Personalised Youth Work

Background We applied for this project in order to develop tools in which to support youth workers in applying a personalised learning approach when working with young people seeking to enhance their employability, with a particular focus on needs assessment and developing adequate intervention strategies. Through PYW we have developed a comprehensive methodology on how to assess young people`s needs and apply innovative methods for developing an effective learning strategy. Alongside the methodology we have developed a toolbox of practical activities and techniques in which youth workers can use in their daily work. Our aim was to increase the quality of youth work and we have accomplished this. We have seen that by engaging young people in personalised learning processes it empowers them to be proactive with regard to their own personal and professional development. Through the project and the tools we have developed, we have addressed many needs such as: supporting the capacity building of youth workers and youth work practices; supporting youth workers in developing and sharing effective methods; fostering the inclusion and employability of young people; supporting the integration into the labour market and many more. Objectives We applied for this project as a response to global and European challenges, alongside also addressing our partner organisations’ own needs and is based on many lessons learnt. Despite the differences that exist with regard to the work we do to enhance young people’s employability at national level, we discovered a common trend for all our partner countries. With the PYW project we wanted to achieve a support package for youth workers, to assist them in their daily work by developing an innovative approach to be applied by youth workers. This contributes to fostering quality and innovation in Youth Work with a particular focus on capacity building of youth workers, sharing effective methods in reaching out to young people, supporting the transition from youth to adulthood and the integration into the labour market. Our objectives were to design, pilot and disseminate a bespoke methodology and toolbox, which will enable youth organisations to effectively assess young people’s needs, as well as to empower and increase their chance for sustainable employment. The direct target group was youth workers providing services to enhance employability. The end users are young people aged 16-24 seeking to acquire skills for better employment. Implementation Through the project we carried out various activities including: IO1 focus groups: The focus groups were conducted to map the opinions and contributions of youth workers / experts in the field on their expectations of the manual and to collect their feedback on the proposed structure and thematic focus of the manual. Furthermore, the focus group provided us with relevant and practical information on how to embed effective measures to enhance the quality of youth work and the well-being of young people. IO2 focus groups: The focus groups were conducted in all partner countries in order to collect feedback and map the opinions of youth workers on the proposed structure, indicative content and thematic focus of the PYW Toolbox. Pilot Testing: The piloting of IO1 and IO2 was aimed at exploiting the two core intellectual outputs in practice, among representatives of the target groups. Multiplier events – dissemination/awareness raising events Through PYW: 41 youth workers took part in focus groups 64 youth workers and 126 young people took part in Pilot testing of the outputs 152 local and 10 international participants took part in dissemination conferences 42,280 were reached through extensive dissemination by the partners Achievements Through PYW we developed: O1 – PYW Methodology, providing detailed guidance on how youth work in the field of boosting the employability of young people can be enhanced through the application of innovative practices and techniques. This output enables youth workers to transform the way they assess young people’s needs and support them in providing a truly personalised service to respond to global challenges, the new reality and the existing limitations of youth work. O2 – PYW Toolbox containing a wealth of activities and techniques to be applied by youth workers depending on the needs, profile, background and aspirations of the targeted young people. This output allows youth workers to co-create with their trainees and customise the training content in line with the individual learning goals. Project website – www.personalisedyouthwork.com Facebook page Project Dissemination strategy and report Project Evaluation and quality strategy and report Project quality and management plan Exploitation plan and sustainability roadmap Numerous questionnaires and feedback forms and analysis along with methodology documents for each output. Peer review documents 5 Newsletters informing about the project and project progress