Youth unemployment is one of the most important problems that have been facing European countries in recent years. While the general unemployment rate is 13,6% in Spain, 3,3% in Malta, 9,7% in Italy and 5,8% in Cyprus, youth unemployment rate is 30,9%, 10%, 29,6% and 15,2, respectively. At the European level, general unemployment in EU27 is 6,5%, while youth unemployment rises until 15%. (Data: February 2020, Eurostat).The situation is especially hard for young Migrants, Newcomers, Asylum seekers and Refugees. According to Eurostat, the youth unemployment rate for people that were born outside the European Union is always higher than people born in the EU. In 2018, the EU-28 youth unemployment rate for the native-born population was 14.6%, while the rates for foreign-born persons were higher: 23.5 % for those born outside the EU). In this context, UpGrad_Me 2.0 project pursues the following general objective:improve the employability of migrant youth, newcomers, asylum seekers and refugees at the European Union, through the promotion of labour orientation and career counselling, by using Video Games and gamification methodologies.To achieve this objective, the project will work with the following target groups:1. Young Migrants, Newcomers, Asylum seekers and Refugees from 16 to 30 years old (young MNAR)2. Professionals dealing with young Migrants, Newcomers, Asylum seekers in the career guidance and labour orientation field (career counsellors, educational advisors, youth workers, job counsellors and other related staff).The consortium of the UpGrad_Me 2.0 project is formed by four partner organizations from Malta (AMAM), Spain (SSF), Italy (Arciragazzi) and Cyprus (CARDET). These organizations work daily with young MNAR in different projects, providing labour orientation and career counselling as well as promoting their empowerment and supporting and upskilling them with different programs, some of them related with digital technologies. Partner organizations will actively involve their staff professionals and beneficiary target groups in the project.It is planned that the project will involve a total of 200 young MNAR and over 128 professionals in total, in its different activities. Also, we aim to reach at least 400 stakeholders and 18 associated partners among them. The estimated number of people reached through the multiplier events is 170 and through the various dissemination activities implemented is 1.000.To achieve its objectives, the partnership will develop the following intellectual outputs:IO1: UpGrad_Me 2.0 Research. Research will take place in order to discover the different skills and competencies associated with professional families, based on the European NACE system. The final aim is to elaborate a unified classification of professional families and the skills and competencies associated with them, to have a simplified structure that can improve career and job counselling by professionals and be easily understood by young MNAR.IO2: UpGrad_Me 2.0 Gamification Experience. The UpGrad_Me 2.0 Gamification Experience will be an online “Escape Room”. The contents will be created with the results of the Research (IO1). This Output will allow young MNAR to deeper know their different skills and competences, identifying possible vocations and professionals fields of interest. It will be directly accessed on smart-phones and other mobile devices, significantly increasing the chances of making a lasting impact on the target group and fostering self-awareness of own skills, competences and job preferences, and autonomy.IO3: UpGrad_Me 2.0 Career Guidance Handbook. Partners will develop a compilation of good practices and innovative methodologies about employability using gamification techniques. It will enable a holistic and transversal intervention of professionals with young MNAR improving their employability.The methodology addresses the needs of participants and introduces an innovative approach, the promotion of labour orientation and career counselling by using Video Games and gamification methodologies, that can be useful to avoid lack of motivation and encourage autonomy in the active search of employment in the labour market.The project expected to achieve different results:- Provide an unite analysis of the different professional families and the associated competencesand skills.- Improve career and labour guidance by professionals dealing with young MNAR- Increase of self-knowledge and self-awareness of the own skills and competencies of young MNAR- Promote empowerment, participation and exchange of experiences of young MNAR and professionals.The dissemination and exploitation activities and multiplier events will ensure that the project is promoted and socialize with relevant stakeholders and professionals, in order to point out the importance of keeping working to promote social inclusion of young MNAR and promoting quality and innovation of youth work

The A PART OF EU 2.0 project focuses on one of the EU's greatest challenges for the future: achieving the integration of migrant and minority youth (MMY) into society through their participation. As the proportion of migrant and/or minority youth in Europe has increased, the problems and difficulties in terms of their participation have also become more complex, with high barriers to their effective participation.OBJECTIVESA PART OF EU 2.0 aims to promote the participation of migrant and minority youth in EU society through:•Providing professionals with innovative methods to encourage the participation of MMY in 5 areas (social and political participation, participation through volunteering and associations, sport and culture, training and access to employment and through the family).•Increasing the social, civic and digital competences of the MMY through training for participation.•Providing tools to professionals from social organizations, public administrations and the private sector to create structures, procedures and synergies to improve MMY participation.•Offering practical solutions and policy recommendations to institutions, civil society and the local, regional, national and European private sector, in order to improve MMY participation.The target groups of A PART OF EU 2.0 will be:•Professionals working with migrant and minority youth (youth workers, social workers, trainers, mentors, counsellors, mediators, counsellors, etc.)•Migrant and Minority Youth (MYMY): migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers and minorities aged 16 to 30•Professionals from local, regional, national and European public administrations working in the fields of social inclusion (social services, employment, etc.).•Private sector professionals•Local, regional, national and European policy-makersMore than 2,790 people will benefit from this projectAPOFEU 2.0 uses an innovative methodological approach, which analyzes the different areas of participation related to each other and whose relationship influences the level of social inclusion of young immigrants. The 5 areas of participation are1.Political and social participation2.Participation through associationism and volunteering3.Participation through training and access to employment4.Participation through culture and sport5.Participation through the familyOUTPUTS1.The European Training and Participation Platform for migrant and minority youth and professionals will make available a training platform for the MMY with MOOC courses in the 5 dimensions of participation, to improve their social, civic and digital skills, and a participation space for these groups, as well as a learning area for professionals.2.The Innovative Intervention Tools Manual is aimed at professionals who work with MMY to improve their skills, so that they can carry out an integral and transversal intervention with MMY and promote the participation of MMY in the 5 areas of participation. The Manual will be composed of 7 intervention zones, conceived as learning modules.3.The APOFEU 2.0 Guide, with innovative methods and tools to promote synergies and cooperation between social organizations, public administrations and private sector to promote MMY participation, addressing the need to involve and engage these 3 and the means to do so.4.The APOFEU 2.0 Policy Recommendations report will enable policy makers and decision-makers at all levels to develop policy changes with regard to MMY participation and social inclusion, responding to several of the major current policy issues across the EU.The overall medium and long term impacts that APOFEU 2.0 wants to achieve are:-To produce a positive impact on the pedagogy for MMY thanks to the products developed in the project.-To make the difference in the daily work of the professionals that with MMY.-To have an impact on the political agenda, as well as on the direct political changes to improve the social inclusion and participation of the MMY.-To cause tangible effects on MMY, by improving their qualifications to have more options to improve their civic engagement-To contribute to generate social impacts, providing an innovative way to improve the social participation of the MMY in the EU and in the countries of the consortium.-To provide an innovative Platform and educational resources that will be a reference in the EU in the field of social participation and inclusion.The consortium is led by SSF (Spain), with UCBR (Italy), IASIS (Greece) and Guaraní (Spain).

"<< Background >>Migrant youth, minorities and third-country national’s participation, is one of the biggest challenges facing the EU nowadays. According to the main priorities of the European Commission 2019-2024; despite the record-breaking participation in the European elections in 2019, it is important to ensure a more active role of the population in decision-making (Ursula von der Leyen, 2019). This will allow setting priorities, according to the real needs of the young population in the European Union.Likewise, according to the ""European Union Youth Strategy 2019-2027"", boosting the participation of young people in civic and democratic life, becomes a key challenge; as well as connecting this population with European values, boosting their voluntary commitment, solidarity, intercultural understanding and learning mobility. At the same time, youth participation is facing a new challenge due to the pandemic generated by COVID-19, which has caused a change in the patterns of social participation, limiting mobility between regions, social contact and physical proximity of citizens. In this way, the ""A Part of EU 2030"" project aims to involve young people in the processes of citizen participation, which is especially aligned with the following objectives of the abovementioned Strategy: (1) ""Connecting EU with Youth"", (2) ""Equality of All Genders"", (3) ""Inclusive Societies"", (4) ""Information & Constructive Dialogue"", (9) ""Space and Participation for All"", (10) ""Sustainable Green Europe"" and (11) ""Youth Organisations & Europe Programmes"".The active role of young people in these issues will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. These Goals have been present since the publication of the Agenda by the United Nations in 2015, however, a large part of the young population is unaware of it, or does not understand the importance of the SDGs in the development of more cohesive and sustainable societies.The preservation of the environment, and the fight against global warming becomes one of the priorities of the project, through education to favor the achievement of the SDG of the 2030 Agenda on environmental sustainability. On the other hand, a gender approach is contemplated throughout the life of the project, to ensure that all actions implemented are carried out taking into account gender differences, in order to achieve effective equality between women and men in the EU. In this sense, the ""A Part of EU 2030"" project aims to promote the participation of migrant youth, minorities and third-country nationals in order to achieve the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda. The objective of the project is framed within the following horizontal priority ""Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sport"". Young people with migrant background, refugee, asylum seeker, newcomer, third-country nationals, or minority, do not actively participate in their community, due to different socio-economic, linguistic, cultural or geographical barriers. These limitations affect not only education, but also training, employment, social and political participation, sport and volunteering. The basis for guaranteeing the achievement of these goals is through the participation and active citizenship of the target groups, favouring the sense of initiative of the young people involved in the project. In this way, the project will follow a structured methodology, to ensure that the young people themselves, will develop, implement and evaluate the project's own actions, with the support and assistance of youth workers and the consortium's staff. Young people with fewer opportunities be trained in SDGs of the 2030 Agenda, tools to promote youth participation, non-formal education methods, and multimedia content creation and dissemination techniques; so that they can subsequently take part in the different phases of the project, being the main actors of A Part of EU 2030.<< Objectives >>The general objective of the “A Part of EU 2030” project is to promote the participation of youth migrants, minorities, and third countries nationals, through the 17 SDGs of the Agenda 2030.Specific Objectives:• S.O.1.: To develop activities that promote the participation of young migrants, minorities and third-country nationals, to achieve the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda.• S.O.2.: To develop knowledge, competences, and skills of youth workers dealing with migrant youth, minorities and third-country nationals; to promote the active participation of this target group in the local, national, and international level.• S.O.3.: To develop activities that promote the participation of young migrants, minorities and third-country nationals through five areas of participation: Social & Political Participation, Sports & Culture, Voluntarism, Family, and Training & Employment.• S.O.4.: To raise awareness and provide knowledge on the relevance of the SDGs at the local, national, and international level focused on the general population.<< Implementation >>Different activities will be carried out in order to achieve the project objectives. These activities will be focused on (1) the Project Results, (2) the Management and Monitoring of the project, (3) the Evaluation and (4) the Dissemination the activities.1. Activities to develop the Project Results (R).R1. A Part of EU 2030 Handbook:· R1/A1. Workplan and Planning (Month 1 - 2).· R1/A2. Local Youth Council creation (Month 2)· R1/A3. A Part of EU 2030 Research. (Month 2 - 5).· R1/A4. Training of Local Youth Councils (Month 6 - 7).· R1/A5. National Labs (Month 8 - 10).· R1/A6. Development of the Manual (Beta version) (Month 11- Month 13).· R1/A7. Learning, Training, and Teaching Activity (Month 14).· R1/A8. Final Version of the Manual (15- 17). These activities will be lead by SSF, with the support and supervision of AMAM. All partners will participate in the activities presented in this Result. R2. A Part of EU 2030 Awareness Campaign· R2/A1. Workplan and Planning (Month 1 – 2)· R2/A2. Creation of Website and social media profiles (Month 3-5).· R2/A3. Social networking laboratory (Month 6-7).· R2/A3. Video making (Month 8-17).· R2/A5. Participatory session about SDGs and Awareness Campaign (Month 18).· R2/A6. Campaign implementation: visibility of the SDGs in social networks (Month 10-20). These activities will be lead by AMAM. All partners will participate in the activities presented in this Result. 2. Management and Monitoring To guarantee the management and monitoring of the A Part of EU 2030 Project, AMAM will develop the Management Plan and Communication Strategy of the partnership will define the management structure, the different tasks and responsibilities of the partners, the reporting obligations, the communication arrangements, and the project objectives and milestones. At the same time, will lead the financial management of the Project, the communication channels, the Transnational Meetings, the internal coordination of the Result development, and the processes of internal monitoring. 3. Project Evaluation and QualityIn order to ensure quality evaluation, IASIS will develop the Quality & Evaluation Plan, and Risk Plan. Will set the Quality & Evaluation criteria, the protocol for the A Part of EU 2030 Handbook and the Campaign of Awareness, and the main evaluation tools of the project. 4.Dissemination Activities In order to promote the outreach of the project activities, AMAM will create a Dissemination Plan that will include a dissemination log, stakeholders mapping, dissemination materials, branding creation, the Networking Strategy, and the creation of Social Media Accounts. AMAM will also manage the development of complementary dissemination materials and will coordinate the different dissemination events.<< Results >>Different outcomes are expected to be achieved during the development of the project and after its completion. Outcomes related to:1. Project Results:-The “A Part of EU 2030 Handbook” will be developed. The consortium will develop a series of innovative resources, tools, activities, and recommendations to achieve the different SDGs through five different areas of youth participation: Social & Political Participation, Sports & Culture, Voluntarism, Family, and Training & Employment. This will favour the knowledge of young people about the importance of SDGs as well as different models of participation, and specific tools to achieve these goals in their own organisations. Youth workers, as well as young migrants, minorities and third-country nationals, will be trained to lead and develop the resources included in the Handbook, with the support and follow-up of the consortium. -The “A Part of EU 2030 Raising-Awareness Campaign” will be developed. The consortium of the project will develop an awareness campaign, promoting the involvement and active participation of young migrants to share their experiences and knowledge about SDGs and youth participation with a huge audience. Again, the young beneficiaries of the project will be trained to actively participate in the design and implementation of the campaign. 2. Multiplier eventsThey will bring together and strengthen the relationship of professionals from different organizations and stakeholders, young migrants and minorities, and the people interested in the topic of the project. The multiplier events will contribute to the further dissemination of A Part of EU 2030 project and its main results. Multiplier events also guarantee the sustainability of the project and its main results. They will allow the exchange of experiences and networking between the audience and it will improve the organisational development and global understanding. 3. Capacities and skills of youth workers/professionals The development and subsequent application of the Results will strengthen the knowledge, competences and skills both internally (professionals working in partnership) and externally (associated partners and stakeholders). 4. The Management process for implementing the project.The project Management tools, together with the implementation of new approaches in the partners’ work that will be delivered thanks to the project, result in the improvement of the capacities of the organization to perform their daily activities. Moreover. the Risk Plan and the Quality & Evaluation Plan, will assure the attainment of high-quality tools, useful for the whole consortium and beyond.Additionally, the Dissemination, Exploitation and Sustainability Plans, the meetings, events and media appearance, along with the newsletters and press releases will enable the communication skills of the consortium and will boost the dissemination and sustainability of the project, and thus will result on the enlargement of new clients, users and stakeholders.It is expected to create a vast and strong national and transnational network to keep working on the developed topics after the completion of the project."

"PROJECT DESCRIPTION:The reality of the everyday practice of Adult Educators who support adult learners has been increasingly more demanding, requiring more specialized competencies, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes it brought in every aspect of life. The sociopolitical and economical events due to COVID-19, in combination with the limited capacity of Educational services around Europe during this period, have profoundly changed the job profile of Adult Educators, who are trying their best to find new, creative ways, in order to support individuals. More specifically, the pandemic has negatively affected many people’s mental health and created new obstacles and fears for people already suffering from mental illness, such as difficulty sleeping (36%) or eating (32%), increases in alcohol consumption or substance use (12%), and worsening chronic conditions (12%) (WHO, 2020), as a consequence of social exclusion, loneliness, uncertainty and a generalized panic due to the security measures and the new reality. In addition, Adult Educators have struggled in finding creative and healing ways, in order to ease the psychological discomfort and pain of learners, which sometimes led even to burn-out. However, due to the crisis of COVID-19 that influences most of the European countries, people have renewed their appreciation towards expression through Art and Creativity. The healing power of creativity through artistic forms has been proven in a wide variety of studies, stating that creative activities can relieve stress, depression, and aid communication (Kyaga, S., Landén, M., et.al., 2013). Art can work as an outlet from the stress of life and negative feelings, as it is a place where someone can be creative and happy with their own company. For the individual learners, dealing with crafts and creative activities can be really useful, since it boosts a sense of self-worth after completing an accomplishment, improves self-esteem, keeps the mind and body peaceful and busy, in a way where all negative thoughts and emotions are set aside for a moment. So, the aim of this project is to assist Educators to recognize that creativity is an essential component in training, that fosters openness and the ability to tolerate uncertainty in a changing educational and social world (Galbraith, M. & Jone, M., 2012). Since creativity is so important, this project will present strategies and Good practices for promoting creativity and explore the benefits it has for Adult Educators, Adult learners, and the Adult Education field in general. Specifically, the partners in this project will exchange knowledge regarding Good practices and Tools with an artistic and educational dimension, in order to enrich the educational ""briefcases"" of Adult educators and to promote positive well-being, and ease the negative psychological aspects arisen from the pandemic.This project will be based on Training Activities where the Good practices of each partner organization will be presented. The Activities will be standardized, which means that the Timetable and the nature of the activities will more or less be alike and include Study visits, World cafes, Case studies’ analysis, and Presentations. The last day of each Training Activity will be dedicated to an open event for the whole local, regional, and National community, in order to find more Good Practices in each partner country.TARGET GROUP:The target group of the Project is Adult Educators working with Adult Learners who have been affected mentally and emotionally by the pandemic and seek support, due to the discomfort and negative emotions caused by it. Those Adult Educators will participate in all the project's activities, in order to then implement the knowledge, they have acquired to the end-users, the people with fragile mental health.OBJECTIVES:1. Enhance Adult Educators' knowledge and awareness about creative and artistic tools/methods to be used in Adult Education2. Meliorate the professional skills and competences of Adult Educators working with Adult Learners3. Improve the mental health and well-being of the end-users, which was worsened due to the lockdown and the uncertainty of the situation we currently experience4. Enhance the Learners' soft skills via art5. Raise awareness about mental health and the significance of well-being6. Exchange of Good practices and Tools concerning artistic initiatives around mental health with an educational dimension.IMPACT:This Project is designed in a way, which presupposes long-lasting effects at a Local, National, and European level. The power of Art and Creativity as a healing tool and one of the most effective and energizing ways of Learning will be widely promoted. Moreover, in all dimensions, this project will raise awareness about the Mental Health and the emotional difficulties the COVID-19 pandemic brought, alongside with the sanitary ones, where the adaption to a new reality has brought to the surface."

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVESThe economic crises all over the Europe in the last two decades revealed the concept of NEET (not in employment, education, and training). The citizens become not able to reach education, employment, and training. Even in most prosperous countries of the EU, the gap is between men and women to the detriment of women. Starting from this point, UP-HOLD project focus on women in NEET aged 25+. European countries make commitments to solve the problem of unemployment, try to create new job opportunities, and work on giving required trainings and education for upskilling them but the number of women in NEET, regardless their ages, is higher than men in every single EU country. The NEET concept is very new but for adult women, it is a broader concept. The background of starting point of the project idea is to reveal the reasons of why women in NEET situation and creating awareness of this situation and also offering opportunities.Technological development and societal changes cause people to reskill and upskill themselves to overcome the NEET situation. Women in NEET aged 25+ are mostly housewives who are considerably lack of basic competences such as digital and mathematical skills to service in labour market or the ones who needs to look after their children (or more specifically having a disabled relatives in need nurturing to hold on their lives. The project gathers partners from countries have the highest NEET proportion gap (Male, Female in NEET) namely Turkey (15%, 51%), Slovakia (10%, 30%), Poland (9%, 23%), Spain (18%, 24%) according to the Eurostat2018.PROJECT OBJECTIVESPO1: Enhance access of women to training, developing open educational resources tailored to their needs.PO2: Providing a modern and basic training method, enabling women in NEET receiving the learning pathways as regards the acquisition of skills relevant to upskilling in order to compete in labour marketPO3: Updating & upskilling digital, financial, and entrepreneurial competences of women in NEETPO4: Enable municipalities, adult education providers and associations of disadvantaged groups to offer courses for women in NEET open to their citizens, learners and members, with the aim to attract especially learners with disadvantaged backgrounds.PO5: Ensure sustainability of project results through the active involvement of public Adult education providers, social organisations and municipalities in the partnership countries.PARTNERSHIP•Pendik Municipality has great experience on adult education and digital competence and committed to serve more than 700k people within its borders. Their expertise on creating high quality training materials and project management will facilitate the PMI.•KİŞGEM is a newcomer to Erasmus projects even if there are two different LLP projects earlier. Their network and having successful women entrepreneur under their umbrella will be fruitful for our target group in terms of guidance.•Celal Bayar University is a well-experienced in terms of financial and entrepreneurship trainings. During the project, we will benefit their teaching skills for adults. This will be add value for the project.•Topcoach brings its expertise in research methodologies, entrepreneurship and digital skills. Their current project SKILL-UP will be an example for their capabilities.•Autokreacja has extensive knowledge on entrepreneurship and empowering of women within society by having required skills.•SSF is one of the most experienced NGOs working in Spain. They are mostly dealing with disadvantaged groups (migrant, women, and roma people). Their expertise on digital learning for these groups will help Pendik Municipality as well.ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY•The methodology and content of each learning material will be created through the feedbacks and pilot trainings.•Development of learning materials to be accessible for adult learners and providers.•Resources and tools ease the implementation and dissemination of the project outcomes.•Involvement of municipalities, NGOs, associations of disadvantaged to ensure the adoption of UP-HOLD knowledge resources and online course•Multiplier events will be main activities reaching target audiences.RESULTS & IMPACT•The number of women in NEET and would like to receive the upskilling trainings of the UP-HOLD project will be increased.•The number of adult education centre using the training materials of the UP-HOLD project.•The partnership of the project will be extended through the use uptake of the outcomes of the project. Notably municipalities, adult education centres interest in the UP-HOLD project.