There are different types of recognition. Sometimes these types are intertwined with and reinforce each other, but they may also be regarded as essentially different processes, requiring different steps to be taken with the involvement of different stakeholders.

Social recognition – is a process that leads to a better understanding and a more positive regard of what you are doing by others, it brings more visibility and more investment to your activities. In practice it means that both your community and the people from other sectors would not only know what youth work is, but would also have a positive attitude towards it.

Formal recognition – is an official status for different aspects of youth work and non-formal education/learning, (e.g. competencies acquired leading to formal qualifications; official accreditation of non-formal education/learning programmes by formal accreditation bodies; licensing of youth workers and trainers; officially recognized occupation of youth worker by the state, etc.).

Political recognition – refers to the development of relevant policies around youth work and non-formal education/learning in the youth field. It is also about putting youth work on the political agenda, (e.g. the Belgium presidency of the Council of European Union Ministers adopted a Resolution on youth work; ‘youth work’ as a term appearing in the new Youth Law in Serbia for the first time in 2011).

Self-recognition – means that recognition sometimes starts with us! Are we fully aware of the value of our own work? What evidence, (perhaps research data), do we have to prove it? How much do we support the development of quality in our own work? Are we aware of learning processes taking place within our activities? Could we list the competency’s young people develop through participation in our projects?

Exercise: Know Your Recognition Context!