Conclusions and recommendations
Encouraging UK-German Youth Exchanges
Funding for UK-German youth exchanges It is clear that without additional resourcing for UK- German youth exchanges few youth organisations or youth services, especially on the UK side, will be able to support them. It is therefore necessary to increase financial resources available to the youth sector for UK- German youth exchanges and to: 6. Develop a grant-based funding programme for UK-German youth exchanges which covers the full costs of exchanges to organisations, including staff costs A grant-based model can be used to provide resources to the youth organisations and youth services wishing to undertake a UK-German youth exchange. Based on the research results, it is unlikely that a funding programme covering only part of the costs of exchanges would have as strong of an uptake as one that covered full or almost full costs. Therefore, any programmes are desired to cover the full costs of the exchange, including preparation, follow-on activities, and staff time.
Supporting youth organisations and youth services Infrastructure support is required to enable and encourage youth organisation and youth services in both countries to engage in UK-German youth exchanges. Existing infrastructure is not well enough connected to the youth field. There is a desire to:
8. Offer a range of different funding routes to support UK-German exchanges
Such infrastructure may then act to support the youth sector by:
12. Providing a brokering role that helps identify and match potential exchange partners between countries. 13. Delivering or co-ordinating capacity building activities between the UK and Germany. To increase the youth sector’s ability to engage in UK- German youth exchanges, such as policy support, advice on risk assessment, training for youth workers and UK-German youth worker exchanges (see next section). 14. Facilitating longer-term partnerships between UK and German youth organisations and services
Within any new or updated funding programme there is a need for:
10. Provide national points of contact in each UK nation which are embedded within the existing youth sector support bodies and provide intensive support and information for UK-German youth exchanges. There is a desire for a national point of contact, within each UK nation, which is embedded within the existing youth work support bodies that the youth field already looks to for support. Infrastructure support that is closely connected to the field will maximise the quality and potential of any new initiative to enable UK-German youth exchanges and there is a desire for an intensive approach to supporting youth organisations in the UK. A close connection and understanding of the youth sector allow the infrastructure bodies to proactively encourage new exchanges from organisations within their existing networks, and to provide advice based on sector expertise. These points of contact should be connected via a network and centrally coordinated. Co-ordination of this nature will also require resourcing. 11. Enable a central point of contact at national level to better provide information and partner matching for UK-German youth exchanges. The German youth sector has a preference for an arms- length infrastructure, and youth organisations desire a less intensive level of support compared to the UK. There is a desire to better enable existing national organisations and institutions to assist youth organisations with finding UK partners, access to funding for UK-German youth exchanges, and to a lesser extent capacity building initiatives linked to the UK.
a. An open funding stream – providing grants for UK-German youth exchanges in the manner outlined above, which any youth organisation or youth service can apply to. b. A specialised funding stream for youth exchanges with marginalised groups of young people – this will allow the prioritisation of resources for exchanges with marginalised groups. The funding stream might also provide enhanced flexibility to meet any additional needs of marginalised young people, such as funding for access costs (e.g., care for disabled young people). Criteria for what is considered a marginalised group would be required here. c. A funding stream for networking, partnership building and youth worker exchanges – this will allow capacity building activities for the youth sector on both sides, and enable organisations and services interested in developing exchanges to identify partners in the other country. d. A small-scale, rapid access ‘kick-off’ fund – designed to enable youth services and youth organisations from both countries to organise a joint process of exchange planning, prior to submitting an application to the main funding streams.
e.g., by coordinating bilateral youth worker networks and youth worker exchanges (see next section).
7. Utilise a flexible funding approach which gives autonomy to applicants
15. Raising awareness of funding opportunities for UK-German youth exchanges through information and publicity campaigns.
Youth organisations and youth services, particularly on the German side, value flexibility and minimised bureaucracy within grant schemes. There is an understanding that youth organisations and youth services are well placed to develop and design exchanges with young people. Maximising this ability is best enabled through grants with minimal criteria and a relationship of trust between applicants and funders. This includes giving applicants autonomy over things such as the format of exchanges, methodologies, topics, and specifics of budgets. Funding criteria should focus on quality of outcomes for young people and allow a range of different approaches to UK-German youth exchanges to be resourced. This relationship of trust requires a funder that is well connected to the youth sector and has a good understanding of the organisations within the field. In the longer term, there may also be opportunities for peer-to-peer reviewing of grant applications and youth-led quality assurance of youth exchanges to allow the sector to develop as a whole.
16. Within the UK only, provide 1 on 1, mentoring style support for youth organisations.
Particular for new organisations interested in developing youth exchanges.
9. Increase resources available to the youth sector in general
Within the UK, in the longer term there may also be a value to an emergency hotline, to provide support for youth organisations who experience an emergency situation during an exchange (e.g., missing participant, vehicle crash etc).
Concerns about youth sector funding were identified in both countries through the research. The recommendations above provide for a dedicated approach to resourcing UK-German youth exchanges. However, it should be noted that any external grant scheme is still reliant on the existence of a stable, well- resourced youth sector in both countries.
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