Budapest, February 11-12 – The Erasmus+ funded and ENGSO Youth coordinated Skills for You(th) through Sport (SK4YS) project was launched this week in Budapest, European Capital of Sport 2019.
Six European partners, each represented by 2 staff members, gathered in order to plan two years of common work related to the fields of soft skills development through sport and sport-based employability.
The cross-sector nature of our initiative is best represented by the variety of our partners:
- European University Sport Association (sport umbrella)
- European Observatoire for Sport and Employment (research and policy umbrella institute)
- Cyprus Youth Council (youth umbrella)
- Oltalom Sport Association (sport club)
- Budapest Association for International Sport (youth NGO).
The main challenge SK4YS aims to tackle is the lack of awareness and recognition of soft/transversal skills developed through sport practice. Scientific evidence prove that well-implemented Sport Plus and Plus Sport programmes can be effective ways for developing certain soft skills of young people – especially those ones coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.
For instance, last year the Study on the contribution of Sport to the Employability of Young people in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy was published as a result of EU funded cooperation. Still, there is a huge gap in the recognition of these skills and the majority of the youth sector is not aware of the outcomes of this research. There is an urging need for effective cross-sector cooperation in order to raise awareness on these transversal skills and support youth and sport organisations to develop quality interventions.
During the implementation phase of the project the partner consortium will map the European field of Sport Plus and Plus Sport programmes which will result in the creation of an accessible database. As a result of the outcomes of this mapping activity an educational module will be developed aiming to raise awareness on these sport-based interventions and providing practical advices for planning similar initiatives.
During the implementation and dissemination phases partners will be engaged in advocacy activities and intense social media communication campaign aiming to reach out to wide public.
SK4YS is in fact the first Erasmus+ Sport Collaborative partnership that is being coordinated by our youth-sport umbrella organization, therefore we have high expectations towards it.
The old saying ‘sky is the limit’ has a new meaning in Erasmus+: SK4YS are the limit! Let’s roll!
Source: Engso Youth