
The current Erasmus+ programme, running from 2014 to 2020, will provide opportunities for 3.7% ofyoung people (YP) in the EU to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad. But what willhappen to these 3.3 millions of YP once they get back to their own communities and realities? Whenwe set our feet back into our daily lives after a learning mobility, we often end up asking ourselves:
"Have I changed, or them?" And sometimes the most difficult thing, then, is to stay hungry, to keepthis energy alive, this desire to say “yes” to the unknown, to diversity, to new opportunities andchallenges… and to share the knowledge we gained with our peers and communities, determiningwhat we can do with everything we have learnt. However, there is today a lack of social support andeffective and coordinated follow up strategies that could help them to give sense, a posteriori, to themobilities and that could ensure that this engagement can take place at the local level, above allwhen this concerns YP with fewer opportunities. What we witness is a lack of connection betweenmobilities and local impact and the consequent waste of human capital and potentials … like anunfinished rite of passage. This is also partially due to the many challenges and difficulties connectedto the recognition of competences acquired during mobilities.
As youth workers and youth organisations constantly dealing with international mobilities, we see the incredible potential of strengthening and ensuring the local engagement of YP involved in mobilities: their learnings, their new skills and expertise, their openedminds, innovative ideas and committed souls can have an empowering and powerful effect on the communities they live in, as well as on their peers and co-citizens. Thus, the aim of the project is to to provide them with the tools and the opportunities to channel their engagement and their motivation into the local realities, offering space and time for effective follow up and building up a continuum of experiences that will allow YP to give back to the communities.