provide high-quality services and learning opportunities for minors in the framework of European projects.
• Raising awareness about the extensive work, commitment, and professional expertise invested by youth practitioners during international youth work activities.
• Developing proposals for quality standards in European youth work with minors, and contributing to discussions on how this field should be better recognised and supported by the European Commission in the next Erasmus+ programme phase.
• Initiating KA220 Cooperation Partnership projects among the participating organisations to further address the above topics and ensure long-term impact.

The objectives of the Partnership Building Activity are:

• To exchange good practices and experiences on designing, preparing, and implementing European youth work activities with minors.
• To strengthen the competences of youth workers in providing safe, inclusive, and high-quality learning opportunities for under 18 years old participants.
• To recognise and highlight the responsibilities and roles of youth workers throughout all phases of Erasmus+ projects, from preparation to dissemination.
• To develop common recommendations and quality standards for youth work activities with minors at European level.
• To create a sustainable network of organisations (youth NGOs, schools, municipalities, youth institutions) committed to long-term cooperation in this field.
• To initiate future Erasmus+ KA220 Cooperation Partnerships that address quality standards, recognition, and the professionalisation of youth work with minors.

Expected outcomes:

• A network of reliable partner organisations committed to high-quality youth work with minors.
• Shared good practices and tools for improving Erasmus+ activities with underage participants.
• Draft recommendations for European quality standards in youth work with minors.
• Concrete ideas for future KA220 Cooperation Partnerships on the theme.