Report - Salto

Bridges for Recognition | Different Stakeholders - Different Needs
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Local and National Authorities
The group had discussed the different ways in which validation of youth work took place in
their different countries and had drawn a number conclusions:
• There is a need to put recognition on the national youth policy agendas and to discuss the
issue at national level.
• Within countries there is a need for a common system for all parts of the country leading to
standardised forms of recognition to aid transferability.
• The link between National Agencies and Local Authorities is important: NAs could support
local authorities in order for them to operate by the rules.
• Unions, employers and youth workers should create the tools and implement ideas together:
There is a need for partnership and collaboration.
• The group encouraged stakeholders to ask (and answer to) the question “why recognition?”
before carrying out the work.
• The group called for National Governments to initiate the work and then let the employers,
labour unions and youth workers create the tools to carry out recognition work.
• They agreed that the system must be flexible and not be equal to formal education. They were
concerned that the “beauty” of non-formal education must be kept.
• In designing frameworks and tools for recognition and validation, the group said that there is
a need to reconcile flexibility with copying the formal education system; a need to consider cost
benefit (outputs and cost) and a need to support the local authorities in their coordinating
role.