Eurodesk

Eurodesk Network AISBL

eurodesk.eu
Abbreviation	ED
Formation	March 1990
Type	INGO
Legal status	AISBL
Purpose	Educational
Headquarters	Brussels, Belgium
Location	Rue aux Fleurs 32, Brussels 1000, BELGIUM
Coordinates	50.853318°N 4.352931°E / 50.853318; 4.352931
Region served	Europe (35 countries)
Official language	English
President	Reinhard Schwalbach
Main organ	Eurodesk Network Meeting
Volunteers	1000+ multiplier organisations around Europe
Website	eurodesk.eu

Eurodesk is an international non-profit association created in 1990. It is a European network of European and national information centers for young people and those involved with them. It offers youth information and international learning opportunities and is an organisation supported by the Erasmus+ programme (2014–2020). In 2004, Eurodesk – with the help of its financier European Commission - launched the European Youth Portal. From 2007 to 2013, Eurodesk was part of the Youth in Action programme. In 2014, Eurodesk became a support structure of Erasmus+ programme nowdays being present in 35 countries.

History

In the late 1980s, European information was very difficult to find in most EU Member States. Eurodesk began life in March 1990 as a small regional project to service the youth work field in Scotland. The basic idea was simple: to gather in one place all the European information relevant to young people and youth workers, and present it in an easily understandable way. In addition, it was recognised that a strategy of raising the youth field’s awareness of European issues would also be necessary if maximum use was to be made of the European information available. Funding was obtained from the European Union, central and local government in Scotland and sponsorship from a technical company (Apple Europe). The Eurodesk service was launched in Edinburgh in March 1990. The success of the service was almost immediate with the numbers of users and the demand for services growing rapidly in a short space of time.

The early Eurodesk service was clearly shaped by the real needs of the field. This client-orientated approach to information has been an important factor in the continuing development of Eurodesk. After some months, despite there being no further advertising, the use of the Eurodesk service was growing rapidly. One of the features of this growth was that more than 40% of all enquiries to Eurodesk were from outside Scotland.

This unprecedented demand, especially from outside Scotland, led to a cooperation strategy, whereby selected partner organisations in the other 3 provinces of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland and Wales) agreed to deliver identical services to young people and youth workers in their areas. This approach had implications for the quality of information and services delivered to the public, effective information management, efficient communication and development of appropriate training. From 1991 to 1994 the delivery of Eurodesk services was run in the UK as a network activity across the 4 provinces, with the network coordination based in Edinburgh.

In 1994, at the request of the European Commission, a presentation of the UK model was made in Brussels to representatives of youth ministries from 7 Member States. The result of this meeting was a pilot project to examine the feasibility of whether the Eurodesk model was flexible enough to be developed in other countries, where different situations, structures and information environments existed. By June 1995, 7 national Eurodesk units had been successfully established in Denmark, France, Ireland, Luxembourg the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Eurodesk in Edinburgh was asked to coordinate the extension of this model of European information management to the rest of the European Union Member States, and, eventually, to all the countries participating as full partners in the EU’s YOUTH programme.After this successful pilot phase, the Commission requested the setting up of a European network of Eurodesk services throughout the EU Member States in order to consolidate this service to the youth field in 1995.

In 1996, a full-time research and coordination unit - the Eurodesk Brussels Link - was established in Brussels to support the national partners in providing their services to the public. In 1998, an International Association (Eurodesk AISBL) was created under Belgian Law by the Eurodesk national partners to give a legal status to the Brussels office, thereby allowing it to receive financial support directly from the European Commission, rather than indirectly through one of the national partners. In 2004, Eurodesk network was designated as one of the support structures under the EU’s Youth programme. This decision altered the mechanism for the European Commission’s funding of the Eurodesk network and offered a greater stability to the funding process for national partners and for the Eurodesk Brussels Link. Eurodesk worked with the European Commission and launched the European Youth Portal. The upcoming years brought many new initiatives (the SYTYKIA, the HYHO, the Right2Move and the Time to Move campaign or the Eurodesk Awards), as Eurodesk was seeking to extend its outreach and inform many more young people.

In 2007, the legal basis for the Commission’s Youth in Action programme (2007-2013) identified Eurodesk as one of the permanent support structures for the Programme. In March 2012, the European Commission invited the Eurodesk Network to contribute to the redevelopment of the European Youth Portal. Eurodesk Brussels Link was already working closely with the European Commission on these aspects. In 2013, the cooperation with the European Commission is renewed within the legal basis for the Commission’s Erasmus+ programme (2014-2020) which identifies Eurodesk as a support structure for the Erasmus+ Programme.

In 2014, Republic of Macedonia joined the network. Ukraine joined in 2018 becoming the 35th country in which Eurodesk is hosted. The development is continuous ever since.

Mission and services

In addition to Eurodesk Brussels Link, there are 37 Eurodesk national coordinating in which national coordinators work together to carry out Eurodesk's mission at national level. National coordinators provide support to multipliers to organise their events, as well as channel youth information to them. At national level, the coordinators manage the European Youth Portal, and organise national events and campaigns. National coordinators release publications and communication materials whenever it is appropriate.Some national coordinators communicate regularly to young people through events, some do not. This depends on the national structure they work in. In any case, national coordinators answer the enquiries received from young people from the same country.

Eurodesk federates more than 1000 local youth information providers, so-called “multipliers” that are regional or local organisations working with young people, delivering youth information to them and advising them on mobility opportunities. Multipliers can be youth centres, associations, municipalities etc. but despite their variety, the core of their mission as Eurodesk multipliers is the same. To ensure the quality of services in all the 35 Eurodesk countries, Eurodesk offers its members quality training and support, and access to youth information services and tools. Eurodesk multipliers carry out Eurodesk’s mission which is ‘to raise awareness among young people on learning mobility opportunities and encourage them to become active citizens.’ The Eurodesk network provides young people with support and information about actual mobility opportunities in the 35 countries where it operates through the Eurodesk Opportunity Finder. Opportunities are divided into five categories: Learning, Volunteering, Internships, Trainings and Grants.

Coordination of Eurodesk

• European Commission
• Executive Committee(elected by the network)
• Eurodesk Brussels (coordination office)
• National Partners (development)
• Qualified multipliers (dissemination)

Eurodesk is administered by an Executive Committee (EEC) consisting of at least 5 and at most 7 Executive Committee members, of whom one is the President.

The EEC is the governing body of the network with a mandate to plan the direction which the organisation should take, and the activities and campaigns it should carry out both at European and at national level. The members of the EEC also have a role in building partnerships with other organisations, whenever it is in the benefit of Eurodesk.

Eurodesk Brussels Link (EBL) is the coordinating body of the network and also the managing body of the Eurodesk brand. Its role is to give support in carrying out the mission of Eurodesk in the different countries and facilitate communication about the the ongoing projects both internally and to the public. EBL therefore regularly issues publications and initiates and coordinates European level campaigns and activities that are then carried out in the 34 Eurodesk countries.

EBL also provides first-hand European information on youth mobility as well as tools for training, information management, quality assessment and communication to the Eurodesk officers in the various countries. It also supports the European Commission in developing and maintaining the European Youth Portal, regularly editing European contents, assessing the quality of Eurodesk national centres and giving them technical support.