PROJECT NUMBER: 2021-1-ESO2-KA220-YOU-000029232

The presence of an immigrant population of third-country nationals is a common feature of all European Union countries. Many of these people are under 30 years of age and include refugees from countries in the midst of war or economic crisis, unaccompanied minors, and young people who lack adequate schooling. From this point emerges the need to seek strategies to facilitate the integration of these groups to ensure social and economic progress, as well as intercultural cohesion; objectives which, for several years, have been a priority for the European Union. However, many of these groups (notably in the five countries of this project) find themselves in positions of disadvantage and fewer opportunities, and non-formal education organisations stand out as a powerful tool to remedy this. Unfortunately, there is a lack of coordinated strategies and efforts to bring together the innovation and experiences of organizations working in this field at the trans-European level. The consortium of organisations of this project propose the development and dissemination of tools and materials which address a wide variety of topics with the aim of facilitating the work of non-formal education entities and organizations in their activities with young refugees and migrants.

The project aims to establish common pedagogical approaches and innovative tools in training and educational work with

young people of migrant origin that are applicable by both the project partners and in the activities of other organizations

in the same field at a European level. Therefore, the general objectives of the project are: - To enhance the level of

innovation of youth workers and the quality of the pedagogical basis at an organizational level with regard to the identified target group. - To promote cooperation and the exchange of knowledge, good practices and methodologies which are applicable in the actions and educational activity of organizations involved with young migrants and refugees in non- formal education. - To create tools and materials that facilitate this process and make it simple and effective. From these general objectives, specific objectives are derived: - Facilitate the revision and innovation of the pedagogical bases by youth workers within the partner organisations. - To assess the real needs of the target groups in their diverse local contexts. - To promote the learning and training of youth workers in a C1 event. - To create a tangible output (O1): a teaching and learning manual containing a bank of resources with session/teaching plans and printable materials with six focus points: linguistic provision/support, intercultural activities, risk prevention, mental health/psychological support, and digital pedagogy. - To create an online platform to ensure the widest and most effective dissemination of this output. - To disseminate the materials, tools and methodologies to other entities and stakeholders.

In order to respond to the identified needs and meet its objectives, the project will contain three distinct phases. The first one will be based on the evaluation of the local contexts and actions of the five organizations with respect to the needs of the trainers/youth workers and target groups, and the sharing of good practices already implemented so as to inform the preparation of the materials for the subsequent phases of the project. A process of collaborative research at the local level will employ interviews, surveys and focus groups to produce a shared vision of local the environment, realities and needs of each target group. The inclusion of a Learning Activity (C1) focused on participatory observation, the exchange of good practices and the development of didactic sessions and workshops will allow for the analysis of pedagogical approaches and strategies for the organizations of this consortium. On the other hand, the project has been designed to produce tangible results derived from the second and third phases of activity, which will provide tools and resources to trainers in their activities with the target groups through the development of materials and the creation of a digital platform to disseminate them, elements which will also ensure a sustainable and lasting impact for the project, and access to what has been created for other organizations working with similar groups. To develop these tangible project results, a process is envisaged that will include a needs analysis, research of existing tools, testing phase of activities, material design and final adaptation. The activities will continue with the final production of these materials, to a professional level, and other elements that can facilitate their diffusion, dissemination and distribution among stakeholders (including non-formal partners). One of the most important elements in this phase are the Multiplier Events (E) since, given their degree of specialization in the target audience and their wide territorial scope, they will be a vital element of the dissemination. These activities will end with the dissemination and diffusion of the results beyond those generated by the Multiplier Events.

Beyond the identification of the described needs and the implicit collaboration carried out in a project of this nature, the most important project outcomes to highlight will be the manual of teaching and learning materials, alongside the digital platform, created to facilitate the dissemination of the manual. The manual will be developed based on innovative pedagogical principles and will have six main approaches: - Tools for language acquisition - Intercultural activities and tools - Risk prevention (identity, gender, radicalization, stereotypes and xenophobia, etc.). - Mental health/psychological support - Digital pedagogy - Background cultural profiles of the target groups The use of this resource by the trainers, educators and youth workers of the five partners (and the benefits brought about for the target groups through their educational and recreational activities) will be another notewroth outcome of this project. From the processes that will facilitate the creation and development of these main aspects, other secondary, but important, outcomes will emerge. For example, from the needs assessment phase and the evaluation of provisions already implemented for the target groups (A2), will come the results of interviews, surveys, focus groups, and the self-reflection processes of the trainers and youth workers themselves. Likewise, from the learning and training activity (C1), will come the learnings and experiences of the participants themselves, in addition to the completion of its main objective: to provide a space for creation and testing "in situ" the methodologies and tools created, in order to analyze them and use them as a basis for the manual itself. Finally, another implicit result that will emerge throughout the course of the project will be the evaluation of the process, as well as the materials developed, to inform the actions of its partners, and the possible extension of the scope and duration of the project at a later date.