The general purpose of the project is to increase interest of young people in the European integration and European issues by supporting educators and youth workers in providing accurate materials and tools to show how the European heritage and values are linked to particular fields of knowledge the young people are being taught at schools. Our project thus brings forth the idea of creating new materials in form of a simple manual, updated by good practices from Poland, Germany and Romania. By identifying common challenges and specific problems in each country through critical approach towards European integration and issues in school curriculum we will engage educators, youth workers and young people to work on materials addressing the EU – the concept of integration, its demography, history, cultural and natural heritage as well as its institutions, competences and specific actions. Two training courses for educators and youth workers as well as one blended mobility for youth will be organized and constant work with local working groups will be conducted. In order to encourage deliberate learning processes inclusive and interactive methods will be used.In a participatory way, engaging educators, youth workers and youth, a manual on European education suited to the partners’ environments and needs will be created, tested, implemented and disseminated. In a long-term perspective the Manual aims to become a permanent resource for comprehensive European education in schools and youth-work. The project will therefore enhance the interest, critical approach and willingness of youth to participate in democratic and civic life of the European community by understanding it better.

The project is solved by three non-governmental organisations – V.I.A.C. – Institute for youth support and development from Slovakia as applicant, Plán B. from the Czech Republic and Pro Vobis from Romania. All those organisations are experienced in the topic of volunteering, its support and development and this project is another step in raising the quality of volunteering in our countries. The main need, we come from, is the fact that although we speak a lot about volunteering, and the number of young people who are participating as volunteers increased, volunteering still isn’t much appreciated from employers, so there is almost no connection between volunteers and labour market. Young people very often start being volunteers because for them it is opportunity to spend their leisure time meaningfully and they want to become useful. But they cannot see connection between volunteering and their future entrance to the labour market. Very often, when we motivate young people, who haven’t any experience with volunteering, to become volunteers, they don’t understand why they should work for free, because they don’t believe they will be able to use this experience in the future while looking for job. Looking for the solution how to contribute to improving recognition of competences gained in volunteering with the labour market must be more complex and has to include different types of companies and organisations as well as volunteers and youth organisations. That is the reason we decided to connect three organisations that are experienced in the field of volunteering to make first steps in opening this topic in our countries and bring positive change. The main objective of the project is to contribute to recognizing skills of young people gained in volunteering in the labour market through connecting volunteers, business companies and non-governmental sector organisations. There will be three intellectual outputs created:1.Research among employers and among young people to find out their relation to volunteering, if they see it important in connection with the entrance to labour market. We also want to focus on experience of employers if young people even mention their volunteer experience in their CVs and what is helpful during the job application process to attract employers. 2.Volunteer recruitment database - will be small “social network,” where volunteers and employers can connect and fulfil their needs. There will be possibilities for young volunteers and also for HR experts and representatives of companies to create their profiles there. Young volunteers will be able to create their profile, describe their volunteer experience, number of working hours, NGOs, where they did their volunteering or name of non-formal groups. There will be possibility to measure their competences gained in volunteering through connecting to application IM-PROVE, that was created in another strategic partnership by our Czech associated partner INEX SDA and that is already tested with the target group of young volunteers. NGOs will have a space register there, to confirm information and competences of their volunteers, write short recommendations or reviews about them and give them their contact for references. Volunteers also will be able to generate their volunteer CVs with all those reviews and references and add it to their job applications. Also companies and firms will be able to create a profile there and place there their job offers – long-term but also short-term, or choose volunteers directly based in their experience and expertise. 3.Methodology for young volunteers how to “sell” their competences gained in volunteering to employers. We will use the outcomes from the research among employers and among young volunteers and prepare material, that will help young volunteers to improve their entrance to the labour market. There will also be 6 business breakfasts organized in every country for networking of companies and NGOs and final conferences about volunteering in every country.

"<< Objectives >>With the ""Beacon of Values” project, we wish to create and develop a tangible, transferable tool that will be used mainly by educators and youth workers in schools, educational institutions and NGOs, to create courses aiming to promote, communicate and enhance active citizenship and common values in every day life, in order to formulate attitudes and skills to combat xenophobia, racism and discrimination, using creative, innovative and non formal education methods and activities.<< Implementation >>The project activities we plan to implement are the Project Meetings(Kick-off, Midterm, Final), the Training of Multipliers and the Local Workshops, that will directly involve approx. ?? people in the education and youth work sector.The project will focus on non-formal learning methodology, placing the participants in the center of the learning process, relying on their interest and motivation for a profound and multi-level learning approach and emphasising their own responsibility for learning.<< Results >>The end results will be the Curriculum for the Training of Multipliers in 4 languages, the Tool Box and 15 youth workers and educators trained as multipliers. We expect that the project will have the effect of a continuous stimulation of learning and evolving. Moreover, we plan to create a chain of exchange in terms of expertise, skills, ideas and perspectives in the field of youth education, as the participants will act as multipliers of the project in their home countries and local communities"

The EVS Realm: Masters of the learning path project was a Strategic Partnership aiming to increase the quality of EVS/ESC experiences and learning processes of EVS/ESC volunteers and hosting organizations.The project objectives were: 1.Build capacity of beginner EVS/ESC hosting organizations to design meaningful projects that respond to community needs while providing valuable learning experiences for the volunteers 2.Increase quality of the learning experience of the EVS/ESC volunteers by developing training and resources for the mentors engaged in EVS/ESC 3.Increase awareness of relevant stakeholders about the challenges faced by organizations in ensuring the quality of the EVS/ESC experiences and the key role of mentors in enhancing the quality of the EVS/ESC experience for the volunteer,the organizations & the communityThe partnership was made up of 4 organizations experienced in EVS and having had contact with the program from all the different angles and perspectives, coming also from very different corners of Europe:Politistiko Ergastiri Cultural Workshop from Cyprus, ANAWOJ from Poland, European Volunteer Center in Belgium and the applicant organization–Pro Vobis–National Resource Center for Volunteering from Romania. In the context of the EVS 20-year anniversary in 2016,the partner organizations analyzed the need for an increased quality in the management of EVS learning process,placing in the middle of this process the key actors who can influence and impact the way the learning journey goes.Besides the project coordinator and the volunteer him/herself,the most important role lies in the hands of the mentor.Thus,a vast part of the present project focuses on improving and creating mentoring tools and a framework for development for mentors&project coordinators in different organizations across Europe. Main project activities: -Transnational partner meetings–for planning, implementing and evaluating project activities and creating content&tools -Research on the status of mentoring in EVS,tools that already exist and needs still to be fulfilled -Creating an online professional community for ESC practitioners (mentors&project coordinators) to support and motivate each other,exchange tools,dillemmas and learn innovatively -Creating a set of 4 intellectual outputs to reach project objectives:a Training Design for hosting organizations focused on Quality in EVS/ESC project implementation (O1),a Training Design for Mentors in EVS/ESC (O2),containing a training curriculum,topics to be addressed,methodology & activities to be implemented in training,that can be then transferred to other organizations or institutions interested in training their own mentors, ToolBox for Mentors in EVS (O3),meant to support their concrete activities with the volunteers, and a Policy Paper on Improved EVS/ESC Quality (O5) to communicate project conclusions to European volunteering policy-makers. -Promoting EVS/ESC in smaller communities which do not have access to it -Delivering 2 training activities to test,consolidate and use the outputs produced: a Training for Mentors in EVS/ESC (C2),for 28 participants, as a test phase of the intellectual outputs developed and a Training for Hosting Organizations (C1)- participants who are beginners in EVS/ESC,have implemented none or 1 project and feel the need to understand how to properly structure a project to reach aims of both the hosting community,the volunteer and the hosting organization. -Involving training beneficiaries into a piloting phase of output 3,meant to test their suitability and utility before launching them in the wider EVS community -Organizing Multiplying Events locally in each partner country,to disseminate the project outputs and results,aiming to reach more than 90 local stakeholders -Large international Multiplying event,hosted by CEV in Brussels and which gathered over 90 participants interested/involved in the EVS/ESC movement,to share and exchange expertise,good practices,stories and tools that can push the ESC movement forward–60 international&30 national participants,using the opportunity to bring into the discussions European-level stakeholders and policymakers. -General project management activities planning,monitoring,evaluation,promotion,communication and dissemination) With all the activities we implemented, we believe we managed to reach an increase in the number of skilled,motivated mentors in ESC projects,more profound learning experiences for ESC volunteers, reduced risks of volunteers leaving their projects early,better chances for generating genuine community impact in the hosting communities as well as an increased quality in the general management of ESC Volunteering projects.The 4 project partners are now more able to manage complex European projects and will extend their services to other NGOs in their countries, and now there are concrete and attractive tools for mentors to create meaningful mentoring processes.

"Turkey is one of the countries with the high youth population in the world and the young people are with strong social sensitivity. One of the most important parts of ensuring active youth participation is ""volunteering"" through which they can be actively involved in decision-making processes for the matters that concern them. Being aware of it and feeling the responsibility, our organization has adopted the principle of encouraging volunteering activities and active participation of young people in all aspects of social life. Volunteering is beneficial in creating opportunities for participation by strengthening trust and solidarity for both individuals and communities.With the partnership of 5 established organizations active in youth field, Uluslararası Gençlik Aktiviteleri Merkezi Derneği (IYACA) has designed this project with the objective of“developing the capacity of CSOs in volunteerism field and enhance the youngsters’ active citizenship through voluntary activities.” One of the specific objectives is to develop the administrative and institutional capacity of CSOs in civil society. In order to realise this objective, a volunteer management programme will be developed. The concept of management in this context is not based on a typical employer-employee relationship. An effective volunteer management is a long-term commitment of CSOs with volunteers to provide the highest benefit for both sides. Volunteer management can only be sustainable with the help of a strategic planning. This strategic plan consists of analysis upon the reality, needs and potentials of CSOs and young people. Another specific objective is to strengthen the volunteering in civil society.Partners are selected according to pre-determined criteria, and they are from Turkey, Romania, Lithuania and the Netherlands. It is 24-month project. There are 2 Transnational Project Meetings, 11 multiplier events and 3 Learning/Teaching/Training activities to lead to the successful project results. There are 6 Intellectual outputs named as;1-“Volunteering Map of Turkey” Report2-“The Needs Analysis and Suggestions for National Youth Policy” Report3-Training module for young people on volunteering4-Training module for youth workers on volunteer management5-Online Matchmaking Portal6-Results bookWe as project consortium expect to create important results. They are listed like;-An effective volunteer management model will be established,-The administrative and institutional capacity of 210 CSOs will be improved,-Youth workers’ competence in volunteer management will be enhanced,-CSOs will have an accessible and free volunteer management module,-Youth field will have a new tool by which volunteers and CSOs can find each other easily,-The term of volunteering will reach to much wider audiences,-The knowledge, skills and competences of volunteers will be improved through an effective management and they will be included in decision making processes, first at their local and then at bigger platforms.-An analysis of CSOs will be realized based on their volunteering activities,-A digital volunteer platform will be created,-Inclusive environment for volunteers in decision making mechanisms will be improved,-The number of volunteering activities will be increased"