Partnership-building Activity: EVS to tackle long term unemployment

Location: Bled , Slovenia

Dates: 7-11 June 2016

Number of participants: 20

This is a long term activity on how to establish reciprocal international EVS partnerships, based on local partnerships between youth organizations and employment offices to encourage long term unemployed young people (aged 18-30) to get involved in EVS.

Do you…
• have experience with organising EVS projects?
• see EVS as an opportunity to support the development of competences and help young people to focus on what they expect from their careers?
• cooperate with employment offices or wish to strengthen cooperation with them in the area of tackling long term unemployment?

Would you like to:
• upgrade your EVS projects?
• offer regular placements for long-term unemployed young people from your local community?
• participate in a pilot project to establish a high-quality long-term cooperation model, which can be offered to organisations in the future?

The activity will be implemented in 4 phases:

Phase 1: An international Contact making seminar/Partnership Building Activity on 7-11 June 2016 in Ljubljana, Slovenia (arrival on evening of the 7th, departures on morning of 11th)
Phase 2: Participants apply to the October 2016 deadline in Erasmus+ and start their EVS projects in January 2017.
Phase 3: From January 2017 onwards, researchers will follow the journey of EVS volunteers taking part in the project, and document the impact these projects have on their life.
Phase 4: By the end of 2017, publication of a report documenting results of the project and promoting the benefits and model to organisations and local communities

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In Slovenia, some good practices were identified, where organisations developed good quality partnerships and offered regular placements for young people with fewer opportunities. They are sending youngsters to EVS in cooperation with other specialised private and public organisations and institutions from their local community and broader, who do not have the capacity to organise such projects themselves, but do have the appropriate target group.

HOW WILL WE DO IT?
DEVELOP A NETWORK of organisations, specialised in offering EVS for long term unemployed youngsters.

CREATE a space to share good practices and tools on establishment of quality partnerships with employment offices.
What are you expected to do, if you participate?

First: Establish a partnership with local employment office, which will help by identifying suitable long-term unemployed youngsters. (For this, employment counsellors will be adequately informed/educated at a later stage of this long-term project)

Second: Participate in the international Contact making seminar/Partnership Building Activity in June 2016 in Bled, Slovenia, to find a partner organisation with similar interest from abroad.

Third: Apply for EVS in October 2016 deadline, preferably by sending and hosting at least one EVS volunteer.

Fourth: Be interested in developing a long-term cooperation with that organisation offering regular EVS placements for long-term unemployed youngsters.

WHAT WILL THE ACTIVITY OFFER?

The activity will offer space for organisations that want to develop long-term partnerships and cooperation projects offering EVS as an option for long-term unemployed young people and those, who already cooperate with employment offices in order to assure the transfer of good practices, identify potential challenges and find suitable solutions.

AIMS AND CONTENTS OF THIS LONG TERM ACTIVITY:
The activity aims to bring together about 20 experienced youth workers and organisations, who wish to offer EVS placements to long-term unemployed youngsters from their local environments. They will have the chance to exchange, discuss and learn from already existing practices of cooperation between youth organisation and employment offices.

In particular, the activity will try to:
• Establish long term partnerships between organisations that will apply for EVS projects with regular placements for long-term unemployed youngsters
• Reflect on Erasmus+: Youth in Action, specifically EVS, as tools for inclusion of long term unemployed youngsters

TARGET GROUP:
Youth organisations with EVS accreditation, who:
• already have experience with EVS projects (sending and hosting)
• wish to develop and offer specialised EVS placements to long-term unemployed young people from their local/regional environments,
• are interested in establishing long-term partnerships with their local employment office;
• are interested in establishing long-term partnerships with organisations with similar interest from abroad;
• are interested in sending and hosting long-term unemployed young people as EVS volunteers;
• are interested in developing and implementing a specific support for this particular target group.