"The current project focused on enhancing the effectiveness of civic education through optimal use of available educational resources with open access, innovative pedagogical methods coupled with the ever-increasing opportunities created by the technological boom of information and communication technologies. This ensemble of specific objectives has helped the civic education system and raised the level of stakeholder engagement. Innovative educational products and methodologies have improved the quality and efficiency of youth work. They stimulate the raising of the civic education level of the group of young people with high civic activity. The collection and blending of educational resources with free access from different countries to partners and the use of advanced and modern information and communication solutions was a very good basis for cross-border and pan-European impact of project outcomes. In the frame of project have been made three innovative intellectual products of major importance for the development of civic education were created within the project: "" Videoblog - European civic education "", mobile application"" CIVICEDU "", virtual business game on civic education"" E-CIVIC "". For the development of innovative educational products, a controversial analysis of free-access civil education resources, published on the Internet, text, audio and video formats, was conducted . The survey was conducted under the direction of NMF in the global Internet space and worldwide video sharing sites. The project partners have organized and led the conduct of such a survey in the relevant national Internet sites and relevant national and specialized sites and portals. A joint workshop focused on discussing, evaluating and identifying the complex of resources for inclusion in the Internet and mobile applications. The technological design of innovative products was assigned to the technical experts involved in the creation team. The innovative products developed were implemented in the curriculum of the Academy of Civic Education at the NMF. Specialized training courses for youth workers in the field of civic education were organized to familiarize them with the possibilities of the products created within the project. The dissemination of the project results took the form of an information-advocacy campaign that culminated in a conference. The participating partners had the opportunity to get acquainted with all the possibilities of the newly created educational tools. This has contributed to their easy and relatively rapid implementation in the specific activities and practices of these organizations. Utilizing optimally the capabilities of newly created innovative educational products, they shared their experience with other related organizations and thus expanded the impact of project outcomes. Each partner organization organized a methodological center for increasing the impact of results in the country concerned. The first target group - youth workers in the field of civic education, expanded its potential and opportunities to work with a larger group of young people using the new tools for distance learning, the Internet and the mobile application. I had the opportunity to communicate with larger groups of young people and thus to increase their capacity. The group of youths engaged in civic activity received the largest share of all the benefits of the project results. Through the newly created educational products they have increased their social activity and actively defended their civic positions in a wider circle of young people and a larger audience of stakeholders on the relevant social issue."

- ACTIVE TODAY – Tools for the implementation of Youth Policies is a project that aims to bring together seven countries (Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria and Montenegro) coming from EU and Western Balkan to investigate the issues related to tools for the implementation of youth policy within international youth work as well as inclusion of youth in decision making process. The project enhances the cooperation between European member countries and WB, and for the first time in KA2 brings together National Youth Councils, Youth forums and youth organization to work together on the topic of Youth policy. Project proposes a program which combines several well structured phases: coordinators meeting, training course, International workshop, local workshops, creation of the publication and web platform for putting into practice the competences acquired and evaluation meeting for transferring the competences. This allows for a shared learning experience.This project will gather youth workers, youth councils and organizations around a shared challenge, in order to create partnerships, discuss good practices, transfer innovation and transform the learning outcomes into tools of practical application. In this sense, it is expected that the learning outcomes of this project can be applied in the respective communities of each participant, through the role that their organization plays in supporting implementation of youth policy and including youth in decision making process. All activities will be implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia starting from 2017.

The proposal for this project was derived from MMH’s advocacy practice, as well as from information collected through international cooperation with other national youth councils (NYCs) gathered in the largest European platform of youth organisations - the European Youth Forum (YFJ). Therefore, this project reflected an action that aimed to respond on real needs detected in the youth sector Europe-wide, as it also presented a genuine base for a long-term strategic partnership which have ensured the exchange of practices among youth, research organisations and institutions involved in the project.The aim of the project was to initiate and develop the advocacy agenda on necessity of developing quality assurance standards of national strategic and programme documents in the field of youth. Youth organisations gathered in this partnership, with the support of the research partners, did tend to advocate together their findings and joint possitions at the EU level, but also in each of their national contexts. With joint advocacy efforts of the Better Strategies project team and the Expert group on Youth Policy (established by the YFJ, for the first time), they have contributed to more effective youth policies at the European and national level, which was an overall idea behind this project. By engaging NYCs from seven (in this project, and within YFJ even more) EU countries in this advocacy process at the EU level - organisations which represent thousands of young people all over the EU - this strategic partnership have directly influenced stimulating the active participation of young people in the EU policy making, as it provides a solid basis for further development. Project was implemented through these activities: (1) Mapping of key issues in developing and implementing youth policy strategic documents from perspective of NYCs; (2) NYC capacity building training, which have provided necessary skills and knowledge for project partners; (3) development of advocacy tool which represented recommendations towards more successful youth policy (and was communicated and advocated towards relevant stakeholders), including the inputs provided to the Resolution on youth policy standards (adopted at the Spring COMEM 2016); (4) consultations with national bodies in charge of youth, which were used to collect opinions on the recommendations stated in the advocacy paper and to secure the support of the national bodies in later stages of the process (when concrete recommendations will be implemented, especially concerning developing the next long-term youth strategy); (5) advocacy process towards the YFJ (which started its development during the capacity building training, and was done through presentations, dissemination of the project results, etc.) and which did resulted in including some of the key findings from the project in specific resolutions; (6) Follow-up meeting which served for making a proper systematic evaluation of the project and planning future actions/steps which can be organized to successfully continue efforts towards proper and relevant youth policy. Two major results were achieved by implementation of activities specified above: (R1) developed advocacy agenda on quality assurance standards of national strategic and programme documents in the field of youth which was adopted and advocated (and still going on) within a large platform of youth organisations (YFJ); (R2) capacities of national youth councils from the EU partner countries are strengthened and their representatives are now feeling more educated and encouraged in creating and monitoring their concrete national strategic and programme documents in the field of youth, with more active engagement of their respective NYCs. Project results, findings and advocacy efforts were done towards three main target groups: member organisations of the YFJ, representatives of the national bodies in charge of youth policy (inside partner countries), but also representatives in the EU and Council of Europe bodies in charge of youth.The project has strengthened and empowered representatives of the project partner organisations, as it generally has raised awareness of other YFJ member organisation on the necessity of youth advocacy within the area of policy development. Project has also raised the awareness of the representatives of bodies in charge of youth policy development on both levels (those on national and those on EU) on the necessity of more effective youth policy (but also monitoring the results). This project's work, together with the advocacy efforts of the YFJ, did surely reactivate the youth policy topic at the European level after long time and it has a potential to provide some positive changes through clear recommendations dealing with youth strategic documents.

The proposal will investigate young people’s views of the EU and of their role in building the EU through their participatory practices at EU, national, regional and local levels. These issues will be examined from an interdisciplinary perspective (Political Sciences, Sociology, History, Media and Communications, Education, Psychology) as building blocks for a new and groundbreaking conceptualization and theoretical model of youth active citizenship in the EU, including “psychological” citizenship and practices of social and political engagement. To achieve this aim, the proposal will adopt an innovative approach combining traditional theoretical hypothesis testing with empirical-phenomenological analysis and allowing to integrate the perspectives of young people, as co-producers of knowledge, with those of researchers and other stakeholders. A wide range of research methods will be used including documentary and media analysis, interviews and focus groups, a cross-national longitudinal study, ethnographic case studies of participatory practices and a socially innovative intervention. These quantitative and qualitative methods will allow to develop a new, robust and cutting-edge conceptualization of youth active citizenship in the EU and new evidence-based multilevel integrated theoretical model. This approach will offer a multifaceted understanding of the different factors influencing the perspectives of “native EU citizens” and the ways in which they engage in society, leading to groundbreaking changes in the ways in which youth engagement, participation and active citizenship are understood. Moreover, the project will provide policy makers with a set of evidence-based ideas, recommendations and instruments to integrate young people’s perspectives into various areas of policy-making. The findings of the project will thus fully cover the challenges, scope and impact of bringing the EU closer to its young citizens and boosting their participation.

The Council Resolution on youth work, 2010, identifies eight fields in which cross-sectoral youth policy initiatives should be taken and how youth work can contribute, as well human rights and democracy, cultural diversity and mobility. The youth work activities and processes are self-managed, co-managed or managed under educational or pedagogical guidance by either professional or voluntary youth workers and youth leaders. The report of the expert group set up under the EU Work Plan for Youth for 2014 – 2015 describes the concrete role of the value of the youth work in addressing challenges young people are facing, notes the so important youth work approach as a link and broker between young people and different fields, sectors and services, such as the local communities, schools, social services, media and police. As well the report focus on the importance of the inclusion of the youth workers in the youth policy formulation - youth work is “like a radar, it is first in line and can pick up early indicators of changes, tendencies and trends among young people and help trigger quicker responses”. The new EU Youth Strategy /2019 -2027/ pointed 3 main core areas of youth sector: Engage, Connect, Empower. These 3 areas cover the general path how to engage young people to be part of the community life and to be creative architects of their own life, how to work together, to experience solidarity, to share best practices and to further work on effective systems of recognition and validation of gained competences outside the formal education. Youth work is addressed as catalyst of empowerment. Having that in mind the project partners agreed, that it is important to make further efforts to share different practices, increase training opportunities for youth workers, recognise competencies, as key to improving quality of youth work and the well-being of young people. The main objective of the project “Youth work and Youth workers across EUROPE – good examples from practice about volunteering, employment, education and training” is to explore, to describe and to exchange good practices concerning youth work in the different countries of the project partnership in order to ensure synchronised information and additional access to education and training for youth workers. The project will have the following main sub -objectives: 1. Exploring different practices in detail of youth work volunteering, employment, education and training in different European countries 2. Sharing good practices of youth work education and training within partnership3. Exploring possibilities of implementation of the shared youth work educational programs within partnership 4. Development of supportive network for information and experience exchange concerning youth work5. Better the competences of the partnering organisations of project management, achieving common goals and results and quality assurance of process. The expected results on the project completion include report on the different practices of youth work in the partnership countries; good practices collection book; shared within the partnership educational program for youth workers; development of pilot versions in the participating organisations; development of the competences of the participating organisation concerning quality assurance of processes and projects. The project will involve in the different activities youth workers and/or experts who are practitioners, who could deliver correct and evidence - based information, who could develop content, who are ready to share and improve their knowledge and experience. The project aims to get together practitioners who have an intimate knowledge of the needs of the sector and have motivation to find and deliver different solutions. Participants who are familiar with the process of non – formal learning, learning outcomes achievement, recognition and validation. The impact for the partnering organisations and other relevant stakeholders– more knowledge about youth work in practice, new partners, new competences for international cooperation, new service that they can provide to the youth workers or future youth workers in their countries. The impact for the target groups - more knowledge about youth work in practice /collection book/, new instruments and examples about the work on the field, new educational program. Enable access for youth workers to cross – border mobility opportunities, including employment and volunteering in the civic sector.The project “Youth work and Youth workers across EUROPE – good examples from practice about volunteering, employment, education and training” is complementary to the activities already carried out by the participating organisations, but as well to the institutional efforts by exchanging quality and good practices on practical level and developing new opportunities for youth workers to have access to educational programs and training outside the formal educational system.