This report, coordinated by Georgeta Ion, Saida López and Aleix Barrera, with the collaboration of Jordi Codina, presents the results of an investigation focused on the knowledge of informal groups made up of young people in Europe. The objective has been to analyze how these informal groups are formed, how they evolve and how they transform over time, focusing on investigating the evolution of informal groups as a social movement and their impact on the community. In this sense, the research results presented in this report allow (1) to define what is the meaning of informal group; (2) identify the forms of creation and the types of motivation that group members have when they come together and work as a team; (3) know how these groups work and how they are organized and function; (4) identify what kind of relationships the groups have with their community and (5) know what are the main barriers that informal groups face to be sustainable.
The results obtained are the starting point for making suggestions at the national and international level on how youth policies can be improved to favour the growth of informal groups and the impact they have on young people and the community in which they are found. Thus, it is hoped that these results will be useful for youth centres, NGOs, public institutions that involve young people in their activities as volunteers.
The report has been produced within the framework of the “Empowering the informal” project (Ref. 2018-3-RO01-KA205-061362), financed within the framework of the Erasmus + program of the European Union and coordinated by the FITT Foundation (Romania) , with the aim of strengthening the link between the public sector and the associative sphere, developing the skills and attitudes of young people in order to place informal groups as a central actor in the process of building more sustainable communities.