<< Background >>The idea for the project came through discussions and events organised both at the national and European level. The concerns shared by local actors in the RF membership based in Sweden were similar to those identified with sport organisations across Europe. The need for a bigger youth participation within the sport sector was emerging among young athletes and volunteers while at the same time the topics of integrity and value-based sport were rising from different sport organisations.Based on further discussions, consultations and mapping, we identified an evident need to work on awareness raising and sharing best practices toward creating a culture of integrity within the sports community, in order to further promote sport as a framework for personal, social and learning skills and promoting tolerance, solidarity, inclusiveness as well as other sport values and EU values. When exploring the possibilities of how to do so, it was evident that it had to be through empowering young people to be integrity ambassadors, as historically speaking young people are in most cases the ones who can trigger changes within the society and within different sectors. Moreover, values remain a key concern for young Europeans with 32% of them thinking that “the respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law is the main asset of the EU”, and this opinion is shared by an equal number of Europeans aged 31 (Desk Research : European Youth in 2021, European Parliament) We started developing the project, believing that it will tackle two very important needs both for young people and youth athletes, and for the organisations as there is a clear need to “refresh and youth-up” the approaches for tackling dishonest, chicanery and crooked practices within the sport sector. First, the project will address youth participation which is a very relevant need for most sport organisations, and especially for the young people within them, as shown in the European Parliament Youth Survey 2021: “A majority of (young people) feel they don’t have much, or any, say over important decisions, laws and policies affecting them. This feeling increases the more distant the sphere of governance under consideration: 53% feel they don’t have much, or any say over decisions, laws and policies affecting their local area, rising to 70% for matters affecting the EU as a whole.” In doing so, it will give the power and responsibility to the youth to design and use the tool(s) that are the most appropriate and effective to lead their communication, based on the finding that “media consumption is increasingly digital with online internet being used on a daily basis by 93% of European youngsters” and that “online social networks’ consumption is most probably one of the main drivers of internet consumption among young Europeans” (Desk Research European Youth in 2021, European Parliament).Secondly, the project addresses the creation of a culture of integrity on the grassroots sport as something needed for the sport organisations and the society as a whole. Based on our initial idea, we identified that the need to promote youth participation is the main pillar of the EU Youth Strategy, and integrity in the sport sector is one of the main pillars of the EU Work Plan for Sport 2021-2024. Therefore, by bringing these two aspects together, we will try to facilitate a strategic change within the sports sector, empowering them to use the creativity and integrity of young people to stimulate a positive change. By doing so, we are hoping to also contribute to the furthering of the EU Youth Strategy and the EU Work Plan for Sport.<< Objectives >>The project aims to educate and empower young people (volunteers/athletes) with and without intellectual disability to become sport integrity ambassadors in their own community, fostering their active participation as well as a culture of integrity across Europe. Through its implementation we aim to trigger a positive change within the sport sector, making more participatory spaces for young people within it. This will be done through a set of actions, throughout a participatory process, where they will learn, share and develop activities jointly. More specifically, the objectives of the process are:-To develop competences of young people to take an active role in their societies by spreading and disseminating a culture of integrity in their sport community and outside involving children and youth within sport clubs, schools and universities.-To create an educational program that would serve to equip the youth with project management skills, digital tools and values such as democracy, equality and fairness to become active and responsible citizens.-To train young people to actively identify, prevent and react against dishonest, chicanery and crooked practices within the sport sector and in society at large-To establish an expert support network of integrity ambassadors that could serve as a sharing platform and increase their feeling of belonging to the European community.-To stimulate youth participation by making sure that young people with and without intellectual disability are included in the society and the sport sector, through fostering an intersectional approach to participation and social inclusion in order to achieve a higher participation and engagement. Young people will be both the beneficiaries and the shapers of this project, allowing them to play different roles and take responsibility for their own learning outcomes. The project aims at ensuring a cascading effect through turning the young leaders (volunteers/athletes) into multipliers and role-models, who can then mentor new young integrity ambassadors.<< Implementation >>The project proposal follows a logical flow of different phases in order to achieve our objectives, and reach the expected results and outcomes. Preparatory phase:Within the preparatory phase we will focus mostly on setting up clear working methods and procedures, and finalizing the agreements on the specific roles, tasks and deadlines, in order to manage to implement the next phases in a high quality manner. Within the preparatory work, we will set the frame for the project, as within this part we will focus mostly on a collection of expertise on Youth participation and Sport integrity and development of the curriculum. Within the preparatory part the Youth and Sport Integrity Expert Committee (YSIEC) will be created, which will start working on gathering good practices and existing resources, in order to design and finalise the European Training Course agenda, and design practical and informative elements on the toolkit on how to become a youth integrity ambassador. Implementation phase:Once the curriculum/toolkit is developed, we will focus on equipping and empowering the youth integrity ambassadors through a European training course organized for 36 participants. Within the training course we will support them to develop their joint campaign identifying the best strategies and tools to do so, as well as supporting them to plan their dissemination activities that they will organize in their local communities. Implementation phase:After this stage comes the dissemination parts by the youth integrity ambassadors, where they will implement their youth integrity campaign, and organize their national/local dissemination activities. By doing so they will directly train their peers to actively identify, prevent and react against dishonest, chicanery and crooked practices within the sport sector. Their active participation will contribute to spreading a culture of integrity at the grassroot sport level among youth communities, sport clubs, schools and universities. Implementation/Evaluation phase:Once the national/local activities are implemented, in order to properly reflect on the program , evaluate its outcome and identify the next steps for further cooperation the Evaluation course will be implemented. Most importantly, through it they will contribute to the final evaluation of the Toolkit, whose final version will be published online and freely accessible online. Young participants during this event will combine their recommendations in one centralised document addressing both general (European) and specific (national/local) tips for supporting youth participation within the sports sector in a sustainable way. Finally, the project findings and results will be presented during the European Final Conference, thanks to the projection of the project Impact Video.<< Results >>The project has been designed to ensure that the outputs have a logical and useful purpose within the life of the project, but also to ensure their transferability after the project. The resources, guidance documents, campaign tools, and video will be conceived with the guidance/support of the targeted audience (the youth) and keeping in mind the needs of the users. All project results will remain freely accessible after the project lifetime. Moreover, the entire project structure has been developed in order to build and strengthen a network of young ambassadors that can remain active and keep using the project results after the end of the project timeline. During the Evaluation Course, participants will discuss how to remain active and keep expanding their network within and beyond the sport sector. During the Evaluation meeting, the consortium will discuss the next steps and transferable learnings of the project, which should contribute to the diffusion of key messages.The main tangible outcomes of the project will be:1. Youth Integrity Ambassadors Toolkit The toolkit will be a digital tool based on the curriculum developed by the Youth and Sport Integrity Expert Committee (YSIEC), accessible by all partners and beyond on the ENGSO education platform, incorporating few main topics within it:- A sport integrity practical guide addressed to the youth of the partner organisations, where tools and methods will be described for them to identify, prevent and react against dishonest, chicanery and crooked practices within the sport sector.- A motivational and leadership guide with the different steps to become a youth integrity ambassador.Young people will be able to use these general recommendations and engage on a path to develop a culture of integrity at the grassroots sport level, within their community but also by staying active among a growing European youth network.2. Youth Integrity Ambassadors Campaign Tool(s)These tools might take the form of animated videos, podcasts, online articles, social media posts, ect. They will be designed by the youth integrity ambassadors to better match their needs and their environment, taking into account the diversity of individuals within their group and their designated target group(s).3. Collection and Analysis of Dissemination ActivitiesThis project result will document the implementation activities conducted across Europe at the national/local level in the aim of developing a culture of sport integrity and increasing youth participation. It will be both the first step in the evaluation process (conducted by the management team), and the main outcome of dissemination.4. Recommendations for Sustainable Youth Participatory MechanismThis document will be presented by the young participants during the final conference of the project, giving them the chance to address the managers of sport organisations and other high-level stakeholders as one united voice for the youth, speaking at the European level based on their various experiences at the local/national.5. Project Impact VideoImpact Video: Short videos from the events, and from the projectBesides the above-mentioned main outcomes, throughout the process we will have:- Trained 36 young people (with and without ID) on European level- Trained at least 100 young people through the local/national actions- Livestream of the final conference, so we could gather more stakeholders