Objectives;The main objectives of the project were as follows:• Priority1: Promote the best practice approach development for those engaging and working with young Travellers• Priority 2: Build contemporary alliances between young people and those who work with young people • Priority 3: Improve outcomes for young Travellers, awareness of Cultural Identity, resilience and employability in young peoplePriority 4: Develop an on line bank of knowledge which can be accessed and maximised by organisations, service designers and managers, policy shapers and influencers, volunteers, and professionals alike.Number and profile of participating organisations;The project involves four organisations including:Lead Organisation: Youth Work Ireland (trading as the National Youth Federation) National Youth Federation Limited (trading as Youth Work Ireland) works to develop the potential of young people and to strengthen communities in Ireland through quality youth services. Young people are at the heart of the organisation and are supported with excellent standards in volunteers, leaders, staff and services. We are a national youth organisation, established over 50 years ago, a federation of local services run by local communities. This gives us a number of advantages in terms of reach and efficiency in delivering our work at minimum cost with maximum impact. Our Integrated Youth Service is responsive to local demand and not prescribed or top down. It harnesses the goodwill and voluntary effort of local people because of this. Our services are closely aligned with Local Government, Education and Training Boards and Children`s Services Committee’s working in these communities and able to form key strategic partnerships to deliver locally on national priorities. Equally, our national role allows us to take a unified approach and channel the local experience into national policies and practice.Partner organisation: Youth Action Northern IrelandYouthAction NI (YANI) is a membership based, regional, youth organisation, with a 70 year history of working with young people to tackle inequalities in their lives, improve their life chances and contribute to flourishing communities in a peaceful and shared society.YANI are ambitious to tackle some of the issues most critical to young people, including youth unemployment and, with others, contribute to a flourishing population. Our vision is that young people are happy, healthy and hopeful. Our interventions work primarily with young people aged 13-25yrs, with over 15,000 young people benefiting each year. YANI support their membership and local community connections through a range of mechanisms including information, quality assurance of youth work practices, the development of an E-News newsletter, local and regional hub support, insurance services and discounted rates for events.The organisation comprises over 50 staff (including youth work staff, apprentices, interns, administrative staff), 200 locally connected members and over 500 volunteers. There are regional offices across Northern Ireland, with some incorporating training rooms and learning hubs. Areas of expertise include youth employability/accredited training, rural based youth work, youth arts, equality work with young women and young men; and area based youth work strategies. YANI envisage and plan for outcomes which build young people's resilience, increase their economic activity, increase their volunteering and leadership skills, increase their contribution to peace-building, increase their creative expression and which increase their advocacy and political engagement.YANI operate a range of quality assurance and quality impact assessments. For example, the Investors in People quality mark, operate a purposeful quality assurance framework recognised by the Department of Education, and also utilize a range of outcomes based evaluation mechanisms. Self evaluation and reflective practices are embedded as the norm across the organisation. YANI are also in the process of modernising their monitoring processes through a new computerised social impact tracker, and improving youth workers ability to integrate ICT within their practices.Partner Organisation: InvolveInvolve is a specialist youth and community development organisation working young people and their families from the Traveller community. Originally known as the National Association of Traveller Centres (NATC), it was founded in 1972. The organisation’s original function was to act as a representative body for Senior Traveller Training Centres (STTC’s) with Government Departments and other Statutory and Voluntary organisations. In 1988, it was funded to provide youth services with young Travellers. The STTC’s were phased out 2012 and Involve’s vision and mission for youth work, which was already in place for the youth work bring practiced under the NATC umbrella, evolved and expanded further in different ways.Involve’s work is based

The aim of this project was to identify, design and test a best practice approach to engage and retain young people aged 16 to 25 in youth services using music as a medium by creating an online toolkit for youth workers and those working with young people. The project has looked at achieving this by analysing existing methods and procedures that are used by each of the project partners’ youth music projects and programmes. These youth music projects and programmes included lead partner Youth Work Ireland's Irish Youth Music Awards, Samfés, National confederation of youth clubs in Iceland (Iceland) Stuck Together project , the Five nations partners UK Youth, Youth Action Northern Ireland, Youth CYMRU and Youth Scotland's Big Music Project and Lithuanian Children & Youth Center practice in youth work looking at education through non formal methods. The project has produced an online toolkit/site to support young people’s growth by focusing on desktop research, information sharing and anaylising existing information within each organisation , hosting transnational meetings and multiplier events.This online toolkit/site uses an interactive content management system to create a space for retention and dissemination of material and resources after the project has been completed. The site has active users who will be champion certain updates on the site similar to an online publication or blog as well as having an internal editing group where users can link together on further projects and discuss current policy and initiatives. The framework of the site is activity based with a spread of information tailored to different users needs and requirements. This was developed through a series of intellectual outputs, three multiplier and four transnational partner meetings. The site is not just for one specific group ie those with a knowledge of music it is open to all different levels and this is reflective on the sections of the site. The site is working off an ACL framework which stands for Access Control List, it allows the project partners to manage the users of the site, and different groups. This creates extensive control on who can see what and who can edit or manage what. This online toolkit/site is able to embed and host existing information available and aims to act as a very crucial hub and online community for youth workers, volunteers and policy makers within Europe and further afield. We have used YouTube resources as a source to support users access and ways to use activities on the site. As the site is able to be updated by project partners and does not require a central editor this provides a longevity after the projects completion. This project tied into the “EU Youth Strategy (2010 - 2018) policy cooperation framework of the EU” by adhering to its main objectives to provide more and equal opportunities for young people in education and in the labour market-to encourage young people to be active citizens and participate in society-As youth clubs and projects provide a safe space for young people to develop new skills we believe this is the perfect space to develop a programme which will support the growth of these young people into cultural entrepreneurs.In a report by EY commissioned by Gesac entitled “Creating growth - Measuring cultural and creative markets in the EU” published in December 2014 we can see the importance of supporting and developing young people's skills and expertise within the creative and music industries that exist. As stated in the report these industries contribute to revenues of €535.9b with the creative and cultural industries (CCIs) contribute to 4.2% of Europe’s GDP. The sector is its third-largest employer, after construction and food and beverage service activities, such as bars and restaurants.The project will have a significant impact on a European level by creating a pan European youth focused programme which will further contribute to empowerment of young people to express themselves as well as further upskilling them to explore third level education thus leading them to further contribute to the growth of the music and cultural industries that exist across Europe.