"CONTEXT2019 marks the year of the elections of the European Parliament. The results of the 2014 EU elections however show that the overall voter turnout was low and lowest in the population aged 18-24 years (cf. European Parliament “Post-election survey 2014”). Our network partners who work with young people daily experience that active citizenship has become yet another area of exclusion, especially for disadvantaged young people who struggle to participate in society anyway. Thankfully, the new EU Youth Strategy takes this topic seriously with its goals of engaging, connecting and empowering, especially disadvantaged young people (cf. European Commission 2018: EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027). These goals are key to the Europe3E project and set the agenda for the ways in which we want to encourage young people and youth workers to grow.The Europe3E project is designed as a follow-up project of the highly successful ""YourEP"" project, which ran from 2016-2018 (https://bit.ly/2TIvlMu). ""YourEP"" tackled the exclusion of young people in active citizenship by developing a political simulation game together with disadvantaged young people. Furthermore, it draws on the positive experiences with peer research in the equally successful ""Our Life. Our Voice. Young people and poverty"" project (https://bit.ly/2O5nK4k).OBJECTIVES, OUTPUTS & IMPACTThe Europe3E project aims to develop with the IO1 “Europe3E ” Europe and me – participatory photo voice research, IO2 “Europe3E – How to involve all youth in the European project” solid training material to be used by youth workers and youth practitioners in political and civic education. It will be available in all partner languages. Finally, the project will analyse and collate the experiences and knowledge generated by this working process into policy recommendations (IO3). The recommendations will build on the process and results of the peer-research of the young people and the training activities, in particular the simulation game. By giving young people agency, we want to make sure their perspectives and voices are heard. The youth workers and practitioners complement the recommendations by contributing with their expertise as well.Participating in the project will ensure that youth workers improve their professional competences across different areas of the European Competence Model for Youth Workers (https://tinyurl.com/y42xeroa). Most notably they will increase their competences in the areas of -designing programmes, -facilitating individual and group learning in an enriching environment-networking and advocating.The project aims also at engage young people who are furthest away from the political sphere, promote active citizenship and support social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities. Through the project, the involved young people will improve:-Social, civic, intercultural, interpersonal and communicational competences;-Leadership and entrepreneurial skills thanks to their active role in the project;-their EU and general political awareness.PARTICIPANTSOur project partners work with young people facing different difficulties every day. Each project partner will identify young people that are facing multiple challenges in life to participate in the project as these youth will be likely to benefit the most from the Europe3E project. As youth work professionals, our partners have the methods and tools needed to recruit young participants who would usually not participate in such activities. Next to the young participants, the partners’ youth workers will also be involved in all activities. They will 1) empower the participants to be the main actors of this project exploring, exchanging and exhibiting their views of Europe and how it can become engaging for young people and 2) lead the work of the Intellectual Outputs by collating the material into 3 products. ACTIVITIES To reach our goals, we will set up groups of young people in each participating country to discuss the meaning of the EU from their own experience. Supported by youth workers, they take part in local meetings and Blended Learning activities (C1 and C2) that facilitate their understanding of Europe and the EU, and then find out more in their communities using the method of photovoice. Testing the EP simulation game during the second Blended Mobility will provide the chance for the young people to put their knowledge into practice. As mentioned above, youth workers will ensure to collate the experiences into the 3 Intellectual Outputs. The Multiplier Events (E1-E7) locally and a final conference in Brussels will give the young people the chance to discuss their research results and the knowledge gained with a wider audience, empowering them further to become change-makers in their communities and beyond. To ensure a solid management of the project and development of high quality products the project consortium will gather at 4 TPMs over the lifetime of the project."

The CONTEXT of our project was that the concept of the ‘Children's Town’, which is implemented in various cities in Germany and enjoys a high acceptance at regional level, will be implemented in the future in other European countries according to the concepts they developed on their own. The basis for this was the Children’s Town project ‘Bärenhausen’ (Bearsville), which in the last 10 years has been organised and carried out by the partner Stiftung Evangelische Jugendhilfe in cooperation with St. Johannis GmbH. This concept was presented to the transnational partners in theory and in practice and then discussed in detail. II. OBJECTIVE AND THEMATIC APPROACH: St. Johannis GmbH placed the Children’s Town, which entails elements such as political education, non-formal learning and participation of children, at the heart of the transnational cooperation and presented the Children’s Town project ‘Bärenhausen’ in practice and theory as an example; the participative Children’s Town concept was enriched and renewed by the ideas of the European partners (European ideas). On this background, the partners created their own national concepts and presented them in their region. Two partners implemented their concepts and carried out three Children’s Town projects. The partners entered their national concepts on the online platform ‘Wiki’ that was further developed during the project duration. All facts and figures were collected here; the Children’s Town ‘Wiki’ was made public at the end of the project period in order to give other organisations ideas and to support them with information when they develop their own similar projects. III.NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS: 4 transnational and 2 national partners participated in the project. The project is aimed at managers and professionals in the field of child and youth work who were and are active in the field of open and non-formal education for young people. All participants had a fundamental interest in professional exchange, the further development and testing of concepts new to them and contributed experiences in participative work with young people. IV. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES: Cooperation agreements and learning agreements were concluded between the partners. The project leader visited the partner institutions, learnt about the structures of existing offers and checked and controlled the regional project work. He organised and carried out the transnational partner meetings and blended learning activities, detailed the work and time schedule as well as the quality assurance plan and presented these for discussion among partners. He worked out methods, strategies and standards for the realisation of the Children’s Town project and presented these for discussion among partners. The results were taken up in the local regional structures for the development of national concepts; A total of three Children's Town concepts were implemented (Sweden 1; Romania 2). He coordinated the development of the online platform ‘Wiki’ and the publication of the results of the national concepts and results. He conducted a survey among the participants and project partners and evaluated the results. The evaluation of the overall measure was also realized by the project manager. The cooperation partners selected potential regional, local and national partners and organized regular meetings during which the documents produced were reviewed and further proposals developed on the methods, strategies, standards for the implementation of the Children’s Town. V. METHODOLOGY: To reach the goals we used the following methods a) 4 project partner meetings (transnational partner meetings) with introduction, coordination processes, comparison of the elaborated documents, decisions were taken and strategies were revised, b) 2 transnational blended learning activities with key notes; inputs were given based on the realisation of the Children's Towns in Bernburg and Sweden through observation, work shadowing, questions, workshops and evaluation. During evaluation, new approaches and methods were developed, which were then incorporated into the national concepts. c) Development of the online platform ‘Wiki’ used for information transfer. VI. RESULTS: Realisation of C1 with transfer of basic knowledge. The partners have created their own concepts on the basis of the practical participation in the project and realisation of C1. The partners have adapted the concepts to their local framework conditions and disseminated and presented their Children’s Town concepts in their countries. Two partners have organised and realised their own Children’s Town project: the Romanian partner implemented two Children’s Town projects and the Swedish partner one project. Our Italian partner was about to implement his concept for a Children's Town when Covid19 measures put a temporary end to this. On the basis of the practical models, the partners have further detailed their concept development. Presentation of the concepts and discussion.Realisation of C2 - Concept development ‘Children’s Town’ based on practical models. Within the project term the online platform ‘Children’s Town – Wiki’ was developed where all data and facts for the implementation of a Children’s Town project were gathered. All partners involved entered their results and knowledge on this platform. The Kinderstadt ‘Wiki’ was opened to the public at the end of the project term in order to give suggestions to other organisations.VII. Longer-term EFFECTIVENESS is given by 1. the implementation of the results in the realisation of the Children's Towns in all partner countries; 2. via project information on the internet, in the press, during Y.E.S. Forum general assemblies; 3. dissemination of the national concepts in the partner countries as well as through Y.E.S. Forum on the European level; 4. ‘Wiki’ platform opened to the public.

<< 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.

<< 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.