In recent years a new society is emerging with interests, needs and problems that differ substantially from earlier times. Citizens demand higher levels of participation, freedom, tolerance and equity. They aim to build a new culture in response to a society in crisis, individualistic, contradictory and unable to respond to their wishes, interests and expectations.

These demandsare mainly observed in the world of education. It is not sufficient anymore for the formal system to pursue complete schooling, but carry out other initiatives from the paradigm of non-formal education. Given the situation described, a new kind of professionals are required, ready to act in various contexts in order to achieve social and cultural development of individuals and groups.

The social agents play a major role in shaping this new society. Their main mission is to defend the universal values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which protects civil, political, economic and social rights (2007 adapted version). Following the same criteria, the Europe 2020 strategy (2010) states that the European Union should aim for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. At the same time, it is recognized that in order to achieve those goals, the aforementioned social agents are essential. Those agents include the socio-cultural animators, object of this investigation, a figure related to the social educator.

On a more specific level, the socio-cultural animators aim to improve quality of life, especially of those most vulnerable. This task is accomplished by means of interventions, meaning intentional actions, planned systematically within a particular context, in order to achieve precise goals designed to improve reality. Any intervention must inevitably pursue quality and excellence.

The purpose of this paper is to identify competences that are particularly effective for socio-cultural animators to achieve successful interventions. The specific objectives are:

• To      analyze the current profile of socio-cultural animators.
• To      identify core competences required for a proper performance of their duties,      and to determine how important each of them is.
• To      design, considering their demands, improvement proceduresallowing a more efficient      performance of their profession.

Logically, those skills have been evolving over time due to varying political, social and economic conditions. Therefore, the central topic of this research is considered to be of great interest.

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