How to apply for the Quality Label?
Criteria
A qualitative assessment is carried out before the Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres can be awarded. The criteria are designed to give youth centres the impetus to improve their offer to young people and the youth sector.
Five basic eligibility criteria need to be fulfilled before the centre is considered for assessment.
The centre must:
- aim to serve the youth sector and young people;
- promote international co-operation within the youth sector;
- have a clear mandate from public authorities;
- have in-house educational staff working to support the activities;
- have both working and accommodation facilities on one campus.
Once the eligibility criteria have been met, the centre must meet additional criteria. The assessment covers in total 15 criteria with indicators which measure the extent to which the candidate center fulfills the standards.
To learn more about the criteria and the indicators, please have a look at the Brochure - The Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres.
Procedure
The procedure assumes that the applicant centre is willing to develop the quality of its offer to young people to meet the standard defined by the criteria. The Youth Department of the Council of Europe, and the expert group responsible for the Quality Label, will support the candidate centre in identifying the considerations and actions it needs to make in order to achieve the quality standard.
The expert group is composed of one representative of the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ), one representative of the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ), one representative of a Quality-Labelled youth centre, and one representative of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.
1. Expression of interest
The candidate centre prepares an expression of interest for the quality label. There is no deadline for submission; expressions of interest are accepted on an ongoing basis.
Download the expression of interest form
2. Assessment of expression of interest
The experts decide on the eligibility of the centre and if an exploratory visit should take place in accordance with the basic criteria.
3. Visit of the centre
4. Decision
On the basis of the exploratory visit, the expert group makes its recommendation to the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ). The final decision to award the Quality Label to the centre is made by the CDEJ based on the recommendation of the expert group.
5. Award Ceremony
The ceremony to receive the Quality Label award, including a plaque and a certificate, takes place in the centre in the presence of a Council of Europe representative and national and local dignitaries in the youth field such as a Minister of Youth, Secretary of State or a Mayor, other stakeholders in the youth field and young people from the centre.
6. Upholding and renewing the Quality Label
The label is awarded for an initial period of three years, during which the centre is expected to maintain and further develop the standards demanded by the criteria. An application for renewal is mandatory after the first three years. At the end of the period, the expert group visits the centre again in order to assess the progress achieved. Based on the results of the visit, the experts once again make their recommendation to the European Steering Committee for Youth. which finally decide to prolong the Quality Label for another period, usually five years. The Committee finally decides if the Quality Label will be prolonged for the second period, usually five years.
Further information and contact
For further information, please contact the Youth Department of the Council of Europe at:
Secretariat for the Quality Label for Youth Centres Programme
European Youth Centre Budapest
Zivatar utca 1-3
1024 Budapest, Hungary
Tel + 36 1 438 1030
e-mail: [email protected]
