Skip to main content


Youth Goals Laboratory


Youth Councils creating support for the Youth Goals implementation

In the beginning of April five national youth councils (Austria, Croatia, Portugal, Germany, Cyprus) met to start an Erasmus+ funded strategic partnership to cooperate on implementing the Youth Goals. In the framework of their current and future EU council presidencies and accompanied by the researcher Ondřej Bárta who also took part in VI Cycle of the Structured Dialogue when the Youth Goals were established, the youth councils plan to elaborate instruments supporting implementation of the Youth Goals. The project encompasses two main tasks: creating monitoring tools to implement the Youth Goals and coming up with a model kit for regional implementation of the EU Youth Dialogue. 

It is crucial for the EU Youth Dialogue to ensure that young people feel ownership of the whole process and are being heard. Taking into consideration that the Youth Goals were developed based on an EU-wide consultation with about 50.000 young people during the 6th cycle of EU Structured Dialogue, this project sets an ambition to respond to their engagement and move it forward.

The project wants to further strengthen the EU Youth Dialogue and aims to ensure participatory and evidence-based policy making. The project will run until mid-2020 and provide solid knowledge basis to enable smooth Youth Goals implementation. 

For further information you can reach out to:  martin.kitzberger@bjv.at

 

Evaluation in the Youth Field: Theoretical Framework for Evaluating Implementation of the Youth Goals

Intellectual Output

Doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3604216
https://zenodo.org/record/3604216/

Direct Download

This publication brings together current evaluation theories with an ambitious purpose of making the evaluation as such into a more widely understood and subsequently also a more frequently used tool in the youth sector. Wide audience is necessary in order to achieve this goal: practitioners, policymakers, youth researchers, as well as wide public. Practitioners may find evaluation useful when critically approaching their own everyday practice in order to both collect evidence of quality work and improving when necessary. Policymakers may get inspired and put evaluation mechanisms in place as part of the policy implementation phase, therefore enabling the evaluation to serve as continuous tool to provide evidence and help optimize as well as assess the implementation process as well as the policy itself. Youth researchers may appreciate another viewpoint on the research methods they are already familiar with and utilize them in a different way than usual next time they design a research project. And the wide public, particularly young people as beneficiaries of the youth policy measures, may strengthen their understanding and critical thinking on existent policies and the debates around them.

Rural Youth Indicators. Open Source Indicators for Evaluating Youth Goals Implementation.

Intellectual Output

Doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3965992
https://zenodo.org/record/3965992

Direct Download

Indicators are widely used across different sectors to enable policymakers as well as various other stakeholders to explore and track changes in observed phenomena. As such, it is also one of the tools of evidence-based policymaking, and potentially a source of data for evaluation processes, and also for informed debates on varied topics. This publication further elaborates on a discussion started in the previous intellectual output focusing on evaluation in the youth field. While the previous publication aimed at providing the reader with an overview of various components of the evaluation process, this one focuses on demonstrating potential significance of indicators in implementing and fulfilling the European Youth Goals. In particular, the publication strives to point out concrete indicators existent on international and national levels, which can be potentially useful in assessing the state of affairs in the youth field. Moreover, by analysing these indicators, the publication provides the reader with a basic insight into strong and weak suits to look out for when using indicators further.

Knowledge-based Approach to Moving Rural Youth Forward. Complex Evaluation Model: Guidelines for Detailed Evaluation of Youth Goals Implementation.

Intellectual Output

Doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3956517
https://zenodo.org/record/3956517

Direct Download

In the previous intellectual outputs focusing on the European Youth Goals, two important topics were addressed: basics of youth policy evaluation and analysis of open source indicators connected to Youth Goal #6: “Moving Rural Youth Forward”. In order to conclude this series of publications, and building on both aforementioned texts, concrete evaluation strategies are outlined in here in order to further support any actor in the youth field in their evaluative practices. Since European Youth Goal #6 has been already used as the focus of this publication series, it is also used in here to demonstrate evaluative processes in particular linked to rural youth policies.

Regional and Local Implementation
of the EU Youth Dialogue

Intellectual Output

Direct Download

This publication offers insights into the current regional implementation of the EU Youth Dialogue. An online survey with members of National Working Groups (NWG) was designed and analysed to share their experiences. Additionally different interviews had been held for in-depth discussion about the implementation of the EU Youth Dialogue and specific programmes (e.g. Youth Dialogue ambassador programmes). Analyses of the collected data show that the EU Youth Dialogue is implemented in very different ways in each country. Several key elements could be identified as success factors for the local and regional implementation of the EU Youth Dialogue.

Youth Goals Toolbox: Dialogue activities to implement the Youth Goals together

Intellectual Output

Direct Download

This toolbox is addressed to everyone who wants to work together with young people on the Youth Goals at the regional and local level. National working groups and decision-makers, as well as youth workers, youth organisations and groups of young people can use the toolbox for their dialogue activities.
The toolbox presents the Youth Goals and their origins in the EU Youth Dialogue. Further the toolbox offers support how one can realize a dialogue activity about the Youth Goals in 3 steps:

For the first step, we provide experiences from the Youth Goals Lab for planning a dialogue activity: how to clarify your vision and mission, to which conditions you should pay attention and how to get in contact with relevant people. For the second step we present experiences regarding the facilitation of dialogue activities. In addition, we present numerous methods for getting started, methods for exchanging opinions, experiences and ideas and methods for reflecting and moving forward. Finally, for the third step, we present what we consider to be useful in terms of caring for results and follow-ups.

Report from Multiplier Event held on 06.12.2019 in Vienna, Austria

Direct Download

In Vienna, Austria a multiplier event took place on 06.12.2019 as a part of the project. The aim of the event was to present tools and projects to involve young people in local and regional decision-making processes in the context of the EU Youth Dialogue and the Youth Goals. The participants received insight and information about the Youth Goals Lab project and the previous findings of Intellectual Outputs. In open-space settings, the participants were able to work on their own questions and challenges regarding regional and local participation in group work. As examples of regional participation programs, Youth Ambassador Programs from Germany, Portugal and Cyprus were presented. Participants from 13 European countries joined the event. They all had already worked within the framework of the EU Youth Dialogue and had different backgrounds, from national decision makers to youth workers and youth delegates.

Report from Multiplier Event held on 11.03.2020 in Zagreb, Croatia 

Direct Download

As a part of the project, a multiplier event took place on 11.03.2020 in Zagreb, Croatia. More than 40 participants discussed on the intellectual outputs “Evaluation in the Youth Field: Theoretical Framework for Evaluating Implementation of the Youth Goals” and “Rural Youth Indicators. Open Source Indicators for Evaluating Youth Goals Implementation.” which were presented by representatives of project consortium. Key outputs of multiplier event were produced during group work on different topics all related to the implementation of the Youth Goals. These findings are summarised in this publication.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.