Call for proposals - EACEA/15/10. ‘Youth in Action’ programme: Action 4.3 - ‘Youth Support Systems’ - Support to youth workers’ mobility and exchanges

This call offers support, on an experimental basis, for youth workers' mobility and exchanges with a view to promoting the acquisition of new skills and competences in order to enrich their profile as professionals in the youth field, as well as to help them better adapt to the changing needs of young people. It will also contribute to the capacity-building and the development of the structures involved. In doing so, this call will contribute to supporting the policy priority to support, recognise and professionalise youth work as a cross-cutting policy tool in Europe.

The objectives of the call are:
- to give youth workers the opportunity to experience a different working reality in another country,
- to gain a better understanding of the European dimension of youth work,
- to improve youth workers' professional, intercultural and language competences,
- to promote the exchange of experiences and approaches to youth work and non-formal education in Europe,
- to contribute to developing stronger and more quality partnerships between youth organisations across Europe, and
- to strengthen the quality and the role of youth work in Europe.

Preference will be given to projects which best reflect the permanent priorities of the 'Youth in Action' programme (participation of young people; cultural diversity; European citizenship; inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities) and which reflect the following annual priorities: European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion; youth unemployment and promotion of young unemployed people's active participation in society; awareness-raising and mobilisation of young people around global challenges (e.g. sustainable development, climate change, migrations, Millennium Development Goals).

Proposals must be submitted by non-profit organisations, which can be: non-governmental organisations (NGOs); bodies active at European level in the field of youth, which have member organisations in at least eight programme countries of the 'Youth in Action' programme; public bodies based at regional or local level.

Applicants must have been legally registered for at least two years in one of the programme countries: EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey. Projects must involved two partners from two different programme countries, of which at least one is from an EU Member State.

Participants must be professional youth workers legally resident in one of the 'Youth in Action' programme countries. Both paid employees and those working as volunteers in non-governmental organisations or local or regional public bodies active in the field of youth are eligible.

Projects will support individual mobility of up to two youth workers. When two youth workers are involved the project must be based on the principle of reciprocity, i.e. there should be a mutual exchange of youth workers between the two partner organisations.

Projects must start between 1 March 2011 and 30 June 2011 and last for no more than 12 months, with activities lasting between two and six months. The total budget available is €600,000, with maximum grants not exceeding €25,000. The deadline for applications is 22 October 2010.

Further details are available on the EACEA website.

Reference: 2010/C 155/04

(Added 2010-06-15)