DiaLOG IN Youth Work was a national youth dialogue project for the recognition of Youth Work, the figure of the Youth Worker and Non-formal Education.
Youth Work has been practised in Italy for decades now, but its regulatory definition suffers from a vacuum that prevents the entire sector and the professionals working in it from obtaining the social, economic and political recognition that would allow the establishment of a guaranteed quality standard, a clear professionalisation path and an implementation strategy that is fully included in the framework of youth policies in Italy.
Similarly, Non-formal Education, although widely spread and established in connection with the methodologies used in the framework of Youth Work, is not officially recognised as an educational methodology in the framework of Formal Education, there is no systematic observation of the impact of non-formal education in the youth educational process in Italy and outside the activities supported by the Erasmus+ Programme, much remains to be done in Italy in application of the EU Council Recommendation of 20 December 2012 on the validation of non-formal and informal learning (2012/C 398/01).
In 2019, one organization from the network, Agenzia di Promozione Integrata per i Cittadini in Europa -APICE translated into Italian the Recommendation CM/Rec (2017) of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states on youth work, with the contribution of an Italian researcher from PEYR – Pool of European Youth Researchers, and the supervision of the Department of Youth, was presented in October of the same year in Naples to an audience of Youth Workers from all over Italy, with the participation of national experts and stakeholders, such as Eurodesk Italy and Associations representing the European Confederation of Youth Clubs, and the first national debate on the topic was launched.
Following the establishment of the Minister for Youth Policies and Sport during this period, considering the ongoing debate at international level and the pressing need to define a strategic framework in Italy, both in the political and economic dimension, but also concerning the necessary awareness of the operators with respect to their professionalism, this consortium of subjects, promoted and coordinated by Giosef Italy, intended to make its contribution through a national youth dialogue project for the recognition of Youth Work, the figure of the Youth Worker and Non-formal Education.
General aims of the project
Specific objectives of the project
The project was structured in 5 STEPS and 2 Activity Streams, as follows:
During this phase, Giose Italy prepared what is described in the preparation box, the Project Partners proceeded to pre-select participants for the Territorial Dialogues and offer them the right preparation with the support of the Experts.
Consultations with young people and youth workers at regional level lasting two days, managed by the local project partner organisations and coordinated by Giosef at general management level and external communication at national level.
For each territorial consultation, 2 promoting youth organisations (of which one from the Giosef Italy network) involved young people, youth workers and youth organisations from the region to participate in the Territorial Dialogue with the presence of a decision-maker.
During this phase, Giosef Italy prepared, together with Experts, and delegates of the groups involved at the territorial level and organised all the logistics and communication to make the event known and increase the participation.
Two-day National Youth Dialogue event in Rome, with the participation of 4 young delegates from each of the involved territorial areas, experts, the representation of the Ministry of Youth in Italy and representatives of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, the Eu-CoE Youth Partnership and Salto Training and Cooperation.
This phase included the monitoring of the transcriptions of the Recommendations produced by the Territorial Dialogues by local decision-makers and the monitoring of the transcriptions of the national Recommendation by national decision-makers. In addition, during this phase, the project results were widely disseminated and consultations among partners, experts and participants were undertaken regarding the possibility of developing an international follow-up project on the topic.
This project was funded with support from the European Commission.
This material reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained here.
September 2020 / March 2022
Sicilia, Calabria, Puglia, Campania, Toscana, Lazio e Piemonte
Youth workers, young people, experts, institutional representatives
Erasmus Plus – KA347 – Youth Dialogue Projects.
Perks of #youthwork is a series of mini videos recorded at the final conference of the diaLOG IN YOUTH WORK project held on 10th, 11th and 12th March 2022 in Rome.
The young delegates for each region were asked to answer the question ‘In the light of these days of working together, what is Youth Work for you?’ Their answers made us reflect and at times moved us to hope for a bright future full of people, ideas and projects, which will make this profession increasingly recognised nationwide
After the 3rd European Conference on Youth Work, held in December 2020, it was decided to use the final declaration of the conference and the 7 macro themes of actions defined in that context as the track of the territorial dialogues for the constitution of the national recommendations. The results of this track are the following recommendations.
