From March 10th – 14th of 2014 in Ireland took place a partnership-building activity (Youth in Action, 3.1 – PBA) with the aim to set up an European network of youth work trainers. 24 trainers from 21 countries, as well as 2 external experts took part in it.

The approach was mainly an open process with everybody being invited to participate or lead on equal level. This process was supported by open team meetings, an external observer and a digital reporter.

The main outcomes of the meeting and the processes around it are:

• An open Facebook group has been set up, counting currently 381 members (03.06.2014, https://www.facebook.com/groups/649891225069091/).
• On that Facebook group, a survey has been conducted concerning topics such as what defines a European youth work trainer, or what would be the needs of such a network or practice community of youth work trainers. 50 trainers have taken part in the survey so far, an analysis and summary of the results and tendencies so far has been produced. Find the summary as well as all results here: http://goo.gl/hyw3Kc
• Draft suggestions for the definition of mission and vision, aims, stakeholders, needs, culture, structure and resources of such a network / practice community have been made. Just as a teaser, here is the draft suggestion for the definition of the network / practice community.
• A supportive community of trainers in the youth work sector, whose members contribute to each other’s professional development. The members fulfil the quality standards set by the network and are committed to deliver high-quality training activities. The network has a positive impact on Youth policy and non-formal education in Europe by communicating trainers’ recommendations to decision makers and advocating on behalf of its members.
• A collection of all these outcomes, as well as a list of participants and a selection of photos of the PBA can be found here: http://goo.gl/hyw3Kc
• A blog has been called to life, documenting what happened during the PBA in Ireland. Find it here: http://iywtgroup.wordpress.com/
• A list of suggested next steps has been made, and a good dozen of trainers have volunteered to follow-up on these steps and support the ongoing process. The process is by the way absolutely open to everybody! One milestone of the follow-up has already been reached: a follow-up meeting to take place in Hungary in fall 2014 has already been applied for under the ERASMUS+: YiA funding scheme. Once approved, an open call for participants will be spread as widely as possible.