We started this strategic partnership in order to explore the opportunities and power of creative methods and tools in soft skill learning. Though we had gathered quite some information and had a lot of experience working with this target group directly (some of the key figures - like Shokkin Group - almost fit in the target group), we were aware there is still a lot to learn and to discover. For that reason we worked with case studies, leading to methodology that was tested several times.Main objective of this project was by means of research and several case studies to develop a new, sustainable method in soft skill learning with the aim to contribute structurally to the employability of deprived youth. We wanted to have a structural impact on the chances of vulnerable young people on the labor market. Description of activities: The project has the following activities: 8 IO's:-IO1 / Foundation Bricks : a publication in which we analysed the need for the project and what we were going to answer to this need. (see website: thepowerofart.eu)-IO2-IO5 /Case Studies: training courses in photography, storytelling, music/spoken word / dance-IO6 / Development of the PoA Methodology, based on the Case Studies and their evaluations, experiences of the trainers and some research (see website: thepowerofart.eu)-IO7 / 4 short films that give impressions of the different training courses, the experiences of the participants and the project as a whole. (see website: thepowerofart.eu)-IO8 / Development of a portal (in english and dutch), providing info about the project, downloadable versions of the PoA Foundation Bricks and PoA Method Manual publications, a toolbox in which one can search for activities according to discipline, phase of the training, group size and duration (to be used in combination with the information provided in the manual by trainers interested in setting up their own PoA training), images and the project videos. (see website: thepowerofart.eu) 2 Multiplier events: E1: 13 December 2018 in Amsterdam: 39 pp in total, 21 NL and 18 UK E2: 11 October 2019 in Liverpool (final multiplier event): 78 pp in total, 27 NL and 51 UK 3 Trainings:C1: 12 - 15 December 2017 - a joint staff training in Liverpool (5 days; 8 participants) C2: 9 - 16 Dec 2018 - a blended youth mobility in Amsterdam (8 days, 15 participants, 7 NL, 8 UK, 4 acc persons) C3: 7 - 11 October 2019 - train the trainer training in Liverpool (5 days, 8 participants, 4 acc. persons) * 4 transnational meetings: TM 1: Kick off in Amsterdam (2 days, 3 participants) - 28 September 2017TM 2: in Liverpool (2 days, 8 participants) - 12 & 13 March 2018TM 3: in Amsterdam (1 day, 8 participants) - 21 September 2018TM 4: in Liverpool (2 days, 6 participants) - 12 & 13 October 2019 Results: We have improved the capacity and capabilities of the partners and participants within the project; We have ensured equal access and inclusion in our work; We have developed arts engagement tools and a method that impact on reinforcing links between the youth fields with the world of work, personal/professional development and key-competences, including basic skills and transversal skills;Have we developing new and innovative approaches and supporting the dissemination of best practices. Results in general: The main objective of this project was “to research and evidence several case studies in order to develop new, sustainable methods in 'soft skill learning' with the aim to contribute structurally to the employability of disadvantaged youth, whilst having a structural impact on the chances of vulnerable young people within the labor market”. We did achieve this, for the project has resulted in new and sustainable methods in soft skill learning that will enhance young people’s employability (whether they are disadvantaged or not) and these methods and the related tools are made available for everyone through our portal. We promised our project would provide: “Capacity building for workers and young people; High quality transferable arts engagement modules; A high quality dissemination conference; Web, social network and digital learning products; Accreditation and records of achievement for participants”. We've kept this promiseFurthermore: we aimed for an “European impact of this strategic partnership that would 1) evidence and support the creative cultural sector’s responses to social issues; 2) demonstrate that, and how, a European cooperation between partners who experience similar social challenges when it comes to the personal development of young people can result in tangible impacts, applicable tools and best practice models, available for everyone who is interested in creative approaches to soft skill learning, in particular when it comes to young people and their employability”. Also this goal has been reached.Also, we do think we have improved the capacity and capabilities of the partners within the project;

Creating Opportunities for Young Entrepreneurs through E-Commerce (COOYEC) was a large scale project focusing on creating employment possibilities (including self-employment) for youth with fewer opportunities: from deprived neighborhoods with migrant backgrounds. The project was executed in 3 countries, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands.Context/backgroundThe economic crisis, the lack of formal qualifications and the issue of work-related discrimination inspires more and more young people to leave the labour market and opt for self-employment through entrepreneurship. With this Strategic Partnership, we strive to reach target groups of young people that currently aren't participating in projects fighting youth unemployment, using the experience and networks the various international partners have and represent. Most young entrepreneurs focus on local activities because they lack the knowledge of online business and e-commerce and therefore miss out on the opportunities that the Internet offers. In the coming years they will continue to lag behind in these fields, not fulfilling their potential. Every year, new online concepts and services are introduced. Youth organizations want to step in & offer courses on e-commerce, but find their own knowledge & skills relating to online business insufficient. Aims/objectivesThis project aimed to develop a sustainable methodology, toolkit and online platform for international youth-workers, in providing trainings in online entrepreneurship to youth with a bi-cultural background. The focus was on transnational entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial opportunities offered by the bi-cultural background of the participating youth and youth workers. Besides, the partner organizations involved have been instrumental in offering courses in entrepreneurship to migrant youth with ambitions to improve their employability and position on the labour market. By cooperating in this enduring trajectory, the partners developed methods and trainings for youth workers with a focus on including and expanding the unique and specific skills a bi-cultural background offers. The project also featured the supra-national development of a comprehensive manual and toolkit for youth workers with a focus on cooperation across borders, aimed to train young entrepreneurs with a bi-cultural background. Participants/target groupsAfther the completion of the project we aim to reach at least 800 young people, part of the secondary target-group of youth living in deprived neighborhoods, with the trainings that will be delivered by the trainers we trained in C3 (an average of 40 per trainer, over the years, starting after the delivery of the final digital manual and training method). However, we will reach much more young people (and youth workers) indirectly through the website and manual that we will promote in each of the participating countries. Our primary target group consisted of youth workers/educators that are active in multi-cultural urban communities, ie. representatives of partner organizations who have been involved in the organization's past e-commerce, entrepreneurship and ICT-activities/projects. The members of these communities, predominantly youth from migrant backgrounds, are our secondary target group.Our program consisted of 6 phases:Phase 1: Goal: The development of a methodology tailored to the particular features and opportunities of e-commerce, based on the research of partners & shared best practices. Assessing needs & objectives of target groups.• Assessing, establishing and meeting of our primary target groups• Building partnerships and discussing project strategies• Sharing best practices and brilliant failures • Agreeing on time schedule and task division Phase 2: Goal: development of the training program, based on the methodology and outcomes of phase 1.• Training of trainers (primary target group)• Pilot given to unemployed youth (secondary target group) by the trainers trained.Phase 3: Goal: Improving methodology of our training, by evaluating & reflecting on the pilot. Getting input for manual (digital course method, with instruction videos exercises; created by using creative commons/open source principles) .• Evaluation and reflection with partner-organizations, trainers & participants in order to develop the final manual.Phase 4: Goal: Finalizing methodology, training, manual for future implementation.• Development of final training & manual using all information and evaluations done in previous phases.Phase 5: Goal: Dissemination of the project results, presentation of the training & manual to international peers.• International multiplyer event/conference introducing publication/website&manual.• Implementing results into training of 20 trainers.Phase 6:Goal: Final evaluation, making the project sustainable, working on future cooperation.The project outputs were branded under the name Your Future Online (www.yourfutureonline.eu)

"A resident on two in urban sensitive areas came from immigration (Liberation, nov 2011). In the large European cities, the concentration of immigrants in the slums has an impact on their integration, their desire for participation in democratic institutions and their self-image and perception of others. Several studies show that young people see this segregation as negative, and realize they’re receiving poorer educational opportunities and chances of success arte lower than in other parts of the city (Douzet, Robine 2013). Moreover, the weight of prejudice tends to increase in periods marked by crises (economic, social or political), so the «people from immigration» become the first scapegoats (Leyens, J.P; 1994). The danger occurs when young people internalize these prejudices as part of their identities and replicating the behaviors associated to them (concept ""of negative identity' developed by the psychologist Camilleri, C, C 1990).The T’ICI project aims at the exploration and development of adaptive, beneficial and multicultural identity strategies among young people living in sensitive areas in order to foster their personal development and living together.Specific objectives:Towards the young from 16 to 25 years residing in disadvantaged and multicultural neighborhoods:-Explore their own dynamics and identity strategies while recognizing and identifying those that are more adaptive, beneficial and consistent with the living together.-Through an artistic experience, (creation of short films) address the causes that can be the basis of identity conflicts so that develop social skills (interpersonal collaboration, oral communication, conflict management)-Increase their motivation and commitment in the multicultural civic life and living togetherHow? Through a combined methodology of action and research (interviews filmed by peers) and esthetical intervention (creation of documentaries and short films)To professionals of youth working with young people from difficult neighborhoods:-facilitate the understanding of identity issues and their impacts on the lives of young people-give concrete and practical ideas for interactive activities with youth that promote dialogue and living together-the tools so that they can better assist youth in the process of building healthy and appropriate intercultural identities.How? Through an innovative non-formal methodology based on an action and research made by the same young people and enriched with theories on subjects and practical activities.Target groups:-young people 16/25 years old, residing in disadvantaged and multicultural neighborhoods-Youth Professional Workers (educators, facilitators, advisors) working in disadvantaged areas.A total of 5950 persons belonging to the two target groups will be involved in the project both directly and indirectly.ActivitiesFor young people:-' workshops: documentary-research - Action '.-""workshops: «short films for a multicultural citizenship and living together.For Youth Professional Workers:-workshops to teach them to use the Toolbox ""mosaic of identities.""-international training-an international conferenceFor both group targets:-Participation in the Forums ""Everybody for a multicultural citizenship and the living together"".Methodology:-Research - participatory action-Esthetical approach-Non-formal educationResults:-A report on the Action and research methodology-5 documentaries on ""the identities of young people in multicultural neighborhoods and the living together""-1 research report-15 short films-Training for Youth Professional Workers-An interactive portal with educational resources and artistic onlineImpacts:a) At the end of the project the young people of sensitive and multicultural neighborhoods:-will identify and developed more intercultural, healthy and adaptive, identity strategies in conformity with the living together.-will develop social skills (interpersonal collaboration, oral communication, conflict management), as well as related to the action-research methodology-increase the motivation and engagement in civic and multicultural lifeb) Youth Professional Workers:-will have a clearer understanding of identity issues among young people from disadvantaged and multicultural districts, as well as resources to better support them in the process of healthy and adapted construction of intercultural identities healthy and responsive.Partners:Five TICI partners represent different geographic areas and disciplines, which will mutually enrich themselves during the life of the project. Merseyside Expanding Horizons (UK) has a number of years’ experience supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in their search for employment. The association has implemented various social inclusion projects around skills development for disadvantaged young people by promoting informal learning and advising them on their career orientation. MEH especially brought"

1000Layers is a two year strategic partnership involving 5 organizations in 4 countries: DW-RS (NL), Elan Interculturel (FR), YEU Cyprus (CY), Rooftop Theatre (CY) and La Xixa Teatre as project coordinator (SP).CONTEXT AND NEEDSYoung people belonging to specific minority groups are particularly vulnerable, facing discrimination on the ground of their young age as well as other personal characteristic, such as sexual orientation, gender identity or ethnicity, among others. For those from particularly vulnerable groups such as LGBT Youths and young people from racial or ethnic minorities, their experiences of discrimination have a life-time impact and can have terrible consequences. For example, in 2016, the at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate of young people born outside the EU was an alarming 50%. Social exclusion, discrimination and poverty have an enormous impact on the conformation of identity during adolescence and early Youth, settling the ground floor for young people to turn to violent radicalisation. Youth work has been recognized as a particular fertile space for prevention of violence, radicalisation and marginalization among Youth, by facilitating the development of soft skills and resilience to help young people cope and overcome difficult life situations. 1000Layers project proposes an innovative methodological approach – the Creative Identities Method – to fill in the current gaps on working with identity in Youth contexts. In particular, we wish to build on and contribute to current practices in addressing generic prevention of radicalisation leading to violence among Youth at the ground floor stage of Moghaddam’s six step model, building on EU recommendations and existing literature. OBJECTIVES1)Promote social inclusion, diversity and non-discrimination among young people through the Creative Identities Method (CIM)2)Engage, connect and empower young people using the CIM in order to: •Enhance critical thinking and media literacy among young •Promote intercultural dialogue •Fight against radicalization and violence among youth by providing alternatives to identity constructions based on single-story and victimhood narratives.3)Contribute to quality and innovation in youth work by: •creating participant-centred tools for youth workers based on the CIM•supporting youth workers in developing and sharing effective methods to work with identity related complexities and conflicts, tackle racism and better reach marginalized young people. TARGET GROUPSYouth workers, young people (16-30), staff of partner organizations, organizations in the youth sector, policy and decision makers and youth experts. We expect to involve 400 participants from the different target groups in project activities, and disseminate the project to the over 10,000 people that compose our consortium's social network base.ACTIVITIESThe project main activities are: -Continuous management, assessment and dissemination -4 transnational partner meetings-Development of the Creative Identities Method (CIM)-Development of two intellectual outputs: 1) 30 identity cards and 6 activities; 2) a youth worker handbook on CIM-One joint staff training-8 local pilots to co-construct project outputs-8 local multipliers and a blended mobility -An international final conferenceMETHODOLOGYWe will co-construct the “Creative Identities Method” together with young participants. The CIM will merge the most relevant tools of Process Identity Theory into embodied, participant-centred, creative methods commonly used in Youth work: Theatre of the Oppressed, Storytelling and Process Work. The CIM will provide tools for Youth workers to engage in identity exploration with young people and as generic prevention of radicalisation leading to violence. RESULTS, IMPACT AND LONG-TERM BENEFITSWe will develop a new methodology and two outputs to explore identities in youth contexts in order to promote social inclusion, non-discrimination, critical thinking, critical media literacy, and resilience among young people. The outputs will support Youth workers and provide a resource for generic prevention to violent radicalisation. Outputs will be available for download in English and all project languages, from the project web, the Erasmus+ Results Platform and the SALTO-Youth Platform. At least 400 participants and 40 organizations active in the youth field will be trained and/or informed on the Creative Identities Method. We expect to create and promote an inclusive and diverse vision of European identity, fighting single-story and victimhood narratives within identity constructions among young people. The Creative Identity Manifesto, created by young project participants, will promote this vision and will be broadly disseminated.

The SELFEE project aimed to give new tools for professionals to develop the transversal skills - namely social emotional learning (SEL) skills and digital competences - of unemployed people at risk of social exclusion (e.g. long-term unemployed, unemployed people from disadvantaged backgrounds). The program also included a practical training that will show/teach the unemployed people how to use these skills in searching for jobs and in keeping them. According to the European Commission (COM/2016/0381: A NEW SKILLS AGENDA FOR EUROPE Working together to strengthen human capital, employability and competitiveness) transversal skills and key competences (such as digital competences and entrepreneurship, the latter including self-awareness, self-efficacy or the ability to work with others) are essential for personal development, social inclusion, active citizenship and employment. These skills are also “the foundation for the development of higher, more complex skills”. Importance of SEL skills development for the unemployed: The consequences of longer term unemployment / repeated failures in reaching unemployment can have strong psychological impact: depression, loss of self-esteem, learned helplessness (a loss of belief in that the situation can ever change, giving up trying). People with a history of prolonged unemployment often lose their social relations. To reverse this psychological process the first step should be to give these people hope, to make them rediscover their strengths and resources. Within the broad concept of social emotional learning, we would like to focus on the development of specific skills (i.e. self-efficacy, self-presentation and relational skills) that were repeatedly shown to be positively related to finding and keeping a job. These are the very skills long term unemployed lack the most. The importance of soft skills for employability is also backed by a recent (2014) international research of the European Commission, which states that developing soft skills in unemployed people can be the first step and can provide a base for other programmes (e.g. workplace oriented training, vocational training and job search assistance). Importance of digital skills development for the unemployed: Digital competence is a transversal key competence as well, which is increasingly required in the labour market and also for the job search itself. More than 40% of EU citizens lack basic digital skills, according to the European Commission (European semester thematic fiche digital single market: digital skills and jobs. 2016), and this lack of skills has a negative impact on long-term unemployment and inequality. In this program we will develop tools that professionals can use to teach some basic digital skills for the unemployed. DigComp 2.0. (issued by the European Commission in 2016) identifies 5 digital competence areas and 21 specific digital competences we will develop throughout the project. TO ADDRESS these needs our project: • created a training that is suitable to develop social and emotional skills (using different art branches and applied psychology) and basic digital competences of unemployed people • harvested the benefits of the SEL trainings to develop more focused and realistic professional plans and more autonomy and effectiveness in pursuing them, increasing participants job searching activity TO REACH our goals we: 1) Created training materials that offer theoretical and methodological basis for the development of social and emotional skills for unemployed people at the risk of exclusion (IO1 “SEL Foundation”) 2) Designed four different methodologies to develop social and emotional skills in the unemployed 3) Desigedn methods to develop basic digital competences in the unemployed (IO2) 4) Combined the development of transversal skills (SEL skills, basic digital competences) with elements of practical job searching training 5) Tested and validated the developed methodologies involving unemployed participants to ensure that the methods are built to answer existing needs 6) Developed and used innovative methods to assess the impact of our interventions 7) Engaged in a series of multiplier events locally and internationally to ensure that our training materials and the results of our projects reach professionals. The SELFEE project will directly involve 246 participants in its activities (trainers, unemployed adults, experts and policy-makers) and aims to reach over 7600 secondary beneficiaries through project dissemination, exploitation and transferability. The SELFEE project will have an impact by broadening trainer's arsenal of methods that will help them to support unemployed people in finding a job and in increasing their (digital) job search capability. The sustainability of the project was assured by training and dissemination activities planned in the project linked to access to project outputs after completion.