Social and emotional well-being has been linked to young people’s schooling outcomes, their social development, their capacity to contribute to the workforce and the community, the rate of youth suicide. The WHO has estimated that depression alone will constitute one of the greatest health problems worldwide by the year 2020. Of increasing concern is the growing rate of suicide among young males. Deep unhappiness, disordered mood, feelings of hopelessness and thoughts of suicide are common among young people. This lowered mood may be risk factor for long-term social problems and depression.Eolas Soileir and its partners took a positive approach to the promotion of emotional health among young people by carrying out two projects for youth workers and young people to address these needs by understanding and developing their skills at building resilience, empowerment & positive mental health both within themselves and the young people they work with.Using Non Formal methodologies we developed the creative competences, specifically in the topics of positive mental health, resilience & empowerment for youth, in 27 youth workers from Ireland, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, Kosova, Romania, Belarus, Poland, Armenia & Estonia, in an 8 day training course held from 4th to 11th of August 2017 in Wexford Ireland. Further we ran a Youth Exchange in the topics of positive mental health, resilience & empowerment for 20 young people aged between 18 & 30 from Romania, Spain, Lithuania, Estonia and Ireland from the 17th to 22nd of August 2017 in Wexford Ireland & 6 youth workers.The emphasis was on various ways young people might cope with stressful or difficult life events and challenges and we focused on personal coping skills & creative skills for expression and self reflection. The objectives and results of the projects were: 1. The participants on the TC came away with concrete methods and ideas that helped develop their own sense of empowerment, resilience & positive mental health and are now more competent in putting into action ideas and methods to increase positive mental health in the young people they work with.2. The young people on the YE came away with concrete methods and ideas to help develop their own sense of empowerment, resilience & positive mental health and incorporate these into their lives.3. The pax on the TC and the young people on the YE explored the potentials of creative methodologies as a way for self-discovery, stress reduction, creativity, empowerment, resilience and positive mental health.4. The participants on the TC and the young people on the YE were part of an intercultural learning experience.5. The pax on the TC facilitated their exchange of experience regarding their work with their own young people.6. The young people on the YE are better able to understand both themselves and other young people thereby feeling less isolated, better able to understand positive mental health and understand what they can do to encourage it within themselves and others.7. The pax on the TC were encouraged to develop European co-operation in the youth field.These objectives were fulfilled in relation to the objectives of Erasmus + youth mobility:• We supported the acquisition of skills of youth workers & young people on their personal & professional development and improving their employability. • We helped improve the language skills & intercultural learning of the participants. • This project also addressed E+ youth Inclusion and Diversity strategy as the TC & YE sought to combat poor mental health particularly in disadvantaged young people and those facing social, economic and educational difficulties. • We promoted the international cooperation & intercultural dialogue between partner and programme countries. • We also built up key competences and skills of young people including young people with fewer opportunities through the acquisition of skills by the youth workers and directly with the young people in the youth exchange. • Through youthpass we ensured better recognition of competences gained through their learning periods abroad, • Promoted active participation in civil society and develop a sense of European citizenship • Youth workers increased their professional development in the field with a view to innovating and improving the quality of Youth work across Europe & in their country. • They increased their motivation and satisfaction in daily work through the strengthening of their mental health.The methods used were: mindfulness and creativity, theatre, art & creativity, nature & outdoors, music, conversation, all took place in a context of improving resilience, positive mental health and empowerment. Long term benefits are an environment where people can be more open, understanding and positive in their attitudes and behavior towards mental health and an increased knowledge of how to achieve this.

Traffic safety is a real and heavy problem at the global level. Traffic accidents among young people worldwide are still the number one for mortality, the average age of a person who is seriously injured in a car accident is 22 years old. Nevertheless, the topic of traffic safety in the youth sector is poorly represented, and youth workers are poorly trained in carrying out preventive activities in the field of traffic safety. Overall youth organizations and youth workers devote too little attention to the traffic safety, which undoubtedly should be an important topic among youth and represents a key challenge within the youth field for the future. The reason for the situation is lack of knowledge in the field of road safety among youth workers and the lack of appropriate competences - how to transfer this knowledge and bring the topic closer to the youth.The essence of Be a Hero project is to empower the youth sector and to strengthen the quality work of youth workers through the upgrading of competences and the acquisition of expertise in the field of road safety. It is necessary to gain structured methodologies, strengthen the knowledge and then carry out the application of both in practice. Along with that the social inclusion of persons with fewer opportunities (victims of road accidents) in youth work will help to address the pressing problem of road safety in the youth sector in the future.The empowerment of the youth sector and youth workers is therefore the first step towards the systematic introduction of solutions in the field of traffic safety among young people.The project partners will jointly develop an appropriate methodology for the youth sector, and thus create concrete guidelines and approaches that will be specifically adapted for working with young people in the area of road safety. We will also define the criteria for the effective functioning of organizations from the youth sector in the field of awareness of traffic safety and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle among young people and develop concrete and innovative solutions at the level of program activity. We will also offer the youth sector guidelines for a quality and efficient implementation of a structured dialogue with local decision makers with the aim of introducing and ensuring lasting changes in the area of traffic safety among young people in the local environment.By transferring expertise, knowledge in the field of youth work and proven effective project concept of innovative initiative Heroes drive in pajamas (European Commission Excellence and Road Safety Awards), we will strengthen the quality of the youth work of project partners, while the project partners will be exchangeing good practices, working methods and useful information among themselves. In this way we will jointly strengthen the competencies and upgrade the knowledge and further enrich the youth work of all project partners. With the implementation of training, study visits, multiplication events, Skype seminars, etc. we will provide a quality transfer of knowledge among ourselves and with the developed methodology with included guidelines for program implementation in individual countries (at national and local level) we will provide the dissemination of knowledge between other organizations, thus ensuring the sustainability of the project and increasing the quality of youth work even wider. In the framework of this methodology, which will be created as one of the results of Be a Hero project, we also want to develop a model that will present possibilities for involving vulnerable groups (with fewer opportunities, with special needs - disability) into youth work.

"<< Background >>Young people with disabilities often experience rejection and seclusion due to peers’ misconceptions&prejudices (aka ableism). Loneliness and isolation are reinforced by activities and spaces that are inaccessible to them. According to the ""Disability and Social Exclusion in the European Union"" study, persons with disabilities find themselves excluded from most of the social, leisure and cultural activities. Also, according to Eurobarometer on attitudes of Europeans towards disability, this target group is often confronted with barriers in accessing services, which are not designed as to ensure access of persons with disabilities. In a most of the EU27 countries the participation rate to non-formal activities of persons with disabilities is less than half the one of the ones with typical development (Eurostat) with countries like Romania, Bulgaria or Greece severely underperforming in this indicator.The most prevalent causes for there are the attitudes and prejudice of the general population but also a lack of knowledge about the realities in which the persons with disabilities live and a lack of skills for involving them.Furthermore, in the partners' local context 90% of the youth NGOs do not provide accessible services for them, just 2 to 4% of youngsters with impairments are participating in activities conducted by a youth NGO and close to 90% of the youngsters with disabilities feel excluded. One cause we identified is that youth org. face limited know-how, both on making their activities accessible to the target group and also on promoting inclusion among young people. Therefore they are hesitant and do not adapt their activities, nor do they promote inclusion locally. Resources for this are very limited and unadapted to current needs.While we are already using a programme on combating exclusion of persons with visual impairments and it does show effectiveness, the SWOT Analysis on the existing Peers for Integration programme conducted by involving over 18 NGOs revealed the following weaknesses:- it needs to be expanded to cover more types of disability (it covers just visual disability)- in-person workshops are very effective but time and resource consuming, so they limit the speed of the up-scaling- peer trainers have limited availability for being trained and it is difficult to find a common interval when all were available to be trained- difficulties in getting resources to ensure the accommodation and trainers costs for the whole duration of the two pieces of training in which the peer trainers should participateFurthermore, our impact assessment on over 100 beneficiaries of the initial P4I programme has revealed that persons with disabilities who have been involved in various activities as its follow-up declared that these experiences contributed a lot on their personal and social development, increased their self esteem and improved their overall wellbeing, as they:- were offered the chance to further develop personally and socially, to be included in new and various activities, - met new and different people who do not belong to their family or their immediate social circle, - exercised responsibility or took on leadership roles. - were seen as equal members of the group their were working with, which is not very common in their regular interactionsHence, a programme that facilitates their involvement in socio-educational activities will be very beneficial in responding to their need<< Objectives >>Our aim is to increase the social inclusion of youngsters with disabilities through peer-lead on-line workshops that use digital tools as base for experiential learning. For this, we plan to develop an improved programme for combating discrimination of young people with disabilities that addresses the above needs, weaknesses and threats. The most feasible solution we identified was to make an online learning platform that would allow organisations to deliver such workshops using digital tools. Still, the experiential learning process we typically use cannot be simply adapted to on-line and needs a significantly different approach. Hence, by including the unique expertise of partners we drafted the plan for a solution that uses dedicated methods for the on-line experiential learning process, which will be blended with our typical peer to peer approach.Consequently, by the end of the project, our objectives are to:O1. Develop a dedicated on-line resource & learning platform that EU organisations can use to make their act. more accessible and combat ableism among young peopleO2. Create the capacity to include y.p. with disabilities in their socio-educational activities for at least 24 youth and youth serving organisationsO3. Increase the participation in youth work activities for youngsters with disabilities by at least 50 pers.O4. Combat manifestations of ableism among local y.p. in at least 360 per<< Implementation >>A1. PREPARATION ACTIVITIES (1st - 2nd month)Content of these is presented in the relevant sections of the application.A2.1. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES/NEEDS ANALYSIS (3rd to 8th month) & A2.2.DEVELOPING THE T-KIT (8th to 13th month)The process will follow the next steps:a. Training needs assessmentb. Creating/identifying the digital learning methods/developing the online learning platformc. Defining the evaluation methodologyFor assessing the training needs, partners will work with experts in the field and other stakeholders and will identify the most appropriate content to be included in the on-line tool-box. Also, as not all partners working on the platform have a uniform understanding of the pedagogical approach used in peer-to-peer and experiential education, but also to establish a space for co-creation of the learning experiences we need, two persons from each partner will attend specific training on the topic in October 2022 (in C1). During this mobility, the first 3 days will be allocated for a Thematic Awareness Training on the topic of anti-bias experiential learning, while the last 4 days will be used for creative activities aimed at identifying potential ways in which a similar format can be transferred in the on-line environment using custom made learning experiences.Using this experience and based on the needs assessment, 2 experts from each partner will be involved and will contribute the content of the online toolbox that is in line with their expertise. The aim of this activity is to develop transferable, cross-sectorial, tools and instruments that are accessible enough to be used by organisations and youth workers to develop inclusive activities and promote inclusion in their local environment. A3. PILOTING THE TRAINING METHODOLOGY IN LOCAL IMPLEMENTATIONS (14th to 21st month)For testing the effectiveness of the programme, we will create:- a network of 24 peer-trainers from GR, BG, RO and SI (6 from each country), who will be empowered to organise, in teams of 2 persons, two workshops with an impact at a local level for promoting social inclusion of persons with disabilities among 360 young people - a network of 24 youth workers, who will be empowered to use the expertise developed through the participation in the programme to adapt their organisations' regular activities so that they are also accessible to at least 50 young people with disabilities.The members of these two networks will be trained to use the programme in a short term joint staff training (C2). Following their participation:- peer trainers are expected to organise at least two anti-bias workshops at local level, involving 10 - 15 participants, lasting for at least 8 sessions (aprox. 15 working hours)- youth-workers are expected to organise at least two inclusive activities, involving min 2 participant with disabilities20 of them will later be part of a Peers to Pro mobility in Greece (C3) during which they will develop their trainings skills so that following the project they can become multipliers of the programme, teaching others how to use the programmeThe working methods will be chosen according to the T-Kit’s methodology and to the foreseen action plan. Each workshop will have an important non-formal component.Each participant will receive on-site support and coaching from the trainers of the partners.A4. DEVELOPING THE PROJECT PLATFORM (2nd to 22nd month)A5. COMMUNICATION, MONITORING, DISSEMINATION, EVALUATION, FOLLOW-UP (1st to 24th month)<< Results >>The theory of change the project proposes is that by taking part in the educational program we will develop:- young people from EU countries will no longer discriminate based on disability - youth organisation will be more inclusive.Hence, in terms of outcomes, the project aims to bring positive effects to:- young people (typically the ones aged 14 - 30, with a stronger impact on the ones facing disability), by improving their well-being and inclusion as a result of reducing manifestations related to ableism in at least 70% of them- youth and youth-serving organisations, by helping them increase their impact in their communities, as a result of putting at their disposal a modern and effective peer education programme on combating discrimination based on disability.- young people who wish to be active in their societies, by supporting their active involvement and equipping them with the competencies and tools they need for promoting a positive change in their communities (by participating as peer trainers in the project)During the lifetime of the project, through local workshops that use the program methods, we aim to achieve these positive outcomes for at least 360 young people from RO, GR, BG and SI (70% of total), at least 24 youth and youth serving organisations involved, and 24 peer trainers volunteering for the partners. As a direct result of the activities of the project, we aim to foster the inclusion of at least 50 young people with disabilities in specific socio-educational activities organised by 24 youth workers we will train, part of the programme piloting phase.In terms of outputs, we aim at developing a non-formal, peer-to-peer training program that uses digital tools as a base for experiential learning for:1. combating ableism among young people, 2. supporting inclusion of y.p. with disabilities in socio-educational act. of youth NGOsThis has the advantage are of easier scalability and being a greener solution, by reducing the need for in-person workshops.Still, shifting the learning process that is typically done in in-person workshops to an on-line solution is definitely not an easy task and we have not met any effective implementations of such an approach. Our SWOT analysis on 7 existing programmes identified weaknesses and threats to such an approach that should be properly addressed, like:- the group dynamics, which plays a major role in the pedagogy of anti-bias education programs, are affected by the lack of physical interaction. Creating a safe environment and open interaction between learners can be harder to achieve when they do not actually meet.- Creating online experiences that generate the same learning outcomes as the ones used in the in-person workshops requires a different set of skills, not existing in youth NGOs. This expertise was found in TOP S&S, a company who develops on-line tools to educate people- the reflection and generalisation (debriefing) part of the structured experience, which has a key role in the learning process, cannot be easily done without facilitation from a human peer-trainerBased on these realities, the main output of the project will be a training programme that uses digital tools as a base for experiential learning in a peer-lead learning process, featuring both online and in-person workshops. The program will address the above challenges in an effective way and the learning platform will represent a helpful tool for:- youth workers and peer trainers to facilitate a learning process that fosters a more inclusive behaviour among young people, a more open attitude on working with persons with disabilities, becoming more open and comfortable to work with such persons- youth organisations to become themselves more inclusive and adapt their activities to the specific needs of persons with disabilities.Another result will be 2 multipliers networks consisting of 24 peer trainers and 24 youth workers certified in accesibilisation of youth work."

"Among many participants in traffic, young people represent a risk group. Only in 2017 in Slovenia, 14 young people lost their lives in road traffic accidents, and 126 were seriously injured. Young people are three times more often involved in road traffic accidents than the average driver, as well 27 % of all road traffic accidents caused under the influence of alcohol are caused by young people (Source: Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency, 2018). Also, on a global scale, road traffic accidents are number one cause for mortality among youth (Source: WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety, 2015). Despite the fact that road safety is a field that is so intensely connected to young people, youth and youth organizations in their local environment are not involved in democratic processes, where they could influence the improvement of road safety among young people. With the project ""Turn the wheel in the right direction"", we enabled active participation and empowerment of young people and youth workers in shaping road safety among young people in their local environment. Through structured dialogue between local decision makers, youth and youth workers we created concrete proposals and solutions for improving road safety among young people in their local environment. We merged created proposals and solutions in an Action plan / Recommendations for Municipality of Celje, which are and will be implemented by local decision makers. The participants of the project were young people (30 persons), youth workers (8 persons, 2 of them invalids, injured in a car accident) and local decision makers (6 persons). Within the project we carried out three meetings / three activities, where we used non-formal education methods. At the first meeting, young people and youth workers recognized the needs of their local environment, analyzed road safety, identified issues seen in the field of road safety, through method of fieldwork. At the second meeting, young people and youth workers sought for possible solutions, proposals and actions, based on needs and issues identified at the first meeting. They explored examples of good practices and developed measured that respond to their local environment. At the third meeting, solutions and proposal were represented to the local decision makers in the field of road safety, and together with young people they developed constructive debate on presented issues and proposals. As said, we merged created proposals and solutions in an Action plan / Recommendations for Municipality of Celje to improved their road safety in local environment. Local decision makers obliged themselves to implement proposals and measures in the local environment. Participants strengthened their competencies, gained new knowledge in the field of road safety. On local level, intergenerational cooperation between young people, youth workers and local decision makers was improved. Important aspect of the project was also active integration of disabled individuals, breaking stereotypes and recognizing their needs in the field of road safety. Young people were increasingly included in democratic processes, what will impact on the long-term of improvement of road safety among young people in their local environment."