2018Youth exchangeParticipation

Make Your Voice Heard

Context and needs

Many young people volunteer without seeing it as a form of civic participation and without knowing how to talk about what they learned from it. Their communities have needs they could respond to, but there is no framework linking the two.

Objectives

The project set out for participants to understand volunteering as an expression of active citizenship and solidarity, to identify needs in their communities they can respond to through volunteering, and to develop organisational, communication and teamwork skills.

Activities

Sessions on the European framework for volunteering and on the recognition of the competences gained, workshops in which each group planned a volunteering action, and a practical activity in the local community, organised by the participants from scratch: identifying the need, planning, implementation, evaluation.

Results and impact

Each national group left with an action plan, and each participant with the direct experience of organising something for others and with a Youthpass certificate. Participants practised presenting their volunteering experience in terms relevant to employers and education institutions.

Materials and resources

The full photo album of the project is published on our Facebook page.