Youth Research Dialogue
Towards more inclusive European youth programmes – Perspectives and Needs
Our second Youth Research Dialogue in 2024 continued on 5 March.
Together with our speakers, Gisele Evrard, freelance consultant (speaker on behalf of SALTO Inclusion and Diversity Resource Centre (SALTO I&D)), and Ashley Pitschmann, RAY transnational research team, we took a closer look at one of the priorities of Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps, namely Inclusion and Diversity. We discussed related findings and insights from the current RAY Monitoring surveys as well as from a recent research published by the SALTO Inclusion and Diversity Resource Centre on ‘Making Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps more inclusive’. The implementation of the European youth programmes regarding the the priority, profiles of beneficiaries, project participants and young people with fewer opportunities as well as methodology and terminology were among the issues addressed during our dialogue.
This episode was part of the RAY Monitoring Editions. As a reminder, these special editions focus on our newest findings of the RAY Monitoring surveys with beneficaries of the European youth programmes. You can rewatch the other parts of this series HERE, HERE and HERE.
Moderated by Leena Suurpää and Domagoj Morić
Live stream available
If you didn’t have the time to join or want to re-watch the Youth Research Dialogue again, just access the recording of the live stream here:
Speakers
>> Gisele Evrard, freelance consultant, coach, facilitator
Gisele’s involvement in international youth work goes back 30 years ago when she started as a volunteer in exchange and peace organisations, working later on for European institutions and international networks and platforms. Since then, passionate about people and the way they interact with their environment, her path grew towards supporting professional and personal development, systemic coaching, and Gestalt therapy. As a freelance consultant, her work focuses essentially on facilitating processes, particularly those focusing on teams’ and organisations’ development. Gisele’s passion has recently led her to start exploring trauma healing and Systemic Family Constellations, a process that she started in 2023, after 6 years as coordinator of the European Training Strategy of SALTO Training and Cooperation Resource Centre.
>> Ashley Pitschmann, RAY transnational research team
Ashley Pitschmann is a researcher at Youth Policy Labs, a small research agency and think tank in the youth sector. Her work with the transnational research team of the RAY Network have focused on a number of projects including the impact of the Corona pandemic on youth work in Europe, the monitoring of the effects and outcomes of the Erasmus+ Youth Programmes for project participants and leaders, and development and capacity building in Erasmus+ Youth.
Context
The RAY Monitoring surveys are conducted with beneficiaries and participants of Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps. For the first time since the start of the pandemic the RAY Network is surveying project participants and project team members of the the European youth programmes. The current surveys have been launched in June 2023 and remained open until October 2023. The multilingual online surveys are aiming at analysing the impact of the European Youth Programmes and their effects on individual, organisational, community and European levels. Project participants and project team members who were part or implemented an Erasmus+ Youth or European Solidarity Corps project within the current programme period are invited to reflect on the effects of the projects and activities (e.g. on participation and citizenship, digitalisation, sustainability, diversity and inclusion) and their own learning pathway and competence development. Furthermore, the effects on learning organisations and communities, the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities, the recognition of youth work, the European dimension as well as the implementation of the programmes are thematised.