Participatory Quality Development in Open Youth Work Development – Discussion – Dissemination Youth Work as a field of Social Work finds itself today more and more confronted with the pressure of legitimation. It has to argue its entitlement and usefulness more than ever before and it has to prove / underlay both aspects with data to withstand critical questioning. A feasible strategy to deal with this pressure of legitimation.is to engage in a proactive manner with self evaluation and effect analysis with respect to the needs of the own field of activity. With this transnational project in the area of quality management bOJA wants to continue along the lines of the quality dialogue in the context of the EU' youth strategy in which the establishment of quality frames for youth work, systems for self- and external evaluation as well as the close collaboration between politics, research and praxis are the focus of interest. Over the last years bOJA has succeeded – unique in the European context – to define the field of open youth work in a participatory process, to define nationwide quality standards and to take the first steps towards the development of a tool for self-evaluation. Building on the measures taken until now, a multi-dimensional self-evaluation-tool will be developed in the framework of the project that – being composed of quantitative and qualitative elements and methods – shall be useful for practitioners of Open Youth work in Austria, Italy and beyond. Through the intersectoral and transnational cooperation the results of the project will be developed, discussed and evaluated on a broad and manifold basis, ensuring the greatest possible sustainability. Development The evaluation-tool is supposed to be based on previous research, standards and results of development of bOJA and n.e.t.z. Südtirol and is composed of an IT-database capturing and analyzing quantitative data, a quality dialogue (“Qualitätsdialog der Offenen Jugendarbeit”) and additional quality ensuring measures like regional circles for qualitiy ensurance. The development of this IT-tool shall be conducted with the participation of regional, national and international stakeholders and partners including the scientific expertise of the academic NPO-institute (Vienna University of Economics and Business). Discussion To make the evaluation instrument available for a broad professional public , the measures and results will be presented, discussed and evaluated in the framework of exchange meetings (on a regional, national and EU-level). Dissemination The aim is to publish the project results after project completion and to provide a broad professional public with the results and guidelines in the framework of a conference and international exchange meetings. In the spirit of a common strategy of strengthening Open Youth Work in the European Union the quality-tools will be transferred to other countries and settings of youth work. The European association POYWE (Professional Open Youth Work in Europe), co-founded by bOJA and its networks will be also integrated into the discussion and dissemination. The selected project partners are the regional network and umbrella organization of youth clubs South Tyrol (n.e.t.z.), the Competence Center for Nonprofit Organizations and Social Entrepreneurship (NPO-Institute) and the young EU-wide network for Professional Open Youth Work in Europe (POYWE). Through the strategic partnership the project will be supported in terms of content, methodology and dissemination of the results. Among the expected effects of the project are the strengthening and enhanced visibility of the social value of Open Youth Work, the professionalization of the field of action regarding data collection and quality discussion as well as the enhanced transparency concerning basic and relevant indicators and figures of Open Youth Work. Regarding the actors of the field of action the effect lies in the enhancement of their professional self-esteem, empowerment in terms of self-evaluation and quality development and in strengthening their position towards stakeholders and donors. The independent use of the quality-tool, developed and established in the framework of the project, by youth workers shall be ensured after project conclusion. The umbrella organizations bOJA and n.e.t.z. as well as the other project partners will ensure the future continuation of the debate in the constantly developing field of open youth work on the regional, national and EU-level.