Digital youth work and digital inclusion are fast moving from an “emerging topic” reserved for the most innovative organisations to something that is required more than ever in order to support young people at all times, even when physical contact is not possible. Young people are facing with unemployment, underemployment, mental health challenges and even worse, many of them are for the second time in just a few years going through a major crisis, which will have profound economic, social and political consequences in the years to come. As such, youth organisations need to increase their capacity and develop innovative strategies to reposition themselves and respond to the emerging needs much faster than before. There is a huge potential, there is and is going to be an increasing need, but there are very little tools available and there is a very limited capacity at the moment in the youth sector, which is hit in many countries by severe under funding, migration of workers to other better-paid sectors and other challenges. We want to bring our contribution in changing that, put digital youth work back in focus and provide the tools needed to start implementing digital youth work with minimal effort. AIM: Increase the capacity of youth organizations from Romania, France, Bulgaria, Belgium and the federated networks of the partnership consortium to serve young people (including vulnerable youth) extensively and intensively through digital youth work and digital inclusion and safety practices. OBJECTIVES:1. Develop a collaborative learning space focused on digital inclusion and digital youth work between 5 EU-based youth organizations through the sharing of best practices and national approaches in a 25-month timeframe.2. Increase the capacity of at least 100 youth workers from minimum 4 EU countries to engage in digital inclusion and digital youth work activities in a 25-month timeframe.3. Increase the capacity of at least 25 youth organizations from minimum 4 EU countries to improve or adopt digital inclusion practices for reaching out to young people with fewer opportunities from their communities in a 25-month timeframe.4. Raise awareness among minimum 100 youth workers from 4 EU countries around the opportunities, challenges and solutions surrounding digital safety and privacy (including humane technologies and algorithms) in a 25-month timeframe.TARGET-GROUPS:- Youth workers from participating countries and other EU and partner countries interested in engaging in digital youth work activities and/or willing to learn more about this topic;- Youth workers who are working or willing to work with vulnerable young people and wish to engage them with digital tools or through digital youth work generally;- Youth organizations and their management teams from participating countries and other EU and partner countries who are planning to develop or create their digital youth work capacity/strategy;- Secondary target-group: Teachers who are interested in organising digital activities with their students and can get strong inspiration from digital youth work and digital inclusion practices;KEY RESULTS (selection): - 100 youth workers from at least 4 EU countries have a better understanding of digital youth work and digital inclusion and are more capable, motivated and competent of using it in their practice under conditions of safety and quality;- Minimum 250 young people from minimum 4 EU countries and minimum 250 youth workers have contributed to the “Shaping Digital Inclusion and Safety in the Post-Pandemic World” research;- Minimum 250 relevant learners have subscribed to the MOOC course on digital inclusion and safety and are better prepared to implement digital youth work activities in their own organisations;- 100+ youth workers are more aware and more capable of supporting their young people with elements related to deepfakes, fake news, (in)humane algorithms, digital privacy and safety;- 25+ youth organizations from minimum 4 EU countries are now better equipped to implement digital inclusion and digital youth work methodologies or strategies;- 30 youth workers from 4 EU countries benefit from a comprehensive digital youth work and digital inclusion training course hosted in Bulgaria, developing both their topic-related skills in an intercultural context, as well as having the opportunity to attend co-creation innovation labs to improve the Intellectual Outputs of the project; - 5 gamification tools are created and freely available for youth organizations to interactively enage and use them to develop their digital inclusion strategies;- 1 research paper/brief related to how young people and youth workers perceive digital youth work and digital inclusion in a post-pandemic context is published and freely available to youth organizations;

In 2018, the at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate for young people aged 16-29 years was 26.3 % in the EU-28, corresponding to about 20.6 million young people, with the highest levels in Greece (40.2%), Denmark (37.3%) and Romania (35.3%) and the risk for people with disabilities peaking in Bulgaria at 49.8% (Eurostat, 2019). In Serbia the Roma are still among the most deprived communities, often facing discrimination, social exclusion and unequal access to employment, education, housing and health services, while in Hungary the segregation of Roma youth continues to grow to worrying levels (Hungarian Free Press, 2018). In Madeira, Portugal new social inclusion issues are appearing with the recent increase of arrivals of Venezuelan refugees. As social exclusion at an early age has the potential to have long-lasting consequences for both individuals and society as a whole as it may affect all aspects of young people’s lives, the project's main priority is social inclusion, tackling issues of equality, shared values, diversity and non-discrimination, at individual and institutional level. The project takes an integrated approach to social inclusion, by equipping youth workers with competences to address the issue both at an individual level, through non-formal education, and at institutional level, through awareness raising and advocacy. As divisions across Europe continue to grow, there is a need to develop strategies to strengthen critical thinking and support all young people when it comes to actively taking part in society, no matter what particular groups they might belong to. Through equipping youth workers to engage young people in non-formal educational activities organised at local level, the project tackles discrimination, racism and segregation, whilst by equipping youth workers with skills to develop and coordinate awareness raising and advocacy actions, the project will create sustainable links between youth organisations, public authorities and society at large. Following the two years, the project will contribute to increasing social inclusion in 5 local contexts, by improving social inclusion policies and engaging young people in non-formal educational activities with long lasting effects.The primary goal of the project is to empower youth workers and young people to develop competencies to increase social inclusion. Over the span of the project, a toolkit will be produced containing the methodology used throughout the project and recommendations for institutions and civil society. Specifically, the main objectives of the project are to:1. Strengthen the capacity of 6 youth organisations to address efficiently and qualitatively social exclusion in their communities.2. Create a network of 30 youth workers competent in addressing social exclusion through non-formal education and advocacy.3. Develop competencies of 900 young people (30 young people to each youth worker) to understand and deal with social exclusion in their life and in society. The main target group of the project is young people, especially those at risk of social exclusion, as the worrying levels of discrimination, racism and segregation presented that take place in schools, neighbourhoods, the work place, the discrimination by the state, by peers or authorities are very often considered as normal among many young people who are either victims, neutral, indifferent or abusers themselves. The secondary groups are youth workers that need higher competencies in combating social exclusion and who will be trained to work with young people at local level and to develop awareness raising and advocacy actions, and decision makers, as current public policies have not led to a decrease in social exclusion.Over a two-year period the project will consist of: two intensive training - one on non-formal educational methods for social inclusion, especially Theatre of the Oppressed, Living Library and Street Campaigning and one development and coordination of advocacy campaigns; local activities following each training where the competencies achieved will be put to practice; three project management meetings and dissemination activities. The methodology used throughout the project will be non-formal education.