<< Background >>We believe that the topics of youth and cities are connected organically as the concern of urban areas for their young generation is basically about the future of that urban area in 20-30 years. So, shaping cities today together with young people will stay at the core of the future of that same city in the long-term future.We aim to put youth volunteering at the epicentre of urban resilience and long-term urban development based on equity, participation and shared vision by creating and delivering an urban transformation process made of a theory framework, practical tools and digitally integrated volunteer management mechanism regarding the active civic engagement of young people in urban life through volunteering.THE NEXT CRISISThe coronavirus crisis will change our lives for good. Although countries were the ones to respond to this threat firsts, there are two main complementary directions unfolding. First, the European Union emerged as an actor being able to mitigate this huge health and economic threat. At the same time, cities and local communities emerged as key catalysts in taking care of the most vulnerable and in finding local solutions to local challenges. Urban volunteering for urgent causes effectively spiked. During 2020, a broad survey was conducted in several European cities. Over 7,700 young people provided insights and answers on how they perceive the crisis. Besides the fact that their sense of happiness decreased by an average of 2.6 points from a 10-point scale, young people provided feedbacks such as how broken their social interaction became.Active community participation through volunteering is a strong way forward in getting through this crisis. It brings young people out of lethargy and it rebuilds the social fabric in urban settlements and their metropolitan surroundings.WHY VOLUNTEERING?Among answers provided by young people, a large majority underlines the willingness to be part of community activities, but they do not know what exactly to do. They are looking for opportunities. On the other hand, while there is no detailed information from each city, the LEAP study (leapcluj.ro) conducted during 2020 in Cluj mapped over 720 stakeholders of all kinds who provide services and opportunities for involvement for young people. Hence, we believe there is a disconnect between the offer (young people and their free time) and demand (organisations who are looking to involve young people).EXISTING MODELSEven before the COVID-19 crisis, the overall concept of the project took birth already during a preparatory meeting which took place in Novi Sad in December 2019. During the meeting, our hosts presented their local NVS volunteering system which was put in place for their OPENS 2019 European Youth Capital programme. NVS was considered as one of the best practices of the programme, however, local coordinators highlighted the need to make it more professional and to enhance it with the use of digital technologies which could make the user experience and management much easier. Those who attended the meeting agreed to take this initiative further and agreed to align efforts in developing a strategic cooperation in the Balkans as the social fabric in this region is relatively similar.SOLUTION – A DOUBLE SIDED PLATFORMAnalysing models and tools for value proposition planning, we identified that the model we need to create is one of a double-sided platform, a tool and framework which connects young people who aim to do volunteering and providers of volunteering opportunities. YouVol 21 as a concept was identified as a tool which would be able to provide a broader approach to volunteering where all actors could be supported to find the best opportunities for volunteering and volunteer hosting while being empowered in having a better learning experience with the support of an integrated validation and certification mechanism.<< Objectives >>GOAL AND OBJECTIVESWe aim to put youth volunteering at the epicentre of urban resilience and long-term urban development based on equity, participation and shared vision by creating and delivering an urban transformation process made of a theory framework, practical tools and digitally integrated volunteer management mechanism regarding the active civic engagement of young people in urban life through volunteering.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES* SO1: to enhance the work of 7 cities South-European cities in supporting volunteering as a key tool for enhancing the solidarity of citizens in a European spirit,* SO2: to empower over 10,000 young urban citizens and 350 organisational stakeholders in being an active part of their communities and in assuming a non-material contribution to social interactions and community development, capping over 100,000 volunteer hours before the conclusion of this project,* SO3: to develop a scalable model of urban youth volunteer management (white paper, delivery tools, support platform model, 7 delivered functional platforms and actions),* SOD (organisational development): to create a working cooperation platform and network of 7 starting cities in the field of volunteering, a platform which can be enhanced later in further domains concerning youth, too.<< Implementation >>MANAGEMENT SERVING THE OVERALL PURPOSE ON SHORT-TERMThe overall management structures within the coordination organisation and partners, completed by the cooperation and co-creation mechanisms serve breaking down overall objectives and achievable results at the level of each activity as an intermediate step towards these outcomes. PROJECT MANAGEMENT MEETINGS SERVING THE INNOVATION PROCESSWe are planning 7 project meetings, each taking part in a different partner hosting city. They mark key moments which are closely related to the timing of delivering intellectual outputs. M1 and M7 are opening and closing meetings, M3 and M5 are transition meetings between intellectual outputs connected to multiplier events, while M2, M4 and M6 are progress monitoring meetings at half-way point in delivering intellectual outputs. M2, M4 and M6 are also connected to capacity building learning activities. INTELLECTUAL WORK DELIVERING CONTENTEvery activity evolves around delivering 3 intellectual outputs in the project. Each output is built around key stages of the Design Thinking method. EMPATHISE and DEFINE (O1) takes inspiration from existing models of cities and existing volunteering frameworks such as P.A.V.E. The second one focuses on creating an integrated framework and platform (dubbed YouVol 21 for now as a working name) through a creative process focusing on the IDEATE and PROTOYPE stages of Design Thinking, while the third output takes Design Thinking further, creating seven practical adaptations of the framework and platform at local level (TEST and IMPLEMENT).LEARNING ACTIVITIES SERVING INTELLECTUAL WORK AND OUTPUTSEach learning activity serves one intellectual output. C1 supports the capacity building and co-creation of and with key stakeholders from each partner city (municipality, youth sector and youth support sector) within O1, starting from the current situation in the 6 partnering cities regarding volunteering, C2 supports the creative process within O2 involving the same stakeholders creating a strong ownership in the results of this output, while C3 serves the practical deployment of the new urban youth volunteering framework and platform with the support of local Connectors, who are trained during this learning activity.MULTIPLIER ACTIVITIES SERVING DISSEMINATIONMultiplier events are foreseen at the end of delivering each intellectual output. The third event will refer to present not just the results of the last output, but also preliminary results of previous outputs. The size of the third event is planned to be bigger than the events happening during the intermediate phases of the project. Additional multiplier actions at local level will enhance the visibility of the project and the awareness about achieved results and the practical utility of the innovation process.MONITORING AND EVALUATIONMonitoring will be conducted by the management team of the coordinating and partner organisations based on a set of key indicators while conducting management actions, too. Evaluation will be conducted by a layman, an expert contracted from exceptional costs who will deliver 2 interim and one final report capturing on how the work of partners made results possible and how achieved results are relating to original plans, assumptions and forecasts.DISSEMINATION SERVING THE OVERALL PURPOSE ON LONG-TERMA wide range of dissemination activities is foreseen for the final 3 months of the project targeting a wide range of stakeholders from local, national and European level.INTEGRATION AND SUSTAINABILITYAll these actions and measures will be reinserted into the DNA of the 6 urban youth ecosystems. Additionally, the coordinator will integrate the acquired expertise in its work within the Citizen Y Resource Centre, an institution which will provide availability and accessibility to the projects outputs and will work on maximising the medium and long-term impact of results on European level.<< Results >>We achieve the deployment of 6 new urban youth volunteering integrated mechanisms based on which we understand the working mechanisms of the newly developed framework in practice, too, capturing value.We connect 6 South-East European cities in co-creating a working urban youth volunteering mechanism enhanced by an overall philosophy, methodology and tools.We involve over 10,000 young urban citizens and 350 stakeholders in consulting and co-creating the new urban youth volunteering mechanism and platform.We improve the learning, acting and feeling perception of young people by 15% (measured through levels of satisfaction measures by ratings) and their perception about connectivity, access to resources and integration in the community through the activity of institutional stakeholders.We cap the first 100k volunteering hours organised and monitored through the newly deployed urban youth volunteering mechanism.We involve over 1000 young people with fewer opportunities in the consultation and co-creation process and in the first stage deployment of new urban youth volunteering mechanisms.We develop, consolidate and validate the YouVol 21 philosophy which builds on two key target groups and six key components: ME (the volunteer) through learning, acting and feeling and US (the ecosystem) through connecting, supporting and integrating. We create a complete framework made of 6 elements (concept, white paper, tools, platform, quality label, pool of connectors) combining theory (philosophy), practical tools and digital integration and management through which all actors of youth volunteering can interact.We demonstrate how the model can be adapted to practice by deploying new urban youth volunteering mechanisms and capturing their value through 6 practical study cases.We create the conditions for other European cities to adopt, adapt and implement similar local urban youth volunteering networks (scaling and multiplying) while becoming youth volunteering friendly cities (quality label).The network of initial 6 cities will provide the conditions for further improvement of cooperation between them in the South-East European region with the possibility to extend this cooperation further.A newly developed expertise and methodology regarding urban youth volunteering mechanisms will be added to the work and resources of the Citizen Y Resource Centre, which will provide a sustainability regarding the availability of services and solutions.The coordinating city of Cluj-Napoca will define its strategy for applying for the European Volunteering Capital title of 2025, as a way to achieve further performances in the field of volunteering.PRODUCT INNOVATION: We develop a full framework based on 6 systemic elements (concept, white paper, tools, platform, quality label, pool of connectors) with the help of which urban areas can develop local youth volunteering mechanism and can cap an additional pool of human resources in serving the needs and shared future of the community.PROCESS INNOVATION: We innovate how a young person can engage in volunteering while gaining practical skills and enhancing a sense of belonging to a local and to the European community.We innovate how cities empower and support youth volunteering efforts on local level, connecting relevant actors and integrating efforts in policies and strategies serving a shared vision of the future.POSITION INNOVATION: We put volunteering at the core of integrating young people in developing a shared future of a city while sharing common values, enforcing civic engagement and participation.PARADIGM INNOVATION: We shift the perception on how human resources of a city can serve the co-creation of the future without financial resources (money) or material transactions while serving societal needs.

<< Background >>THE CHALLENGEHUMANS“In learning processes, as machines become better at rote tasks, humans will need to focus on the skills that remain unique to them: creativity, collaboration, communication and problem-solving” - Karen Hao (Taught by AI) CURRENT PERFORMANCEWe believe our project is closely linked to the ability of young people for critical thinking and connecting theory with practice. With its format and MO, INNOVATORY aims to tackle the reversal of this trend through creativity, collaboration and communication which develop skills of young people that allow their performance to improve in the key. Students from Romania, Portugal, Serbia, Greece and Slovenia are on a descendent trend in the PISA 2018 tests compared to both 2015 and 2012 results, Lithuania being the only exception to this scenario. Most of the countries are being classified as level 2 in all three domains.(see detailed PISA performance in the 6 partner countries attached)Complementary, data showed youth aged 15-17 wish they were also equipped with life skills and better training of their teachers in order to transversally help in developing these skills. The consulted stakeholders shared this view, along with the impression that schools are not equipped with the proper methods and tools to stimulate creativity and critical thinking. (LEAP Cluj 2020)SKILLS, TODAY AND TOMORROWDebates regarding the future of work resound through society in the light of the emerging AI or what knowledge will be valid in one or two decades. However, there is no debate on the fact that critical thinking, ability to work in teams, problem-solving skills, creativity and new ways of applied learning won’t lose their relevance and utility.CRISIS AND RESILIENCEResilience was already becoming a theme of interest for urban areas, and the COVID-19 pandemic provided an additional argument. Communities around the world need to adapt, find new ways of dealing with crises and provide solutions to capital challenges. While the focus now is on short term solutions, the long-term sustainability through resilience lies in a widespread of skills through which crises can be managed. And this perspective starts with today’s teenagers as the key decision-making generation.<< Objectives >>GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND TARGET GROUPSWe aim to create European Innovatory, a European movement of 840 high-school pupils, 70 teachers, 50 experts and decision-makers involved in a creative and collaborative learning process identifying needs and problems in society and providing creative solutions on local and European level based on the method of Design Thinking until 2024.We aim for:• involving high-school pupils (aged 14-18) and their teachers from 7 urban areas in developing their critical thinking, creative and problem-solving skills and proactive attitude in a creative and collaborative environment, in a safe space where they can try themselves out while receiving proactive feedback while also improving teacher-pupil working relationships through the creation of 210 creative teams,• developing a creative way of promoting the creative and proactive problem-solving potential of young people towards local stakeholders and decision-makers involved in urban development locally, and overall community development at European level,• creating a Europe-wide proactive scalable learning movement based on social innovation and Design Thinking as key aspects of building individual and community resilience leading to a sustainable transformation in society, involving 840 pupils, 70 teachers and additional 150 experts, mentors and stakeholders,• creating sustainable cooperation, management and decision-making platform involving 7 starting cities and 10 additional European stakeholders aiming to take care of the results of the project including its consolidation as a European programme and movement and a scalable model in Europe and the world.<< Implementation >>A1 General management – full project periodProvides the general management activities and the monitoring of the progress. It also refers to organisational costs of the coordinator and each partner (office costs, stationary, partial salaries of administrative personnel, delegations and trips for the dissemination of the project in the country and abroad).Coordinator: project coordinatorA2 Accounting – full project periodFilling and financial management, according to the clauses of the financial agreement and its annexes.C: accountant/partner, supervised by the financial coordinatorA3 Project launch communication – 1st monthA special activity focusing on announcing the start of the project (objectives, timeframe and expected results), in 7 languages for enhanced acces. C: communication coordinator with partner coordinatorsA4 Dissemination on O1 and the launch of Local Innovatory actions – 6th monthWhen concluding O1, we will conduct a detailed, mostly institutional campaign, presenting the overall framework and next steps, aiming to raise interest towards the process, including local and European action. The public call for teachers will be launched.A5 Intermediate evaluation 1 – 8th monthIntermediate evaluation is conducted before and during the 3rd project meeting and it sums up activities and performance for the first 6 months, especially concerning the creation of O1 and the selection of teachers for the second output. The intermediate evaluation is conducted by a layman involved in the project.A6 Dissemination on O2 – 11th monthE1-E7 (happening simultaneously) are concluded with the dissemination of O2. We will address a wide range of audience and will focus on the simultaneity of the processes and the 200+ generated solutions by the teams. C: communication coordinatorA7 Intermediate evaluation 2 – 12th monthIntermediate evaluation is prepared during the 4th project meeting and it sums up activities and performance, especially concerning the creation of O2. It is done jointly by all partners. C: project coordinatorA8 Dissemination on O3 – 20th monthDissemination of O3 occurs in connection with the European SpeakOut Day and comes as a completion to the third multiplier event of the project, to be held in Cluj-Napoca, city hosting the overall project coordination. The dissemination uses a set of tools and targets a wide range of audiences, as it is presented in the special section dedicated to dissemination activities. C: communication coordinatorA9 Institutional dissemination – 21-23rd monthThis dissemination activity will focus on presenting all intellectual outputs and other results of the project through institutional channels. In this process, we will use institutional e-mail communication, but the management team will also organise a dissemination tour to Brussels and Strasbourg in order to meet key stakeholders. Visits to our associated partners will also be deployed during the last three months of the project.A10 Final evaluation and sustainability planning – 23rd monthFinal evaluation is conducted during and after the last project meeting. We will use the reporting period to enable a broad debriefing among partners and to plan future action and scaling of project results. Final evaluation also sets conditions for impact monitoring and draws up a sustainability plan for the results of the project.A11 Final communication on the project and results – 23rd monthA summary communication of the project’s results is published which provides a summary of all outputs and outcomes and it also reflects on the impact, continuation of the project and the sustainability of results. This communication will be done mostly through online tools on the internet, through e-mail and social networks.<< Results >>CAUSES OF THE CHALLENGELACK OF SOFT SKILL EDUCATION IN SCHOOLSIf one takes a glance at a weekly class schedule of European pupil in the countries involved in this project, it is shocking how any soft skills curricula is missing. Although these skills can be gained through involvement in non-formal learning activities, the burden of a school programme hardly allows a real chance in acquiring these skills without impacting one’s grades. OLD WAYS OF TEACHINGTeaching knowledge is still a mostly one-way process while validation is done with grades based on reproducing memorised information. However, the growing number of teachers trying to bring additional non-formal methods into their work is an opening. OPPORTUNITY IN DIGITAL, FOCUS ON HUMAN SKILLSAs Karen Hao expresses it quite simply, no matter of advance in technology, humans will need creativity, collaboration, communication and problem-solving skills. As Internet is relatively cheap and accessible, quality is good, there is an opportunity to deploy creative learning and collaboration processes supported by up-to-date digital solutions. There is a real opening for enabling a creative and collaborative environment focusing on problem-solving and enabling communication towards stakeholders.We aim to achieve the following results:AT OUTPUT LEVEL* the creation of an overall European Innovatory Framework comprising of an overarching context, a resolution on the needs of skills development, an open methodology for implementation at local level, an open platform supporting overall awareness, dissemination and enabling, recording and tracking of cooperation between teachers, young people, mentors and stakeholders,* the delivery of 7 Local Innovatory actions resulting in the creation of a total of 210 creative solutions developed by young people to problems and needs in their surrounding and society in general,* the delivery of 14 innovative solutions developed by young people, improved to the level of business cases ready for implementation on European level,* the formation of 210 working teams in which high-school pupils and teachers work together in developing their skills and competencies through Design Thinking,* the formation of Local Innovatory support networks involving teachers, stakeholders, decision-makers, their working ways being captured in 7 specific city-level study cases,AT OUTCOME LEVEL* 840 young people involved through 210 teams in innovative ways of developing skills and competencies regarding creativity, problem-solving, collaboration and communication,* (at least) 84 young people from fewer opportunities provided with an equal chance of developing they skills and competencies in a similar way to their peers involved in Innovatory,* 70 teachers with developed skills and competencies regarding creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, communication and facilitation involved in a pool of teachers supporting the skill development of young people, organised in local networks but also as part of a European movement,* 150 experts, mentors and coordinators are involved in supporting teachers and pupils themselves in developing new ways of collaboration in education processes aiming to develop skills and competencies of young people,* 7 local networks of stakeholders are created in support of young people’s skills development.* sustainability conditions are met for the continuation of the 7 initial Local Innovatory processes from 2024 on,* 30 more cities express their intent to adapt and deliver Local Innovatory starting from 2024.* a European Innovatory model and open movement is created for the support of skills development, able to extend and involve other cities and their local communities,* an enhanced cooperation of cities in the framework of the Network of European Youth Capitals and including a renewed commitment considering youth as a key priority in shaping the future of these cities in the long term.

LAYOUTH comes from Local Action for Youth. But it is also the combination of LAYOUT and YOUTH. Not the least, it also aims a call towards YOU with the middle letters of the newly created word. The project involves 8 cities which were nominated as European Youth Capital title bearers in time: Braga in 2012, Maribor in 2013, Thessaloniki in 2014, Cluj-Napoca in 2015, Varna in 2017, Novi Sad in 2019, Amiens in 2020 and Klaipeda in 2021.All participating cities have their own realities. Their approach towards youth-related strategic and operational planning and ecosystem-development through cross-sectorial cooperation (public, non-governmental and private) is absolutely diversified. However, cooperation is possible between these cities as there is common ground regarding the importance given to young people, their engagement, connection and empowerment as active citizens of their city’s life, and there are mutually accepted principles like co-management of strategic initiatives between the municipality and youth actors.We will change the approach on how cities should deliver for young people in a simple yet well- structured way. At least we will try. We believe LAYOUTH will become a brand and reference point on how to work for and with young people through action planning and integrated efforts of cooperation in a participatory and inclusive way. We believe these 8 cities, through their record up to this moment and their strong commitment towards youth will really be able to ignite this innovation.The main goal of the project is to consolidate the local planning and implementation systems serving youth in participating cities, aligned with European youth-related policies while setting a standard and a wide pool of intellectual resources through which any other European city can align its own local efforts towards young generation.We defined the following specific objectives for our endeavour:SO1: to create a modern, modular, complex but still easily adaptable framework and scalable model of delivering full cycles of urban youth ecosystem development built on sustainable approaches;SO2: to improve the actual youth-related planning and delivery system of participating cities on strategic and operational level putting high emphasis on engagement, connection and empowerment of young people;SO3: to engage and to empower key organisational and organisational actors in a learning process through which their capacity of a cooperation, co-creation and co-management based local action planning and delivering in the field of youth becomes sustainable while adding significantly to the quality of life of young citizens;OD (organizational development): to develop the capacity of involved partners in being key actors of the future development of youth ecosystems in their own cities and to assist other cities in addressing the same issue.… IN KEY NUMBERS …•1 modern, modular framework in 10 European languages, available open source for scaling and multiplication,•1 new brand for local action planning and delivery for youth in cities of Europe: LAYOUTH,•5 key elements of a framework for urban action planning for youth in Europe (white paper – toolkit – study cases on implemented action plans – pool of facilitators – resource centre),•8 implemented Local Action Plans for Youth in 8 cities from 8 countries, which are harmonised by methodology. All of them evaluated through study cases.•25 tools of empowering young people at local level collected in a single toolkit,•32 youth facilitators organised in a European network which can be deployed in an international environment in order to provide further scaling,•7,680 stakeholders consulted in the process,•24,000 young people consulted about their feelings about the city and their needs and contributions to their city’s life and development,•3,000+ European level stakeholders targeted by dissemination activities and publications,•1.5 million euro allocated for youth programmes and initiatives in 2020 in participating cities,•7.8 million euro allocated local budgets in partner cities for youth related investments for 2020 and 2021The project will result in the creation of a new, modern, modular, and scalable model for delivering local action plans for youth. All characteristics are carefully considered here. Modern, as something easy to understand and to apply in practice, something to which youth organisations, groups of young people can relate to easily. Modular as something which has the quality of being understood piece by piece. Adaptable as a framework which can be easily filled with local specific content while the framework itself keeps intact. And scalable as being able to be extended to an unlimited number of cities, a characteristic derived also from its adaptability. The project is built on:* 3 intellectual outputs* 3 multiplier events* 3 training activities* 8 project meetings* 8 partner/8 country cooperation