<< Objectives >>Youth-REC responds to the European Youth Strategy: to engage, connect, and empower youth. It aims to combat low and falling rates of engagement and participation in civic society, and trust in democratic structure, while capitalising on the promise of creative methods for engaging youth. Thus, the project will develop and use innovative creative methods in storytelling, filmmaking, and graphic design to improve the skills of youth workers and engage and empower disenfranchised European youth.<< Implementation >>Youth-REC will conduct research and collect best practices to develop a project manual providing guidelines for the use of the project methods for engaging and empowering youth. Youth workers will participate in a training to use these methods effectively, and will conduct workshops at the local level in 7 European countries with disenfranchised and marginalised youth. Finally, a series of events will be held to exhibit the youth's films and launch and promote their campaigns.<< Results >>Youth-REC will develop a manual, with research, best practices, and a workshop guide for youth workers to use to engage and empower disenfranchised youth. From the workshops, youth will produce films on issues personal to them and/or their communities, and accompanying campaigns, including visual brands. These films and campaigns will be available on Youtube and the project website. Finally, events will be held locally and internationally to celebrate the project and promote the campaigns.

The current project 3D4VIP is a logical follow up on an earlier collaborative KA219 project called UBIS (01-10-2017 and 30-09-2019). Within this project an accessible online database was created which offers models for education for low vision and blind students (short VI Students) free to download. With each model, didactic information is provided, regarding the use of the teaching material. In UBIS a document was created with a decision tree on when to use which type of teaching material (text, model, actual product), explanation of what is 3D printing (incl. FAQ), including video and guidelines concerning the creation of models for VI students, with specific conditions, such as texture, dimensions and scale, contrast and text and braille.3D4VIP wants to take UBIS and the impact of the database and the guidelines that were developed to a next level. It will consist of several phases to achieve an even higher level of the use of 3D printing and the production of models for the purpose of improving the education for VI students. 1.Realisation of a 3D model database. We will test and evaluate current existing databases. There are two types of users of the database; 1) teachers who need a model can download it and 2) experts who can make models can upload them and share them with the teachers. The evaluation will focus on both. From this evaluation a decision will be made on the best solution (joining an existing database or optimise the current database). In any case, the result is planned to be a universal, intuitive tool and online database, where teachers and experts can find models and all the information concerning 3D printing for VI education i.e., the guidelines and a platform where experts can share formative contents. It will be open source and under a creative commons license so everything can be used for free.2.Develop Guidelines. We will develop guidelines for 3D models. How do you print Braille or arrows? What do you have to think about when making a model for visually impaired students? 3.Raise awareness. All through the project we focus on the familiarity and deployment of 3D printing amongst the educators and experts. We will develop information videos for schools to use 3D printing. Experts can use the database to find each other and consult the guidelines. Teachers will be informed on how to easily produce tangible materials to be used in class.4.Produce tangible educational materials. We will develop models to be used in curricula for VI students. E.g. in STEM (science, technology, engineering mathematics) courses or new subjects, such as computational thinking or referrers (objects of reference; tangible communication materials) for students with Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairment (MDVI). Also the art and languages subjects can benefit. In addition we will look for a combination of techniques in the models. Is it possible to add audio, or moving elements? Some products will be further elaborated to analyse all possibilities.5.Recommendations on using 3D printing with VI students. Intuitively, human sight is essential for computer graphics and modelling. Thus, at first glance, it might seem logical that there are few applications for blind 3D modellers. However, there are many use cases and reasons for enabling blind people to perform 3D modelling. Conventional 3D modelling applications are typically not easily accessible for blind users. We will assess the software and create hardware optimisations where possible, providing recommendations and an offline package with good practices.This project contributes to a society where VI students have a better position on the labour market after school, VI students are more included, MDVI students’ wellbeing (and outside the classroom) is improved due to the increase of communication means and have better and therefore more equal learning opportunities than their sighted peers. Educators of VI and MDVI students are better equipped to teach their students, experts are more capable in modelling and printing high quality 3D models that are accessible and suitable for MDVI and VI students in their education. VI students have more equal learning opportunities to their peers as they will be able to learn in a more independent manner. VI students (secondary school, no cognitive problems) gain more insight in 2D/3D by learning more about 3D printing themselves and MDVI students are able to communicate better due to the availability of (improved) referrers. Educators are more aware of the opportunities and advantages of 3D printing and 3D printed materials for VI students in class. They also have easy access to a multitude of approved and high quality tangible, tactile educational materials for MDVI and VI students. Experts are supported by having guidelines for modelling and printing of high quality educational materials for MDVI and VI students. 3D printing experts are able to connect and share experiences with peers easily.

"The project ”Book of life – Write your own bestseller” is a strategic partnership project hat aims to achieve transnational and cross-sectoral cooperation in order to develop, test and implement innovative non-formal methods of working with young adults, through a combination of expressive techniques, in order to increase their involvement in community life, to motivate them to become the architects of their own lives and to teach them how to gain independence to build a healthy lifestyle, from a personal and a professional point of view.The specific objectives that meet the general purpose are:O1. Increasing the capacity of young people to reach the planning and implementation of a healthy lifestyle (physically, mentally, emotionally and relationally) through the use of innovative expressive tools in the process of personal and professional development.O2. Increasing the quality of non-formal activities in the youth field by elaborating, testing and disseminating a toolkit for personal and professional development for young people, as well as an integrated intervention program that youth workers can use to develop the decision-making capacity of young people for an independent and fulfilled life.O3. Increasing the organizational capacity of 5 European youth organizations, to use non-formal tools focused on the personal development of young people and to create sustainable working methodologies in the youth field.The main issues from which the development of this project started was the increased age of young adults in launching later in independent life (over 28 years old, according to the latest Eurostat statistics) and with more and more problems related to the incidence of unemployment (15.2%), professional frustrations and re-professionalization after the age of 30 (for example, within the coordinating organization, Gamma Institute, over 50% of the trainees in psychotherapy are over 35 years old and come to classes as a re-professionalization after practicing professions that did not bring them personal satisfaction, besides financial security), the incidence of anxiety disorders and depression among young people (WHO declared that by 2020 the first cause of disabling diseases, the percentage among the young people being an increase - 27%) and the negative influence on the development of the family plan (increasing the marriage age, postponing the birth of the first child). This problem is a global one, not just a European one, and the 5 partner organizations have noticed all these problems in the young adults they work with, and, lately, they have also noticed a decrease in the motivation of the youth workers to remain in the long term in this area, because, often, their efforts to motivate and stimulate young people to follow a healthy lifestyle has no long-term effect.The solution that the partners from this project thought of was to offer a broader perspective on the approach of life in general by young adults, through integrative, expressive tools, to follow their learning style: providing information in an easy way, like tips & tricks for healthy life, a life planner they can use to organize and learn to set some efficient (SMART) goals, a website with integrated resources, where young people can find information from many areas of life (health, education, sports, culture, etc.) and a guide regarding the choice of personal and professional route through sketching and therapeutic metaphor. All of these tools will be included in a toolkit, which will serve as a ""toolkit for life"" that will be available to young people when they want to build and implement their future plans. The personal development toolkit ""The book of Life"" includes a healthy launch manual for independent living, addressed to young people, a booklet with individual worksheets distributed on skills such as financial, time management, resources, management of intense emotions, a life planner (agenda type), and a third part that includes an 18-hour personal development program, which can be implemented by youth workers and a web platform with resources for youth and youth workers, with information and guidance for implementing a healthy lifestyle, physically, mentally, emotionally and relationally."

The “E-Crafts” project aims at two major dimensions, both the Social and the Artistic., focusing on the education and training of adults with fewer opportunities, in order for them to develop new competencies regarding sustainability and well-being, through Arts and Crafts activities.This project has risen in a pandemic scenario, which has been affecting the most vulnerable and fragile sections of the population worldwide and in a very particular way, the social groups that were already the most vulnerable and the entire cultural and artistic sector, aggravating issues already felt by them.Because of all this, the “E-Crafts” is born, a project whose main goal is to contribute to the training of adults with tools that enhance the exercise of Creativity in the search for innovative solutions in response to the current challenges of environmental preservation, intersectoral cooperation, preserve knowledge and cultural heritage, promoting social inclusion and people's well-being.Therefore, the project envisions the interaction between different beneficiaries, all of them affected by the pandemics, laying the foundations to positive outcomes for all, along the process as well as results: artists and craftsmen, the elderly, the adults, the handicaped, the migrants and the social workers.The project is promoted by three NGO's from Portugal - Rosto Solidário, from Spain - ASPAYM, and from Italy - CEIPES whose common denominators are: a history of active work with adults, especially with groups with fewer opportunities; all NGO's come from countries and regions where the cultural dimension and traditions of handcrafts can be capitalized; they have experience implementing projects with young people and adults and developing educational materials.Complementing this consortium, other associates and local partnerships will emerge throughout the project in order to give voice and turn to artists and craftmen in the region, with plans to involve local institutions that have already carried out / carry out actions involving these citizens, whether from artistic or technological schools, associations of artist /craftmen.This project is framed with a non-formal and informal approach in all of its stages: development, test and dissemination of intellectual outputs that provide adult learning: the development of competences through the use and appreciation of creativity and art, as well as environmental awareness through Upcycling activities (promoting waste reduction and less raw-materials exploration).The proposed methodology is based on active and horizontal cooperation between the three partners within a methodological framework based on the involvement of stakeholders, participatory methodologies and the promotion of a dialogue on issues of creativity, inclusion, entrepreneurship and the environment.Crosswise, it is intended to implement activities based on the concept of Artistic Residency. Working as an “incubator” of aesthetic and reflexive initiatives in the context of Adult Education, as well as boost of energy in arts and crafts, at a local level.The participants will, therefore, be artists, craftsmen/women, ONG workers and volunteers, whom will test the Upcycling approach based on a linear sharing of knowledge.The expected outcomes are:IO1Training Guidelines that will have a methodology proposal on Adult Education; adapted to vulnerable people such as the elderly, people with disabilities and migrants, based on the promotion of upcycling workshops;IO2 Educational Videos Toolkit which, made available on an online platform, will contain 18 videos with upcycling techniques presented step by step.IO3 Sustainability plan that will present future scenarios of social entrepreneurship as a way to continue the project.In addition, the project also provides transnational meetings, a transnational training in an artistic residency format that will bring together 27 participants. Multiplier events will also be organized in artistic residency formats, one per country.During the project, the direct beneficiaries will be 212 people, of which 137 artists / craftmen / educators / technicians and 69 learners.In producing innovative adult education resources, it is expected that two years after the end of the project, a group of 150 organizations will have used them. On the other hand, they will also be used by a diverse target group, from technicians and / or artists who use the materials to streamline their own sessions to adults with fewer opportunities (elderly, minorities, people with disabilities) who use the videos in a do-it-yourself logic.

"""Gymkhana 5.0: Cultural Heritage for Youth"" is a project aimed at expanding and developing the skills of youth workers and youth service providers through the use of a methodology based on gamification that develops and enhances knowledge in European and cultural heritage education among youth, especially among youth with fewer opportunities. The idea is to increase the level of quality in pedagogical methods and have a broader number of methodologies to be used, especially with young people with special needs.The main objective of the project is to increase European heritage education among young people, especially youngsters with fewer opportunities (refugees and migrants, people with disabilities, people with social and economic obstacles, etc.), through the development, testing and implementation of educational innovative tools based on the use of gamification. These innovative methods, created through transnational and intersectoral European cooperation, will integrate competences and knowledge about our European cultural heritage, focusing on promoting a tool that promotes heritage education, motivates young people to know our European heritage and generates new tools for youth workers, trainers and professionals who work on this topic.The result that the project will achieve will be the creation of ""Gymkhana 5.0: Educational game"". The objective of this educational game developed through an accesible mobile application (APP) is to generate a specific methodological tool through gamification that facilitates knowledge about European heritage and cultural education in the field of youth, in order to promote their learning and facilitate their access to young people, especially young people with fewer opportunities, guaranteeing their accessibility.Each one of the partners in this consortium has experience working with people with fewer opportunities. The Castilla y León Youth Council carries out a multitude of activities aimed at young people with fewer opportunities to encourage their participation in society and to increase their skills through non-formal education. Aspaym Castilla y León Foundation has extensive experience working with people with physical disability, carrying out workshops with different methodologies to promote inclusion and to improve the sensory abilities and well-being of these young people. Ceipes works with young refugees and migrants promoting interculturality and their participation in society. Dione Youth Organitation has extensive experience fostering the cultural heritage of Cypriot youth, promoting European awareness and belonging. Rosto Solidario has extensive knowledge working with people with geographic and economic obstacles, as well as with people with special needs concerning learning.Therefore, the strategic partnership that this consortium intends with this intellectual output to generate an educational game that allows youth workers and youth service providers to generate the ideal simulated contexts in order to promote, through their own game, heritage and cultural learning of the selected cities where we will initially implement the project (Salamanca, Valladolid, Santa Maria da Feira, Palermo and Nicosia). To achieve this, the game will be implemented in each one of the cities in a personalized way, establishing an itinerary tour (Gymkhana) consisting of challenges, games and explanatory videos that will motivate the youth to complete this tour and to enhance their knowledge about our cultural heritage. In addition, all information regarding accessibility will be provided, both the cultural heritage on which we intend to act and the routes taken to reach this heritage, thus facilitating the active participation of young people with physical disabilities or reduced mobility.After the completion of the project, all the organizations that make up this strategic partnership will be able to enjoy the innovative methodology with their target group, acquiring with it a great experience in training in European and cultural heritage education. These results will also continue to be available after the completion of the project, as described in the field aimed at sustainability. The duration of the project will be 24 months, from 20/12/2019 to 19/12/2021."