As stated in the study of the European Commission “Working with young people, the value of youth work in the European Union” – “sources of data on youth work are currently scarce”.
The specific research field on youth organisations within the broader Youth Work is even more limited. he “Study on the Social Value of Youth Organisations” commissioned by the European Youth Forum in 2016 provided an overview of existing research literature. This overview again demonstrated the lack of coherent research within the sector. The existing studies provide fragmented data based on weak evidence on the impact of youth organisations upon young people’s attitudes, values and behaviours, employability, health and well-being. In the meantime, the data collected by these studies seem to show that young people from more privileged backgrounds may get more out of their involvement in youth organisations because they are better placed to exploit those opportunities. Anecdotally, youth workers active in youth organisations have known about the positive impact that the activities in youth organisations can have on the lives of young people for decades. There are after all many stories of successful people greatly benefiting from their experience with various youth movements. Yet, it is becoming increasingly important for youth organisations to quantify the impact they have on the world around them, in part as a source of information to guide continuous improvement activities and to contribute to the needs of policy makers, donors and public recognition.
To address this set of needs, the identified specific objectives of the project are the following:
O1) Explore, strengthen and disseminate the impact measurement best practices inside and outside the project consortium by forming a network of research institutions and youth organisations.
O2) Strengthen the digital capacity of youth organisations to utilise the impact assessment methodology through an automated data collection tool and trained consultants.
O3) Measure the social impact of their non-formal education offered to youth members across a set of skills, attitudes, knowledge, and behaviours such as autonomy, responsibility, commitment, cultural sensitivity, community engagement, nature, and physical activity, by creating a comprehensive common methodology among youth organisations.
O4) Improve the educational offer, especially for young people from disadvantaged areas, and learn from each other’s strengths by gathering comparable data across several European Countries and different youth organisations.
