Involve me and I will learn

Nowadays, one of the most popular methods of including young people from the NEET group is volunteering. Nevertheless, there is a huge gap between service and learning in voluntary projects. It does not matter whether we consider only local youth volunteering projects or international volunteering projects, for example in the framework of the European Solidarity Corps. Most of the organizations that work with volunteers mainly focus on the service part, while only a small percentage focus on the learning components.

Project reference number:

2021-1-EE01-KA153-YOU-000018370

Project duration:

1/08/2021 – 30/04/2023

Young people from the NEET group must develop their self-esteem, they must get to know themselves better, and their self-confidence must be strengthened in order to be able to act as full members of society, which is the first step to applying for a job, for example. Therefore, youth workers must offer them the kind of volunteering that will help them take the first step out of the social recession.
Youth workers must be able to invent, use and adapt creative and innovative informal educational methods, tools and techniques that can provide young people with opportunities to develop competencies.
Our project will aim to learn, share, experience and practice creative and innovative informal educational methods, tools and techniques, with an emphasis on self-education through local and transnational youth volunteering to give NEET young people a chance to participate in services, where they can develop and improve their competences in a more learning-centred manner.

The project will be attended by youth workers and educators from Azerbaijan, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, North Macedonia and Turkey.

Actions to be taken in the project:

– Meeting of leaders on August 30, 2022 – September 2, 2022 in Estonia
– Training for youth workers and educators on 01/11/2022 – 09/11/2022

Project aims:

● To research and adapt at least 10 best practices of voluntary activities with young people from 11 participating countries;
● To share and learn about 30 innovative methods, tools and techniques for self-learning youth work through local and European Voluntary Service;
● to offer more attractive educational opportunities for NEETs as independent and social learning in local and transnational voluntary work in order to develop their competences, with particular emphasis on discovering their own strengths and passions and taking up challenges with a positive approach.
● to promote local and international volunteering as a tool for independent and social learning, participation in social life, self-awareness, initiative and entrepreneurship as well as employability of young people from the NEET group.
● to develop 40 local and 33 transnational volunteering projects with a special emphasis on NEET self-education and learning in line with the Erasmus + and European Solidarity Corps proposals.