<< Objectives >>Within the last years the community of educational practitioners and therefore also implemented projects in the field of non-formal education & international youth work was growing enormously. This goes along side the observation of many individual “trainers” starting up their educational practice as a (professional) life path and as a source of income. Nevertheless we are convinced that projects - and therefor us as the ones implementing them with young people and our cooperation partners - often lack reflection, knowledge, awareness & consciousness about a simple but crucial question, namely how to create and shape learning in order to define & achieve impact (individual, organisational and systemic) in cooperation with the target group(s). Or - as a thesis - in order to be able to achieve (and to measure) impact we have to really understand learning.Therefore the overall project foresees a series of educational events to discuss, share, build on & focus on key topics that interest the members of this consortium (organisations) but also support active individuals in developing further their profiles as individual educators. We would like this group to become more valuable for each of us and we believe there is probably no easier way to connect people than to have them meet online & offline and work together for a common purpose. We will develop for & with the group of partners a tailor-made series of European seminars & trainings which aim to provide a concrete profile for the group but also can serve as a reference of quality as educational practitioner. The seminars & trainings will foster the profile of people & organisations and will build on your experiences and needs as educational practitioners but also develops a concrete schedule for providing an overarching horizon of developing competences in the field of (European youth) education.Finally we would like to make available academic and other knowledge that is sometimes not available to certain groups of our society because the formal system excludes certain groups. This project is an attempt in offering training to a target that would otherwise not be able to acquire this type of experience. And secondly we believe that this project, as it is operating under non-formal settings, allows for a much closer learner centered approach and thus allows for a more sustainable and lasting impact. << Activities >>This project will implement 4 residential meetings for 30 participants from all over the European Union and neighbouring partner countries including 3 transitional phases in which further facilitated research is being conducted. This project will involve 30 multipliers, youth leaders, NGO activists, educators, young entrepreneurs, social workers who would like to increase their skill in offering qualitative learning spaces for young people and being able to measure the impact professionally. This project will additionally reach 300 individuals on local level reached through local activities in T3. All activities will operate in the frame of non-formal education and include learner participation and reflection in all relevant stages of the project. << Impact >>This project intends to significantly increase the quality of learning spaces being offered by non-formal educational actors. This will increase the quality and impact of the partners of this project to reach their target group with their respective mission. Non-formal educational activities will become more professional and measurable. We would like to increase significantly understanding of impact measurement and the implementation of measuring impact in general. Local communities will see a more professional NGO activism that can truly support and inspire young people. We also expect the participating organizations to deepen their collaboration in order to implement bigger projects.

“Step by step: Steps for multipliers to empower youths” was a program by MitOst e.V. and 16 partner organizations targeting community multipliers with different levels of experience from 17 countries. The project activities aimed at fostering modern, dynamic, committed and professional environment inside the organisations involved, so that they will be ready to integrate good practices and new methods exchanged within the partnership into daily activities. Created partnership between EU and Partner Countries helped build synergies with organisations and individual youth workers active in different social, educational fields and promote non-formal learning and cooperation in the youth field. Providing space for intercultural encounters in both activities was therefore vital to address international challenges, such as increasingly diverse target groups, with locally relevant and appropriate responses. The project had the following objectives: -to systematically qualify community multipliers with different levels of experience to become facilitators in the area of non-formal democratic citizenship education, -to strengthen their skills and -to disseminate knowledge, tools and experiences generated on the open source platform www.competendo.net for community multipliers and facilitators. Thereby to strengthen the employability of the participating youths. As the first out of three originally planned activities was not supported by the National Agency, the project consisted of two activities building upon each other and complementing each other’s objectives and expected outcomes: (A2) Basic Training for 27 emerging community multipliers in Berlin, Germany, 02.-9.02.2019 The training focused on EU citizenship, EU awareness and democracy as a framework for non-formal youth education. The tools and methods introduced to community multipliers from various cultural backgrounds support lifelong learning and active participation of youth in society. (A3) Advanced Training for 20 intermediate community multipliers in Berlin, Germany, 03.-9.02.2018 The training tackled EU citizenship, EU awareness and democracy on an advanced level as the participants from a variety of cultural backgrounds of this activity reflected upon their previous facilitation experiences and their practices in encouraging lifelong learning. (A2) and (A3) took place simultaneously in the same location in order to foster exchange between community multipliers with different levels of experience. Www.competento.net was introduced as learning tool and methods and approaches practiced.The project thereby contributed to an improved quality of non-formal citizenship education and peer-to-peer support on local, regional, national and international levels. It further contributed to increased employment opportunities of the participants who became more professional in their role as facilitators and trainers in the context of youth work. The project ensured at the same time higher quality of facilitation in the partner organisations. By that we mean facilitation based on humanistic psychology, empathy, self-resilience and participation, enabling partner organisations implement more sustainable and impactful projects on democratic citizenship, community development and cohesion, locally and in Europe.In the long term we believe the project provided impulses and contributed to a vibrant European civil society in which youth plays a vital role based on its diverse citizens and their democratic values.