The project started on March 1st 2022 and it will end in 2 years’ time.
Measuring impact in youth work- mission (im)possible!
Project is led by National Association of Youth Workers - NAPOR (Serbia), in cooperation with Sojuz za mladinska rabota Skopje (The North Republic of Macedonia), University St Kliment Ohridski (Bulgaria), NINFEA (Italy), APPJUVENTUDE (Portugal) and Institute of Social Sciences (Serbia) It's funded by the Tempus Foundation through the ERASMUS+ program of the European CommissionAll youth workers around Europe agree that Youth Work changes lives. It provides opportunities for personal achievement and community involvement, supports life and social skills, promotes physical and mental wellbeing, and opens pathways to employment, further education, and positive futures for young people. Positive experiences in areas like these directly impact young people – particularly those from vulnerable groups.
So, what evidence do we provide to support this common agreement?
How can we measure these changes on the level of young people or local communities?
What scientific data can we provide?
The overall aim of the partnership is to develop a mechanism that will provide the evidence of the importance of youth work in Europe, create a legacy for future advocacy activities in order to ensure recognition and quality of youth work programs.
Specifically, the project aims to:
1. conduct mapping of existing practices, mechanisms, tools, instruments at EU, national, local levels related to the impact of YW on youth;
2. develop mechanism and instrument(s) related to the impact of youth work on youth and its usage for advocacy purposes;
3. develop and test mechanism and instrument for measuring the social impact of youth work (economical aspect incorporated) and its usage for advocacy purposes.
4. foster multi-sectoral cooperation in the field of youth by gathering research and youth work communities.
Planned outputs of the project are:
- Booklet “Mapping of leading practices at local, national and European level regarding youth work impact on youth” containing up to 20 methods and tools, reflecting Serbian, Portuguese, Italian, Macedonian and EU level.
- Developed mechanism for measuring youth work impact on youth, along with instrument(s).
- Research study containing mechanism and instruments for measuring social and economic youth work impact, along with a report of implemented mechanism in 4 countries involving 300 youth.
- Capacity building training in Serbia for 12 employees of national associations from 4 countries for the implementation of the mechanism for measuring the social impact of youth work and translation of data into advocacy arguments.
- Multiplier event “How to measure youth work impact on youth” for 120 youth workers, organisations and representatives of national and local institutions from Serbia, Portugal, Italy and The Republic of North Macedonia.
- International Multiplier event - “How we can measure youth work impact?” for up to 30 participants from EU and CoE institutions, international organisations and researchers.
- International Multiplier event – “Creating a plan for measuring the impact of youth work across Europe” for up to 30 participants from National associations of youth workers and European Network of Youth Work Associations.
- Visibility and promotional actions reaching youth workers from 250 organisations and 100 research and academic institutes from Serbia, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria and The Republic of North Macedonia and up to 200.000 people of the wider public across Europe.
Kick off meeting was organised by NAPOR and took place on line (Zoom platform), on March 14th 2022. It served to introduce all partners and their expertise, have an overview of the main project activities and to get common understanding of responsibilities of each partner.
TPM1 - Preparation meeting of partners took place in Belgrade, Serbia from 7th to 9th of April 2022.
The meeting aimed to set the base for successful implementation of the project and so partners set the detailed time frame, clarified the roles and responsibilities of each partner and dealt with the project management issues such as procedures for implementation, reporting and monitoring of the activities. Significant time was dedicated to the discussion about youth work conditions and forms in Serbia, North Macedonia, Portugal and Italy, including the need for measurement of the impact on young people and local communities.
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TPM2 - Preparation for Mission (im)possible was organised by the Union of Youth Work in Skopje, North Macedonia, taking place from 14th to 16th December 2022. The meeting was dedicated to the final preparation of the research for measuring social impact of youth work.
Researcher teams from Institute for Social Sciences and Sofia University presented the results of the desk research and proposed research design. Long fruitful discussions were around proposed research dimensions, due to the challenge to choose those that correspond to various youth work forms performed in different countries. The methodology for each of 3 research waves for collecting responses is set, as well as target groups profiles and numbers.
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LTTA - Because it is possible...Capacity building for measuring the social impact of youth work was organised by NAPOR, from 17th to 21st of February 2023 in Eco Centre Radulovacki in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia. Profile of participants included researchers from the Institute of social sciences and Sofia University (4) and youth workers appointed by national associations (8), engaged in the testing phase of the Research related to the social impact of youth work. The event aimed to build capacities of participants to perform their roles (researchers and youth workers), tasks and responsibilities with the high-quality. According to the evaluation of participants, the event fully met their expectations, providing the solid base for the implementation of the research.
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