<< Background >>Civil society organizations have been called in 2020 to answer the new challenges caused by the pandemic effects. This implied to design a new action plan for the upcoming years, identifying new strategies and alternative solutions to engage the target groups who are normally benefitting from the activities. In a framework where physical meetings have been drastically reduced to contain the pandemic, it became evident the need to rethink the way and methods to involve the youth groups. The digital sphere started to gain more relevance and organizations initiated a process to get equipped: both increasing the use of digital platforms and tools and also readapting the non-formal education methods previously used.Even though in the last year an enormous amount of work has been already implemented and a big variety of methods and approaches was applied, at the same time this work can be further fine-tuned. Specifically for what concerns the creation of a pedagogical approach (including different tools and methods for the digital and offline spheres) to strengthen intercultural perspectives among young people from different EU suburbs. Indeed, these spaces are still often the landmark of exclusion and the stage for racism, sexism, bullying and different displays of discrimination. Even though there is a quite strong heterogeneity at EU level, there are still common elements such as the tendency of being “ghettos” for the youth living there, with scarce possibilities of interactions with the other realities. They might become the setting for discriminative events, hate speech and harmful rhetoric. In these realities is getting more and more crucial the raising awareness action targeted to young people, to acknowledge the values of cultural differences and the importance of having open minded approaches toward what they do not necessarily know.Therefore, the consortium expressed the need to re-think some pedagogical pillars and methodological elements in their every-day work, to better meet the challenges, to strengthen the effectiveness of the action and bring innovative perspectives. For this reason the project will have a specific focus on two main axes: “smart youth work-SYW'' and “digital youth work-DYW”. SYW can be considered as the general framework of the project, offering an innovative development of traditional youth work encompassing digital practices, including research, quality and policy components and being built upon the needs of young people, youth workers, youth leaders and other stakeholders.In this perspective, youth work-YW will play a crucial key role in the learning process proposed to young people, built up on their needs and on the Project Results that will be created for this purpose. Moreover, it has been chosen to dedicate in the project a specific action to the KA1 (Youth Participation Activities-YPA) which was identified as a specific tool full of potentialities to enrich the youth work practices, both at national and international level. For this reason the P.R.2 and 3 will have a specific focus on activities that can be implemented to support the youth in the design, implementation and evaluation of this action.<< Objectives >>The main aim of Hotspots project will be to develop non formal education tools and methods, within a newly designed pedagogical approach, to enhance intercultural learning-ICL among young people, both online and offline, in general and, more specifically, in national and transnational Youth Participation Activities, within the Erasmus+ program. In order to achieve this goal, a set of specific objectives have been set:SO 1: to build up, in the suburban dimensions involved, the local diagnostic to better understand the situation, needs and profiles of the youth, the challenges they face in everyday life and with a specific focus on the subject of Intercultural LearningSO 2: to share the existing tools, approaches and the smart and digital youth work’s practices, with specific regards to the online and offline dimensions, the consortium members use to promote active participation and intercultural learningSO 3: to design a new, synthetic and innovative pedagogical perspective applicable to smart youth work in the participant countries, and including an educational package with tools and methods usable for the online and the offline sphere. These tools will be designed also for a potential use in the national and transnational Youth Participation ActivitiesSO 4: to strengthen the capacity-building of youth workers’ digital and offline practices, in order to have them ready to face the nowadays challenges and to be ready to offer a wider variety of activities to the young people they work with, motivating them for higher participation and bringing on board new onesSO 5: to connect, empower and engage young people from outskirts and isolated areas in different European outskirts, to equip them to act as agents of change and promoters of new grass-rooted actions.<< Implementation >>HOTSPOTS is structured on logically connected actions to involve different beneficiaries and achieve the project’ outcomes through the implementation of the Project Results.A1. TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT MEETING: aimed to ensure a smooth and efficient cooperation and set the ground for the research criteria and implementationA2. PROJECT RESULTS 1-Toolkit for diagnostic and tools sharing: aimed to share the analysis on the YW’s role, practices, needs in the participating suburbs and to upscale different activities used to work with marginalized young people promoting ICL. The P.R.1 will include:* A2.1. COUNTRY FIELD RESEARCH: diagnostic run by the researchers’ team, covering the participating urban dimensions and showing the YW practices * A2.2. TOOLS AND ACTIVITIES GATHERING: run by the trainers team to gather the different YW tools currently used in the online and offline perspectiveA3. TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT MEETING: to define, with the trainers' support, the main outcomes for the P.R.2 and design its structure A4. PROJECT RESULTS 2-Handbook for a smart youth work: aimed to offer a variety of tools on ICL, within a newly designed pedagogical perspective for SYW, applicable for the online and offline versions. The P.R.2 will include:* A4.1. SUBURBAN HOTSPOTS-DESIGN: run by the trainers team to design the new pedagogical perspective and create the tools combining the offline and online spheres* A4.2. SUBURBAN HOTSPOTS-LOCAL TESTING: local workshops run by youth workers, targeted to young people, for sensitization on ICL and tools testingA5. TRAINING ACTIVITY-TOOLS TESTING (part of PR2): EU training course to run the first tools testing and train participants for the local testingA6. PROJECT RESULTS 3-Blended Learning Board Game: BLBG, combining physical and digital elements, to allow the facilitation of learning events both online but also onsite.A7. MULTIPLIERS EVENTS: opened to different stakeholders to present the main outcomes and P.R.s and further promote the use of these tools in new YPAsA8. TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT MEETING: targeted to PCs to run the overall evaluation of the project and set the ground for the follow up activities (including the new YPAs design)FOLLOW UP: after the formal end to further wide-spread the outcomes creating new synergies to implement the YPAs in suburbs, revitalizing these areas.<< Results >>The project structure is conceived to achieve the following outcomes and results:BETTER YOUTH INCLUSION IN SUBURBS: at least 900 young people from more diverse backgrounds, in particular those with fewer opportunities facing obstacles to participate in EU projects, will be reached out. It will be increased accessibility and the possibilities for participation. Better opportunities for exchange and for interaction among peers from the outskirts of different EU countries will be offered, being the project aligned with the EC Inclusion and Diversity Strategy aimed to enhance the involvement of young people facing barriers.CREATION OF NEW ACTIONS IN FEWER OPPORTUNITIES BACKGROUNDS: the innovative pedagogical perspective designed and including the educational package with tools and methods for the online and the offline sphere, will contribute to bring new actions and workshops in the suburban isolated dimensions of the participating countries‘ main cities. It will be used to design, in a bottom up perspective, new national and transnational Youth Participation Activities, within the E+ program, leading to a stronger impact of the action and a better knowledge of the program in the realities normally more left out. STRENGTHENING OF THE YW QUALITY AND IMPACT: the capacity-building of youth workers’ competences and skills in the use of digital and offline practices, will be enhanced, in order to better meet the current challenges. A bigger variety of activities will be offered to local young people coming from fewer opportunities backgrounds, with the purpose of further encouraging the development of new activities and interactions with peers from other suburbs of the same city and of other EU cities. Local organizations, youth centers and CSOs will also benefit, in terms of YW quality increase and better capacity to apply SYW practices to respond to the causes of exclusion, consequentially involving a higher number of young people and local communitiesSTRENGTHENING OF NETWORKING: both at local level as well as at EU one. The different local associations, youth centers, CAG and youth groups settled in the different suburbs of the participant cities will develop new chances to cooperate and interact, benefitting from tools and methods developed for a better involvement of their target groups. This will reduce youth isolation and contribute to overcoming some of the factors leading to the exclusion of young people. Moreover the EU, transnational dimension of the consortium will contribute to enhance the interactions among international organizations and local one, favoring the virtual interaction and the physical mobility of young people and setting the ground for the creation of an informal network of actors active in suburban dimensions.The Project Results have been also conceived to lead to the achievement of the project specific objective and the expected outcomes and, specifically:P.R.1: omni-comprehensive diagnostic including the analysis of the urban and suburban dimensions’ needs and methods actually in use. It will contribute to better understand the challenges faced by youth workers and young people and strengthen the incisiveness of the upcoming YW actions.P.R.2: educational package to better equip youth workers, peer educators and young facilitators with tools and interactive methods for ICL, where the digital and the offline spheres are combined. The manual and its newly designed pedagogical perspective will be a useful resource to promote meaningful ICL processes among young peopleP.R.3: the Blended Learning Board Game - BLBG, combining physical and digital elements, will allow for the facilitation of learning events both online but also onsite. The aim is to create an intrinsically motivating gaming layer between learners and the learning material as well as provide a hybrid representation and access to the learning content through both physical and digital means.