Youth Worker Exchange Trento, Italy - ESC: Empower, Stay Afloat, Carry On. How to keep the motivation of volunteers high without losing yours in th...
Would you like to join us in discussing how to best support ESC volunteers through the various stages of fluctuating motivation in their volunteering year? Join us from 28 November to 4 December 2025 in Northern Italy for this Youth Worker Exchange!
The exchange will take place from 28 November to 4 December 2025 (28 Nov and 4 Dec being travel days).
What is a Youth worker exchange?
Youth worker exchanges are part of the European Erasmus+ programme which offers opportunities to organize projects for the mobility of young people and youth workers. For youth workers, organizations can take part in opportunities to support the professional development, capacity building, network of youth workers and thereby the development of quality youth work at local, regional, national, European and international level, through non-formal and informal learning experiences in mobility. More specifically, mobility projects for youth workers aim to:
- Provide non-formal and informal learning opportunities for educational and professional development of youth workers;
- Build a community of youth workers that can support the quality of projects and activities for young people in EU programmes and beyond;
- Develop local youth work practices and contribute to capacity building for quality youth work of the participants and their organisation, having a clear impact on the participating youth workers' regular work with young people.
The main topic of the exchange is motivation in ESC projects, in particular long-term volunteering projects.
As ESC coordinators, mentors, and tutors, we are called to support volunteers through the various stages of their experience. We see them start their projects with high expectations, full of energy and enthusiasm.
After a while, however, the first bumps in the road appear: the language is difficult, the activities are not exactly what they had expected, they feel understimulated but are also not taking initiative, they miss their home, there are issues with their flatmates or other volunteers, they start experiencing moments of miscommunication and misunderstanding…
As youth workers, we want to support volunteers through these difficult moments, guiding them to understand that the volunteering experience is a marathon, not a sprint.
At the same time, each volunteer will face specific challenges and there is no universal guide on how best to support them. As ESC coordinators, mentors, and tutors, we believe there is nothing more precious than our combined baggage of experiences, which is why we would like to create a space to share the challenges we have faced, as well as our approach to solving both the more common and the more specific complicated situations, exchanging the tips, tools and strategies we have developed over time.
Last but not least, we want to devote time to sharing and reflecting on how to support ourselves to make sure that the hard situations don’t steal away our joy and leave us feeling depleted.
Our plan for the week:
- Get to know each other and our organizations
- Share our experiences, best practices and reflect on motivation from various perspectives:
- Factors that influence volunteers’ motivation and how motivation fluctuates throughout the volunteering year
- Most common conflicts and how to deal with them
- Learning together to accept the different moments that belong to the volunteer experience and developing strategies to cope with the particularly challenging ones
- Our strategies to protect our own motivation and stay inspired
- Discuss our needs as members of the ESC support system
- Network and connect with each other
- Get to know local volunteers through a Human Library activity
A total of 26 youth workers can take part in this exchange, with each partner sending up to 2 participants.
This exchange is meant for youth workers from all over the EU who are directly involved in ESC projects and work to support ESC volunteers in some capacity: you could be an ESC coordinator (as part of a Lead organization), a mentor, a supervisor in a host organization…
To take part in the exchange you must belong to an organization involved in ESC activities, either as an employee or as a volunteer.
Board and lodging are provided by our organization during the whole duration of the exchange.
We will stay and work in Villa S. Ignazio, a residential hospitality house run by a social‑solidarity cooperative.
Participants will be accommodated in double and triple rooms. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided by Villa S. Ignazio, and on some occasions we might eat out in the city center.
You can find more detailed information in the Infopack.
To apply, please fill out this Application Form.
The deadline to apply is 18/07/2025.
You will find all relevant information regarding the exchange in the Infopack which you can download below.
If you would like to have any other further information, here are our contacts:
- Associazione InCo - Interculturalità & Comunicazione via Scipio Sighele, 3 38122 Trento-Italy
- +39 0461 1822775
e-mail: evs@incoweb.org
