Kick-start for the IYE-LABS Erasmus+ project

The IYE-LABS social volunteering project – co-financed by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union – formally started its training actions this September, which are simultaneously taking place in Spain, Italy, Croatia and Turkey.

IYE-LABs is a transnational cooperation partnership that allows a group of stakeholders from youth, volunteering and social inclusion backgrounds to collaborate in a project aimed to foster inclusive youth environments by implementing innovative and participative practices, through developing social labs model as non-formal learning activities addressed to improving young people’s skills for civic participation and volunteering.

IYE-LABs project seeks to train 100 young Europeans to face the most pressing social, environmental and cultural challenges. Young people participating in the laboratory will experience in first person a training and self-knowledge process aimed at better understanding the dilemmas and social, cultural and environmental challenges both at a local and global level to carry out innovation and ethical actions and build local citizenship.

IYE-LABs project wants to tackle the lack of civil participation attitude among young people, the lack of youth involvement in local communities and third sector organisations and inequality and poverty, exclusion and discrimination affecting young people from disadvantaged groups. ​

This social inclusion project is intended for youngsters (18-30 years old) seeking to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to undertake volunteering projects, empowering them to generate a leadership changing forever their lives and the social ecosystem of their cities. Youth workers, decision-makers, NGOs and social organisations will also benefit from the work process.

IYE-LABS project is led by Xul Foundation (Spain). Its fieldwork partners implementing activities and coordinating actions at a local level are Xul Foundation itself, InCo Association (Italy), Impact Hub Zagreb (Croatia), and Dinamik Development (Turkey). IYE Watchers – developing a dissemination and public awareness role, making liaison with policy-makers and being responsible for quality insurance – are Out of the Box International (Belgium), Plataforma del Voluntariado de España (Madrid), and garagErasmus ASBL (Belgium).

garagErasmus ASBL is leading communication and dissemination actions for IYE-LABs project, and is currently implementing the communication plan that had already been formulated in spring 2019.