STEP 1: The right step to be a volunteer!

CONTEXTThe European Union's efforts to develop a set of strategies that promote an active role and youth participation in community and European activities are recognized. The objective is for young people to acquire and recognize their competences and the importance of adopting critical and conscious thoughts and attitudes, essential for social transformation.New generations of young people have greater access to information and opportunities, but continue to fail to filter those that fit their expectations, motivations and interests and, in two ways, can be a point of personal development and a point of social contribution.PROBLEMWe intend to respond to the problem of social exclusion of young people from community activities (volunteering), due to the absence of key competences (mainly citizenship) and the disconnection between their interests and the activities promoted.OBJECTIVES- Identification, collection and systematization of good practices and strategies, knowledge and experiences in the intervention with young people, especially with regard to the appeal and preparation of young people for local community activities;- Joint consolidation of a guideline oriented towards the appeal and preparation of young people for participation in local community activities;- Empowerment of young people with key competences for lifelong learning, especially citizenship competences;- Empowerment of youth workers with new key competences, practices, strategies and non-formal methods of youth intervention, boosting their capacity for local and transnational operationalization;- Strengthening the European partnership network, forcing the transnational opening of youth workers and organisations and the recognition of their work;- Promotion of social inclusion, namely in terms of access to opportunities, transfer of common social values, valuing European diversity and strengthening the European identity of young people, participation and citizenship.PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS1) Youth workers (YW)- Experienced and know-how in the youth field;- Knowing the social problem and needs;- Knowledgeable about the STEP 1 project and the Erasmus+ programme;- Motivated to produce knowledge and content to improve the intervention of youth workers and organisations among young people;- Motivated to involve young people, the community and stakeholders and to produce social changes.2) Youth- Young people between 13-30 years old;- Motivated to participate in the project and Erasmus+ programme;- Motivated to participate in local (voluntary) and transnational community activities;- Able to influence peer groups and the community;- Able to absorb results and adopt new thoughts and attitudes of participation and active citizenship.ACTIVITIES AND METHODOLOGYThe project will be developed based on the methodology of non-formal education, with informal and formal education being complementarily used.For local activities, the general reference is 20 participants, per organisation. In terms of other elements, the number must be defined by organisations based on their capabilities.The activities with a specific number are identified.1) PHASE 1: PLANNING AND PREPARATION- Internal meetings;- External meetings;- Transnational meeting (TM) 1 (2 yw per organisation);- Preparation.2) PHASE 2: IMPLEMENTATION- Virtual cooperation (VC);- Development of content and materials (DCM);- Diagnosis of local practices;- Training course (2 yw per organisation);- Local intervention;- TM 2 (same as the previous one);- Blended mobility (5 young people per organisation);- TM 3 (same as the previous one);- Final guideline.3) PHASE 3: MONITORING AND EVALUATION- VC;- DCM;- Monitoring and evaluation;- TM 4 (same as the previous one).4) PHASE 4: DISSEMINATION AND EXPLOITATION OF RESULTS- VC;- DCM;- Dissemination and exploitation of results (includes contact-making event).EXPECTED RESULTS AND IMPACTS1) Resultsa. Tangibles:Final guideline and contents and materials developed during the project and/or dissemination of results.b. Intangibles:Key competencies described in the EU Council Recommendations reference framework on key competences for lifelong learning.2) Impacts- Empowerment with new competences (reference of the 8 key competences for lifelong learning in the EU Council Recommendations reference framework) and learning;- Improving the ability to understand and intervene in the face of young people's problems and needs;- Greater motivation and predisposition to participate socially, civically and democratically;- Adoption of inclusive and participatory behaviours;- Greater awareness of the European project and its role in its consolidation;- Innovation in target-oriented approaches;- Increased capacity and professionalism to take up work at transnational level.