Call for Partners, Raising EVS Employability Seminar

Changing lives, opening minds
Erasmus+

Idea in Brief: With rising rates of youth unemployment across Europe, finishing formal education no longer guarantees a job soon after. The situation is getting alarming in countries like Spain, Greece and Italy, but other European countries do not fare well either. A high number of young people are now looking for solutions and answers. Some are finding them in internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, volunteering and of course, in the European Voluntary Service. Youth`s motivations for going on a volunteering Service abroad are very diverse, but a lot of them hope that an EVS experience will increase their chances of finding a job when they return home.

The question that we are raising is: “How can we make our EVS volunteers increase their employability through their Service?” We will try to find practical solutions and answers to this questions through an Erasmus+ Seminar that will be held in Bucharest, Romania.

Project Information

Project title: Volunteer today, employee tomorrow (working title)

Type: Seminar (Training and networking for youth workers)

Aim: Raising the quality of European Voluntary Service projects with a focus on raising the employability of EVS volunteers during and after their mobility.

Period: 26.10.2014 – 03.11.2014 (9 days, 7 working days, 2 traveling days)

Location: Bucharest, Romania

Number of participants: 28 youth workers + 5 invited experts (from business, nonprofits, public institutions in relation with employment, EVS and HR)

Target-group:

• Youth workers involved in European Voluntary Service projects on a management or operational level; The participant should have been involved in at least 1 project (Hosting or Coordinating, NOT just Sending);
• Advanced level of English (writing, listening, speaking);
• Strong motivation to improve the quality of his/her EVS projects and to offer increased support to EVS volunteers in order to increase their employability;
• Ability and motivation to implement the learning outcomes in his/her home reality;
• Willingness to share from personal experience regarding the EVS projects;
• Commitment to participate to the full duration of the seminar;

Participants per partner organization: 1-3 (according to the needs and possibilities of each partner)

Project Phases:

1. Preparation: After the project`s approval, each partner will identify the potential participants. There will be a needs analysis made with the participants in order to prepare the seminar and adapt it to the actual context. Participants will prepare additional work before coming to the seminar, which will be decided upon together. Potentially, a survey will be applied by the participants to their former and current EVS volunteers to explore their perspective on EVS projects preparing them for employment.
2. The Seminar: During the seminar we will explore how to make our EVS projects increase the employability of our EVS volunteers and create a practical framework to actually make it possible. We will also tackle subjects such as EU Citizenship (with focusing on the citizenship as a way to EU work mobility), Youthpass as a useful recognition tool, and go through the most difficult aspects of EVS projects in order to try to find solutions and raise the quality of our projects. We will share and explore good practices and discuss operational items related to managing an EVS project.
3. Follow-up & Dissemination: We want to make a project that will not disappear on the day of departure of the participants. In order to expand the impact to other organizations too, we will create an online educational resource freely available to all interested parties, as well as an Raising Employability Guide for EVS organizations.

Note: A study is associated with this project, which was made to analyze the potential needs in regard to the quality of EVS projects. The study is called “Quality Challenges in EVS Projects” and its results can be seen here.

Partnership Information

We believe in strong partnerships that can make the seminar an enjoyable learning process for all participants. That`s why we ask potential partners to check some minimal eligibility criteria that we think can assure a higher quality experience for everyone involved.

Eligible partners:

• Non-profit organizations/charities and public institutions that have an EVS accreditation (mandatory condition);
• Partners can be from Programme Countries (EU + EEA) and also from Partner Countries; We will try to create a mix of Southern + Northern European countries + Non-EU countries;
• Each partner should have organized at least 1 EVS project as a Hosting and/or Coordinating Organization (or has its first project underway);
• Partners should be able to send 1-3 participants to the seminar that observe the target group specifications mentioned above;
• Partners should be motivated to improve the quality of their EVS projects and aim to increase the employability
• Eligible partners should have transparent stakeholder communication procedures (i.e a website or annual report that are kept updated, regardless of language);

Note: According to the new Erasmus+ protocols, all partners must have a PIC Number and be registered on the Unique Registration Facility on the EU website. This is not necessary in order to apply as a partner, but will be required if you are selected as a partner for this project.

Partnership Framework: After the deadline for partnership applications, the selected organizations will be formally invited to become Promoters for this project. In the following weeks the project application will be written and presented as a draft to all partners, who can contribute with feedback, ideas and ways to improve it. The project will be written in English in order to make it easier for all partners to contribute in the feedback phase.

If you have any questions regarding this Call for Partners please contact us at info@younginitiative.org . Find out more about the Young Initiative Association on our About Us page.

Organizations that wish to become Partners for this seminar are invited to fill out the application form below.