Open Call: Authors for Articles on Horizontal Priorities of the EU Youth Programmes

SALTO Participation & Information Resource Centre (SALTO PI) is looking for three Authors to create an article series for the Participation Resource Pool. The series is planned to include three articles, each written on one of the Erasmus+ priorities and its connection to Youth Participation (Green Participation, Inclusive Participation, and Digital Participation). The articles are planned to be written within the month of August 2021 and published in the Participation Resource Pool in October 2021 prior to the second round of applications to Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Programmes.

Application:

We ask interested people and organisations to choose one of the horizontal priorities:

• Inclusion & Diversity
• Digital Transformation
• Environment & fight against climate change

We ask the Authors to present us with an abstract of an article concept that showcases your approach:

• How do you plan to connect it with youth participation?
• What is the angle you intend to take in writing the article?
• What are the main points of discussion?

While SALTO PI defines the more general and over-arching scope, we expect the Author to, based on reliable information and personal expertise, to suggest the angle and approach that would be useful, engaging and thought-provoking.

Creative brief:

• General scope: how does the chosen Erasmus+ priority connect to Youth Participation? What can illustrate the reality/trends/problems/solutions of the chosen horizontal priority topic? What are the main challenges for Youth Participation in relation to the priority area? What kind of initiatives have already been emerging to address the priority in the youth work field/policy? In what ways can priority-focused projects be participatory for the youth? What practical guidance is available to make projects more sustainable/inclusive/digitally-transformative? 
• Useful links: Youth Participation Strategy , Youth Participation Toolkit, Flagship Projects Collection, SALTO Awards
• Audience: youth workers, youth organisations, stakeholders, young people, youth representatives, youth researchers, policy makers, and other stakeholders in the field.
• Approach: informative, easy to read, interlinked, yet conversational, thought-provoking, engaging, and jargon-free. 
• Planned outputs / results: Target group will have a good understanding of how each EU Youth Programme horizontal priority is connected to youth participation and how it could be enhanced in their planned projects. 
• Abstract length: Approx 1000 characters with spaces. Length of the article: Approx. 5000 characters with spaces.
• Format: The articles could follow various journalistic formats, e.g interviews, feature story, opinion article, even a reportage. The author should suggest the format in mind in the abstract, however, upon mutual agreement with SALTO PI, the format can be adapted or changed when justified.
  Keywords: youth friendly, easy to read, practical, facts checked, based on reliable information, educational, inspirational.
• Visuals/photos: The author, when conducting interviews or gathering resources, should also ask for/find photos to illustrate the articles (e.g ask for photos of projects or project leaders whom they interview, ask for photos from organisations or projects they cover in the story, etc). The author should make sure that he/she has the right to use the photos. Requirements for photos can be found here. Fotobanks can be used to find suitable illustrative photos or visuals for the article. In case getting photos is not possible, the author should inform SALTO PI. 
• Additional: Recommend what kind of multimedia format we can create from your article when it is done. We are looking for engaging ways to convey your message to the different audiences mentioned above. The article will be featured in the Participation Resource Pool (here is an example how it will look like).

Expectations to the Author:

• Previous work experience with and/or good understanding of EU Youth Programmes and youth priorities 
• Thorough understanding of Youth Participation
• High quality written expression in English
• Excellent skills in analysing and synthesising content 
• Previous copywriting and/or journalistic experience (blogs, newspapers, magazines, etc.)  
• Great skills in storytelling, being able to share expertise in the popular-science format
• Independent working style, responsible and cooperative approach 
• Appreciation of deadlines and agreements

Payment and working conditions:

• 960€ lump sum fee per article based on the estimated working time of 2,5 days per article and a daily rate of 320€ per working day (excluding VAT).
• Deadline for the abstract (outline structure, focus of the article): Monday, July 12th, 23:59 CEST
• Work deadline: The final deadline of presenting the article to SALTO PI will be agreed upon mutually, preferably in mid-August and latest by September 1st, 2021.
• SALTO PI will organise proofreading

Application and selection:

Please send your CV, the abstract and 1-2 examples of previously published content in English by 12th of July, 2021 23:59 CET to participation@salto-youth.net with “SALTO Article Author Application” in the headline.

SALTO PI will base their decision on:

• the presented abstract – 70% 
• experience in working with similar topics (CV, examples of previous work)  – 30%

SALTO PI will inform all applicants about the decision by 16th of July 2021. SALTO PI will retain rights to order more articles in case the same topic is explored from different angles.

For more information please contact: 

Aleksandra Mangus, TCA Project Officer at SALTO Participation and Information Resource Centre

Email: participation@salto-youth.net (add “To A.Mangus” in your email headline)

More information:

SALTO PI is one of seven Resource Centres working on European priority areas within the youth field aiming to improve the quality of youth work in Europe. As part of the European Commission’s Training Strategy, SALTO PI provides non-formal learning opportunities for youth workers and youth leaders. We additionally organise training and contact-making activities to support organisations and National Agencies (NAs) within the frame of the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Youth programme, European Solidarity Corps and beyond. Some of our key working areas are youth participation, smart youth work, evidence based youth work, digital participation, Media and Information Literacy and communication competencies.