YOUTHCERT: PROMOTING CERTIFICATION AND ACCREDITATION OF COMMUNITY BASED YOUTH WORK TRAINING

Youthcert, an EU Youthstart funded project, managed by NYF and CDYSB closed at the end of May with the launch of its publications. Youthcert was a strategic action to promote a partnership approach to the provision of certification and accreditation for the many community based training programme called Practitioner Learnmg Programmes (PLP's) which currently have little or no currency outside the immediate context. Youthcert involved collaboration among youth, community and voluntary work, education and training provision and certification and accreditation stakeholders. The project has demonstrated both the commitment of youth work PLP providers to the provision of community based accredited training and their ability to develop and deliver quality training in a variety of contexts. It has also demonstrated the capacity of the Youthcert consortium (ACSM) to facilitate greater co-operation between certifying bodies and providers in the formal and informal sector