The kick off meeting for the Erasmus+ project #YouthInfo: Future Youth Information Toolbox took place on 12-14 September in Vilnius, Lithuania. For the next two years, 9 partners from 8 different countries will work together to try and increase the quality and outreach of youth information services.
This will be done by creating and applying user-friendly youth information methods, which will be identified by evidence-based research and piloted at local level. Peer-to-peer youth information educators will also be involved.
The partners are:
- Creativitas, Lithuania
- ERYICA, Luxembourg
- Åbo Akademi University, Finland
- Youth Work Ireland, Ireland
- European Peer Training Organisation (EPTO), Belgium
- Jugend- und Familienstiftung des Landes Berlin, Germany
- Bundesnetzwerk Österreichische Jugendinfos, Austria
- Labdaros ir Paramos Fondas “Jauniems”, Lithuania
- National Youth Council of Latvia, Latvia
The project was created due to the lack of evidence-based research in the field of youth information, which blocks the development of the sector. With this in mind, research will be carried out to identify youth information needs, trends, and most relevant topics. This survey will be compared and contrasted with an ERYICA survey which was carried out in 2013, and, perhaps most innovatively, will use future foresight methodology to identify a strategic direction for youth information, something that has never been done before. Youth information structures from across Europe will be invited to disseminate the survey among young users (and non-users) of their services in the course of this autumn.
Using the results of the research and the future foresight, three user-friendly, evidence and future-based youth information methods will be developed and piloted at local level.
For the sustainability of the project, a peer-to-peer training course will be developed and peer teams will be organised in each country.
At the end of the project, a multiplier event will be organised. This will be tailored for political awareness building at local, national and European level for the further support of youth information services in participating countries, particularly those who require it the most.
Watch this space for more information and participation in the research!
