Dive IN - Participativna znanost v mladinskem delu

The DIVE IN project took as its starting point the concept of participatory science, in which the partners saw an opportunity and a useful tool to encourage young people to get involved in monitoring the state of a phenomenon or challenge in the environment in a simple way for the benefit of society. Through active participation in science we wanted to empower youth workers to take a key role in their own development as well as in the development of their communities. With the concept of participatory science, we offered the sector a new field that qualitatively complemented and built upon the sector's existing work on strengthening democratic participation and autonomy (Youth Goal 9 in the EU Strategy 2019-2027). The project provided youth workers, youth trainers and the youth sector with a tool that will help them in future programming and enable the qualitative introduction of participatory science in their organisations. We found that the project particularly built on the desire for more knowledge in the field of science and opened up opportunities for designing new programmes in the future.

The aim of the project was to integrate the concept of participatory science into the field of youth work and to raise active participation of young people in addressing societal challenges and to empower the youth sector for active involvement young people in public affairs. The project pursued the following objectives: 1. To introduce the concept of participatory science into the programmes of youth organisations. 2. To train trainers in the youth sector in participatory science. 3. to empower the youth sector and give it the tools to further develop and multiply the participatory science methodology within the youth sector. sector and beyond. 4. to enable young people to actively participate in addressing societal challenges.

To achieve the project's objectives, the partners carried out the following activities: - We organised three transnational project meetings in Slovenia, Italy and Croatia, - We organised a 3-day study visit to Croatia for 16 representatives of the partner organisations (originally planned for 12), - the organisation of a 5-day international training course on participatory science in Italy for 20 trainers in participatory science - we had more people, which we co-financed from our own resources - Organisation of a 5-day international training course on participatory science in Belgium for 20 representatives of youth organisations - we had more people, which we co-financed from our own resources - we produced a workbook on the concept of participatory science with practical exercises, - we prepared a curriculum for the training of trainers, - we developed and delivered online training on the use of participatory science in youth work, - organised an international conference in Slovenia on Participatory Science as a Fuel for Youth Activation, - organised four national multiplier events, training trainers in youth work to deliver participatory science workshops with young people - attended the Academy of Youth Work

The project partners have produced three key project deliverables: A workbook on the concept of participatory science with practical exercises - This workbook was a key tool of the project for the implementation and introduction of the concept of participatory science in youth work practice. It contained all the key elements, from the theoretical concept to practical exercises and tips on how to apply participatory science in practice in a planned way. Training of trainers in youth work curriculum - This curriculum was designed to train trainers to deliver workshops on the concept of participatory science in youth organisations, youth organisations and beyond. It contained a detailed competency framework and working methods aimed at setting up a structure for the continuous delivery of training for trainers in the field of participatory science. Online training for the use of participatory science in youth work - This online training consisted of: - 6 online webinars addressing different areas of participatory science; - 10 exercises from the workbook to get you started with the concept of participatory science integrated in the webinars