Youthpass is a tool to document and recognise learning outcomes from youth work and solidarity activities. It is available for projects funded by Erasmus+: Youth in Action programme, and will be made available for the European Solidarity Corps. It is a part of the European Commission's strategy to foster the recognition of non-formal learning, putting policy into practice and practice into policy:
- While creating their Youthpass certificate together with a support person, project participants are given the possibility to describe what they have done in their project and which competences they have acquired. Thus, Youthpass supports the reflection upon the personal non-formal learning process and outcomes.
- As a Europe-wide recognition instrument for non-formal learning in the youth field, Youthpass strengthens the social recognition of youth work.
- Youthpass supports active European citizenship of young people and of youth workers by describing the added value of their project.
- Youthpass also aims at supporting the employability of young people and of youth workers by raising their awareness of and helping to describe their competences, and by documenting their acquisition of key competences on a certificate.
Who can use Youthpass?
Within the Erasmus+: Youth in Action programme, Youthpass certificates are currently available for the following activities:
Youth Exchanges
Erasmus+ Volunteering
Mobility of Youth Workers
Strategic Partnerships (including Transnational Youth Initiatives)
Youth Dialogue projects
Transnational Cooperation Activities (TCA) of the National Agencies.
The certificates can also be issued for projects that were granted under the previous, Youth in Action programme (2007-2013).
All participants of the projects approved within these frameworks are entitled to receive a Youthpass certificate, and thus recognition for their non-formal learning outcomes.
The responsibility to issue the Youthpass certificates to the participants/volunteers, in case they wish to receive them, lies with the organisation that signs the contract for the Erasmus+ grant.