Youth workers’ experiences of engaging “young people with fewer opportunities” in European international volunteering: policy and practice

Abstract

Social inclusion has been a priority of the European Union’s youth policy for decades. However, young people from underprivileged backgrounds are underrepresented in Erasmus+ youth initiatives and European Solidarity Corps, although the latter programme sets further involvement of young people with fewer opportunities as one of its major objectives. The responsibility to enact social inclusion objectives set by policymakers tends to fall on youth workers, who coordinate international educational and volunteering projects funded by the European Union and support young people through mobilities. This study explores the
professional experiences of six youth workers, who perform these roles in a French association of popular education. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews reveals that the practitioners strongly believe that broadening access to mobility opportunities is socially important work, as they consider mobility experience to be highly valuable for young people. At the same time, involving young people with fewer opportunities, especially in long term mobilities, is a challenging task, due to lack of time and appropriate funding reported by the youth workers. In this situation the practitioners tend to rely on local social workers, who are in direct contact with young people in difficulties, and as findings suggest the cooperation between these two groups of professionals is essential for enhancing the inclusivity of
mobility programmes. Based on this I argue that it is crucial for policymakers and funders to recognise the role of professionals and the wider network of actors, contributing to the engagement of disadvantaged young people in the mobility programmes.