<< Background >>We believe that the topics of youth and cities are connected organically as the concern of urban areas for their young generation is basically about the future of that urban area in 20-30 years. So, shaping cities today together with young people will stay at the core of the future of that same city in the long-term future.We aim to put youth volunteering at the epicentre of urban resilience and long-term urban development based on equity, participation and shared vision by creating and delivering an urban transformation process made of a theory framework, practical tools and digitally integrated volunteer management mechanism regarding the active civic engagement of young people in urban life through volunteering.THE NEXT CRISISThe coronavirus crisis will change our lives for good. Although countries were the ones to respond to this threat firsts, there are two main complementary directions unfolding. First, the European Union emerged as an actor being able to mitigate this huge health and economic threat. At the same time, cities and local communities emerged as key catalysts in taking care of the most vulnerable and in finding local solutions to local challenges. Urban volunteering for urgent causes effectively spiked. During 2020, a broad survey was conducted in several European cities. Over 7,700 young people provided insights and answers on how they perceive the crisis. Besides the fact that their sense of happiness decreased by an average of 2.6 points from a 10-point scale, young people provided feedbacks such as how broken their social interaction became.Active community participation through volunteering is a strong way forward in getting through this crisis. It brings young people out of lethargy and it rebuilds the social fabric in urban settlements and their metropolitan surroundings.WHY VOLUNTEERING?Among answers provided by young people, a large majority underlines the willingness to be part of community activities, but they do not know what exactly to do. They are looking for opportunities. On the other hand, while there is no detailed information from each city, the LEAP study (leapcluj.ro) conducted during 2020 in Cluj mapped over 720 stakeholders of all kinds who provide services and opportunities for involvement for young people. Hence, we believe there is a disconnect between the offer (young people and their free time) and demand (organisations who are looking to involve young people).EXISTING MODELSEven before the COVID-19 crisis, the overall concept of the project took birth already during a preparatory meeting which took place in Novi Sad in December 2019. During the meeting, our hosts presented their local NVS volunteering system which was put in place for their OPENS 2019 European Youth Capital programme. NVS was considered as one of the best practices of the programme, however, local coordinators highlighted the need to make it more professional and to enhance it with the use of digital technologies which could make the user experience and management much easier. Those who attended the meeting agreed to take this initiative further and agreed to align efforts in developing a strategic cooperation in the Balkans as the social fabric in this region is relatively similar.SOLUTION – A DOUBLE SIDED PLATFORMAnalysing models and tools for value proposition planning, we identified that the model we need to create is one of a double-sided platform, a tool and framework which connects young people who aim to do volunteering and providers of volunteering opportunities. YouVol 21 as a concept was identified as a tool which would be able to provide a broader approach to volunteering where all actors could be supported to find the best opportunities for volunteering and volunteer hosting while being empowered in having a better learning experience with the support of an integrated validation and certification mechanism.<< Objectives >>GOAL AND OBJECTIVESWe aim to put youth volunteering at the epicentre of urban resilience and long-term urban development based on equity, participation and shared vision by creating and delivering an urban transformation process made of a theory framework, practical tools and digitally integrated volunteer management mechanism regarding the active civic engagement of young people in urban life through volunteering.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES* SO1: to enhance the work of 7 cities South-European cities in supporting volunteering as a key tool for enhancing the solidarity of citizens in a European spirit,* SO2: to empower over 10,000 young urban citizens and 350 organisational stakeholders in being an active part of their communities and in assuming a non-material contribution to social interactions and community development, capping over 100,000 volunteer hours before the conclusion of this project,* SO3: to develop a scalable model of urban youth volunteer management (white paper, delivery tools, support platform model, 7 delivered functional platforms and actions),* SOD (organisational development): to create a working cooperation platform and network of 7 starting cities in the field of volunteering, a platform which can be enhanced later in further domains concerning youth, too.<< Implementation >>MANAGEMENT SERVING THE OVERALL PURPOSE ON SHORT-TERMThe overall management structures within the coordination organisation and partners, completed by the cooperation and co-creation mechanisms serve breaking down overall objectives and achievable results at the level of each activity as an intermediate step towards these outcomes. PROJECT MANAGEMENT MEETINGS SERVING THE INNOVATION PROCESSWe are planning 7 project meetings, each taking part in a different partner hosting city. They mark key moments which are closely related to the timing of delivering intellectual outputs. M1 and M7 are opening and closing meetings, M3 and M5 are transition meetings between intellectual outputs connected to multiplier events, while M2, M4 and M6 are progress monitoring meetings at half-way point in delivering intellectual outputs. M2, M4 and M6 are also connected to capacity building learning activities. INTELLECTUAL WORK DELIVERING CONTENTEvery activity evolves around delivering 3 intellectual outputs in the project. Each output is built around key stages of the Design Thinking method. EMPATHISE and DEFINE (O1) takes inspiration from existing models of cities and existing volunteering frameworks such as P.A.V.E. The second one focuses on creating an integrated framework and platform (dubbed YouVol 21 for now as a working name) through a creative process focusing on the IDEATE and PROTOYPE stages of Design Thinking, while the third output takes Design Thinking further, creating seven practical adaptations of the framework and platform at local level (TEST and IMPLEMENT).LEARNING ACTIVITIES SERVING INTELLECTUAL WORK AND OUTPUTSEach learning activity serves one intellectual output. C1 supports the capacity building and co-creation of and with key stakeholders from each partner city (municipality, youth sector and youth support sector) within O1, starting from the current situation in the 6 partnering cities regarding volunteering, C2 supports the creative process within O2 involving the same stakeholders creating a strong ownership in the results of this output, while C3 serves the practical deployment of the new urban youth volunteering framework and platform with the support of local Connectors, who are trained during this learning activity.MULTIPLIER ACTIVITIES SERVING DISSEMINATIONMultiplier events are foreseen at the end of delivering each intellectual output. The third event will refer to present not just the results of the last output, but also preliminary results of previous outputs. The size of the third event is planned to be bigger than the events happening during the intermediate phases of the project. Additional multiplier actions at local level will enhance the visibility of the project and the awareness about achieved results and the practical utility of the innovation process.MONITORING AND EVALUATIONMonitoring will be conducted by the management team of the coordinating and partner organisations based on a set of key indicators while conducting management actions, too. Evaluation will be conducted by a layman, an expert contracted from exceptional costs who will deliver 2 interim and one final report capturing on how the work of partners made results possible and how achieved results are relating to original plans, assumptions and forecasts.DISSEMINATION SERVING THE OVERALL PURPOSE ON LONG-TERMA wide range of dissemination activities is foreseen for the final 3 months of the project targeting a wide range of stakeholders from local, national and European level.INTEGRATION AND SUSTAINABILITYAll these actions and measures will be reinserted into the DNA of the 6 urban youth ecosystems. Additionally, the coordinator will integrate the acquired expertise in its work within the Citizen Y Resource Centre, an institution which will provide availability and accessibility to the projects outputs and will work on maximising the medium and long-term impact of results on European level.<< Results >>We achieve the deployment of 6 new urban youth volunteering integrated mechanisms based on which we understand the working mechanisms of the newly developed framework in practice, too, capturing value.We connect 6 South-East European cities in co-creating a working urban youth volunteering mechanism enhanced by an overall philosophy, methodology and tools.We involve over 10,000 young urban citizens and 350 stakeholders in consulting and co-creating the new urban youth volunteering mechanism and platform.We improve the learning, acting and feeling perception of young people by 15% (measured through levels of satisfaction measures by ratings) and their perception about connectivity, access to resources and integration in the community through the activity of institutional stakeholders.We cap the first 100k volunteering hours organised and monitored through the newly deployed urban youth volunteering mechanism.We involve over 1000 young people with fewer opportunities in the consultation and co-creation process and in the first stage deployment of new urban youth volunteering mechanisms.We develop, consolidate and validate the YouVol 21 philosophy which builds on two key target groups and six key components: ME (the volunteer) through learning, acting and feeling and US (the ecosystem) through connecting, supporting and integrating. We create a complete framework made of 6 elements (concept, white paper, tools, platform, quality label, pool of connectors) combining theory (philosophy), practical tools and digital integration and management through which all actors of youth volunteering can interact.We demonstrate how the model can be adapted to practice by deploying new urban youth volunteering mechanisms and capturing their value through 6 practical study cases.We create the conditions for other European cities to adopt, adapt and implement similar local urban youth volunteering networks (scaling and multiplying) while becoming youth volunteering friendly cities (quality label).The network of initial 6 cities will provide the conditions for further improvement of cooperation between them in the South-East European region with the possibility to extend this cooperation further.A newly developed expertise and methodology regarding urban youth volunteering mechanisms will be added to the work and resources of the Citizen Y Resource Centre, which will provide a sustainability regarding the availability of services and solutions.The coordinating city of Cluj-Napoca will define its strategy for applying for the European Volunteering Capital title of 2025, as a way to achieve further performances in the field of volunteering.PRODUCT INNOVATION: We develop a full framework based on 6 systemic elements (concept, white paper, tools, platform, quality label, pool of connectors) with the help of which urban areas can develop local youth volunteering mechanism and can cap an additional pool of human resources in serving the needs and shared future of the community.PROCESS INNOVATION: We innovate how a young person can engage in volunteering while gaining practical skills and enhancing a sense of belonging to a local and to the European community.We innovate how cities empower and support youth volunteering efforts on local level, connecting relevant actors and integrating efforts in policies and strategies serving a shared vision of the future.POSITION INNOVATION: We put volunteering at the core of integrating young people in developing a shared future of a city while sharing common values, enforcing civic engagement and participation.PARADIGM INNOVATION: We shift the perception on how human resources of a city can serve the co-creation of the future without financial resources (money) or material transactions while serving societal needs.