Professional Open Youth Work Europe (POYWE) is a European non-profit organisation. The organisation aims to strengthen the quality and position of youth work in Europe. POYWE is committed to making youth work more visible and strengthen its position in the European discourse on youth policy. In addition, they organise workshops in several European countries to give youth workers practical tools for their daily work.
In order to improve youth work across Europe, POYWE wanted to develop a tool to impart knowledge to youth workers in different countries. The organisation wanted to use experiences and situations from the daily practice of professionals.
POYWE teamed up with our partner Goldfizh, a digital marketing agency from Utrecht. What makes Goldfizh unique is that it employs creatives and marketers from Gen Z: the generation that grew up with smartphones and Facebook. So, this club is young at heart, with loads of creativity and quirky ideas.
In Goldfizh, POYWE found a great partner to further develop the idea for the tool, as there was no concept yet. Mareijn de Wit, Digital Creative at Goldfizh, explains: “POYWE asked us to think of ways to transfer knowledge during the pandemic. It wasn’t possible to organise international events or workshops. During a brainstorming session, the idea of an interactive e-learning arose. We quickly opted for a video in animation style that would appeal to a broad group. The scenes were written and developed in close cooperation with POYWE.”
“Nice to see that an interactive e-learning helps to train European youth workers in times of a pandemic.”
– Mareijn de Wit, Digital Creative at Goldfizh
An important aspect of this video was that it could be played in multiple languages. Mareijn: “In the Netherlands, almost everyone understands the English language, but that is not the case in all countries. Therefore, we wanted the video to be available in all languages. This was solved very easily: the player can detect in which country you are, based on your browser. Then, the subtitles are adjusted accordingly. A great, practical solution, which Ivory realised for us within a week.”
The result of the project is a powerful, interactive e-learning that allows youth workers throughout Europe to gain new knowledge in an accessible way. Mareijn: “In the e-learning, various scenes are sketched: recognisable situations from practice. As a viewer, you have to choose how you, as a youth worker, would deal with the situation. Would you respond in way A, or in way B? After making your choice, you get some feedback: did you act correctly? If not, you get an explanation of the impact of your choice and how you could act better in the future.
Mareijn: “The pilot episode of the e-learning is now running in several countries, such as Croatia, Germany and Scandinavia. The first reactions we are getting are very positive. If this e-learning performs well, we will start working on some new scenes. I hope that we will be able to realise these. How great is it that youth workers from different countries have been able to follow this training, despite the travel restrictions because of the pandemic?”
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