ImpACT+

CONTEXT & OBJECTIVESDoes international youth work offer a valuable contribution to the development and education of young people? Six youth work organisations from Romania, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Ireland, Lithuania wanted to provide an answer based on sound research.The six organisations collaborated in providing an alternative form of education for young people all over Europe better known as ‘non-formal education’, which is enacted in an international youth work setting. Contrary to formal education, learning outcomes within non-formal education are not measured by standardized testing, but based on self-evaluation and peer assessment. The organisations involved were eager to explore ways to measure the impact of their non-formal educational programmes. In line with their work methodology, this started with the inclusion of young people. Between 2015 and 2017, the ImpACT+ framework implemented six international multi-activity youth programmes financed by the Erasmus+ youth programme. A total of 450 youngsters, 110 youth workers and an estimate of at least 60 staff members were part of these programmes. Although each of the organisations received a significant amount of positive feedback from the (young) people involved, the organisations wanted to get a better understanding of how these programmes contributed to• the personal and professional development of young people,• the personal and professional development of youth workers,• quality development within the participating youth organisations,• the local communities of each organisation.It was evident that young people and youth workers should play an essential role in the project. In collaboration with senior researchers of the research lectoraat Social Work of the Saxion University of Applied Sciences, our seventh partner, an approach was developed where young people were not solely the topic of research, but they were the researchers themselves instead. It was evident that participatory youth research would allow both goals to be reached. This provided the outlines of ImpACT+; a research (IO1) that aims to gather data on the impact of non-formal educational programmes, but also teaches young people to do research. In order to effectively use the outcomes of the research, it was decided that the ImpACT+ research would provide two sets of recommendations developed for youth work organisations and policymakers with the aim:1. to increase the quality and outreach of international youth work activities, consequently contributing to the development of young people, youth workers, local communities and youth work organisations (IO2)2. to reach out for more stakeholders, gaining more support, knowledge and recognition for international youth work among stakeholders and policymakers (exhibition) (IO3) PARTICIPANTS & PROFILE PER ACTIVITYIO1 - 21 peer researchers including youth and youth workers, 2 senior researchers, 1 senior NFE trainer and 2 extra authors and 1 designer to finalize the report. 300 respondents that have been participating in the researchIO2 - 14 project managers including junior and senior project managers IO3 - 7 young artists, 1 senior researcher, 1 author, 1 designer and 14 project managers, including junior and senior project managersTPM 1, 2, 3 & 4 - In total 14 junior and senior project managers have been working hard to manage the ImpACT+ projectMultiplier events - More than 200 people have been welcomed during multiplier events and more events are yet to comeACTIVITIES- 3 blended mobilities consisting of 3 training courses and 3 periods of online collaboration. - 4 transnational project meetings. - 3 Intellectual outputs. - 7 multiplier events in 6 countries and for the remaining part of 2019 more multiplier events are plannedRESULTS & IMPACTThe ImpACT+ project developed three resource documents that can be freely downloaded and disseminated. https://www.theyouthcompany.nl/en/impact-plus-resources/IO1 - Research reportThis participatory youth research shows how non-formal education supports the learning and developmentof young people, youth workers and their organisations.IO2 - Exhibition Booklet & PostersThis exhibition can be used to support your youth work organisation creating more knowledge and recognition of international youth work among local, national and European stakeholders and policymakers. The lessons learned during the research are made available in this exhibition.IO3- Best practicesDo you want to increase the outreach and quality of your international youth work? Read the 12 stories for impact in your Erasmus+ youth project. These stories are based on 6 programmes in which 300 young people took part and that had a massive impact. Discover what made it work and how you can do it in your own Erasmus+ youth projects.