"The European Commission 2014 paper 'A Healthy and Sustainable Environment for Present and Future Generations' speaks of the European Union's long-term commitment to sustainable development. This paper also states that ""Since the 1970s, the EU has agreed over 200 pieces of legislation to protect the environment. But legislation alone counts for little if it is not properly applied and enforced. The partners of “Environmental Learning Illustrated” wanted to contribute to the development of programmes that link adult education, training, and innovation in the digital era with the pressing environmental issues of our time. We would like to be at the forefront of the conversation and the transition to a low-carbon future using education as a tool, defining the channels and communication strategies to reach a wider number of people in various countries, and improving and extending the supply of high-quality learning opportunities for individuals in this field. To do that, we wanted to create an open e-learning programme where people can learn about the causes of climate change and what they can do to contribute to solving the climate crisis.The Surefoot Effect from the UK; Volontariato Torino from Italy; The Centre for Education and Entrepreneurship Support from Poland, and E.N.T.E.R. GmbH from Austria were the project partners. The Surefoot Effect (Surefoot) equips people with lifelong skills for sustainability by providing (i) space to think; (ii) time to explore motives and feelings regarding more sustainable lifestyles, and (iii) leadership that inspires action. This process has led thousands of people to successfully reduce their impact on the environment. Volontariato Torino (VolTo) is the Volunteer Support Centre of Turin. VolTo is an umbrella non-profit organization with 160 member organizations and a network of more than 1300 voluntary associations. VolTo works to provide free services (such as training, consultancy, planning assistance) to assist the voluntary associations in the Province of Turin. The Centre for Education and Entrepreneurship Support (CEES) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that works in the field of youth and cooperates with businesses, universities, schools, enterprises and educational institutions. CEES promotes entrepreneurship to young people at school as well as to those who already run their businesses. E.N.T.E.R. GmbH (ENTER) is a European network and has more than 900 member organisations in 44 countries in varied fields and sectors. ENTER’s main objective is to provide a unique network structure for the dissemination and sustainable use of EU project outcomes.“Environmental Learning Illustrated” developed an online interactive learning platform for participants to learn about the cause of climate change and potential solutions according to four main themes: energy and climate change, food, transport and consumption and waste. These four main themes also included related topics such as climate justice, water consumption and environmental refugees. The programme included a 28-page graphic novel and 63 illustrations that served to convey the main topics covered.Under the principle that “people remember stories, not facts” partners wanted to add graphic content to make learning on climate change issues more memorable and more enjoyable and to engage with people for whom formal scientific learning is not optimal. This methodology also follows the work carried by Surefoot in which environmental problems are developed by letting participants explore their values, emotions and identity. The design of the programme was also based on information provided by 223 people on how they would like to see an online tool such as this one structured and developed.All objectives set in the original application have been met with over 50 people from each participating country taking part in preliminary surveys that informed the team on the best way to structure and develop the online course. Six people from participating organisations trained to develop content for Intellectual Output 01 under the guidance of two experienced trainers from CEES, and eight people from the participating organisations trained on how to communicate projects and activities that use storytelling and similar formats in order to facilitate the input ideas from the main topics of the project for the illustrations and the graphic novel. Finally, 416 people were happy to participate in the pilot of the e-learning modules.Recent events such as unprecedented forest fires in the Amazon and other rainforests and the premature melting of large areas of Greenland and Antarctica are making people from all over the world more concerned about the conservation of nature and willing to initiate activities that protect it. This programme has offered an opportunity for partners and a large number of participants to engage in these topics in a positive light to learn and support the alternatives that already exist."

'People' and 'Place' combine to form 'Community'. People have connections with Places for many reasons. Communities are shaped by the Places in which they exist. Places are shaped by People, not always taking into account the protection of the Place. Communities are created by and of people and shape the people in them. This project will look at how the connections between people, place and community can create resilience. This project seeks to find resilience approaches or tools in each of these three areas, catalogue them and discuss and explore how each model, method, resource, technique or organisation can be used to promote resilience in the other two aspects and create a common methodology for resilience. For example, the principles of nature conservancy can be applied to fostering resilience in people and in communities too. Partners will review tools and research new resources where appropriate and each will focus on one of these three aspects. Examples of resilience tools are the 'Wheel of Life Technique' for personal resilience and the 'Community Resilience Tool' for communities. As an example, The Wheel of Life Technique for personal resilience will be examined for use in resilience work for place and community. Similarly, the processes used in nature conservancy for establishing resilience for ecosystems will be examined for applicability to people and community. The body of work and the tasks and activities, as well as the content created by the partners, will use specific experience from the UK, Greece, Sweden, and Italy.For 'personal resilience' the project will target people and organisations working in mental health issues, adult educators, coaches, youth workers, or community groups who address 2019 Erasmus+ Programme priorities of equity and inclusion by working with people with face mental health issues such as psychiatric conditions, and also with people facing social obstacles such as discrimination because of gender, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, etc., people living a precarious situation, young and/or single parents, orphans and other people with fewer opportunities. For the resilience of 'places', the project will work alongside environmental organisations who prioritise the conservation of natural spaces that follow principles of environmental sustainability for the common good as well as the European Union's commitment to a 'A Healthy and Sustainable Environment for Present and Future Generations' (European Commission paper, 2014) and the Union's international commitment to reducing carbon emissions from the production of greenhouse gases as reflected in the 2015 Paris Agreement. People working in these fields often face ongoing stress from the challenges of protecting natural spaces and resources. People working in these conditions will benefit from carrying out work in personal resilience too. For the resilience of communities, the project will work with community groups that put community building at the centre of the activities they do and that can often become a field for people and places to build resilience together.The project will have an impact on how participants utilise resilience methods and approaches in any obstacles that they might face. At the end of the project, participants will show an understanding of 'resilience' and its connection to 'people', 'places', and 'communities' with specific examples from Sweden, Greece, the UK, and Italy. Participants will be able to understand how resilience methods and approaches might be useful to overcome difficulties in their personal life, the places where they live, and the communities and put a plan forward to do so in the area of focus they will have chosen during the programme, one for each of the 3 groups that will run in each partner country. At the end of the project, facilitators from the four partner organisations will also be able to use transferable skills in current or new programmes and projects. To complete the BfR Adult Education project, the team will produce the 'Breakthrough for Resilience Handbook' that will include videos as case studies from participants in Italy, Sweden, Greece, and the UK.This project follows a transnational approach because different resilient tools, models, methods and approaches have been carried and tested in different places by different people and different communities and having a wider pool of tools will increase the likelihood that participants will find one that suits their needs to address ongoing stress, difficulties and challenges. In turn, the partnership will deliver a comprehensive methodology for resilience that will consider examples from the four participating organisations and increase the availability of resilience tools.

The BEVIN project is targeted at a wide audience: • all public educational institutions/sectorial organisations involved in the non-formal and informal learning process and/or validation;• all educational entities and individuals who are actively implementing validation of non-formal and informal learning;• teachers and trainers who accompany or support their students during non-formal and/or informal learning,• all organisations and institutions that are planning validation of non-formal and informal learning. Adults who are in the process of, or are planning, validation of their competences acquired through non-formal and/or informal learning. The main aim of the BEVIN project is to raise the indicator of recognition of adults competences acquired through non-formal and informal learning. The partnership will achieve this aim through realization of the following operational goals:• developing of database of effective tools for validation of non-formal and informal learning;• developing of validation opportunities trends analyzer.The objectives of the project are consistent with strategic partnerships - supported activities as these objectives will strengthen the cooperation between organizations with a view to establishing exchanges of practices, promote the development, testing and implementation of innovative practices in the field of education.European Commission recommendation on the validation of non-formal and informal learning points that by the end of 2015 each Member State should develop a national system of validation which demonstrates citizens' competences acquired outside the formal system. The database developed by the BEVIN project will be a perfect complement to these national systems at the European level. Improvement and adaptation of citizens' competences to labor market requirements are essential for the growth of competitiveness, employment and social cohesion of the European Union, which is in line with the main objective of the Europe 2020 strategy - achieving a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.The partnership has been built based on the principle of complementarity of skills and experience among the partners. As a result, we can present a generated mixture of different organizations (Centrum Wspierania Edukacji i Przedsiebiorczosci - PL, Sea Teach S.L. - ES, Volontariato Torino- IT, RUNI CENTER – BG, Biedriba Eurofortis -LT) united around the main objective of the project. The expected impact on the target group of the project and relevant stakeholders can be estimated at more than 7000 people across the partnership (testing, multiplayer events, dissemination).

<< Background >>Reaching and keeping contact with marginalised groups has always been a challenge, but the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up an already unstable field and pushed marginalised young people more to the side and in isolation. Thousands of young people at risk of social exclusion have lost touch with their support contacts since March 2019, when the whole world went into lockdown overnight. The unstable on-off situation still continues until now and it will be a long way to countermeasure the effects that have spread into every aspect of life. Current data shows that the situation of young people looks severe, because the young generation is confronted with huge challenges, first climate change and the consequent climate crisis, and now recovering from the COVID pandemic. Young people react differently to these future outlooks, and while some show resilient and motivated behaviour to spark change, others react with ignorance, paralysis or even anxiety. A recent study of Unicef (10/2021) on the mental health of children shows that 1 out of 5 (Unicef Austria) young people suffer from psychological consequences (i.a. depression, anxiety, eating disorders) and about 80% exercise insufficient physical activities. In March 2021, young people were 30% to 80% more likely to report depression or anxiety than adults (OECD, 05/2021). Furthermore, open jobs and apprenticeships are less accessible. Bertelsmann-Stiftung has implemented two surveys with young people in Germany (2020/2021) and investigated their perspectives for (VET)-education, and the results are devastating. 78% of young people with a low education level say it is harder for them on the job market. As coordinator and initiator of this project, the social enterprise Jugend am Werk Steiermark is recognising these effects in their frontline youth work offers. The young people, especially the marginalised groups and minorities, have withdrawn from support offers and it has become difficult to reconnect with them. Making first contact with marginalised young people has become even harder.The open and low-threshold offers in youth work have been disrupted due to COVID-inducted restrictions, and official policies have neglected this sector for far too long. Frontline youth work needs to be visible and for this we need cross-sectoral communication & cooperation and an improved link to policy makers on local, regional and national level. For this, a threefold approach is needed:1) reach marginalised young people & (re-)connect them with support systems.2) empower the young people to take care and responsibility of their own physical and mental health, and consequently realise that they have power to change their situation by participating actively in social and civic life.3) connect frontline youth work with policy makers by enabling dialogue between young people and decision makers facilitated by youth workers. Hence, the addressed target groups must be:A) young people (12-25 years), marginalised due to obstacles in their life or who do not identify with the mainstream for personal reasonsB) youth workers, who are professionals, volunteers, social & street workersC) multiplier organisations & networks who work with youth & employ youth workersD) research organisations and policy/decision makersTo bring this approach to life and improve the post-covid situation of the target groups, the YOUTH COURAGE project has assembled a multiprofessional, transnational partnership from Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, and Slovenia. All project partners are relevant entities on regional, national and EU level with direct contacts to frontline youth work as well as broad networks of high impact potential. They all recognise the strong demand for innovative solutions to enhance the repertoire of youth workers in these troubling times. Each partner brings unique competences to the table, which ensure a professional implementation of the project as well as high-quality project results.<< Objectives >>The core aim of the project is visible in its title:YOUTH COURAGE - You are part of the solution!Empowering marginalised youth to reconnect with their social support system and facilitating personal growth to enable more active citizenship and solidarity.To fully answer to this aim and the needs described above, the YOUTH COURAGE project partnership works on three objectives:1. Provide modern, future-proof ways to (re-)connect with marginalised youth who have lost contact with their support system in times of crisis.2. Empower youth and marginalised young people to become active citizens, to take responsibility for their own physical and mental health, and to enrich their personal growth through acts of solidarity and civic participation.3. Provide innovative survey instruments to capture the current situation of marginalised youth and their support workers in transnational reports to further strengthen the link to policy makers and research centres across Europe.These objectives are further complementary to the EU Youth Strategy and the 11 European Youth Goals (both 2019-2027), that focus on three areas of action: engage, connect and empower. Just as in the approach of the YOUTH COURAGE project, cross-sectoral areas are addressed, and this project will contribute to at least 8 of the 11 goals: Connecting EU with Youth, Equality of All Genders, Inclusive Societies, Information & Constructive Dialogue, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Moving Rural Youth Forward, Space and Participation for All, Youth Organisation & European Programmes. The YOUTH COURAGE project will firstly, reach out and connect with marginalised youth and secondly, re-activate and empower youth who are already (re-)connected with their support system to become more resilient and take on responsibility for their physical and mental health as well as for their social environment through acts of solidarity and civic participation. The project will offer insights as well as innovative and suitable resources for youth work in four main topics:◼ Health (physical & mental health, awareness of responsibility for herd protection through vaccines)◼ Empowerment and Inclusion (gender, cultural, and ethnic identity, pride, special needs)◼ Active Mobility (youth visibility in the city, ownership of public space, sport activities, Erasmus+)◼ Solidarity (social & civic activities, volunteering, participation in local community)The set objectives and topics are corresponding further to the framework of the Erasmus+ programme by the European Commission, in which the YOUTH COURAGE project is serving three main priorities and addresses three complementary topics: ◽ Promoting active citizenship and young people’s sense of initiative◽ Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sport ◽ Reinforcing links between policy, research, and practice◽ Inclusion of marginalised people◽ Quality and innovation of youth work◽ Promotion of alternative forms of participationThe ultimate goal is to make young people aware that by becoming active citizens who participate in social and civic life, they can shape the future and make it more inclusive and solidaric, while empowering them to pursue these goals. At the same time, it is important to raise visibility and awareness for the situation of the young people, especially the marginalised groups, by supplying current data from the frontline youth work to policy and decision makers through suitable research operations.<< Implementation >>To achieve the objectives of the YOUTH COURAGE project, the partnership will implement four project results, with strong involvement of the target groups in the developments: ◼ R1: EUROPEAN YOUTH SURVEY: Investigating the post-covid situation of marginalised youth and the connection status to their support system.◽ Engagement of 300 youth & youth workers in the transnational survey◼ R2: YOUTH COURAGE OUTREACH FOR ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP - Social pedagogical interactive toolkit to (re-)activate marginalised youth during and after crisis.◽ Participative, bottom-up development of new resources and updating established methodologies to longlasting, future-proof form◽ Testing the resources with 150 youth & youth workers in all partner countries◽ Providing an open platform to exchange best practices among youth workers◼ R3: ESCAPE THE GLOOM: A low-threshold escape game that empowers marginalised youth to reignite their courage.◽ Open innovation social media campaigns for young people to shape the educational game◽ Testing the escape game in all partner countries & filming video teasers/walkthrough◼ R4: YOUTH COURAGE POLICY PAPER: Strengthening the collaboration between frontline youth workers, research institutes and policy makers to further investigate the situation of marginalised youth in Europe.◽ extended re-implementation of the EUROPEAN YOUTH SURVEY (2024) with 400 youth and youth workers in more countries◽ development of policy recommendations based on the deductions from comparing survey results◼ E1-E5: National YOUTH COURAGE Interactive Workshops◽ 20 youth and youth workers per country will participate in these national events and develop new, target-group friendly methodologies to reach and empower youth in a flipped classroom style◼ E6: YOUTH COURAGE Final Conference◽ 30 policy makers in Brussels of local and EU level are invited to this final event, which will be broadcasted online and involve 30 more target group members in all partner countries◼ C1: YOUTH COURAGE LTTA◽ From each country, 2 young people as well as 1 youth worker and 1 project staff will meet in Brussels to work on R2 and R3. The event will enhance the European identity of all participants and enable the young people to become EU advocates to their peers. To assure these results are developed in a high quality, are relevant to the target groups addressed & generate a broad sustainable impact on national as well as international level, the implementation process is facilitated by the following activities:◼ Project Management ActivitiesThe coordinator Jugend am Werk Steiermark has vast experience in EU project management and has successfully led Erasmus+ projects for years, including the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. ◽ Monitoring & time management supported by a detailed Project Plan◽ Regular budget & progress reports of partners (M6/M12/M18/M25)◽ Frequent risk assessments◽ 4 transnational project meetings (M1/M7/M14/M25)◽ At least 4 online work sessions (M3/M10/M19/M23)◽ Interim (M12) & final report (M25)◼ Quality Management ActivitiesMultiple formal and informal assessments of the project process and result quality amongst internal staff and external target groups as well as through a professional external evaluator are planned. Indicators of the project’s success are transparently set in the quality management handbook supplied by P4/Auxilium.◼ Promotion and Sharing Activities◽ Development of project logo & CI◽ Project website◽ Strategic promotion guide (incl. social media schedules)◽ 7 newsletters (M3/M8/M12/M15/M20/M23/M25), of which at least 3 are published on EPALE◽ Regular reports of promotion activities (M6/M12/M18/M25)◽ Promotion of the project on online & offline channels of all partners and at conferences, seminars, events◽ Close collaboration with associated partners & press organisations◽ Sustainability and Exploitation Strategy for long-term impact beyond the project & partnership<< Results >>In a nutshell, the YOUTH COURAGE project foresees the following tangible results:◼ R1 EUROPEAN YOUTH SURVEY◽ 2 modern, target group friendly survey instruments for (marginalised) youth & youth workers in all partner languages + research guideline for future implementation beyond the partnership◽ transnational survey report in EN◽ video summaries in all partner languages ◼ R2 YOUTH COURAGE OUTREACH FOR ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP◽ responsive, interactive online platform in all partner languages featuring:◽ 100 collected resources and methodologies: 60 resources by the time of the piloting, 20 more during piloting, 20 more during expansion phase that runs until the end of the project through: ◽ accessible online form to upload new methods easily ◼ R3 ESCAPE THE GLOOM◽ targeted escape room game to empower youth on 2 difficulty levels in all partner languages◽ broad engagement opportunities through open innovation approach via social media polls◽ transferable guideline to create own escape game for youth settings ◼ R4 YOUTH COURAGE POLICY PAPER◽ current results of EU wide youth survey (2024) in comparison to first results (2022) and hard facts◽ deductions and recommendations for policy makers and research institution to foster link to frontline youth workAll project results are provided primarily in a virtual online format and are characterised by an innovative and accessible format, however they can be printed as PDF and on paper if demanded.The project envisages the active engagement of more than 1000 participants in the above mentioned project activities and more than 150.000 persons and organisations reached by all promotion and sharing activities together. The YOUTH COURAGE project aims at a long-lasting, sustainable and transferable impact for local, regional, national and transnational target groups on:(a) Individual level: young people, marginalised youth, professional & volunteer youth workers (target groups A & B)(b) Organisational level: youth organisations and networks, umbrella associations (target group C)(c) Structural level: public bodies/authorities, policy and decision makers (target group D)(d) Multiplier level: all of the above plus related networks, wider stakeholders, press, publicAll YOUTH COURAGE project results and promotion channels stay available long after the project has ended and due to their high transferability potential, they will extend the impact far beyond the partner countries.

“TAP-Razem Przeciw Ubóstwu” (“TAP-Together Against Poverty”) project was realised under the program Erasmus+ Strategic partnership for adult education. Project implementation period covered 24 months (01.09.2014-31.08.2016), as well as the preparatory phase lasting three months, from 06.2014).The main objective of the project was poverty prevention through development and implementation of educational tools that are suitable for two target groups of the project:1) those most vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion [i.e. unemployed, low-skill or education, single-parent families or families with many children, and people reaching incomes entitling them to receive social benefits] 2) the politicians and decision-makers in the field of social policy.The project was a result of diagnosed lack between real needs of people from both target groups, and relies on a misunderstanding of the problem of the risk of poverty and social exclusion and inadequate support.The activities implemented within the project had been split in two phases and each included two actions (executed in parallel).The first phase was the research of two areas:-deep analysis of poverty in the target group (group 1)-a functioning model of social security (group 2).This phase run from 01.09.2014 to 31.08.2015.The second phase included workshops for people of both target groups, it means workshops on development of entrepreneurial skills for group 1 and workshops aimed at better understanding of poverty and more efficient management of social policies for group 2. Support provided to the first group, concerned training the entrepreneurial skills as to motivate the group to self-protective action by starting a business. For the second – it was help in understanding the mechanisms of poverty, and the best ways out of this situation by raising the level of knowledge on the optimization of social security models.This phase run from 01.09.2015 to 31.08.2016.The result of activities in the project were four intellectual outcomes: O1-Scientific publication on poverty, O2-Scientific publication in the theme of functioning models of social security,O3-Methodology for conducting workshops in the group of persons at risk of poverty and social exclusion, O4-Methodology for conducting workshops in the group of policy makers and social politicians.All results were placed as open access in a specially created Online Repository, which was a part of the project realisation process.In project realisation process there were 6 organizations involved (totally, with the coordinator):- Stowarzyszenie „Centrum Wspierania Edukacji i Przedsiębiorczości” – coordinator, non-profit organization from Poland (Rzeszów);- Confederación Española de Centros de Enseñanza – Spanish confederation of education and training centers, non-profit organization from Spain (Madrid);- Mittetulundusühing MITRA – estonian non-profit organisation dissemination of European values (Tallinn);- Volontariato Torino (former name: Centro Servizi per il Volontariato Sviluppo e Solidarietà in Piemonte) – non-profit association of voluntary organizations (Torino); - Consortiul International Lectura si Scrierea pentru Dezvoltarea Gandirii Critice – international consortium supporting reading and writing learning from Romania (Cluj-Napoca);- Stichting LEIDO – private foundation of non-profit institutions from the Netherlands (Amsterdam).Thanks to the project realisation process and inclusion of the representatives of both target groups, it was possible to involve 150 persons in the first phase of the project. With the implementation of the following activities and dissemination activities, it is estimated that the information about the project reached up to 150 thousand. recipients, which is extremely important result (dissemination activities are described in the special reports).The project met with great interest, especially at national and European level, due to the quality of achieved results and weight of problems it concerned.Already, we can observe long-term benefits from the project realisation, expressed mainly by: - prepared popular scientific publications (both in academic circles, as well as politicians and decision-makers);- implementation of the training methodologies in partners` organizations and institutions cooperating with them;- interest in the project effects shown by leading organizations working to fight poverty (including national branches of EAPN).