U.DREAM Portugal is a non-formal educational project that was set up by university students for other students. It is now led by a professional team that is responsible for providing community leadership training to higher education students. It gives students opportunities to develop as social/community leaders, with the objective of creating an impact on society and changing the world.

The goal is to bring young people, future parents, and professionals closer to their communities’ problems in order to hold them accountable and help them to discover their passions and skills with a view to working to transform their communities later in life.

U.DREAM has different programmes with different durations (i.e. from one semester to four semesters), and involves local community services. Every participant spends 60 hours working with different target groups in collaboration with local organisations. Students are also invited to engage in a further 90-hours of training in social leadership skills and are given the opportunity to participate actively in leadership experiences (e.g. supporting children in health crises, supporting dysfunctional families at risk of social exclusion, raising social awareness among secondary school students, designing campaigns). In parallel, students have individual, personal and professional training plans to help them understand their social role in the community.

The programme is monitored and evaluated by three parties: the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CGF), an external consultant from the Centre For Organisational And Social Studies (CEOS-PP), and the Research and Development (R&D) internal team of U.DREAM Portugal.

Evaluation methods include questionnaires and ethnographic techniques, including observation in context, self-report diaries, focus groups and case studies. The main outcomes assessed are the impact of the training programme on community leadership competency among students (social participation rate, social-emotional skills adaptability, problem solving, etc.) and the impact on participants’ careers and self-development (e.g. perspectives on their future, their career adaptability, their social-emotional skills). The project is part of a wider Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study to evaluate the conditions and practices facilitating the development of social and emotional competences in young people, with first results due in 2022.

The project monitors a number of key success indicators, with results feeding back into programme delivery and practice. Indicators include: attendance and completion rates; responsiveness to a particular group’s needs; student engagement in training or social experiences; quality of programme management, evidence of good practices, team meetings.

Several aspects of the U.DREAM project are transferable. Its methodology focuses on the social impact of programme participants and the conceptual model guides the development of the psychological dimensions of community leadership. Successful features of the project include project-based methodologies, personalised support from the trainer, active participation in local organisations, balanced reflection-action strategy and recognition of skills acquired.

Other transferable features include the model focusing on three aspects: children and teachers (awareness on social impact), higher education students (community leadership programme), and adults (continuing professional development).

With its non-digital and digital books collection, Growing Consciously (Crescer com Consciência), the U.DREAM initiative aligns with the learning service principles and practices in higher education across Europe. It benchmarks and exchanges best practices with higher education institutes (e.g. Studentdemokratiet at the University of South-Eastern Norway). It also fosters and clusters actions according to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.