The Competencies - Viewed Through the Logic of European Institutions

What is a competency?  In the context of the European Union and the Council of Europe, a competency is something much larger than knowledge or skill. It is the ability to work effectively in a demanding situation. This includes three inseparable elements: what one knows, what one is capable to do, and the way in which one treats a given situation, people, and oneself. Knowledge, skill, and attitude are the foundation of almost every European educational and youth instrument.

Within the European Training Strategy (ETS), developed jointly by the Council of Europe and SALTO-YOUTH, competency is understood as something that develops primarily through experience, reflection, and practice. It must be lived, internalized, and applied. This is precisely why non-formal learning, which is experiential at its core, is so central to youth work: it creates conditions for the development of competencies that formal education can rarely offer.

What is a competency framework? If competency is the destination, the competency framework is the map. It is a structured tool that describes a set of competencies required for a given role or purpose, organizes them into areas and categories, and provides concrete indicators for different levels of development. Frameworks are not checklists against which achievements are ticked off - they are tools for reflection, planning, and dialogue. The EU and the Council of Europe use several such frameworks depending on the context and target group. Types of competency frameworks The Youth Worker Competence Framework (YETS) is developed in alignment with the European Training Strategy (ETS). This framework describes specifically what is expected of a youth worker, regardless of whether they work as a facilitator, trainer, manager, advocate, or communicator. The competencies are organized around five such profiles and are described at three levels: beginner, experienced, and advanced.

Published by the Council of Europe, the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC) includes 20 competencies distributed across four interconnected areas: values, attitudes, skills, and knowledge. The framework is not intended only for young people or for a specific level of education, but applies to every citizen participating in democratic life. It is therefore particularly well-suited as a foundation for programs in the areas of civic education, youth participation, and intercultural dialogue. Its strength lies precisely in connecting values with concrete observable competencies. This framework forms the basis of the trainings on understanding EU values developed by Impact Drive.

LifeComp is a conceptual framework of the European Commission, developed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in 2020. It applies the principle of "Personal, Social and Learning to Learn Competence," which is one of the eight key competencies for lifelong learning established by the Council Recommendation (2018/C 189/01) of 2018. The LifeComp framework includes three areas, each with three competencies, and a total of 27 descriptors following the "awareness - understanding - action" model:

The personal area includes skills such as self-regulation, which is a person's ability to manage emotions, thoughts, and behavior. Flexibility represents coping with changes and uncertainty in life. The third skill is wellbeing. It encompasses physical, mental, and social aspects. The social area is expressed through empathy, defined as understanding the emotions and experiences of others, communication, which involves using appropriate strategies and tools, and collaboration with other people.

Learning to learn. This competency is made up of three further aspects, the first of which is a growth mindset - the belief in the potential for continuous development. The second is critical thinking. The evaluation of information and arguments is crucial for the development of learning. The third is the management of that learning - planning and monitoring one's own learning so that what has been learned can be retained in the long term.

The framework serves as a starting point for the meaningful development of human life. The aforementioned competencies are interdependent, and it is important that they are nurtured equally in order to benefit from them fully.

Why do we learn constantly and how do we do so in balance? The idea of lifelong learning is not new, but it takes on a new dimension in a world where knowledge becomes outdated faster than our careers. LifeComp directly addresses this: "learning to learn" is not simply a method; it is a mindset, a way of relating to one's own development. To learn continuously means to understand how you learn, when you learn, and why you learn, and to be able to sustain that mindset in the long term.

But here the real challenge also emerges: how do we learn when we are simultaneously working professionals, parents, citizens, and friends? The more effective approach is connected to a paradigm shift - from learning as a separate event (a course, a training, a seminar) to learning embedded in everyday experience.

This is precisely where the significance of micro-credentials as a model comes in. Micro-credentials are small, focused units of learning tied to a specific outcome and recognition. They do not require a complete interruption of other roles, and can be completed within days or weeks, focused on a precisely defined competency, and recognized by employers, organizations, or institutions. The European Union is actively developing a common framework for micro-credentials precisely because it sees in them a way to make learning accessible, flexible, and recognized, without requiring people to choose between development and life.

The principles behind this model are simple but important: learning is more sustainable when it is small and regular than when it is large and infrequent.

Competencies in the Work of Impact Drive

Impact Drive works in direct alignment with the values and competencies described in the three aforementioned competency frameworks.

The Youth Worker Competence Framework (YETS) describes what a person working with young people must be able to do, know, and how they should relate to others. It speaks of facilitation, of group work, of the ability to create an environment in which others can grow. At Impact Drive, we apply precisely these competencies in our training programs. Our Impact HUB series includes "Design of Social Change," "Building Strong Alliances," and "Sustainable Organizations" - these are not simply thematic courses, but spaces of non-formal learning in which participants develop their ability to think strategically, work in teams, and lead and follow simultaneously. To this we can add our trainings from the "Values in Action" series, which use experiential non-formal learning to equip NGO professionals with the competencies for understanding, applying, and disseminating the key EU values enshrined in the union's founding treaty. There we use the CDC framework directly, but also add elements from the SALTO competence framework for trainers. Our trainings develop resilience at both individual and organizational level. Beyond that, the initiative supports the efforts of the non-governmental sector to engage with state and local administration in advocating for specific civic causes, which directly puts into practice the activities of the democratic participation framework. Flexibility is also key for our target groups. Our trainings prepare NGO specialists, women, and social entrepreneurs to manage organizations during periods of change and uncertainty in a dynamic environment. A growth mindset is embedded in our mission. We believe that capacity can be built and developed through purposeful work - something that is taught in every one of our trainings, each of which has a specific goal to be developed and achieved. Self-regulation and wellbeing are at the heart of our organization's work. One of the main goals of initiatives such as Women BRIDGES and Dear, What Do You Need? is the establishment of a healthy work-life balance for women in the civil sector, which directly corresponds to the Wellbeing competency.

The foundation's standalone program, DigiComs, focuses on the development of communication. It consists of specialized online courses for digital communicators of causes, covering digital marketing, copywriting, and creative writing. The work of DigiComs also connects with the European Digital Competence Framework. The framework covers 5 areas and 21 competencies, one of which is communication and collaboration — interaction, sharing, civic participation, collaborative work, netiquette, and management of digital identity. Together with the creation of digital content, another area covered by the framework, which includes development, integration, copyright, and programming. At Impact Drive, we put LifeComp competencies into practice in a Bulgarian context. We are focused on civil society, women, and purpose-driven organizations.

While LifeComp is a conceptual European framework, Impact Drive is a practical example of how these competencies can be developed in a real-world environment.