Forward in Urban Youth Volunteering 21

<< Background >>We applied for this project because we believed that the topics of youth and cities were organically connected. The concern of urban areas for their young generation was essentially about the future of those areas in 20-30 years. Shaping cities together with young people would stay at the core of the future of those same cities in the long-term future. We aimed to put youth volunteering at the epicenter 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 theoretical framework, practical tools, and a digitally integrated volunteer management mechanism regarding the active civic engagement of young people in urban life through volunteering. Overall, the project aimed to put youth volunteering at the epicenter of urban resilience and long-term urban development, creating a scalable model of urban youth volunteer management that could be adopted by other cities in the future.<< Objectives >>The project sought to create a sustainable, scalable, and impactful model for urban youth volunteering that could be adopted by other cities, fostering a culture of active civic engagement and community solidarity. By implementing this project, we aimed to achieve several key objectives centered around enhancing youth volunteering and urban development:X Enhance the work of seven South-European cities in supporting volunteering as a key tool for enhancing the solidarity of citizens in a European spirit. This objective focused on fostering a sense of community and solidarity among citizens through volunteering, promoting a European identity and spirit of cooperation.X Empower over 10,000 young urban citizens and 350 organizational stakeholders to be active participants in their communities. We aimed to encourage young people and organizations to contribute non-materially to social interactions and community development.X Develop a scalable model of urban youth volunteer management. This included creating a white paper, delivery tools, a support platform model, and implementing seven functional platforms and actions. The goal was to establish a framework that could be replicated and adapted by other cities.<< Implementation >>In our project, we implemented a series of activities designed to achieve our objectives and create a sustainable model for urban youth volunteering:Project Management Meetings: we organized six project meetings, each hosted by a different partner city. These meetings marked key moments related to the delivery of intellectual outputs, including opening and closing meetings, transition meetings between outputs, and progress monitoring meetings. These meetings facilitated the innovation process and ensured effective project management.Local Desk Research and Stakeholder Engagement: each partner conducted local desk research focusing on existing policies, organizations, strategies, and actions related to youth volunteering. We engaged key stakeholders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors through consultations and roundtable discussions to gather insights and feedback.Online Surveys and Local Analysis: we conducted the Happy City online surveys among young people in each partner city to understand their perceptions, needs, and willingness to volunteer but also their overall subjective perception about their happiness and their perception about their cities.Development of the YooVol Framework (initially it had the working name YouVol21 but our creative team proposed YooVol as a final name, including a white paper on urban youth volunteering, a toolkit with practical tools and methods, and an integrated digital platform. This framework was designed to support the active civic engagement of young people in urban life through volunteering and will continue to do so.Learning activities: we organized three learning activities to build critical knowledge and skills among partners and key stakeholders. These activities focused on understanding existing frameworks, sharing best practices, and co-creating the YooVol framework. Participants included representatives from city halls, business networks, youth organizations, and local youth councils.*Creation of Local Urban Youth Volunteering Platforms: we developed the local platforms which will continue to be available not just for the participating cities but also to other cities willing to use it for urban volunteer management. 10 cities expressed their intent to use the platform after it is becoming available.Quality Label for Youth Volunteering Friendly Cities: We developed a quality label to assess and certify cities based on their support for youth volunteering. Each city conducted a self-assessment and developed an action plan to improve their performance on various criteria related to youth volunteering. This is part of our YooVol framework.Dissemination and Sustainability: We implemented a wide range of dissemination activities to share the project results with local, national, and European stakeholders. We also developed a sustainability plan to ensure the continued operation and impact of the local urban youth volunteering platforms beyond the project duration.<< Results >>The project provided several concrete outputs and results contributing to the enhancement of youth volunteering and urban development. Here are some key outputs and outcomes.The YooVol Framework: This included a comprehensive policy document, the White Paper on Urban Youth Volunteering, outlining principles, strategies, and best practices for fostering youth volunteering in urban areas. The document was translated into multiple languages and made available both online and in print. Additionally, a toolkit with practical tools and methods was developed to support the implementation of the YooVol framework. An integrated digital platform, available as a responsive website and mobile app, connected young volunteers with organizations offering volunteering opportunities. The YooVol framework and platform provides a scalable model that could be adopted by other cities, demonstrating how urban youth volunteering could be effectively managed and integrated into urban development strategies.Local Urban Youth Volunteering Platforms: Each partner city developed its own local version of the YooVol platform, tailored to the specific needs and context of the city. These platforms facilitated the connection between volunteers and organizations, providing a centralized hub for volunteering opportunities. Local advisory boards were established in each partner city, consisting of representatives from municipalities, youth organizations, business networks, and other key stakeholders.Pool of Connectors: A group of 24 local connectors (four from each partner city) was trained to raise awareness, engage stakeholders, and facilitate the volunteering process. These connectors played a crucial role in ensuring the successful deployment and sustainability of the local platforms. But they also influenced how the YooVol framework and app developed as they were the ones involved in building use cases, features and other details of the platform, together with the design and programming team involved in the development of the platform.The Quality Label for Youth Volunteering Friendly Cities: A quality label was created to assess and certify cities based on their support for youth volunteering. Each partner city conducted a self-assessment and developed an action plan to improve their performance on various criteria related to youth volunteering.The project fostered a sense of community and solidarity among citizens, promoting a European spirit of cooperation and mutual support. This was particularly important in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, which highlighted the need for local solutions to community challenges. The project results were disseminated through multiplier events and the online platform itself, increasing awareness of the importance of youth volunteering and inspiring other cities to adopt similar initiatives. We believe that the YooVol framework will continue to influence local, national, and European policies related to youth volunteering and urban development, demonstrating the value of integrating youth volunteering into broader urban resilience and development strategies.