<< Objectives >>Youth work practitioners apply a peer-learning approach, bringing together young people from diverse backgrounds who otherwise would not meet and learn together. Inclusive political simulations are open for young university students AND young people facing multiple challenges and struggling to finish school. Based on the project, diversity concepts for (non) formal learning outside social and educational bubbles are created. << Implementation >>The project will implement 4 activities and follow 2 cycles targeted to youth work professionals. The 1st cycle will focus on shaping a learning framework by youth work professionals addressing diversity backgrounds of young people and getting familiar with European legislation. The 2nd cycle will work towards an inclusive simulation game. By doing so, youth work practitioners will develop an inclusive simulation game engaging young people outside their own social and educational bubbles. << Results >>We expect from this project that; youth work professionals and educators are up-skilled with new educational tools and knowledge on new learning frames crossing social and educational bubbles. With this method they gain new perspectives on European decision-making and act as multipliers in their work field. By creating inclusive and easy to access simulation games both networks learn from each other and develop their organisational diversity concepts.

<< Objectives >>The project will increase civic engagement and participation of young people from vulnerable groups through their involvement in an action group. The project will provide them with tailor-made mentoring and education developing their skills important for participation (e.g. communication, advocacy, fundraising, project drafting etc.). We will connect vulnerable youth with institutions (municipalities, NGOs), help them understand each other, and foster their cooperation on civic activities.<< Implementation >>1) Research with vulnerable youth to explore their needs with respect to participation and community engagement.2) Action group of vulnerable youth. Meetings will focus on empowerment and skills development. Based on the process we will design a guide on participation of vulnerable youth and distribute it in Slovakia and internationally.3) Draft youth strategy – based on the work of the action group we will design a draft youth strategy for the Bratislava municipality4) Publicity campaign<< Results >>1) Empowerment of vulnerable youth2)Dialogue and connection between vulnerable youth and majority youth and institutions (municipality, NGOs, international NGOs) that will improve their social inclusion3)Skills development – communication, advocacy, fundraising, confidence4)Local level policy making focusing more on social inclusion of vulnerable youth – thanks to the draft youth strategy5) Improved civic engagement and institutional trust of vulnerable youth

Talented young people from non-academic backgrounds face specific challenges, as shown by their underrepresentation in universities and by a higher dropout rate across Europe (cf. Social and Economic conditions of Student Life in Europe, Eurostudent VI 2016-2018). To address this issue, “POWERst – emPOWERing first generation STudents” aims at fostering Social Inclusion by building a more Inclusive Higher Education System in Europe while at the same time Supporting University Staff. The purpose of the project is to help students to successfully complete a higher education study program and potentially pursue a scientific career by supporting and empowering them and potential applicants. Therefore the University of Stuttgart (DE) will work hand in hand with two partner universities: Sciences Po Bordeaux (FR), an institute of political studies, and Amsterdam VU University Medical Center (NL). All three universities are known for their distinctive approach to academic practice. YES Forum complements the project partnership with its long standing experience regarding diversity and inclusion. POWERst will involve students from conceptualization, design to implementation. As students’ integration and university staff’s involvement are closely intertwined, this project will allow an exchange of good practices among partner universities. Consequently, the involved staff will very much take on two roles in the project. On one hand, they are experts of the universities’ structures and procedures and will share their knowledge and expertise. On the other hand, the participating staff will become learners who will get new insights into the realities of first-generation students and their needs. This innovative approach will inspire the work on 4 Intellectual Outputs (IOs) to improve their own university concepts, and advance existing services to reach ALL students. IO1, a survey to identify students that belong to underrepresented groups and find out about their needs to develop proper tools and programs of support. IO2, will be an online-tool comprised of learning and training material on how to create a more inclusive campus and learning environment, for teaching and administrative staff.IO3, will be video tutorials. Students will help students, and by offering video tutorials, giving personal advice, they are visible and get the chance to represent the institution. IO4, will be a policy brief on Social Inclusion in Higher Education collating key messages from the university level to the European Union level, drafted with first-generation/underrepresented students. In the framework of the project 2 ‘International Summer Schools’, C1 and C2, will allow 30 students from the 3 different universities to benefit from interactive and participative methods thanks to input from non-academic partners YES Forum and the associated partner ArbeiterKind.de. The trainings will put the focus on the empowerment of the students through topics such as educational history, exploring their potential and future studying or career opportunities. Additionally, the project will organize training activities for administrative and teaching staff in order to increase awareness and competence in dealing with student diversity (C3 and C4). These trainings will also build a bridge to the developed IOs. Also it is envisaged that the participants of the diverse training activities will act as multipliers and ambassadors, e.g. staff in their working environment and students amongst their peers. All project activities will strengthen the partner universities’ capacities by providing new innovative tools and will enable them to:-Become more accessible, attractive and inclusive towards first-generation students-Increase university diversity, as well as a decrease in drop-outs-Develop a deeper understanding of the needs and expectations of underrepresented and first-generation students-Exchange good practices in the field of inclusion-Improve university staff’s skills and methods-Reinforce interaction between university staff, policy makers and studentsAs mentioned above, to achieve the maximum impact, POWERst will focus on two target groups:-First-generation students from non-academic households, a group still underrepresented in universities, who face specific challenges to complete their studies successfully; -Teaching and administrative staff from the partner universities, to make sure that students complete their study program in the most inclusive, supportive and positive learning environment possible.The two target groups will be involved in every step of the project. Indeed, POWERst is not only designed to be a project for first-generation students, but also to become their project by participating in the decisions made about and for them.

<< Background >>As youth organizations, we are committed to prepare our target group (young people) as best as possible for the challenges of the future which also comprises climate change. On the one hand, this means that we do our best today to create the ideal conditions for the future, but on the other hand, it also means building competences that will be important in the future. In U.Pin, this entails that we want to encourage young people to contribute to climate protection, to be active citizens and to participate in shaping the future. At the same time, it also means equipping young people with skills that are significant in a changing world. These include digital skills and media competence. For this reason, our project has a strong digital component, in which all outcomes are designed for digital use and dissemination. In addition, the project aims to promote digital political engagement by involving young people in the production of videos.The same is true for us as organizations - we too must prepare for the future and embrace change. It is therefore important stay up to date on current political developments, because they will also have an impact on our actions in the long term. At the same time, it also means that we need to recognize and enable new learning environments and meet changing demands. In a time of permanent availability of media, their effect on the individual is changing. We must respond to this in order to continue to develop exciting and informative learning materials. The U.Pin project will allow us to explore new methods and formats, that we can transfer to our daily work with young people.<< Objectives >>OVERALL OBJECTIVE With U.Pin, we want to raise awareness on climate change among young people, inform about solutions on different levels and empower to become active in the fight against climate change. For this purpose, appealing, contextualised and applicable information on climate change and the EU Green Deal in innovative formats will be designed. To pick them up and reach them in the reality of their lives, new social media will be used for the dissemination (TikTok, Instagram and YouTube). But we don't just want to develop and design this content for them, but also with them.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVESThe project aims to- promote knowledge about climate change and the EU Green Deal - deepen understanding of the EU functioning - develop teaching material using innovative methods and approaches - bridge digital gaps between youth workers and young people - raise media literacy - empower young people to become active in the fight against climate change<< Implementation >>The project U.Pin is divided in the following phases: Phase 1: Selection and TranslationThe project begins with all partners familiarizing themselves in detail with the central contents: The EU Green Deal, its measures and how it works. Then, the content is selected and translated into youth-friendly language and formats that young people can understand and relate to. The first result is a translation of the EU Green Deal (R1), the second result will be videos covering all 8 topics of the EU Green Deal (to be published on YouTube and TikTok) (R2). These results serve as a basis for all further activities and results. Phase 2: Development of a course and manualIn the next phase, a trainers manual will be developed to enable multipliers such as teachers, trainers and youth workers to include content on climate change in their courses and explain the approaches of the EU Green Deal (R3). This manual provides background knowledge and methods to use R1 and R2 meaningfully in trainings or the classroom. The trainers manual developed in this way will be tested in the following phase. Phase3: Piloting and trainingIn order to test the previously developed project results and the trainers manual on the one hand and to involve young people in the development of new content on the other, one training will be conducted in this phase (LTTA). The young people will produce and publish their own content in guided workshops so that more young people are targeted directly (in the training) and indirectly (with the produced videos). Phase 4: Conclusion and DisseminationIn order to disseminate the project U.Pin and its results and make them better known among multipliers, multiplier events will be held in each partner country during this phase in order to reach a wider audience.<< Results >>The project will produce the following three results: - R1: The EU Green Deal attractively presented for young people- R2: Youth Videos explaining the approach of the EU Green Deal- R3: Trainers manual for teachers, trainers and youth workers to introduce the EU Green Deal within their teachingAs impact on the primarily target group, young people, we expect them to:- have more and better knowledge about climate change and EU measures to fight it- get a better understanding of EU institutions and how they work when implementing a program- improve their media literacy, as they will experience the whole process of producing media content, which gives profound backgroundknowledge, that can be transferred to other media as well - be empowered to express the own political opinion in public.For the secondary target group, teachers, youth workers and trainers, the following impacts are expected: - they will have more knowledge about climate change and EU measures to fight it- they are equipped with a whole ready-to-use teaching concept about climate change and the EU Green Deal (R3)- they have a better understanding of the EU functioning- they gain new tools for political education - they learn new methods and didactics- they will have more understanding for social media in general - they will have audiovisual material to be used in trainings.For the partner organisations, the following impacts are expected: - trainers equipped with new methods, tools and didactics - a raised sensitivity among trainers and participants for sustainability and climate action - more and better competences for the use of social media in general and in training- new partnerships established between the participating organisations.

<< Background >>The European Union as we know today is the result of seventy years of development and treaties that started in 1951 with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community. Since then other seven major treaties were signed. The Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union, where the basis for EU action in the youth field is established, has over 300 pages, but is its language and the content accessible to all? Although the treaties are translated into all the languages of the 27 members states of the EU, that does not ensure everyone understands the text. They are all written in “legalese”. So how do we ensure that the importance of the European Union is recognized by young people if its texts are far from their reality?READY builds on the positive results of highly successful projects coordinated by the YES Forum: “YourEP” (https://bit.ly/336FS6t), “Europe through young Eyes: Exchange, Explore, Exhibit (Europe3E)” (https://bit.ly/3thzBiO – Nominated for the prize “Salto Participation and Information Award”), and “Our life. Our voice” (https://bit.ly/2O5nK4k). These projects pursued the same general objectives: promoting Active Citizenship, EU and political awareness, and Social Inclusion. All these projects have shown that disadvantaged youngsters are interested in EU and national politics as well as exercising their citizenship when provided with the right opportunities.Although with these projects we would bring young people closer to understanding the EU, in them, we witnessed that the fact that EU treaties are still very far from the daily lives of young people, although the basis of the functioning of the EU comes from them. We aim to tackle this disconnection. That is why with READY we want to raise EU awareness in young people by making relevant provisions from EU treaties understandable to them. We want to raise literacy competencies in young people, so they can better understand the meaning of these treaties and the importance that they have over their lives. The partners have observed that there is an urgent need of making documents accessible to the target group. Treaties, resolutions, conventions, and academic papers that are hard to understand face resistance from the people to whom they address. That is why since 2020 the YES Forum has started a movement of providing easy-to-understand documents to our target group: the young people.<< Objectives >>READY aims at raising literacy competencies in young people, who are furthest away from political awareness. This will be achieved by combining a personal approach to the EU through an exploration of the EU in the young person’s everyday lives and through research conducted by the young people themselves on EU treaties.We will set up groups of young people in each participating country to discuss the meaning of the EU from their own experience. Through this guided and support process of discovering the EU through EU treaties, young people will develop their autonomy to further understand the EU.As a result of the project READY, young people will improve self-confidence, and autonomy to search and understand information, so as to better understand the meaning of EU treaties and the importance that they have over their lives. The mains and objectives are:- To ensure that the language of the relevant provisions to young people present on European Union treaties and policies are accessible to them.- To bring young people closer to understand what the European Union is.- To trigger the interest of young people so they appropriate the text of EU treaties.- To promote knowledge of the real impact of the European Union in the daily life of EU citizens.- To foster a better quality youth work using innovative and creative approaches- To improve the skills and competencies of youth workers and future youth workers.<< Implementation >>Young people with fewer opportunities will be directly involved as participants of all the activities proposed by the project READY:- Transnational Project Meeting 1, in Stuttgart, DE (12/2021): 1 youngster per partner (except Framework) will take part to help further fine-tuning the project so that it best meets the needs of youngsters with fewer opportunities.- Transnational Project Meeting 2, in Zagreb (06/2022): 1 youngster per partner will again take part in the discussions to include the young participants in all steps of decision-making. - Local activities of Phase 1 “EU ready to read”, incl. 1st Transnational Training “I read, I understand” in Strasbourg (10/2022): a group of young participants from each partner will take part in local meetings before and after the 1st Transnational Training in Strasbourg. There, they will receive training on Europe, EU politics, the role of treaties and policies, and techniques to design an effective infographic. The young people will be responsible to decide which of the relevant provisions from EU treaties and policies translated into easy-to-understand language will be transformed into visual content with the use of infographics. Besides expanding their competencies by trying out new methods during the training activities, youth workers will be in charge of supporting the young participants in local meetings to carry out the research activities.- Transnational Project Meeting 3, in Pau (01/2023): 1 youngster per partner will again take part in the discussions to include the young participants in all steps of decision-making. The youth workers will support the participants in voicing their opinions and presenting their group’s first infographics.- Local activities of Phase 2 “EU ready to see”, incl. 2nd Transnational Training “I understand, I use” in Lucca (05/2023): after new preparatory local activities, all young participants will gather to receive further training activities on EU citizenship and how to communicate about the EU. They will provide input for the recommendations on what are the risks of having EU language so distant from the reality of the young people. They will be accompanied by youth workers, who will themselves learn how to communicate about the EU in a language easy-to-understand and free of jargon, thereby broadening their scope of professional skills for participatory youth work.- Transnational Project Meeting 4, in Lucca (09/2021): 1 youngster per partner will take part with a youth worker to reflect on the project, give feedback and discuss dissemination of project results.<< Results >>According to the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth identified three core challenges that need to be addressed by youth workers while supporting young people in their path to adulthood: qualification, independence, and self-positioning. The READY project aims to tackle all these three challenges throughout these three phases: 1. Qualification: Phase 1 “EU ready to read”: throughout this phase, young people will be in touch with the most relevant provisions of the EU and that concern them directly. Because treaties and policies tend to be seen as hard to understand and far from the daily lives of the young people, they are often neglected as a topic that also needs to be addressed to young people. Through local activities and participation at the TPMs, they will be able to better understand the functioning of the EU.2. Independence: Phase 2 “EU ready to see”: during the Training C1 “I read, I understand”, young people will have the independence to choose which of the relevant provisions from the first result “EU ready to read” they find more important and they feel more connected to. During the local activities of Phase 2, the young people will have the autonomy to visually represent the chosen relevant provisions as they feel that fits better. 3. Self-positioning: having the knowledge (Phase 1) and the confidence to apply it independently (Phase 2), young people will be able to provide key messages addressing policymakers on their needs for an easier to understand language from the EU. These key messages will be reflected at the Project result #3 “EU ready to discuss”.Moreover, the project READY is aligned with the objectives and priorities of the European Youth Work Agenda. The basis of EU youth policies rises from EU treaties. With READY we aim at bringing back the connection between youth work and EU treaties, by making their relevant provisions accessible to all. We will also support the further development of the quality of youth work: by making the reach and limits of EU policies to youth in a language that is accessible to them, young people will have an increased sense of citizenship, which allows them to claim the rights that are ensured to them in the paper.By organizing multiplier events and final conferences in Brussels, which will include young people, we will enhance the promotion and recognition of youth work by policymakers.READY can be seen as a direct contribution to the Bonn process. As the Bonn Process represents the common effort to put the European Youth Work Agenda into action and make it become real, we aim at making it accessible and visible to young people. In READY we will work with both target groups – young people and youth workers – to boost youth work.