The EU 2020 strategy sets out a target to reach a 75% employment rate for 20 to 64 year olds across Europe, however the stark reality is that Europe currently faces a youth unemployment crisis with 5.5 million young people unemployed in the EU-28 area in August 2013, this figure equates to 1 in 5 people under 25 who are willing to work but are unable to find employment. The number of young people in employment has fallen by three times more than that for adults and with 7.5 million young Europeans between 15 and 24 not employed, not in education and not in training (NEETs), the trend looks set to continue. Youth Organisations have been long identified as having a pivotal role in reversing this trend. According to ’The Policy Paper on 'Youth organisations as non-formal educators – recognising our role': "In recent years employers are increasingly looking for people who have obtained not only academic qualifications but who can also demonstrate that they have a wider range of practical skills that cannot all be learned in formal education. These ‘soft skills’ cannot easily be ‘taught’ in formal education because they are learned through ‘hands-on’ practical experience and thus are much more effectively gained in non-formal environments." However the same report also goes on to state: "If a greater value is to be placed on the role of youth organisations as important non-formal educators, society needs to be made aware of their work in the first place. The responsibility for raising this awareness lies predominantly with youth organisations. A more pro-active approach is therefore needed from youth organisations to raise awareness of the value of non-formal education." Youth organisations across Europe are working tirelessly to make a positive change for young people, however based upon the research and experience of the consortium; if such organisations developed their core administrative activities, they have the capacity to have a significantly higher impact. The aim of this project was to strengthen the managerial and administrative capacity of Youth Organisation Leaders, as a means to vailidify the capacity and recognition of Youth Organistations as non-formal educators of young people. In order to meet this aim, the following objectives were set: - Develop a course of 7 specific thematic modules that meets the learning needs of a Youth NGO leader - Bring together and utilise specific skills and expertise from different sectors to develop course material - Create a system for validation and recognition of learning for the course - Develop an e-learning platform in order for the course to be an open access resource - Train a team of Educators to implement the course The project involved 6 partners, from Denmark, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Slovenia and UK. Each partner had a project team who will take the lead in researching developing, and publishing a module of a Mini MBA programme. The Mini MBA course was to consist of the following seven modules: 1) Introduction to the role of Youth NGO's as non-formal educators 2) Youth NGO Organizational management & strategies 3) Youth NGO Organizational administration including Financial management and Accounting 4) PR, Communication & information strategies for Youth NGO's 5) Project management including cooperation with donors and fundraising 6) Personal communication, motivation & leadership 7) Methods in non-formal education for youth Each module of the course was to consist of: - 5 hours of online Lectures - A reading lists for which 10 hours should be appointed - A Material Compendium - 2 hours of confrontation sessions - A final module test that 1 hour should be alloted to Once completed and published, the course was to be administered partially on-line through an e-learning platform and partially through trained national educators who wiould offer support through confrontation sessions. The course material were to be an open access resource for anyone involved in or interested to be involved in the management and administration of Youth Organisations. Individuals that follow the full learning programme of each of the seven modules, and successfully complete each of the on-line module tests were to be issued a diploma certificate, approved by each of the participating organisations. Through the combined efforts of the European partners,it was expected that the impact on a European level would be a course and resources that fosters a common and unified European approach to Youth Organisation management, ensuring unity and consistency in the work of youth organisations