Nachweise International

The Nachweise International scheme enables international youth work organisations to document young people’s participation in international activities, the young people’s and team leaders’ contributions, as well as the skills acquired by young participants during the activity.

Nachweise International forms are available in a number of variants and in German, English and Polish. The resulting certificates have a very professional look. Besides the obvious benefit to the young participants themselves, for instance when applying for jobs, the certificates help to highlight the educational impacts and benefits of international youth work activities.

The forms are filled out via a personalised link that leads directly to www.nachweise-international.de, where templates can be created and text blocks written and saved. Organisations can also integrate their own logos. Standard information is automatically entered into the forms, allowing organisations to create certificates for an entire group without undue effort. Once completed, the certificates are exported as PDF files and can be printed out at home or at a print shop.

Teilnahmenachweis International contains the participant’s name along with a description of the organisation behind the project, a brief definition of international youth work, and a description of the project and its educational objectives.

In cases where greater emphasis is on participants’ personal achievements, the variant Engagementnachweis International is advisable. In addition to the information provided in Teilnahmenachweis International, this certificate outlines the holder’s personal achievements and active contributions. It can be issued for an individual project as well as for a longer-term placement in several projects. This variant is also suitable for confirming team leaders’ contributions to an international activity or programme.

The most specific variant is Kompetenznachweis International (KNI), which systematically documents the skills acquired and demonstrated by the individual participants. Users need to be trained as KNI coaches before they can use the system appropriately. Workshops are regularly offered by a number of organisations.

International youth work takes place in a broad variety of settings, offering spaces for young people to shape their personalities, develop new skills and explore new facets of human interaction. They acquire language, intercultural and social skills that are crucial for their personal development as well as for their later careers. Often young people themselves and society in general are unaware of the skills they have, since they did not acquire them in formal settings such as school or vocational college, but instead through non-formal means. What is more, key competences are becoming ever more important. This is where the Nachweise International scheme comes in. The certificates document young people’s participation in activities, their personal commitment, and the skills they can demonstrate.