The idea of the project ”Modern Youth NGO Management – The Challenge of Professionalism” lies in the notion that youth work is a progressive field that provides space and opportunities for young people to shape their own future and has the very important role of encouraging them to take responsibility and get involved in shaping society beyond individual interests. However, in Europe we only find a few countries with well-established youth work policies and structures governed by public authorities with paid youth workers, developed vocational training, and higher education curricula for the youth work studies.
According to the desk research developed during the preparation of this project application, there is a lack of quality studies on youth work across Europe. Moreover, the institutional framework for Youth Policy at the European level is not very “young” compared to other sectors, however the achievements are especially disappointing in terms of the recognition of youth work as a profession and the youth sector in general. This project emphasizes that common action is needed to gather relevant experiences, expertise, and act together to define common strategies for higher education in the field of youth. The first step in this direction is the creation of a common research that can identify the existing studies and propose a model for future studies of youth work including bachelor and MA studies.
The project was realized during the period September 2015 – August 2016 by joint efforts of Out of the Box International, the Key-Cyprus and ISTANBUL AYDIN UNIVERSITESI VAKFI under the programme: Erasmus+, Key Action 2 Strategic Partnership in the field of Youth.