Youth in Action Programme

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for education and culture CJ/19/2010-2-EN Youth and sport

YOUTH IN ACTION PROGRAMME

ACTIVITY REPORT 2009

1. INTRODUCTION

2009 was the third year of implementation of the Youth in Action Programme (2007-2013). After the first two years, where the implementation of the Programme faced some difficulties linked to the novelty of certain sub-Actions or new management rules introduced in 2007, this third year can be seen as the moment where Youth in Action (YiA) entered in cruising speed.

With the Programme implementation having entered into a more stable phase, increased attention continued to be placed on strengthening transversal activities aimed at enhancing the impact of the Programme: the dissemination and exploitation of the results achieved by the Programme; the evaluation and monitoring mechanisms of the Programme, which were initiated in 2009; the Inclusion Strategy. Furthermore trainings remained an important activity in order to support the implementation of all the strands of the Programme, in particular the newest ones.

The Programme benefited from a global allocation of 144 MioEUR in 2009, making it possible to produce impressive outputs, with more than 137 000 people participating in more than 7 800 projects involving more than 20 000 promoters.

The importance of ensuring the sound management of such a budget across all participating countries remained a key priority; National Authorities had to deliver, for the second year, an annual declaration of assurance on the management of the Programme in the previous year by their respective National Agencies (NAs). This exercise proved to be easier than in 2008, this progress representing a new step towards the consolidation of the management of the Programme.

This report provides an overview of the third year of implementation of the Youth in Action Programme at both centralised and decentralised levels. It is based on the activities carried out by the European Commission as well as on the information and data provided by the NAs, the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) and other structures of the Programme.

2. POLITICAL CONTEXT AND PRIORITIES

The Youth in Action Programme supports EU political cooperation in the youth field, and therefore its implementation is closely linked to key political developments. 2009 was the last year of the political cooperation framework launched by the 2001 White Paper and also the year of preparation for the next political framework.

Based on an evaluation of Member States reports on their activities in the youth field, the Commission presented a new EU Youth strategy: Investing and Empowering in April 2009. This Strategy aims at ensuring fair and equal access to education and employment and at promoting active citizenship, social inclusion and solidarity of all young people. It advocates a cross-sectoral approach, involving key policy areas that affect young people, particularly youth education, employment, creativity and entrepreneurship, social inclusion, health and sport, civic participation, and volunteering. The Strategy also emphasised the importance of youth work for all these areas.

2 The EU Youth Strategy includes strong measures for implementation of youth policies at the EU level, including peer-learning activities, better knowledge tools, dialogue with youth organisations and reporting mechanisms, and fosters a cross-sectoral approach. The adoption of the new strategy followed an extensive consultation exercise undertaken in 2008, involving National Authorities, the European Youth Forum, youth organizations and other stakeholders. Young people themselves had been consulted on-line and invited to react to the Commission's proposals in a permanent dialogue between the EU and its youth.

The EU Youth Strategy has been endorsed by the Council Resolution of 27 November 2009 on a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field.

In 2009, the Commission also presented, for the first time, a report on youth in Europe. This Youth Report is a compilation of data, statistics and brief analyses on the situation of young people in Europe. It provides an overview of the situation in the EU Member States in a range of different areas and outlines as well the differences between countries. This first Youth Report both supported the EU Youth Strategy by collecting much of the available statistics and data and responded to the obligation for evidence-based policy making (i.e. to base all efforts to address young people's challenges and improve their situation on clear evidence). It also points to areas where there is a lack of information on youth and outlines possible avenues for improvement. The primary sources are data and statistics from Eurostat, plus additional figures and a number of surveys and data from various other sources.

The work carried out in preparation of the EU Youth Strategy and the Report has contributed to the development of the Youth on the Move initiative, which is part of the Europe 2020 Strategy and was further described in a Commission Communication in September 2010.

In 2009, the Commission also ensured follow-up to the 2008 Recommendation of Mobility for Young Volunteers across the EU. It aims at supporting the Member States as regards increasing information, volunteering opportunities, recognition of skills and competencies acquired, quality assurance and protection and a targeted support for cross-border youth work and for youth with fewer opportunities. The Commission organised a kick-off implementation conference with the Czech Presidency in March 2009 in Prague.

The youth dimension in other policy areas was followed through with their implementation at national or local level, for example with the launch of a Youth Health Initiative by DG Health and Consumers in July 2009.

3. PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

The comprehensive exercise of consolidation carried out in 2008 in consultation with the NAs, produced the positive effect of limiting to a minimum the changes introduced in the Programme Guide for 2009, thus offering a stabilised framework for the implementation of the Programme; these changes were mainly related to the 2009 annual priorities and to the adoption of one-sided funding under sub-Action 1.1 Youth Exchanges. The intention of the Commission is, in fact, to maintain this stability, as much as possible, over the remaining duration of the Youth in Action Programme.

The five Actions of the Programme were implemented in coherence with the criteria laid down in this Programme Guide. This was complemented by a series of specific calls for

3 proposals managed by EACEA, among which a call for innovative projects under sub- Action 4.4 (the previous one had been launched in 2007) and the relaunch, with a much bigger success, of the call for the support to partnerships with regional and local bodies or European organisations (sub-Action 4.6).

As in the previous years, various trainings and meetings for NA staff on different matters related to the implementation and management of the Programme were organised to deepen knowledge and common understanding of new issues, clarify doubts, develop joint strategies, exchange practices as well as to encourage networking, be it on content-related issues or on topics related to the management of YiA.

The NAs and the SALTOs continued offering a variety of training, information and other support activities to potential project promoters across Europe with a focus on certain Actions and/or features of the Programme in view to supporting both the quantitative and qualitative development of the Programme. An in-depth review of the activities of the SALTOs was conducted, confirming the usefulness of these structures for the implementation of the Programme.

Programme priorities

The Youth in Action Programme features a set of permanent priorities which cut through all its Actions and are valid for its entire duration, namely: promoting European citizenship, active participation, respect for cultural diversity as well as the inclusion of all young people, with a focus on those with fewer opportunities. Permanent priorities are intended to ensure a structured and coherent implementation of the Programme throughout its duration.

In addition to this, annual priorities are identified each year in order to better define the context of implementation of the Programme by clarifying the scope of the permanent priorities and by better anchoring the Programme to topical issues at European level.

In line with this approach and with the political context outlined above, the following annual priorities were added in 2009 to particularly encourage projects:

• aimed at stimulating young people's creativity and innovative spirit, in the context of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation; • addressing the issue of violence against women; • highlighting the role of sport as a tool to promote active citizenship and social inclusion of young people; • promoting healthy lifestyles through physical activities, including sport; • promoting the inclusion of young people with disabilities; • promoting the inclusion of young people from Roma communities; • raising young people's awareness and promoting their active participation in the 2009 European Parliament elections (during the first half of the year); • raising young people's awareness to global challenges (such as sustainable development and climate change); • promoting young people's involvement in the revision of the framework for European cooperation in the youth field.

Among those annual priorities, the special focus on promoting the inclusion of Roma youth continued in 2009. SALTO Cultural Diversity played a central role in developing tools and

4 resources promoting the inclusion of Roma Communities in the Programme. Moreover, it provided training and support to NAs, and certain NAs have developed a Roma strategy as an overall framework for increased inclusion of Roma youth in the Programme. Since its launch in 2007, the Youth in Action Programme has awarded almost 2.6 MioEUR to support 181 projects - involving more than 3 400 young people and youth workers - targeting Roma and Sinti young people and communities across Europe. This support has intensified during the first years of implementation of the Programme: in 2009 the Programme supported 70 projects in this area, awarding almost 1.2 MioEUR.

NAs and SALTOs contributed to disseminating and increasing knowledge about both permanent and annual priorities and to promoting the exchange of experiences and practices so as to facilitate their implementation through a variety of initiatives. In 2009, these included, among others:

European citizenship:

• In collaboration with the European Commission and Council of Europe Youth Partnership, the UK NA hosted the 3rd European Citizenship training course for youth workers across Europe, held in Greenwich on 5 May 2009, at the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of London (which founded the Council of Europe in 1949). An evaluation meeting of all 2008/09 European Citizenship courses took place in Köln (Germany) in October 2009. • The Polish NA is a strategic partner of the Economic Forum of Young Leaders, organised each year, which aims at discussing and reflecting essential problems and challenges faced by Europe particularly relating to the role of the young generation in the modern world. The event enjoys high visibility in media.

Participation:

• SALTO Participation and the Swedish NA organised a seminar on active participation: "Youth influence at local level". The seminar took place in Jonkoping municipality in March 2009. 30 participants from 16 different countries shared experience, transferred methods and skills and presented best practices on active citizenship. The seminar involved as well the Swedish Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality. The final outcome of the seminar was a method booklet produced jointly by the organisers and distributed all over Europe by the end of 2009. • The Belgium-FR NA supported a seminar organised by the Youth Council of the French Community of Belgium and aimed at collecting the views of young people (reflections, discussion, recommendations) on issues that affect them directly, encouraging them to position themselves and engage in "active participation". Participants had the opportunity to take part in workshops, meet and confront with politicians. The seminar was also aimed at formulating a "youth" position to be put forward during the youth events of the semester of the Belgian EU Presidency. • SALTO Participation organised the "Get involved" event hosted by the Czech NA in October 2009, an international training on Youth Democracy Projects involving participants from different countries.

5 Cultural Diversity:

• As a follow-up to a Finnish project financed in 2008, SALTO Cultural Diversity and the NAs network (AT, BG, DK, EE, FI, FR, HU, NL, NO, PL, SE, UK) carried out the "Cultural Coach" project. The seminar was held in Finland in November 2009. The aim of this project was to support and train representatives from cultural minorities who would become a conduit for the NAs and for YiA in general. • SALTO Cultural Diversity and the Italian NA organised a training course on cultural diversity and migration in Turin in March 2009. The training aimed at comparing old and new migration flows as well as the different European legislations in this field. The Italian NA also hosted a round table on intercultural competencies in cooperation with the SALTO Cultural Diversity.

Inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities:

• In the context of the economic crisis and the high unemployment rate, the Estonian NA paid more attention to youth unemployment in its work in 2009; the unemployed young people became the priority inclusion target group. A project "Entering the job market" has been prepared and a training call addressed to young people seeking for a job has been launched. By mid-January 2010, 159 young people had applied for a place in the training course designed for 20 young participants. • The German NA organised a project with the SALTO Inclusion and the NAs network with the aim to create a network of promoters dealing with young people with fewer opportunities and working towards their employment on the regular job market. Ca. 80 promoters participated in the "New Perspectives" conference, which took place in Berlin in October 2009. The project will be finished in 2011 and will be accompanied and evaluated by researchers. • A young Flemish EVS volunteer was involved in a Greek rehabilitation centre for disabled children. She became a bridge to the outside world for these children, often still cut off society. The volunteer herself is disabled: she is deaf and partially blind. Her European Voluntary Service experience shows that disability doesn’t mean exclusion. The sending organization coaches disabled youth towards a job in the regular labour market (BE-FL).

Budgetary considerations

Globally, the Programme was allocated 143.5 MioEUR, of which 139.3 MioEUR (97%) of operational appropriations, which were fully committed. Over 137 000 people participated in approximately 7 800 projects.

Compared to 2008 these outputs represent a relative stability, which is explained by the following factors:

• a global budgetary stability: 143.5 MioEUR in 2009 compared to 141.6 MioEUR in 2008, which means an increase limited to 1.4%; • the good performance by the NAs still improved in 2009: they used 98% of the funds put at their disposal in 2008 and 100.1% in 2009; • hence an increase in the number of projects supported by them: 7 808 in 2009, compared to 7 380 in 2008;

6 • in this context favourable to a slight increase of the outputs, the stability noticed as regards the number of participants is explained by the more rigorous approach introduced in 2009: there could have been a certain confusion in 2007 and 2008 with regard to the counting of participants in certain sub-Actions (mainly the TCP activities under sub-Action 4.3), where the distinction was not necessarily very strict between "direct" participants (to be understood as the persons whose participation entails a cost for the Programme) and the "indirect" participants in a project (for example, the persons attending a meeting, an exhibition, a conference... supported by the Programme, without having been that strongly involved in the project). As of 2009, the NAs were invited to only consider the "direct" participants; this explains a decrease in the (now more rigorous) number of the participants in decentralised actions, which has been compensated by an increase in the number of participants in the centralised actions of the Programme.

It has to be noticed that such stability has not been the case as regards the grant requests submitted to the Programme: the number of these requests increased by 18% from 2008 to 2009 (following an increase by 14% from 2007 to 2008). The imbalance between this growing demand and the stability of the supply explains that the "success rate" of the projects (number of projects supported divided by the number of the projects submitted) fell in 2009 for the first time well below 50% as regards the actions managed on the basis of the Programme Guide (whilst it represented 32% for the projects managed following specific calls for proposals).

3.1 Action 1 - Youth for Europe

The overall development of the Action 1 "Youth for Europe" in 2009 was positive in quantitative and qualitative terms; the number of granted projects and of participants rose over the period 2007-2009 or remained stable. Various trainings and communication activities organised by the NAs contributed to a better understanding of the concept of this action and to improving the quality of granted projects as well as to their increased visibility.

Youth Exchanges

The sub-Action 1.1 in figures:

2007 2008 2009 Submitted projects 2 671 2 579 2 876 Granted projects 1 277 1 323 1 335 Success rate in % 47.8 51.3 46.4 Committed funds in MioEUR 24.125 25.673 26.238 (commitment rates in%) (96.0) (100.7) (101.6) Number of participants 40 304 41 609 41 373

The ratio among the different types of youth exchanges (bilateral, trilateral, multilateral and itinerant) remained stable in terms of granted projects compared to 2008 with a clear predominance of multilateral exchanges.

In order to improve the quality of Youth Exchanges the NAs organised national trainings (e.g. info days for newcomers, evaluation seminars, exchange quality workshops, individual counselling) and transnational trainings (Bi-Tri-Multi training courses, ATOQ seminar,

7 contact-making seminars). Training activities attracted new organisations and groups such as municipalities, city councils, organisations representing ethnic and cultural minorities, remote areas, underrepresented regions, and local youth organisations. Diverse information and communication activities contributed to a better understanding of the concept of the Action as well.

The staff training for sub-Action 1.1 officers, organised in Bratislava on 2-5 December 2009 by the European Commission and SK, EE and IE NAs focused on the evaluation of the Youth Exchanges performance over 2007-2009 and topics such as non-formal learning, Youthpass, intercultural learning.

Illustrative projects:

• Jargon Busting the Application Process (IE): the YE application forms have been "translated" into language the youth workers use. • Youth Exchanges toolkit guiding the users online through the application and implementation Process (BE-NL). • "Learning by sharing experience": the project took place in Groesbeek (NL) in June 2009, and involved 36 youngsters with physical and mental disabilities from Sweden and the Netherlands. The goal of the exchange was to give the participants deeper knowledge and understanding of their situation in comparison with other young people in the same situation in other European countries.

Youth Initiatives

2007 2008 2009 Submitted projects 3 014 3 504 4 529 Granted projects 1 252 1 324 1 394 Success rate in % 41.5 37.8 30.8 Committed funds in MioEUR 8.087 9.839 10.456 (Commitment rates in %) (87.6) (97.5) (101.5) Number of participants 14 133 13 476 12 787

Both genders were represented in the Youth Initiatives projects in a balanced way. Many NAs highlighted in their final reports that the Action attracted inclusion groups, especially groups from cultural minorities, non-organised and unemployed youth and that it had a great impact on local communities. Due to the economic crisis many countries reported an increased interest in this Action.

The most popular topics chosen by the Youth Initiative applicants were creativity and innovation, social inclusion, participation, cultural diversity and European citizenship. The 2009 European Year of Creativity and Innovation was reflected in this action promoting entrepreneurship spirit.

The quality of applications has been improved by national (focusing e.g. on coaching) and transnational seminars and training courses (e.g. Get in Net, Regionet aiming to encourage Transnational Youth Initiatives) as well as by more targeted promotional activities.

8 The Youth Initiatives Youthpass test phase was launched in 2009 to better recognise the learning outcomes in this Action.

The Youth Initiatives officer staff training was organised in Rome on 13-15 December 2009 by the European Commission, Italian NA, SALTO Participation and SALTO Training and Cooperation. The training focused on the following topics: project life cycle, Youthpass in Youth Initiatives, Transnational Youth Initiatives, quality aspects, coaching, support measures, Dissemination and Exploitation of Results (DEOR).

• "Vlanderen subsidieland": a guide on co-funding opportunities in Vlaanderen. • Uskalla (in English: Dare). The project, carried out primarily in Helsinki between July and November 2009 by a group of four young Finnish volunteers aimed to promote acceptance of the different sexual orientations in the sports through a poster campaign and a website. The project has been promoted in media, schools, sports clubs, sports halls and sports parks: http;//www.uskalla.fi.

Youth Democracy Projects

2007 2008 2009 Submitted projects 115 210 311 Granted projects 54 101 146 Success rate in % 47.0 48.1 46.9 Committed funds in MioEUR 1.171 3.351 4.923 (Commitment rates in %) (38.4) (72.9) (90.0) Number of participants 5 312 6 814 10 521

Youth Democracy Projects represent a new Action in YiA; over the three years of YiA implementation, a continuous positive development of this Action could be seen in terms of submitted and granted projects, spent budget and the number of participants; 31% of them represent groups with fewer opportunities.

The national and transnational training courses (Finding Demo, Democracy in action, Get involved, contact making seminar in Ireland) contributed to a better quality of 1.3 projects. Public bodies and local municipalities were in many cases promoters of the projects.

A note clarifying the financial rules to be applied under this Action was prepared by the European Commission and sent to the NAs in December 2009. The overall assessment of the implementation of Youth Democracy Projects was carried out and reported to the Programme Committee in December 2009.

• Information booklet for Youth Democracy Projects: "Monter un projet Jeunesse pour la Démocratie", Guide méthodologique (FR). • "Youth Shadow Elections in Tallin and Tartu before the Election of Local Governments on 18 of October". Shadow elections (debates, simulations, information

9 days) were held from 5 till 8 October 2009 in schools. The project, organised by the Estonian National Youth Council, aimed to increase youth participation in the life of local communities and to get them involved in national and international issues. The partners to the project were Tallinn and Tartu City Governments as well as the Finnish organisations Allianssi and Helsinki City Government.

Itinerant youth exchanges 75 Bilateral youth exchanges 307

Trilateral youth Multilateral exchanges youth 42 exchanges 911

Sub-Action 1.1 - Number of projects granted per type of activity

Itinerant youth Bilateral exchanges youth 2,206 exchanges 8,786

Trilateral youth exchanges Multilateral 1,511 youth exchanges 28,870

Sub-Action 1.1 - Number of participants per type of activity

10 3.2 Action 2 - European Voluntary Service

The Action 2 in figures:

2007 2008 2009 Submitted projects 2 819 3 133 3 460 Granted projects 2 094 2 223 2 358 Success rate in % 74.3 71.0 68.2 Committed funds in MioEUR 37.101 41.472 45.025 (Commitment rates in %) (92.5) (99.5) (102.4) Number of participants 4 287 5 836 6 368

EVS continued to be one of the main actions of YiA as a non-formal learning programme by using transnational volunteering with a view of enhancing the skills and competences of the young volunteers, while promoting their active citizenship and feeling of being European.

This is confirmed by the overall positive outcomes relating to the implementation of EVS in 2009, which was characterized by the full commitment of the available funds. There was a significant increase in the number of volunteers (9%) compared to 2008.

Ambitions to further improve the Training and Evaluation Cycle, the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities and to reach a higher number of volunteers were addressed in the reflection process starting with the annual Action 2 officers' staff meeting in Athens in October 2009 and continued with the Heads of NAs in November 2009. Awaiting the conclusions of the reflection process to be continued in 2010, no adjustments were introduced during 2009.

Action 2 is also open to projects involving promoters from the EU Partner Countries, in particular those from the three neighbouring regions of South-East Europe (SEE), Eastern Europe and Caucasus (EECA) and the Mediterranean. In 2009, EVS projects involving at least one Neighbouring Partner Country accounted for more than one fifth of the total projects granted at decentralised level.

SALTO SEE continued overseeing the accreditation of EVS organisations and providing EVS training in the South-East Europe region. In parallel, preparations for a similar approach in EECA started with SALTO EECA.

The possibility to use support structures such as Ex-Volunteer structures (Ex-VOL) and Advice and Support Organisations (ASOs) were little used. Although 19 Ex-VOLs were nominated by the National Authorities only 8 agreements were finalised in 2009.

An AXA Info day was organised in June 2009 to give the 31 NA representatives present the possibility to discuss questions and concerns and strengthen the co-operation between EACEA and the NAs.

A meeting of NAs' Action officers was organised in Greece in October. The meeting appeared as a success as the NAs and SALTOs could exchange experiences and discuss common relevant issues concerning the implementation of the Action. The conclusions were published in a report available for all participants in Youthnet.

11 A two-year agreement with the European Youth Card Association (EYCA) to issue a specific EURO<26 Youth Card to all EVS participants was signed in 2008 also covering 2009.

• "Protecting the nesting habitats for loggerhead sea turtles in Greece" was an EVS project involving seven volunteers in activities focused on the conservation of important protected nesting areas of loggerhead sea turtles in the Mediterranean. • The Danish NA developed a guide on the European Voluntary Service in Denmark written by an ex-volunteer with all the useful information a young person coming as a volunteer to Denmark should know.

3.3 Action 3 - Youth in the World

2007 2008 2009 Submitted projects 1 116 1 358 1 816 Granted projects 508 539 464 Success rate in % 45.5 39.7 25.6 Committed funds in MioEUR 9.112 10.678 9.501 (Commitment rates in %) (92.9) (104.4) (107.9) Number of participants 13 450 15 228 12 129

An analysis of the implementation of this Action was presented and discussed at the Programme Committee in May 2009. It confirmed the overall success of this sub-Action, which is characterized by a rising demand at both centralised and decentralised levels. In the light of the overall budgetary stability characterizing the Programme, the Programme Committee agreed to stabilise this Action at the levels reached (over 9% of the overall budget) and to increase the emphasis on developing the quality of submitted and granted projects. 2009 was therefore a consolidation year for this Action.

The three regional SALTOs and the NAs continued playing an active role in supporting the development of the cooperation with the three neighbouring regions through a variety of training and support activities. Additionally, they co-organised their third joint event "Let's evaluate with our Neighbours" (Warsaw, Poland 6-10 October 2009). This event was organised in the frame of a long-term strategic cooperation between the three regional SALTOs. The meeting aimed at assessing the first three years of cooperation between Programme and Neighbouring Partner Countries in the frame of YiA. The event brought together 72 stakeholders (participants, including youth workers, project managers, trainers, NAs and SALTO representatives) coming from 28 Programme and Partner countries, who had the opportunity to exchange, reflect and assess together the outcomes and challenges of the work in progress.

South-East Europe (SEE)

In addition to the YiA available resources, extra funds were made available by DG Enlargement through the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) in the form of the so-called "Western Balkans Youth Window", which allowed supporting 72 additional projects in 2009 directly submitted by promoters based in SEE. Moreover, an extra 1.5 MioEUR could be

12 committed for the following year. These funds were managed at centralised level, where promoters from SEE have the possibility to directly apply for funding.

In line with the overall trend of this Action, requests for funding from promoters from SEE continued to grow, although not in an equal way among the countries of the region, hence the need for a differentiated approach addressing differences among countries in terms of needs, interest in and capacity to be involved in the opportunities offered by the Youth in Action Programme.

Moreover, in the framework of the partnership on youth between the European Commission and the Council of Europe and in cooperation with SALTO SEE and the Office for Youth of the Republic of Slovenia, a seminar on youth policy and youth employment in South-East Europe was organised from 21-24 October 2009 in Slovenia. The event aimed to contribute to the political debate and to identify the main problems young people face in the area of employment and employability, and in seeking opportunities in the South East Europe region. It also wanted to provide an opportunity to share information and further develop positive initiatives in this context.

Mediterranean Partner Countries

As the Euro-Med Youth Programme came to an end in December 2008, YiA ensured continuity in the support of cooperation with Mediterranean Partner Countries.

Among the support activities aimed at encouraging cooperation in the region, the Euro- Mediterranean Youth Platform in cooperation with SALTO Euro-Med and the Maltese NA organised the conference "Our White Sea" from 16 to 22 November in Malta. This conference offered an opportunity to discuss the role and the place of NGOs in the development of youth policies in their respective countries as well as to strengthen organisational and project management of youth organisations in the region.

Eastern Europe and Caucasus (EECA)

A seminar on youth policy development in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus was organised in Poland in July 2009 in the framework of the partnership on youth between the Council of Europe and the European Commission and in cooperation with SALTO EECA. During this seminar, representatives of ministries responsible for youth policies, members of youth councils, youth workers, and researchers form EECA countries worked together on the development of youth policy in the region as well as shared and discussed youth policy and youth work realities in the EECA countries.

Dialogue and exchange on youth policies and the Youth in Action Programme were also encouraged within the Thematic Platform 4 on "People to People contacts" set up in the context of the Eastern Partnership, which met twice in 2009. The proposal for a complementary source of funding to the Youth in Action Programme aiming at supporting a higher number of projects involving promoters from this region was put forward in this context.

13 Illustrative projects:

• "Balkan HeART" was a multilateral Youth Exchange project involving 36 young people from seven countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, FYRO, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Turkey). The project, carried out in Greece aimed at exploring cultural similarities between Balkan countries, fostering solidarity and unity, helping young people with fewer opportunities express themselves and developing their personalities through art activities and new technologies. • "Local Youth Participation" was a training course organised in Chisinau, Moldova in August 2009 for 22 youth leaders from Belgian, Hungary, Moldova, Slovenia and Ukraine. The overall aim of the training was to empower, motivate and give practical skills to local youth leaders - young people coming from rural, sub-urban and urban areas who already represented a local youth organisation or a local youth initiative group .

Cooperation with other Partner Countries

The Youth in Action Programme encourages cooperation with partner countries other than the neighbouring countries of the European Union. In order to achieve this objective, a call for proposals was launched and managed by EACEA under sub-Action 3.2.

The call aimed at:

• promoting the exchange of experience and good practice in the field of youth and non- formal education; • contributing to the development of youth policies, youth work and the voluntary sector, as well as to the capacity-building and leadership development for youth organisations and structures; • developing sustainable partnerships and networks between youth organisations.

In this framework, 30 projects were granted for an overall amount of 2.6 MioEUR.

Cooperation with Canada

Youth cooperation and policy dialogue with other Partner Countries of the world was also supported outside the framework of the Youth in Action Programme. In the context of the bilateral agreement between the EU and Canada establishing a framework for cooperation in education, training and youth, a roundtable was organised in Ottawa in December 2009 on the topic of "strengthening skills and improving young people's access to the labour market". The event brought together over 70 participants from both Canada and the EU. It provided an opportunity for establishing contacts among youth actors from both sides of the Atlantic and to encourage mutual learning from the exchange of practices and experiences in the field of youth, in particular in the areas of skills development, transition from education to the labour market, partnerships between various levels of government and sectors of society and through the active participation of youth themselves including those who are disadvantaged.

3.4 Action 4 - Youth Support Systems

Support to bodies active at European level in the youth field (sub-Action 4.1)

14 A call for proposals was launched and managed by EACEA to provide support for the permanent activities of bodies active at European level in the field of youth and pursuing an aim of general European interest. These activities must help encourage young people to participate as citizens in public life, in society, and in the development and implementation of EU cooperation in the field of youth.

Following this call, 52 annual operating grants were awarded to European youth NGOs for a total amount of over 1.7 MioEUR. The maximum annual grant amount for these bodies was kept at 35 000 EUR.

In addition to annual operating grants - and due to the establishment, in 2008, of longer-term cooperation between the beneficiaries and EACEA through multi-annual Framework Partnership Agreements (FPAs) - 43 out of 45 bodies selected in 2008 for a FPA covering the years 2008-2010 were subject to a renewal of their grant for 2009 for a total amount of over 1.9 MioEUR.

Support to the European Youth Forum (sub-Action 4.2)

Following the favourable opinion of the Youth in Action Programme Committee on the European Youth Forum's (EYF) 2009 work plan, an operating grant of 2.3 MioEUR was awarded to support the ongoing activities of the European Youth Forum in 2009. Similarly to the previous year, these activities were developed on the basis of a set of five Strategic Priorities that were adopted by the EYF General Assembly for a 5-year period, namely: Education, Youth work development, Participation and Youth Policy Mainstreaming, Human Rights, Employment and social affairs.

Training and Networking of those active in youth work and youth organisations (sub-Action 4.3)

The support provided under this sub-Action is two-fold: on the one hand, it concerns training and networking projects for youth workers and organisations, and on the other hand the activities organised by the NAs in the framework of their Training and Cooperation Plans (TCPs). Both types of activities make an important contribution to the development of youth work as well as of the implementation strategies of the Programme.

The Action 4.3 in figures:

2007 2008 2009 Submitted projects 1 023 996 1 156 Granted projects 506 470 430 Success rate in % 49.5 47.2 37.2 Committed funds in MioEUR 6.863 6.721 6.502 (Commitment rates in %) (94,8) (104.5) (104.7) Number of participants 10 121 9 255 9 458

In order to raise the quality of the support for project applicants a training seminar for the staff of the NAs was organised together with the network of the NAs and SALTO Training and Cooperation.

15 In line with the previous years most of the projects used training courses and seminars as the most popular training and networking activities.

Job Networking Shadowing 6 17 Feasibility Visit 54 Evaluation Meeting Training 18 Course Study Visit 196 17 Partnership- Building Activity 40 Seminar 82

Sub-Action 4.3 - Number of granted projects per type of activity

Job Feasibility Evaluation Networking Shadowing Visit Meeting 154 72 700 314 Study Visit 372

Partnership- Training Building Course Activity 4,772 976

Seminar 2,098

Sub-Action 4.3 - Number of participants per type of activity

Also in 2009, the sub-Action 4.3 budget was used to finance TCP activities. The NAs continued to use this tool to support the development of quality projects in YiA and activities aiming at the development of youth work in the respective country were more common.

16 Illustrative projects:

• The training "License to Create - Creativity in Conflict Management" took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, in May 2009 and involved participants from Turkey, Bulgaria, Spain, Holland, France, Czech Republic and Greece. It was addressed to European youth trainers and workers who work on a daily basis in a multicultural, multiethnic environment, with young people with various social backgrounds. Such work usually requires creativity combined with social skills to help those youngsters (especially the underprivileged and disabled ones) to successfully integrate in the society. The methods of the training course were based on the principles of non-formal education and self-directed learning. The final outcome of the training "The Book of Spies: Share Your Secret Weapon" including all the creative tools and approaches used during the course, has been written by participants. • The European Training "The woman leader - Model of success in fighting against discrimination and violence on women" took place in Romania in August/September 2009, involving 24 youth leaders from Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Poland, Turkey and Romania. The aim of this project was to raise the participants' awareness about the violence against women and to promote the model of "woman leaders". The participants were supposed to become multipliers in this area and establish partnerships for developing future projects on similar themes. At the end of the project, participants received support materials for their active involvement in their communities. The outcome of the project was a movie with the synthesis of the project activities as well as a blog.

Figures for TCP:

2007 2008 2009 Realized activities 714 1 115 1 395 Committed funds in MioEUR 5.630 7.475 7.335 (Commitment rates in %) (83.7) (95.5) (95.0) Number of participants 15 548 24 320 19 611

The decrease in terms of number of participants can be explained by the fact that in 2009 the Commission clarified the distinction between participants directly involved in an activity and participants indirectly involved; this clarification had an impact on the methods of calculation of participants under TCP. Moreover, unlike in 2008, the TCP was not used to support national events promoting the European Youth Week (EYW) since the EYW was not organised in 2009.

Projects supporting creativity and innovation in the youth sector (Action 4.4)

For the second time since the launch of the Youth in Action Programme, a centralised call for proposals was launched and managed by EACEA with the aim to support projects promoting the adoption, implementation and encouragement of innovative, quality approaches in the fields of non-formal education for young people and youth work. Such innovative approaches could refer to the content and objectives and/or the applied methodology, based on novel approaches in the field of non-formal education and in the youth sector.

17 In 2009 a specific priority was assigned to projects dealing with the themes of media literacy of young people and e-youth work. This call contributed to the implementation of the 2009 European Year of Creativity and Innovation.

In this framework, 16 projects were granted for an overall amount of over 1.2 MioEUR.

Partnerships (Action 4.6)

2009 was the second year of implementation of this new sub-Action, which aims at supporting partnership projects with regional or local public bodies or with organisations active in the youth sector at European level with a view to ensuring the broadest possible multiplying effect to joint activities for young people at European level. This approach offers targeted beneficiaries the opportunity to give a European dimension and visibility to their youth strategies and/or to become involved alongside the European Union in supporting youth projects led by third parties.

Given its novelty only 15 projects were received in 2008 for this sub-Action implemented at centralised level by EACEA; 7 projects were selected for funding. For 2009, the results of the call show a much bigger interest: 67 grant requests were submitted, of which only 23 could be supported, because of budgetary constraints. These results are promising for such a brand new sub-Action.

Following an analysis of the results of the first year of implementation several simplifications (both at the level of funding rules and eligibility criteria) had been introduced in this scheme and the European Voluntary Service was included among the eligible activities. These improvements can partly explain the success of the 2009 call.

Illustrative project:

• TUNE UP - Transnational youth network (Tuscany Region, Italy) - The project aimed at promoting the role of Tuscany Region as a mediator between local organisations (governmental or not) and the European institutions, in order to reinforce and qualify the regional youth policies' governance, with the general intention to improve the impact of regional initiatives, to reinforce competences and skills of youth organisations and to increase the opportunities for young people to actively participate in the community life. The project entailed the implementation of the following activities: a) activities of dissemination and information over the project, advertising and promotional campaign at regional level; b) three Transnational Youth Exchanges; c) three Transnational Youth Initiatives promoting non-formal educational experiences for the active implementation of policies/initiatives of regional interest; d) one Transnational Evaluation Meeting about models of territorial and participatory governance in the youth sector.

18 3.5 Action 5 - Support for European Cooperation in the Youth field

Meetings of young people and policy-makers (sub-Action 5.1)

The Action 5.1 in figures:

2007 2008 2009 Submitted projects 110 232 337 Granted projects 41 120 122 Success rate in % 37.3 51.7 36.2 Committed funds in MioEUR 1.280 2.766 2.989 (Commitment rates in %) (65.1) (85.5) (85.4) Number of participants 7 940 15 358 14 134

In 2009 the number of projects submitted under this sub-Action registered a positive increase (45% increase); in the overall, this is an indicator of growing interest of stakeholders for this measure. However, the progression in terms of submitted projects was not reflected in the number of granted projects, which remained stable compared to 2008 despite the non-total consumption of the available funds. These elements indicate that improvements are still needed in terms of the quality of projects submitted.

Following up the results, the conclusions and recommendations stemming from the specific staff training for NA Action officers organised in December 2008, the Commission and the NAs have implemented actions to raise awareness about the ratio and criteria of this sub- Action among potential candidates. In this sense, the Commission drafted an interpretative note for the NAs aiming at providing a clarification on the funding rules and financial procedures to be applied under this sub-Action.

The support granted under this sub-Action to meetings between young people and policy- makers was a direct contribution of the Youth in Action Programme to the development and concrete implementation of the structured dialogue between young people and policy-makers.

In 2009, the thematic cycle of the structured dialogue was mainly centred around the definition of an EU Youth Strategy for the next decade, which ended in the adoption of the Council Resolution of 27 November 2009 on a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field. The peek events of structured dialogue in 2009 were the two Presidency Youth Conferences organised under the Czech and Swedish Presidencies.

• "European Parliament Forum" was a national seminar organised in Fontainebleau, France, in July 2009 by the Regional Committee of the European Youth Parliament. 40 young people debated on main European issues to be faced by the European Parliament and the Commission after the European Parliament elections. • The Youth Council of the French Community of Belgium carried out a project called "01-09 - Agora I du Conseil de la Jeunesse" to collect opinions and recommendations of young people on issues that affect them directly and encourage them to position themselves and engage in "active citizenship". 50 young participants could debate with politicians during various workshops. The project aimed as well at preparing a "youth" position for the Belgian EU Presidency (BEFR).

19 • "Kansallinen Nuorisokonventti 2009" - A national youth convention - organised in Helsinki in October 2009 by the Finnish Youth Council (Allianssi) - represented a way to activate young people on European issues and to promote their dialogue with decision makers. The convention gathered together 80 young people, both organised and non-organised, for three days to discuss issues regarding the development of the EU in general (e.g. the future of the constitutional treaty, enlargement, environment, etc.) and about issues relevant for young people in particular (e.g. education, youth participation, employment, mobility). The event was meant to contribute to the implementation of a structured dialogue at national level.

Bringing about a better knowledge and understanding of youth (sub-Action 5.2)

The Commission Communication on the new EU Youth Strategy had a strong emphasis on evidence-based policy and bringing about better knowledge and understanding of young people. It proposed to release a report on the situation of youth in the EU every three years, as well as the establishment of a dashboard of indicators in the youth field.

As a supporting document to the Communication, the Commission released the first EU Youth Report in April 2009: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/news/doc/new_strategy/youth_report_final.pdf

The EU Youth Report includes comprehensive statistics, data and analysis on the situation of young people in the EU. It also presents results and recommendations from recent research on youth.

Following the initiative of the Commission to launch an EU Youth Report every three years and to develop indicators in the field of youth, the Council integrated both approaches into its Resolution of 27 November 2009 on a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field.

DG EAC also contributed to the Review of European Youth Research, which summarises the results and conclusions of youth research projects supported under the Commission's 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Research Framework Programmes. This report was released by DG Research at the same time as the EU Youth Report to emphasise the strong evidence-based approach to youth policy.

Emphasising the strong link between youth research and youth policy in the social inclusion field, DG EAC hosted a half-day research seminar in November of a youth research project funded through the 7th Research Framework Programme, the YIPPEE Project: "Young people from a public care background - Pathways to education in Europe." The seminar gathered a high number of youth researchers, Commission representatives and external stakeholders in the field of social inclusion.

Regarding the European Knowledge Centre on Youth Policy (EKCYP) within the context of the European Commission's partnership with the Council of Europe in the field of youth, a continuous effort was invested into how to gather data through national correspondents more efficiently and for improving the research database. It was also agreed to display data on the EKCYP portal according to all the fields of action of the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field.

20 Cooperation with international organisations (sub-Action 5.3)

Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe

In 2009, the main activities in the three strands of the EU-CoE Partnership (training, better knowledge and understanding of youth, geographic priorities) were:

• the development of a long-term training course for youth work trainers at European level TALE (Trainers for Active Learning in Europe); • the continuation of the Training Courses on European Citizenship, in close cooperation between the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the European Youth Forum; • the further development of the European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy (EKCYP), an online database intended to provide the youth sector with a single access point to reliable knowledge and information about young people's situation across Europe; • the annual researcher network meeting; • youth policy workshops and seminars related to the EU-CoE youth partnership priority regions, the history of youth work and the recognition of youth work; • in cooperation with the Council of Europe's North-South Centre, the EU-CoE youth partnership implemented training courses related to the EU-Africa youth cooperation.

Partnership with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV)

Within the Framework Partnership Agreement signed with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) in 2007, the following activities were carried out in 2009:

• "Youth Leaders consultative workshop on African Union Development Youth Corps Strategy" (Addis Ababa, 18-20 March 2009) - A joint initiative led by the African Union Commission in partnership with UNV, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The workshop provided an occasion to discuss the proposed program and strategies, to develop draft operation and procedure manual, including the coordination and management structure as well as to participate in the analysis of the feasibility study and identify the effectiveness of the roles and responsibilities of different partners; • International Conference on the establishment of national youth service scheme in the Mano River Union countries (Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone); (Monrovia, 20-21 May 2009) - The conference aimed at providing a platform for the exchange of ideas, experiences, and best practices from various West African countries on the establishment of national youth schemes aimed at establishing a regional network on youth, volunteerism and nation building as well as at promoting volunteerism and the involvement of youth in development; • Forum/workshop on Youth Volunteerism for Climate Change and the Environment (Bonn, 22- 24 November 2009) - Both events (forum and workshop) aimed at facilitating dialogue among volunteers on the contributions of youth volunteering to promote sustainable practices and policies addressing climate change. The forum presented an opportunity for young people and youth leaders to network, identify good practices and challenges, and share experiences.

21 The Partnership also entailed additional activities aimed at promoting the exchange of information, practices and tools in the field of volunteering between the two Institutions as well as mutual support in raising awareness and enhancing the visibility of the contribution of volunteerism in society.

4. IMPLEMENTATION OF TRANSVERSAL ACTIVITIES

The development of transversal activities and the focus on certain themes remained an important feature of the Programme implementation in 2009 as a means to further develop the content-related aspects of the Programme.

4.1 Strategy for the Inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities in YiA

Ensuring the inclusion of all young people and in particular of those with fewer opportunities has been a key priority of the Youth in Action Programme since its launch. The Inclusion Strategy is the common framework for the particular efforts and actions to be undertaken by the Commission, Member States, NAs and EACEA in order to include young people with fewer opportunities in the Youth in Action Programme and to use this Programme as a tool for inclusion of all in society. The measures include special inclusion-related financial support as well as support in terms of tools, training and information.

The overall outcomes in terms of access of young people with fewer opportunities to the Programme show that a quarter of the participants in 2009 were reported to be young people with fewer opportunities.

In 2009 the implementation of the Inclusion Strategy of the Programme was pursued through a variety of information, training and support activities.

The SALTO Inclusion and SALTO Cultural Diversity are important support structures for the Programme in terms of inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities. In 2009, SALTO Inclusion intensified its work on youth unemployment. They organised a training course for youth workers working with school drop-outs and unemployed youth, and the event resulted in a publication "Working on Work".

SALTO Inclusion also organised a seminar on the recognition of non-formal learning for inclusion groups and produced the publication "Youthpass for all". Additionally, the SALTO organised workshops for inclusion officers of the NAs and reprinted and translated several publications produced in earlier years.

SALTO Cultural Diversity organised a range of training and seminars covering such themes as intercultural learning for youth workers, cultural diversity and intercultural learning in EVS, how to work on inclusion of ethnic minorities at the NAs and cultural diversity training for NA. The Resource Centre likewise produced a number of tools and publications for NAs, youth workers and YiA promoters.

Additionally, a variety of activities organised by the NAs in the framework of their Training and Cooperation Plans (TCPs) focused on developing inclusion in specific Actions of the Programme. In some countries, targeted information and training activities were developed to

22 reach out to specific groups working with young people with fewer opportunities in order to encourage the use of the resources offered by the Programme to develop inclusive projects.

4.2 European Strategy for Training in YiA

In 2009, the Commission has been paying increasing attention to the stabilisation and development of a coherent and manifold European Strategy for Training under the Youth in Action Programme. The Training Strategy continued to support initiatives undertaken by the different actors involved in this endeavour within and beyond the YiA NA network.

NA Staff Training

• The training of NAs' staff remained a one of the key elements of the Strategy and a priority within the NA network in order to ensure the development of the appropriate skills and competences among the staff contributing to the implementation of the Youth in Action Programme. • In 2009, the European Commission, together with the Knowledge Management and Staff Training (KMST) Working Group, continued working on the coordination of the training needs and activities within the network and a calendar of trainings was developed and published on Youthnet. The KMST group met twice in 2009. • Thanks to the cooperation and synergies developed between the European Commission, the NAs and the SALTOs, a variety of trainings were organised in 2009 with a view to deepening knowledge and promoting the exchange of practices and experiences within the network in relation to both content-related aspects (Action- specific trainings, Information Officers' seminar, colleagues' support groups for inclusion officers, etc.) and management/technical aspects of the Programme (training for finance officers, training on control and audit, Youthlink trainings, etc.). • Moreover, a specific training for newcomers in the Youth in Action Programme was organised in November 2009 in Brussels by the French NA in cooperation with the European Commission and the Belgian Flemish NA. The purpose of this training was to help newly recruited staff gain a better understanding of the framework of the Programme while encouraging networking.

TCP activities

• The activities carried out by the NAs in the framework of the Training and Cooperation Plan (TCP) are an integral part of the training strategy, in particular as a tool to support the development of youth work in Europe. • A number of TCP activities in 2009 were targeted at promoting the implementation of sub-Actions 1.3 and 5.1, the use of Youthpass or inclusion in specific Actions. • Cooperation among NAs is also an important component of the TCPs to encourage the exchange of practices, promote the development of joint activities and enhance networking. The annual TCP seminar took place in September 2009 in Budapest (Hungary) and was an occasion for the various stakeholders to coordinate their activities, thus contributing to harmonising the European Strategy for Training in the Youth in Action Programme. The seminar continued with the work on developing quality in TCP activities.

23 SALTO activities

• Through the large variety of information, training and support activities they organise in their respective fields of competence, the SALTOs contribute to spreading information about the Programme, strengthening knowledge of its priorities and features, increasing cooperation and networking as well as developing international youth work. The SALTO activities are therefore another key component of the European training strategy.

Training in the framework of the Partnership with the Council of Europe

In the framework of the EU-CoE youth partnership, the training courses on European Citizenship were continued in cooperation with the YiA NAs and the SALTO Training and Cooperation.

The outcomes of the 2009 implementation of the Programme, and in particular the improvements in the performance of certain Actions, show the importance of maintaining a strong emphasis on the provision of quality trainings to both the actors involved in the management of the Programme and the final beneficiaries. In this context, ensuring coordination of the various training needs and activities on offer as well as cooperation among the different actors involved remains an important component of the activities developed in this field.

4.3 Recognition of non-formal learning and Youthpass

In 2009, after a comprehensive testing phase, the implementation phase of Youthpass for youth exchanges and training courses in sub-Action 3.1 was launched. Furthermore, the test phase for the implementation of Youthpass in youth initiatives (sub-Action 1.2) was initiated.

In the period 2007-2009 more than 63 000 Youthpass certificates were issued and the tendency shows a clear increase in demand for the certificates. The statistical data gathered through the implementation of the Youthpass since 2007 were summarised and analyzed in a document produced by SALTO Training and Cooperation in close cooperation with the Youthpass Advisory Group. This document created a basis for the proposal by the Commission on future developments of Youthpass, which was adopted by the YiA Programme Committee in 2010.

Several trainings for multipliers, trainers and project promoters were organised with the support of SALTO Training and Cooperation in view to supporting the implementation of Youthpass as well as raising awareness about the recognition of non-formal learning. The NAs' Youthpass contact persons met in April 2009 in Germany to discuss NAs' implementation strategies and Youthpass developments.

Various technical improvements were also introduced. From 2009, the Youthpass statistical tool enables the NAs to have comprehensive statistics about the implementation of Youthpass in their country. The Youthpass website continued being developed and by December 2009, thanks to the contribution of the YiA NAs, it was available in 24 languages.

In order to support the implementation of Youthpass, the Youthpass Guide was published in April 2009. This document doesn't serve only to the technical aspect of the implementation of

24 Youthpass, but provides also useful general information on the recognition of non-formal learning.

Furthermore, a specific publication providing tools and guidance for the implementation of Youthpass in inclusion projects was produced by SALTO Training and Cooperation and SALTO Inclusion.

4.4 Information and visibility

In addition to training courses, information and communication activities are another powerful instrument which can be used to improve the Youth in Action Programme implementation and increase its visibility.

Communication strategies

The communication strategies developed and implemented by the NAs in 2009 focused on the following challenges:

• increasing the number and quality of applications; • involving under-represented counties/ regions in the Programme; • attracting new promoters active in the youth field (non-governmental youth organisations, informal youth groups as well as municipalities); • targeting specific inclusion groups of young people such as ethnic and cultural minorities (e.g. Roma), unemployed young people, young people from rural and remote areas, disabled young people; • promoting non-formal learning and the European youth policy; • increasing the visibility and recognition of the Youth in Action Programme; • providing training to beneficiaries on communication activities.

Communication activities and their impact:

In order to reach the set communication objectives, the NAs developed a broad range of innovative promotional materials in 25 national languages disseminated through various communication channels to reach out to the target audiences at national, regional and local levels. These activities were complemented by the European Commission communication work carried out at European level. Among others, the following activities deserve special attention:

• Websites

The Internet remained one of the most important communication tools both for the NAs and for the European Commission. The Youth in Action Programme websites provided in national languages (and in some cases in EN and or languages of ethnic minorities in the respective countries) contain all the information related to the Programme, relevant for current and potential applicants. The websites are as well valuable recourses for youth actors providing publications, booklets, brochures, compendia as well as e-newsletters, magazines, audiovisual material. Many NAs made an effort to design the websites in an attracting and user-friendly way and registered a high number of visitors. Some NAs introduced interactive functionalities in enabling the users to communicate with each other.

25 The European Commission youth website was the second most visited website among all DG EAC web pages with 897 600 visitors in 2009.

More and more NAs decided to include social media in their promotional work such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube being aware of their increasing popularity and attractiveness among young people. The social media are often used to advertise national events, training courses or to upload promotional materials.

• Media Work

Increasing the YiA media coverage is one of the major tasks of the NAs in the communication field. Therefore, the European Commission launched the first EU-wide media monitoring exercise in 2009. According to the information provided by the NAs, there were 3 941 articles published in all the Programme countries between January and September 2009, mostly in the local or regional press. The NAs made as well an effort to provide the YiA beneficiaries with support and tools needed for the media work since the visibility and DEOR activities are parts of the project implementation.

• EP elections 2009

One of the communication priorities for 2009 were the EP elections in June 2009. The YiA Unit participated in the inter-services working group leaded by DG Communication which coordinated European Commission communication activities in this field. For the first time, a specific call for proposals under the framework of the Youth in Action Programme was launched to support information activities run for and by young people with a view to raising information about the EP elections; it had an indirect impact on more than 600 000 young people who took part in discussions, information sessions, contests, on-line activities, training events and seminars throughout Europe. The brochure "Focused on participation and information of young people" summarises these activities.

• Events

Participation in events attracting young people and potential beneficiaries was included in communication activities at both national and European levels.

The Youth in Action Programme was present during the European Job Days in Brussels in 2009. The Programme provided as well financial support to the "Creativity Forum" organised in cooperation with the Committee of the Regions in the context of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation on 20 and 21 April 2009.

• Staff trainings

The annual Information Officers staff training, organised by the SALTO Information and the European Commission in Hungary on 7-9 October 2009, offered a forum to share ideas, exchange practices, network as well as develop new skills and strategies in order to increase the impact and visibility of the Programme. Representatives of the Commission presented the EVE platform - the new DG EAC database to disseminate information about best practice projects.

26 Furthermore, the Communication Unit of DG EAC organised for the first time a meeting for information officers of the Youth in Action and Lifelong Learning Programmes; the meeting took place in Brussels on 18-19 June 2009. The participants attended workshops on strategy, planning and media relations, publications and events, audiovisual and web services, big campaigns, common actions and cross-border cooperation.

Illustrative initiatives:

• The Magazine "Without Borders" is published every second year by the Swedish NA in cooperation with the YiA promoters with the aim to revive the Youth in Action Programme with interviews, best practices, life reports from various projects. The 2009 issue focused on inclusion. The magazine informs and inspires young people and those who work in the youth field or are just curious about the international youth cooperation. 7 000 copies of the magazine have been printed and 3 000 of those have been disseminated to schools and youth centres across Sweden. (http://www.ungdomsstyrelsen.se/). • In 2009, the Estonian NA carried out 59 YiA presentations in schools which involved 5 380 participants, among them 1 234 from priority rural areas. • The EVS Advice and Support Organisation in Norway visited universities and all upper secondary schools in the northern regions distributing YiA material in classrooms and organised information meetings with career counsellors. • EuroPeers are young people from Germany who already have experience with the Youth in Action Programme; after getting some training, they are supposed to organise events for other young people on European issues. In 2009 the EuroPeers events focused on the 2009 EP elections. The EuroPeers homepage is available on http://www.europeers.de/.

4.5 Dissemination and exploitation of results

In parallel to information and promotional activities, a special focus was placed on how to best ensure the dissemination and exploitation of the results (DEOR) achieved by the Programme. DEOR has been integrated as an implementation principle into the Youth in Action Programme Guide. Beside that, extra funding can be made available under various actions for additional DEOR measures undertaken by promoters.

In 2009, a DEOR section was created on Youthnet including all relevant documents as well as the list of NAs' activities in this area (e.g. publications, compendia, media activities, project fairs, exhibitions, trainings, seminars, etc); the NA network has been encouraged to share their ideas and experience. A compilation of all DEOR instruments and activities at NA level carried out in 2008 was updated in 2009 on the basis of NA's final reports.

Specific DEOR workshops were organised during different NA Staff trainings and meetings. The presentation on DEOR was also provided during the Swedish annual conference in Stockholm in December 2009.

Over 70 YiA projects were identified as good practice at both centralised and decentralised levels to feed the electronic platform for the dissemination and exploitation of results (EVE) made available by the Commission as from March 2009.

27 The Sharing Experience box on the European Commission website was enriched by best practice project examples. The set of best practice brochures was completed by the publication "Focused on: Innovation and Creativity" in 2009.

• 1+1=3,training course on non-formal learning and DEOR organised by the Swedish NA three times in 2009 with ca. 60 participants: beneficiaries and NA staff as well as trainers from Sweden, Finland and Norway. • The UK NA has an official DEOR website called Youthspace to provide the public with a tool to download and digest a variety of examples of good practices, either produced by the NA or by beneficiaries of the Programme: www.youthspace.org.uk. • The YiA beneficiaries from Austria can send the NA their photos from best practice projects; the best of them are being disseminated later as postcards.

4.6 Evaluation of the Programme

Whilst the first two years of implementation of YiA called for a strong concentration on management issues, it has been possible in 2009 to pay a greater attention to the development of a capacity to better analyse the impact of the Programme.

This corresponds to one of the main recommendations of the final evaluation of the previous YOUTH Programme, concerning the monitoring of such a Programme. Progress has been made in 2009 in this regard and the process of the mid-term evaluation of the Youth in Action Programme has been launched.

In May 2009, the Programme Committee adopted a document outlining the provisions to guarantee a permanent monitoring of the Programme. Based on these orientations a first survey was initiated end 2009 among participants (young people, youth workers, youth organisations) to get their views on the impact of the Programme for them. For this first ever a direct survey a representative sample of 4 500 participants was established. The first part of the survey (consultation of the young volunteers and youth organisations - of which the e-mail addresses were available in YouthLink) was conducted before the end of the year and was coupled with a request to the sample of youth organisations to receive from them the e-mail addresses of young participants having participated in their projects. Following reception of these addresses, the second part of the survey has been administered beginning 2010, leading to a global exploitation of the results of the survey in 2010. One of the promising results of this new exercise was already detected in 2009, with the discovery of the high rate of participation to this anonymous survey: not less than 52% of the sample of youth organisations (1 254) replied to the questionnaire, giving the proof of a strong ownership of this Programme.

In May 2009, the Programme Committee also expressed a favourable opinion on the document presented by the Commission, introducing the scope and process of the interim evaluation of YiA. This allowed to launch the evaluation exercise earlier than in the past with a view to anticipating the process of elaboration of the proposal for the future Programme. The request for contribution was sent to the National Authorities before year end, making it possible to receive most national reports in due time in 2010. As foreseen by the Commission rules, a Steering Group composed by representatives of different units of DG EAC, EACEA,

28 the European Youth Forum, the SALTO Inclusion and three representatives from Member States has been established to accompany the evaluation.

4.7 Risk and Young person protection

Protection and safety of young people involved in YiA projects are important principles of the Youth in Action Programme. Reflections in this area were pursued, in particular within the Working Group on Risk and Young Person Protection (European Commission and the NAs network), which met twice in 2008 and once in 2009. This included the organisation of a seminar on risk management in Youth Exchanges held in Antalya (Turkey) in early 2009. As a concrete outcome, two trainings for trainers related to the safety and protection of the YiA participants should be organised and a Trainers Manual should be issued in 2010. The manual is based on a drawn up by the National Youth Council of Ireland and adapted for international work. The work of this group will be finalised in 2010.

Risk awareness was introduced in some activities carried out by the NAs (website sections, booklets, training) as well as in transnational bi-tri-multi trainings.

The "Guidelines of good practices for the protection and safety of participants" and the "Country guide to risk and young person protection in the EU", which gathers data about the legislation, policy and practice relating to risk and young person protection issues in the EU countries, were updated and are available on the European Commission website in a specific "focus" section.

The importance of safety and protection was reinforced in the 2009 Programme Guide becoming part of the eligibility criteria in all actions. This topic was discussed as well during the 1.1 staff training in Bratislava in December 2009.

A liaison was also established with the Lifelong Learning Programme. The experiences gathered within the Youth in Action Programme in the field of protection and safety of participants proved to be interesting and useful for the development of the Comenius Individual Pupil Mobility scheme. The Irish NA was invited to make a presentation to the Working Group on Comenius Individual Pupil Mobility on the subject of risk management.

5. MANAGEMENT OF THE PROGRAMME

5.1 Recourse to a network of National Agencies

In 2009 the Commission received the second yearly declarations of assurance (ex-post) from the National Authorities. Their analysis, which was anticipated compared to the previous exercise, demonstrated an overall increased assurance on the control system in relation with the year 2008 notably in the light of the reduced number of observations (from 183 to 131). This outcome was also supported by other evidences such as the results of monitoring visits to NAs and National Authorities as well as of a number of EC financial audits on decentralised actions agreements.

At system level, despite this overall assurance which confirms the soundness of the current management framework, the Commission identified persisting weaknesses mostly related to primary controls and treasury management areas which were subject to reinforced checks

29 from the part of the Commission. It appears from the assessment of the 2009 declarations of assurance that the identified weaknesses at the National Authorities' level have seriously been reduced in the course of the year. In relation with NAs, if further progresses have been noticed, they have not always been made on time to ensure full resolution before the end of 2009 notably in relation with primary checks.

At country level, the Commission had to suspend the Programme implementation in Cyprus as from February 2009. In this context all possible measures have been taken from the side of the Commission and with the support of other participating countries in order to limit the impact of this suspension in particular on Young Cypriots and Youth Cypriot organisations. This suspension has since then been lifted. Moreover, the Commission had to report an absence of assurance in Malta which has been further confirmed in the first half of 2010, making necessary a Programme suspension which is still monitored. Furthermore, a partial assurance in five other countries was reported but with a limited impact on the actual Programme implementation.

In the meantime, the Commission ensured timely contracting and payment of decentralised funds to all NAs so as to guarantee efficient Programme implementation.

It should be highlighted that the role of the NAs is not only limited to the implementation of the Youth in Action Programme; in many cases they become recognised national stakeholders in the youth policy field, promoting the European dimension and contributing to development and/or professionalization of the civil society active in the non-formal learning sector.

• The Hungarian NA has played a pioneer role in establishing the national youth council and in elaborating the national youth strategy in Hungary trying to embed the YiA objectives in it. In addition, the NA contributed to the professionalization of organisations active in the youth field offering them trainings (e.g. to EVS organisations, Roma organisations, youth organisations working with disabled young people, trainers). • The Czech NA has been active in a working group coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic preparing amendments in the Law on Volunteering; the transnational volunteering became a highly topical European theme during the Czech Presidency in 2009 due to the initiative of the NA which became one of the main driving force behind the activities of the Czech Presidency in the youth field. • The NA in Latvia is the head of the national network of the Anna Lindth Foundation - an organisation shared and resourced by over 40 Euro-Mediterranean countries aiming to promote dialogue between cultures and respect for diversity. Moreover, the NA established cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science in providing trainings to common target groups such as teachers; the NA organised trainings on non-formal education and methods. In addition, the NA participated in development of Strategic Guidelines for Youth Policy for 2009-2018.

5.2 Support structures: SALTO Resource Centres, Eurodesk network, Euro-Med Youth Platform, structures of former EVS volunteers

Overall, the activities carried out by the SALTO Network contributed to reinforcing the priority areas of the Programme as well as the European dimension of the work done by the

30 network of NAs. A variety of training courses, information activities, publications were developed by each Resource Centre in relation to their respective field of activities. Overall 99 educational activities were organised covering 33 countries.

The common SALTO website remained the main port of access to the variety of opportunities offered by the Centres and maintained a high number of visitors (over 1 million visits). The interest in the resources produced by these Centres went well beyond YiA project promoters, embracing a much wider public, as shown by the high number of recorded downloads. The SALTO network issued 65 publications (newsletters, booklets, magazines…) covering their different fields of activities.

The fourth edition of the Tool Fair was co-organised by the Portuguese NA and the SALTO network from 10 to 15 November 2009. The Fair was an occasion to gather and showcase a large variety of tools developed and used in the framework of the Youth in Action Programme. More than 150 participants from Programme and Partner countries had the opportunity to test these tools, share methods and practices and reflect on their transferability.

Taking into account the conclusions of the final evaluation of the YOUTH Programme and further to the request of the Programme Committee, a reflection on the role and structure of the Eurodesk network was continued in 2009.

This exercise produced a clarification of the Eurodesk mandate and activities of the network. The introduction of a direct contractual relationship with the European Eurodesk Office (EEO) was also proposed in order to ensure a better coordination role by this structure.

A meeting of the Steering Committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Youth Platform (EMYP) took place in June 2009 in order to ensure coordination and adaptation of the work of this structure to the changing needs of youth organisations on both sides of the Mediterranean.

5.3 Executive Agency

In 2009, EACEA continued to ensure the management of the centralised strands of the Youth in Action Programme. The main results achieved were the following:

Three selection rounds of the Programme Guide:

• 1st round with a deadline in February: 89 projects selected out of the 328 applications received; • 2nd round with a deadline in June: 90 projects selected out of the 304 applications received; • 3rd round with a deadline in September: 94 projects selected out of the 316 applications received.

Concerning the specific calls for proposals, four were launched in 2009:

• Action 3.2: Cooperation with other countries: publication in April and 137 applications were submitted out of which 30 projects were selected; • Action 4.1 Support to bodies active at European level in the youth field: publication in October and 173 applications were submitted;

31 • Action 4.4: Projects encouraging innovation and quality: publication in June and 135 applications were submitted out of which 16 projects were selected; • Action 4.6: Partnerships: publication in August and 67 applications were submitted out of which 23 projects were selected.

5.4 Participation of Countries other than the EU Member States in the Programme

In line with article 5 of the Decision establishing the Programme, countries other than the EU Member States can also be "participating countries" provided that certain conditions are fulfilled.

In 2009, preparations continued in view to assist Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Switzerland in getting ready for their full participation in the Youth in Action Programme (currently envisaged for 2011 for Croatia and Switzerland provided all the necessary conditions are fulfilled).

Preparatory measures continued in Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which, as candidate countries, could also benefit from the Commission's financial support through the Instrument of Pre-Accession (IPA). In this context, the two embryonic NAs published a call for pilot projects, which for the first time gave promoters from these two countries the possibility to seek support for their youth projects directly in their own country. These calls also aimed to assist the NA staff in gaining experience with project management procedures and requirements.

Moreover, the staff of the two new NAs was progressively invited to meetings and trainings organised within the network of NAs.

In the case of Switzerland, in 2009 negotiations continued between the European Commission and Switzerland on the text of the Memorandum of Understanding for the participation of this country in the Youth in Action and Lifelong Learning Programmes.

6. TECHNICAL ASPECTS

6.1 Youthlink

In 2009, several developments were introduced in YouthLink with a view to respond to the needs of NAs in relation to the implementation of the Programme, and more specifically in terms of project lifecycle management and statistical monitoring and reporting. The Commission also organised three trainings for NAs aimed at increasing competence of staff in the usage of the tool.

Furthermore, the Commission started the mapping of the YouthLink Database in order to make YouthLink interoperable with other systems in the medium-term. In this perspective, the Commission also undertook preliminary actions aimed at progressively introducing electronic forms, both at centralised and decentralised level.

Reflections about the future developments of YouthLink were carried out in cooperation with NAs. With this regard, the Commission organised a NAs' Consultative Group on IT issues and addressed the subject during the NA Meeting of November 2009.

32 6.2 Insurance

The contract relating to the insurance cover and services for participants in the European Voluntary Service continued being managed by EACEA. An AXA Info day with participation from NAs and EACEA, in addition to AXA, was organised in June 2009.

6.3 Revision of lump sums and scales of unit costs

According to the Financial Regulation, lump sums and scales of unit costs have to be checked every second year against the respect of the principles of non-profit and co-financing. This exercise has been launched in 2009, also with a view to revising these lump sums and scales of unit costs when deemed necessary and basing them on objective data.

Following a questionnaire administered among a sample of promoters of the Programme and an in-depth analysis of the situation during several meetings with NA representatives and representatives of the Programme Committee, the Commission proposed some adjustments to the lumps sums and scales of unit costs to be applied for the years 2010 and 2011, on which the Programme Committee expressed a favourable opinion in May 2009.

The main outcomes of this global exercise are as follows:

• there was confirmation that the lump sums and scales of unit costs generally did not lead to profit and could therefore be maintained as a basis for 2010 and 2011; • only few funding rules had to be revised, to better avoid such risk of profit and/or to reduce the average grant of a given sub-Action, therefore making it possible to support more projects; • the adaptation of the lump sums and scales of unit costs to the national realities are now based on objective criteria.

7. CONCLUSIONS

The various activities which took place in 2009 illustrate that the implementation of the Programme went well beyond the management of the projects it supported.

From a quantitative point of view, the outcomes of the Programme in 2009 have reached levels which were never reached before, with, i.a., the direct participation of close to 140 000 persons in the Programme. From a qualitative point of view, many activities helped to increase the impact of the projects supported.

The results of the first part of the survey conducted end 2009-beginning 2010 underlined the strong impact of this Programme, which the second part of the survey, as well as the mid-term evaluation of the Programme, confirmed in 2010.

Youth in Action therefore appears to be a very effective tool to support the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field adopted end of 2009 and to positively influence the youth work in Europe.