Erasmus+ Youth Mobility

What is a Youth Mobility Project?

A ‘Mobility’ project is where a youth organisation sends its young people or youth workers to another country to learn and develop both personal and professional skills.  Activities are intended to have a positive impact on the young people and organisations involved, the communities where they take place, the youth field itself and the European economic and societal sectors at large. Read the Youth Mobility section of the Erasmus+ Programme Guide for a comprehensive overview of Youth mobility objectives.

Youth organisations or, in certain cases, groups of young people can apply for funding to prepare and manage the project, and for the costs of travel and participation. Extra funding is available to include those with fewer opportunities. The minimum time a project can last is three months.

Who Can Take Part in a Mobility Project?

Any Youth organisation in Ireland or organisation active in the Youth field can apply to Léargas for funding. Groups of young people can also take part in some project types. Contact our Youth officers in the Programme Support and Development team if you have any questions about who can take part.

What Happens on a Mobility Project?

Youth organisations and informal groups of young people carry out projects that bring together young people from different countries to exchange and learn outside their formal educational system. There are three main types:

Youth Exchanges
Groups of young people from at least two different countries meet for a short period to jointly carry out a non-formal learning programme on a topic of their interest.

Mobility for Youth Workers
Youth organisations that want to enhance the professional development of youth workers and the capacity of the wider organisation can send workers for training or to take part in courses.

Youth Participation 
Youth organisations and informal groups of young people from all backgrounds can arrange activities including workshops, debates, role-plays, simulations, use of digital tools, awareness raising campaigns, and training.  Participation Activities can take place in Ireland or in other countries. This project type has a special focus on those with fewer opportunities.

What is the Funding for a Mobility Project?

There is no set amount of funding for a Youth Mobility Project. It is decided by the quality of the project planned, and the amount of funding available. As a guideline, in 2020 projects received funding from varying from €9,000 to €63,000. See Guide to Your Funding for budget allocations in 2021.

How Does an Organisation Get Involved?

There are three ways:

• Apply for a one-off project or a limited number of activities lasting three to 24 months
• Become an accredited organisation with an ‘Erasmus Plan’, and apply for a series of projects over several years
• Join a project as a partner organisation.

Whether it is a Youth Exchange, Youth Worker Mobility or Youth Participation Activity, all projects have four stages. You will need to outline these clearly in your application:

• Planning – Define the needs, objectives and desired outcomes
• Preparation – Establish the practicalities
• Implementation – Carry out the activities
• Follow-up – Evaluation and feedback.

You will need to read the Youth Mobility section of the Erasmus+ Programme Guide for further details on these four stages.

How Does an Organisation Find Courses and Partners?

Young people, youth workers and youth organisations should take advantage of the community-building platforms on the European Youth Portal. Eurodesk is also a great source of information for identifying mobility opportunities. Visit our Programme Results section to see which organisations have previously taken part.

What Are the Next Steps? 

Once the project is planned, the organisation or group of young people can submit an online application before the deadline. The application requires a lot of detail and organisations should allocate at least six weeks to plan and write it.

Léargas evaluate applications using strict Erasmus+ criteria. We contact applicants with our decision three months after the deadline. If your project is funded, the organisation receives a large proportion of the funding at the start of the project. The organisation then carries out the project and submits a Final Report on its progress. The remainder of the funding is paid when this Final Report is approved.

Read our section on Applying For Erasmus+ Mobility for more detail on the application process.