What, Who and How of Erasmus Youth Accreditation

What, Who & How

Erasmus Youth Accreditation

Applications for accreditation are now open The new Erasmus programme will run from 2021 to 2027. One of the aims of the programme is to be more accessible and inclusive.

As part of this, organisations will be able to apply for accreditation.

There are lots of benefits to accreditation, including simplified access to funding!

So, what does accreditation actually look like? Let’s take a look.

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What is accreditation?

Erasmus accreditation is a tool that provides organisations with simplified access to funding opportunities in the new programme, and provides an alternative to the individual application process.

What are the objectives of Erasmus accreditation?

• Strengthen personal and professional development of young people through non-formal and informal learning mobility activities.

• Foster the empowerment of young people, their active citizenship and participation in democratic life.

Once an organisation receives accreditation, it can apply for an annual grant to cover multiple projects. It is primarily for those organisations that have relevant experience and capacity, and that plan to regularly carry out projects.

Accreditations can be obtained for Key Action 1 mobility activities. From this year, organisations can submit an accreditation application for Youth Exchanges as well as Youth Worker Mobilities.

Accreditation for Youth Participation Activities which will come on stream as part of Key Action

1 in the new programme - will be available from year two of the new programme.

Receiving Erasmus Youth accreditation confirms that an organisation has appropriate and effective processes and measures in place to implement high quality learning mobility activities as planned, and will use them to benefit the youth field.

Once obtained, an accreditation remains valid until the end of the programme in 2027. This is subject to regular monitoring and continued compliance with the accreditation requirements and instructions issued by Léargas.

• Foster quality development of youth work at local, regional, national, European and international level by building capacity of organisations active in the youth field and supporting the professional development of youth workers.

• Promote inclusion and diversity, intercultural dialogue and the values of solidarity, equal opportunities and human rights among young people in Europe.

What standards apply?

Organisations carrying out Erasmus learning mobility activities must adhere to a set of quality standards. These standards exist to ensure quality experience and learning outcomes for Erasmus participants, and to make sure that all organisations that receive programme funding are contributing to its objectives. Organisations are expected to:

• Contribute to the policy objectives in the youth field, including the EU Youth Strategy What are the benefits for our organisation?

• Longer-term and less complicated access to funding.

• More planning security and flexibility in the use of funds.

• More flexibility in carrying out mobility activities.

and European Youth Goals.

• Apply the basic principles of the Erasmus programme.

• Adhere to certain standards in relation to: quality management; quality learning activities; sharing results and knowledge about the programme. For more information on Youth Quality Standards see: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/sites/ erasmusplus2/files/eac-a03-2020-erasmus-youth-quality-standards_en.pdf

• Detailed planning for activities can start later. This can help to increase opportunities for involvement of young people in the design and preparation of activities.

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Who can apply?

What is expected when applying for accreditation?

• Your organisation will be asked to develop a plan which outlines its long-term goals in relation to the objectives and priorities of the Erasmus programme.

• The goals and activity plan should be connected to the organisation, its experience, and its ambition. It should outline the needs the organisation wants to address with the programme funding, and the impact that receiving funding would have.

• Organisations carrying out Erasmus learning mobility activities must adhere to the Erasmus Youth Quality Standards.

What is the application deadline?

Applications for accreditation can be made at any time and are assessed on a rolling basis. The current call for accreditations runs until 31 December 2021. A new call for accreditations will be published after this date.

What will stay the same and what will change?

The current process of submitting applications for individual projects will remain in place. However, there will be a different process for accredited organisations and they cannot submit applications for individual projects.

If an organisation is running projects at the time it receives accreditation, it can of course finish its ongoing projects.

An exception will be made in 2021, the first year of the new programme, for Youth Participation Activities (YPA), as these will not be covered through accreditation.

Therefore, in 2021, accredited organisations will be able to apply separately for YPAs.

Erasmus accreditations are open to all organisations that want to organise mobility activities on a regular basis. Erasmus Youth accreditation is open to the participation of any public or private body. No previous experience with Erasmus+ projects is required. What is required is a minimum of two years' previous experience implementing activities in the youth field.

Eligibility criteria: The relevance of the organisation to the youth field and objectives of the action in terms of:

• The organisation’s objectives and principles

• The organisation’s target groups

Accreditation requires high standards in the reliability of accredited organisations, in the quality of their work with young people and in their grounding in youth work.

Your organisation must have sufficient professional and operational capacity to carry out the proposed activity plan. Operational capacity will be verified based on the application. This may also include information

• The organisation’s experience in the youth field

• The organisation’s regular activities

about an organisation’s past participation in the 2014/2020 Erasmus+ programme.

Your organisation must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain its regular activities during the implementation of the proposed plan of activities. However, financial capacity will not be checked as part of the selection procedure for this accreditation call.

Accredited organisations can be partners in standard projects.

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How do we apply?

All applications are processed through the European Commission’s application platform. The application form can be used to apply for the current call for accreditations, which is now live.

To apply you will need to fill in the KA150 application form on the online platform at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-applications/screen/home opportunities? opportunitiesBy=Field&id=Youth You will need an EU Login account to view the application form. If you don’t have one, you can create it at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/eim/external/register.cgi

There are three main areas of award criteria:

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You will also need your Organisation ID (OID) to complete the application form.

Current OIDs are valid for accreditation. If you don’t have an OID, please see the guide at: https://www.leargas.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/OID-Guide-2020.pdf

How will our application be assessed?

Applications are assessed based on quality. Assessment may be complemented by phone calls or visits. Applications are scored out of 100:

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Participating Organisations Your organisation’s details including your aims and objectives, target group, structure, and experience.

Strategic Development, Organisational Capacity, Management, and Coordination Your organisation’s motivation for applying, the needs and issues you wish to address and the long-term goals you would like to achieve with Erasmus funding. You will also be expected to provide an overview of the type of activities that you would like to implement with the Erasmus funds to address the issues and goals identified.

Organisational Capacity, Management, and Coordination How you will manage the activities you plan to implement, how you will work with your partners and how you will ensure high quality learning activities in line with the set of five Erasmus Youth Quality Standards.

≥ Relevance of organisation profile and experience (20 points) ≥ Strategic development (40 points) ≥ Quality of management and coordination (40 points) To qualify you must score a minimum of 70 and score at least half the maximum points in each category.

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What are the next steps?

If your organisation receives accreditation, it will sign an agreement with Léargas to formalise the accreditation.

Your organisation will receive an accreditation certificate.

Once accredited, your organisation will have simplified access to KA1 youth funding opportunities by making annual grant applications. There will be one grant application call per year. The form will be a streamlined version of standard applications and will not require narrative details as there is no award criteria assigned to the application.

How will our grant be allocated?

For an organisation’s first grant application, yearly grants will be allocated based on:

• Minimum/Maximum Grant Rules

• Performance

• Budget Available for the Action

• Selected Priorities

Performance assessments for further grant applications will be based on results from reporting, checks, and monitoring carried out by Léargas.

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Get in Touch psdt@leargas.ie +353 1 887 1260 leargas.ie Leargas.Ireland Leargas leargas.ireland LÊargas King’s Inns House Parnell Street Dublin 1 D01 A3Y8 Ireland

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