The project aims at fostering cooperation and exchange in the field of youth between Programme Countries and non-EU Countries involving youth organisations focussing on increasing communicative, creative and inclusive skills. The project sees the importance of creative and inclusive communication to increase the competences of youth workers to have the possibility to face the main youth issues of our times together with the youngsters. The project also responds to the need of an increasing diversifying and international world, which asks not only to be able to communicate but also to develop intercultural awareness and skills. Draw your thoughts aims to offer innovative tools and methods for youth work focused on development of knowledge and competences on how to involve, include and empower youngsters with fewer opportunities by using the benefits & potential of graphic facilitation & Storytelling. More specifically, the project aims to train youth workers in the use of Graphic Facilitation & Storytelling to promote innovative communication through international collaboration, to empower youngsters by enhancing their skills and competences, and to raise competitiveness of the youth sector. The main activities consist of local research done by youth workers at the first stage of the project, followed by a training course, local workshops and a job shadowing period. During the workshops, the focus will start on personal development and be followed by raising awareness campaigns on identified social issues. These campaigns will be organized in collaboration with educational institutions and youth centers. In this way, the cooperation between youth organizations both at local and international level is strengthened, ensuring local synergies which will give sustainability to the project activities. Moreover, the social and professional skills and experiences of youth workers and youngsters they work with will be enhanced. The final outcome will be an OER collecting the experiences and results of the workshops, including the intercultural experience, as well as tools and tips to organize an awareness campaign. These results will be presented in local dissemination events and one international final event in Senegal.Draw your thoughts will provide to youth workers and youngsters with fewer opportunities new social and professional competences, that they can use in their future work and life, increasing their chances on the job market and - at the same - time - it will improve the quality of youth work.

Grapes of Wrath (GoW) was a capacity building project for youth workers that aimed to explore and deconstruct patterns of psychological and social tension between in-groups and out-groups with particular reference to migrant communities in the EU. More specifically, GoW attempted to promote intergroup contact by conveying the agony of outsiders and inspiring empathy, using the art of movie making as a tool for communication. The story of the Joad family from “The Grapes of Wrath”, 1939, the classic inter-war novel of John Steinbeck, and the revolutionary songs of Woody Guthrie about peace, equity and freedom were the starting point for developing a state of the art training module about inclusion using non-formal education.Needs AnalysisGoW started from empirical evidence and collective reflection of the partner organizations pointing to misinformation as a main impediment for effective tackling the rising inflow of African migrants in the EU. Misinformation refers to perceptions of citizens in host societies about migrants’ needs and to expectations of citizens in origin communities about the actual prospects in destination countries. It leads to stereotypical images that obstruct meaningful contact and, thereof, integration of migrant population in host communities. In turn, this results in low quality of life of migrants through social discrimination, unemployment or precarious labour and unequal access to state resources (education, healthcare etc.). However, the reconceptualisation of migrants’ role is equally crucial for addressing EU’s own multiple crises –political (rise of extremism), economic (inequality across and within MS) and social (demographic deficit).Aims & ObjectivesGRAPES OF WRATH aimed to enable contact between migrants and hosting communities in the EU and to foster informed decisions of potential migrants in African countries regarding the trip and life in Europe. In specific, it managed to:1. Raise awareness of hosting communities in partner countries about migrants’ stories and perceptions;2. Foster deeper understanding about the process, reasons and psychological impact of migration;3. Tackle needs of origin communities, thus, contributing to containing irregular migration;4. Encourage socioeconomic development of both origin and destination countries.Activities & MethodsAll project activities were based on non-formal education and informal learning. The project implemented 7 mobility activities (2 training courses and 5 study visits including field research) involving 72 participants, the production of a documentary film, 15 local events and one final international event. The main learning methods were experiential learning, learning by doing, peer learning, task based learning, learning through arts, observation and job shadowing.DeliverablesAs part of the GoW, a training module of non-formal learning, a documentary film about African migrants' journey and life in the EU, and a report were delivered.

Climate change, global warming, environmental pollution and issues related to sustainability are the biggest challenges of the 21th century. More than ever, we need to concentrate on the issue of environmental awareness and we should use all resources in our hands. The Play for Sustainable Environment project aims to develop innovative youth work methods to raise awareness on the importance of environmental sustainability through sport-based non-formal education. Our initiative targets youth leaders, youth workers, NGO staff , educators and young people in order to develop their understanding, skills and competences to link sport-based education to environmental sustainability. The innovative approach of the project allows youth organizations from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin-America to exchange good practices, knowledge and methodology in the field of sport-based non-formal education, thus also strengthening capacities for increased levels of global action. Innovative practices to promote environmental awareness through outdoor activities and education through sport based games will be developed, tested and disseminated through the 18 months duration of the project. Main objectives:• Create a transnational platform for sharing, exchanging and transferring knowledge, information and good practices in relation to sport-based non-formal education and youth-led environmental sustainability; • Develop and test innovative sport-based, non-formal educational methods to raise awareness on environmental challenges;• Up-skill youth leaders, educators, youth workers, NGO staff to increase knowledge, skills and competences in order to promote environmental awareness through outdoor activities; • Provide non-formal learning and mobility opportunities for European, African, Latin-American and Asian young people (including those with fewer opportunities) to develop their skills and competences in relation to environmental sustainability; • Build capacity of participating youth organizations and promote their internationalization strategies. The objectives of the project will be reached by implementing the following interrelated and interconnected activities: Kick-Off Meeting, Transnational Mapping Activity, Training Course, Job Shadowing, Youth Exchange, Local Dissemination and Closing Seminar. From these activities tangible outcomes will be generated such as: educational manual, good practice database, video-interviews and articles. These outcomes, together with the website and social media channel, will be useful for dissemination activities and for enhancing the sustainability of the project and to reaching out to potential target groups.

This project proposal comes from the idea to follow up the Edu-Action project, a CBY implemented from August 2016 to September 2017, in order to capitalise the results of the experiences of the first-round participants (youth workers). The general aim of this proposal was to promote transnational non-formal learning mobility between Programme and Partner Countries with a view to improving participants' level of competences and fostering their active participation in society involving youth organisations aiming at increasing school attendance.The participating organisations are Per Esempio (IT), Asociación Uruguaya de Difusión del Español como Lengua Extranjera (UY), Asociación Mundus – Un Mundo a tus Pies – (ES), Resource Hub for Development (KE), Seiklejate Vennaskond (EE), Campaign for Change (NP). The partners have been combating school drop-out and working for the promotion of education through community development for years.The project lasted 24 months (8 months more than the applied proposal due to the Covid-19 pandemic), starting from September 2018. The Capacity Building activities were: 1 kick off meeting in Italy; 2 study visits in the countries (Kenya and Estonia) where the youth work is formally recognized; 1 social media management meeting in Uruguay; 1 final meeting in Italy (deleted in presence due to the Covid-19 pandemic) virtually implemented. Concerning the mobility activities, altogether 10, instead of 12, youth workers participated in two seminars before and after a one-month-long job shadowing period spent at one of the partner organisations. The activities foreseen were implemented using informal and non-formal learning methods such as learning by doing, peer education, active participation through a socio-educational approach. A transversal activity to all the project was the conduction of a research with the general aim of investigate the impact of non-formal education as well as of youth work on formal education and on the prevention of early school-leaving. The publication as final deliverable is structured into 4 parts: the first is the introduction to the project. The second part is focused on the description of the methodology of the study. The third part is focused on reporting the main findings of the study, highlighting also the similarities and the differences between the countries of the partnership. The fourth part consists in final conclusions and recommendations for improving the impact of non-formal education and youth work on formal education and prevention of early school-leaving.The sample was composed by teachers, educators and youth workers dealing with youngsters aged between 6 and 18 years in all partner countries. Data was collected through quantitative methods and qualitative methods (interviews and focus groups). Their questionnaires were administered through google modules and/or paper-pencil format. Some focus groups and the interviews were conducted during the projects meetings (international setting) as well as in other period of the project at local level (national setting). Data collected during the survey was analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods. The publication is available on digital and hard copy and translated into the languages of project partners.An awareness raising campaign was produced to foster the importance of education focusing on the consequences of early school leaving, develop a positive activism. Besides the professional development of youth workers dealing with the issue of ESL and school attendance, in general the project fostered the enlarged capacity of the participating organisations and the development of quality youth work offered by other actors in the field, strengthening the European dimension of their actions.

The current socio-economic and political system faces numerous interrelated crises, as financial and economic crises, conflicts and military attacks, environmental destructions and international political changes. These have resulted in growing fear and inequality which corrode European values of solidarity, democracy, and social justice and reduce their appeal.Reality has come to question the efficiency of the current systems, opening political and philosophical discussions about their limitations and imperfections. Education is a crucial factor for introducing this new problematic and widening its outreach. Given the confined context of formal education, non-formal learning and youth work, in particular, has a crucial role to play for promoting this discourse. STEP Forward (Sustainable and Transformative Education for Participation in democratic life) is a 18-months Capacity Building project including organizations from Greece, Spain, Vietnam, Kenya, Ghana and Peru. It links active citizenship to formal education by drawing attention to the values of sustainability and integrating them to non-formal education activities. It aims at promoting the application of active and participatory education through experiential activities and solution-oriented educational approach. By exploring alternative community models, social and ecological initiatives the project will use information and resources to design a new educational method with the scope to integrate the values of sustainability and active citizenship in the formal education system. The specific objectives of the STEP project are: - Introducing an inclusive definition of Sustainability;- Raising awareness about social and environmental initiatives; alternative economic models; new forms of cooperation and civic participation to youth;- Cultivating and promoting transformative, experiential and non-formal learning and its specific applications;- Fostering critical thinking and democratic education.In order to achieve the project’s objectives the foreseen activities include 1 Training Course on Sustainability and Community Building; 6 Job Shadowing activities, the design of a Training module which will incorporate issues of democracy, civic participation and sustainability in a non-formal education format combining experiences from Europe, Africa and Latin America; 1 Training Course in the form of a Winter School to present and apply the module to youth workers and other professionals of the education sector, and 7 local events for the promotion of the module to the local communities. Target Groups: Educators, youth workers, researchers, project managers, youth organisations, young people, local communities and the EU.