Digital storytelling has become a popular method for curating communities and has been thriving as a tool for social transformation and social justice. Since its beginnings over 20 years ago, projects have sprung up across the globe, where authentic voice is found in the narration of lived experiences (Copeland, S., & De Moor, A. 2018). Recently digital storytelling is gaining a new wave of attention as a tool for impact and change measurement, but the knowledge about it is disparate and largely unaccounted for. Therefore, the aim of the Narratives of Impact (NOI) is a shift in perception about storytelling not only being a powerful tool for creating social change, but also a tool for measuring the impact and change. To reach the aim, NOI has the following objectives:- better understand how digital stories are used to create impact at local, national and pan-European levels;- investigate how stories can be used by activist groups to create communities of change;- design and oversee the implementation of stakeholder engagement strategy;- explore how lived experience can be used to create better connections between social services and its users;- research and analyse the ways how storytelling can measure change and impact;To meet these objectives, a partnership of 5 organisations with digital storytelling expertise who work in VET and civic society settings has been formed. This partnership spans 5 countries and includes - People's Voice Media (UK), CRN (Germany), INTRAS (Spain), COSV (Italy) and SNDE (Poland). These organisations will pool their resources, use their existing expertise, undertake research and stakeholder activities and deliver dissemination activities in order to develop the following results:Result 1: A report on existing methodologies and practices that using digital storytelling to create and/or measure change (IO1)Result 2: A toolkit and associated resources for working with digital stories to create and measure impact (IO2)Result 3: Video guides to support individuals and organisations to use stories to create and measure impact (IO3)Result 4: Train existing informal education trainers and facilitators in techniques to use storytelling in their sectors as a change-making tool and impact measurement apparatus Result 5: Create a network of story-based impact organisations in VET and other fields to create a connected peer support communityResult 6: Policy recommendations for using narratives to create and measure social changeWe foresee three main groups of participants:1. The project team 2. The staff members of participating organisations 3. Broader circle of stakeholders that will be included through multiplier events and partner network The project activities are organised based on key milestones, work packages, intellectual outputs, staff trainings and transnational partnership meetings. The work between the milestones will be carried out as part of a work package structure. Each work package will have a designated lead partner who will coordinate the activities in that workflow but ALL PARTNERS will actively contribute to each WP.The primary target groups are educators working in the VET fields, researchers and research organisations, professionals working in evaluation and impact fields, civic educators and community development organisations/professionals (this group has outreach to secondary target groups). The secondary target groups are people from groups who are generally excluded from civic participation due to barriers so as education level, cultural and language differences, health and socio-economic status. These secondary beneficiaries include groups such as people experiencing mental health illness, migrant communities, adults with learning and/or physical disabilities and people disengaged from society.The expected impact of project activities on partner organisations, the project team and primary target groups is: new knowledge in the scope of digital storytelling as a change making tool (IO1); digital storytelling as impact assessment tool; strengthened European partnerships; a toolkit (IO2) and video guides (IO3) that will enrich their educational practices; The impact on secondary target groups will be in the longer term and/or the widening impact realms. For example, through educating the primary target groups (see above) in methods for using digital stories to create and measure impact, this learning will then indirectly benefit these secondary beneficiaries as they will be passed onto them via the primary target groups.Sustainability is a key element of the project and this will not only be achieved through the training and IOs, but also via the creation of a network of organisations using storytelling to effect and measure change and policy recommendations for this arena.

The main aim of the “Youth 4 Youth” Peer learning against Early School Leaving” project is to contribute to the reduction of early school leaving (ESL), especially amongst socially disadvantaged youth. We did so by offering alternative tools - forum theatre methodology (FT) and community reporter (CR) methodology - and the combination of FT and CR.In the EU ESL is a key problem. According to the EU definition, ESLers are young people between the ages of 18 and 24 who have failed to complete their secondary education. In 2009, more than six million young people across Europe – 14.4% of the 18-24 age groups – ended their school education system with a lower secondary qualification or less. Even more worrying is the 17.4% who only completed primary education (Eurostat, 2010). According to statistics from 2012 in the partner countries:in France 11,6%, in Hungary 11,5%, in Italy 17,6%, in Spain 24,9% and in the United Kingdom 13,5% of the youth were ESLers. With the exception of Hungary where ESL rates increased by 1% between 2010 and 2012 - which is a very slight improvement - statistics proves that the effort required in all the countries represented in this project to improve the situation.In previous projects we examined the factors that affect ESL are the following:individual (psychological), social (structural), relational (intra-school) and institutional (educational system). Some of these are susceptible to local interventions. We have chosen to work with FT and CR method since they can have impact on the first and third of these factors.Our partnership aimed to contribute to decrease ESL by involving youngsters from youth centers, in CR and FT workshops where young people worked hand in hand with their facilitators, took active part in developing actions to raise awareness, participated in developing teaching/learning material to support youth workers and teachers and other youth, so that these too could build awareness and address problems related to ESL. In order to mobilize their peers, our young participants took actions in schools and other institutions, presenting the results of our work and inviting the public for an open debate (Multiplier Events).Targets:Direct targets are socially disadvantaged youngsters between the age of 13-20, as well as youth workers. Indirect targets are other teachers, stakeholders, educational experts and decision makers, parents, who are affected by the project and can be the key of the change on the long run in their environments.Activities/results:-developed 9 interactive Video Lessons on ESL with youngsters during CR and FT workshops in 4 languages (ES, HU, IT, UK)-organized 18 Peer Actions in the partner countries when youngsters raise awareness and start dialogue with their peers and other concerned targets. -developed a Video Blog where youth workers, teachers, professionals, youngsters and students can learn about ESL, our methods and processes-created a Case Study Book to tell about what our participants think about the school system and show the impact of our methodsMethods:-FT method-CR method- the combination of FT and CR-Peer to peer learningThe partner organisations:-Artemisszió Fundation - coordiator organisation; experience in FT-People's Vocie Media - experience in CR, the creator of the method-La Xixa Teatre - experience in FT-Consorzio ABN - experience in CR-Elan Interculturel - experience in FT and leading the assessmentAll organisation has experience in working with disadvantaged young people.Impact:-On participating youngsters: changing attitudes, gaining self-confidence and reflect on their own behaviour. Development of competencies, communication, creativity and self-expression skills, individual and group work, conflict resolution, intercultural competencies and problem solving. The methods we use have a direct impact on motivation, discipline problems, youngster-adult relations, youngster-peer relations,intercultural problems and conflicts.-On participating professionals: awareness raising, getting educational tools to handle ESL issues in youth centers and classrooms, exchanging professional experiences on ESL, gaining new pedagogical and intercultural skills-On indirect targets: awareness raising on ESL, getting tutorials about our methods.We believe that in the long run our project can contribute to the reduction of ESL, especially amongst socially disadvantaged youth. We encourage the dialogue among the concerned parties – youngsters, parents, professionals and decision-makers by providing a combination of new methods and tools. We think that with this dialogue we can successfully improve the situation concerning ESL in the partner countries.

“We are all digital natives” stands for a new way of thinking about education and lifelong learning. In Europe, learners need to know how to act and live with digital reality. Younger users need to achieve digital responsibility. Older learners and workers need to be introduced to and made proficient in the navigation of the digital world in order to qualify them for jobs needed today. The biggest challenge to become and stay a “digital native” is faced by teachers and trainers in all education sectors, in formal and non-formal education. For them it will in future be increasingly important to keep pace with the latest digital methods and technologies in order to keep their curricula up to date. This project will therefore defined and compared, published and promoted good practice examples of digital methods used across all education sectors across Europe. In this way it can be ensured that everyone becomes a digital native.The project held 5 transnational meetings at which each partner prepared 2 good practice examples of digital methods, based on an evaluation grid, providing criteria for good digital teaching. The practices had been documented in a eBook which is for free downloadable (http://www.comparative-research.net/fileadmin/user_upload/mb/digital_natives/We_are_all_Digital_Natives_Collected_Practices.pdf). Based on the good practice analysis and intense discussions inside the partnership and with stakeholders and decision makers the partnership formulated nine recommendations on how to develop good digital training/teaching:1. It’s about you, not the technology 2.Teach how to learn and manage change 3.Open the classroom to the world4.Break down barriers of knowledge and perception5.Make your class sustainable6.There are no experts in the digital world 7.Connect the offline and online world8.Digital tools are a compass - digital tools help to navigate the digital world. 9.Let the voices of your students be heardMore details can be read here: http://www.comparative-research.net/fileadmin/user_upload/mb/digital_natives/Policy_Recommendation_DINA_ENG.pdf

People's stories about their experiences provide useful insights into what is happening in their lives and communities. These stories are a valuable source of qualitative data that can be used to inform the findings of research projects, provide intricate understandings of issues pertinent to communities, be catalysts of change in service design, advise local and national agendas and policies, and much more. The Our Voices project found innovative ways of curating people’s stories so that the ideas, messages and knowledge within them can be better shared with the people, groups and organisations in a position to use them to create positive change in communities across Europe.A transnational partnership of organisations from the UK, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy and Poland worked together to better understand story curation through researching existing approaches to analysing stories and how the findings from this analysis is presented. With this knowledge, the partners designed a pan-European approach to curation that enables communities to use stories of their lived experience to pinpoint local, regional, national and international trends, needs and issues. The partners involved in the project are:•People’s Voice Media (PVM), United Kingdom: A charity committed to supporting people to bottom-up social change processes.•Comparative Research Network (CRN), Germany: An organization that pecialised in training activities within the fields of intercultural competences, intergenerational learning, mobilities and migration.•COSV, Italy: An NGO active in the field of the International Cooperation to Development.•CRSMP, Poland: This association engages locally and regionally, primarily on rural development and rural development community.•Foundation Intras (Intras), Spain: A non-profit organization dedicated to high quality research and intervention in the psycho-educational field.•Changemaker AB, Sweden: A change agency who are an experienced actor concerning cooperation and education with Swedish Folk High Schools and Higher Vocational Training programmes.As part of the project we have produced the following intellectual outputs:•a Digital Curation training programme/curriculum•a Digital Curation toolkit/learner book •An online Digital Curation resource bank Using these outputs on a 5-Day training programme in Berlin, we trained 15 Digital Curators across the participating countries. These Digital Curators have used the skills they developed on this training and the resources produced as part of the intellectual outputs to deliver curation activities in the settings in which they work. Through this work the emergence of a pan-European digital curation network has begun, which is supporting communities, particularly those that are marginalised or excluded, to use their voice to create social change. Learning from the project has been shared widely as part of successful multiplier events in the UK and Germany.

The aim of UNICORN is to reflect on the identified needs and gaps, add own organizational challenges, search for practices and not only improve the work within the participating organizations, but also provide all adult education providers a road map they could follow. The path will focus on increasing the impact, outreach and dissemination capabilities within European Adult Education and create potential training plans for increasing the social media skills of educators. Regarding an article on EPALE, social media skills are underdeveloped but have concrete advantages:1. Flexibility - Social media platforms are open 24/7. Students can access learning whenever and wherever they want. There is potential for teachers to be able to respond to students in real time, solving problems instantly.2. Stimulating collaboration - social media platforms are ideal for collaboration in learning.3. ‘Real-world’ connectivity - social media is embedded in our everyday worlds, helping in making learning ‘real’ for people.4. Involving learners in finding and sharing resources - the real-world connectivity of social media has the further effect of being able to involve learners directly in finding and sharing resources.In this ecosystem UNICORN wants to explore, review, discuss, apply and test practices to discover better paths on how to address and reach the intended target audiences, helping to extend and develop the competences of personnel and organizations working in adult education.In order to achieve this main goal the implementation phase of the project will lead to 6 main results:Result 1: Elaboration of at least 50 smart practice evaluations on creating impact through communicationResult 2: An input and one Impact TrainingResult 3: An interactive map of “European practices on creating impact” Result 4: Pedagogic guidelines.Result 5: The UNICORN eBook on helping non formal adult education to increase impact.Result 6: Action Plans to integrate the practices into the impact strategies of the partnerUNICORN is a project focused on the exchange of smart practices. Thus, the transnational meetings structure the project and are the most important face-to-face activities. They will have several purposes and should last at least two days. Each partner will host one meeting.During the meetings, the partner will send staff working on the administration of the project, the project management but as well staff involved in smart practice assessment, editing and teaching.The smart practice assessment is based on the ‘Eightfold Path analysis’ developed by Bardach:1. The partnership develops a realistic expectation by getting to know the field.2. We analyze practices and compare them with a criteria catalogue.3. We test the practice.4. We create a SWOT analysis and reflect on the transferability.5. We document and review the practices with recommendations on where and how to use them.Pedagogic Methodology of the input and impact Training.The design of the trainings will be based on Kolb's experiential learning theory, represented by a four stage cycle:- Concrete Experience - a new experience of situation is encountered- Reflective Observation of the new experience- Abstract Reflection - gives rise to a new idea, or a modification of an existing concept- Active Experimentation - applying the reflections to the world around them to see what resultsThe input training will be more “frontal”, while however following the experiential learning design.