Austrian Youth Award for Erasmus+ and ESC projects



The Austrian Youth Award was presented on 14 December 2021. Outstanding initiatives and projects in non-school youth work were awarded prizes for the sixth time. The winners of the Austrian Youth Award 2021 also include five youth projects that were funded by the EU programmes Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps (ESC). Since 2016 the Ministry of Youth, in cooperation with the Bundesjugendvertretung (Federal Youth Council), the Bundesweites Netzwerk Offene Jugendarbeit (Federal Network for Open Youth Work), the Bundesnetzwerk Österreichische Jugendinfos (Federal Network of Austrian Youth Information Centres) and the OeAD, the national agency for the EU programmes Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps, has awarded the Youth Award to the best projects in non-school youth work.
“Together with the projects leaders we are pleased about this special recognition of their commitment. These projects clearly show how enriching a European dimension can be for youth work and how effective EU funding opportunities are. With their projects those responsible have set sustainable accents at local, regional, national and European level,” says Jakob Calice, the OeAD’s managing director.
Young people working for the communityThe ESC projects that were awarded prizes in the category “European Initiatives” addressed socially explosive topics and showed new approaches to solving them. In their solidarity project “Aufdrehen gegen Gewalt” (“Turn the radio on against violence”) five young people in Tyrol launched a campaign to prevent violence. They developed a podcast series that was broadcast on FREIRAD Radio from November to December 2020 as part of the international campaign “16 days fighting against violence against women”. Experts and victims have their say in the podcasts. Moreover, various institutions and support services are presented: “We wanted to inform those affected by violence about the local support options available and inform potential perpetrators about the consequences of their actions,” explains Charlotte Riser, one of the initiators of the project. In the ESC project “Meine Rechte – Menschenrechte!” (“My rights – human rights!”) the young project team developed a collection of methods for communicating human rights to the target group of children and young people. The methods were then presented in an online webinar to multipliers working in youth work or school social work. Furthermore, a digital version of the collection of methods was created.
Voluntary commitment recognised
Besides solidarity projects ESC volunteer projects were also recognised: Five young volunteers from Estonia, Latvia, France and Portugal worked in youth centres in Tyrol within the framework of the European Solidarity Corps. The project “Volunteering in Open Youthwork in Tyrol” was coordinated by POJAT – Plattform Offene Jugendarbeit Tirol (Platform for Open Youthwork Tyrol). Thanks to the commitment of the young volunteers the services offered to young people in the local facilities could be expanded. The volunteers organised e.g. cooking classes, theatre workshops and dance lessons. Young volunteers from Europe also brought a breath of fresh air to five of Don Bosco’s children’s and youth work facilities. “Zeit für junge Menschen” (“Time for young people”) was the title of this ESC project in which the young volunteers got involved in local children’s and youth work.
With the project “U Facilitating U” the further education of youth work professionals also moved into the focus of the Austrian Youth Award this year. The Erasmus+ project, which was organised by the POPEDU Austria association, aimed to provide youth workers with valuable guidelines on how to deal with challenges in their everyday work. The participants from different European countries also benefited from this European training setting: foreign language skills were refreshed, new ways of working were learned and valuable contacts were made.
EU funding opportunities for youth projects in Austria
The two EU programmes Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps offer financial support for numerous activities in the youth and education sectors. The European Solidarity Corps supports local initiatives of young people and volunteering of young people all over Europe. Approximately 2.2 million euros in funding will be available for this purpose in Austria in 2022. Among other things, Erasmus+ supports the encounter of young people from different countries, further education of youth work professionals and the participation of young people in socio-politically relevant issues. In total, more than 60 million euros in funding is available in Erasmus+ for projects in the fields of education, youth and sports in 2022.
As the national agency for Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps the OeAD is responsible for the implementation of the two programmes in Austria. For more information about funding opportunities see www.erasmusplus.at and www.solidaritaetskorps.at