Youth Information is a prerequisite to youth participation and young people's access to rights. In order to enhance active citizenship and to increase quality youth participation, as well as to create equal opportunities for young people in different societies, Europe needs to have informed youth and well-prepared professionals who can provide young people with quality information and counselling services. As a matter of fact, in many European countries, youth information and counselling services are provided systematically and with professionalism, on a daily basis, to ensure that young people are enabled to make informed choices and live their own life with autonomy and independence. However, the arrival of new generations of youth workers and youth information workers, and the existence of organisations where youth information is still an area to develop underline the need for a capacity-building event targeting these newcomers. As a protagonist on a European scale of the development of youth information, ERYICA wishes to meet these needs by organising a course aimed to new generations of youth information workers and youth workers willing to gain knowledge in this transversal aspect of youth work. The event will be an opportunity to overview the main principles of youth information and the challenges at stake for ensuring young people’s access to rights, effective promotion of youth information services, and provision of services matching the information needs of young people considering the way they access information in a digital age. Through this course, all participants will increase their capabilities by learning new methods and discussing quality youth information and services,The YIntro - Stepping into Youth Information Training project will take place in Turkey and will bring together 31 participants, trainers and support staff from 10 countries who will work together for 6 days. The main aim of the project is to endow beginner youth information workers and youth workers with skills and knowledge, this way contributing to the operation of high quality youth information and counselling services in all participating countries.The beneficiaries, coming from Austria, Albania, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom will be guided by a professional 3-person training team, who were trained during previous Youth in Action projects, YIntro Trainings to Trainers. This way the present project provides continuity and the dissemination of former results, as well as further professional development for former YiA beneficiaries.The training will apply non-formal methodology and it will be run with active and participative methods. It equally builds on the active participation of trainees to maximise the learning outcomes.The 16 content sessions will discuss various aspects of youth information work, starting with the definition of key terms and principles and finishing with promotion and networking. Each day will end with a round up-session to summarise the day, if the expected aims were reached, what the learning experiences were and to discuss generally about the programme.

"The 'Youth Ambassadors for Youth Information against Discrimination' training course will be organised for young people coming from 9 different European countries (Cyprus, Slovenia, Estonia, Macedonia, Czech Republic, Spain, Bosnia Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Sweden and Ireland) and will take place in Alicante (Spain). This project has its roots in the training course hosted in Malta in May 2012 for Youth Ambassadors for Youth's Right to Information in the context of the European campaign ""Information Right Now!"", implemented by ERYICA in partnership with the Council of Europe. The partnership also got inspiration from the No Hate Speech Campaign of the Council of Europe and from recent phenomena in Europe, such as youth radicalisation or the intolerance and xenophobia that the refugee crisis has awaken. Youth's right to information is fundamental in rising civic engagement among young people, strengthening their European mobility and awareness, increasing youth accessibility to opportunities for personal and professional development, and ensuring non-discrimination, tolerance and respect for European values. The project was developed from the idea that access to information is a key to tackle youth discrimination and violent and intolerant behaviours among young people. Thus by this training we aim to empower young people to be ambassadors of European values and information as a right for all youth in all the fields that concern their development. There are four main objectives of the training course: 1. To raise the awareness of Youth Ambassadors on the importance of youth's right to information, both as an essential right and a prerequisite for young people’s access to their rights; 2. To promote a culture of active citizenship and respect for the difference in which young people advocate for reducing the levels of acceptance of hate speech, racism, and discrimination in any of its expressions; 3. To increase the competences and abilities of young people to spread the message among youngsters, decision-makers and media; 4. To strengthen the cooperation between young people coming from different parts of Europe by enhancing open attitudes towards different cultural experiences and backgrounds. During the training seminar, young people coming from different countries will come together to jointly reflect on the reality of young people and the situation of youth information in their local realities. They will receive both individual and group tasks, will share information and best practice on the topic, and they will develop ideas of civic involvement through means of non-formal and informal learning. The final goal for them is to take the acquired knowledge, abilities and skills back to their home countries in order to become Youth Ambassadors for Youth Information against Discrimination. Special activities will be organized for cultural awareness, solidarity and networking, and video testimonials will be the main output of the training course. Networking will be in focus since the involved organisations have an ambition to co-operate in an European level. As all young people have the right to access information, it is crucial to ensure the participation of underrepresented groups. The project will involve organised and non-organised youth and young people with fewer opportunities, especially from minorities, poor socio-economic backgrounds, rural areas, or those at risk of social exclusion. The notions of inclusion, solidarity, tolerance, and respect for diversity are of priority for all partners. These young people will get informed about their genuine human rights especially the right to quality information. Moreover this will enable them to become more active part of the society, even include them in the structured dialogue with policy makers on national and/or European level. Furthermore, by knowing their rights, young people will be aware of how to defend."

This project was the first stage of what we hope will be a three stage project combining Key Action One's Mobility of Youth Workers with Key Action Two's strategic partnership. The overall aim of the project is to train and mentor 20 citizen journalists from Ireland, Finland and other European countries to cover EU affairs with their work being aimed at the youth demograph. This project will loosely follow on from the work that EM Ireland has developed with our Youth Media and the Irish Presidency and My MEP – My Voice projects that we ran with considerable success in 2013 and 2014. The first stage of the project involved a seminar and study visit for youth workers and partner organizations in Dublin, this seminar and study visit took place in January 2015. This seminar saw the partners discuss and plan out the overall project as well as look at how previous projects have gone, hearing from participants and trainers. On the first day of the study visit and seminar, the participants took part in a series of ice breaking and introductory activities aimed at breaking down barriers and creating a sense of common purpose. The participants gave a thorough introduction to their areas of work and what projects they were currently implementing. At the end of the day, our foreign aprticiapnts were taken for a walking tour of Dublin to look at some the city's cultural offerings.The second day saw the participants come together for a detailed day of planning, brainstorming and best practice sharing. A key focus of the second day was on sharing the experiences of the youth workers with working in the fields of youth advocacy, development, media and engagement. We went through various aspects of youth work and how this project could fit in with current activities as well as looking at what obstacles might arise. Led by an external facilitator, Alan Hayes, the day was an intense all day session located in the boardroom of 8 Lower Fitzwilliam Street. As part of this day's training participants also met with Tim Hayes from the European Commission Representation in Ireland. Mr Hayes gave an important introduction to the EU decision making process to the participants as well as discussing the areas of the Commission's work that touch upon the youth work sector.On the third day, participants took part in a study visit to the offices of the European Commission in Ireland and the European Parliament information office. Participants used this as an opportunity to build upon the introductory remarks given by Mr Hayes the previous day before meeting with young people who had previously participated in both the Youth Media and the Irish Presidency and My MEP - My Voice in both a formal an informal setting. We arranged for some of the previous participants to talk through some of the work they produced particularly looking at the usage of social media and also newer technologies. By getting the original participants to break down the work they produced and explain the process of production, publication and ultimately dissemination of the work, we felt that the participating youth workers will be able to focus on what worked well before and question how that can be developed and even improved upon. We also received a briefing from the head of the Fine Gael press office, Stephen O'Shea, who gave an interesting insight into his current work as well as roles he previously held in the Department of An Taoiseach where he had engaged with YMIP during the Irish Presidency.On the fourth day of this seminar we began the day with a study visit to the Houses of the Oireachtas where the participating youth workers will be able to see first hand how the decision making process works in an Irish context with the opportunity to meet key decision makers from both Dail Eireann and Seanad Eireann. The afternoon of the fourth day saw the morning's activities built upon with a series of meetings in the Department of An Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) with key officials and relevant political leaders. Not only did this allow us to introduce the wider plans of the project to the highest echelons of Irish government but it further developed the knowledge and understanding of the decision making process.The final day of the study visit and seminar was an intensive work shop with the participating youth workers. The aim of this workshop was to agree on an outline of the second stage of this overall project which will become part of the application for funding under Key Action Two's Strategic Partnership funding line and the creation of a training manual to accompany this project. By drawing on the experience of each participant's professional knowledge of youth work and advocacy; combining this with the relevant feedback from the sessions with the young people that had been involved in prior projects; added to the insight gained into the various decision making processes, we produced a thorough follow on project plan and application.

"1 out of 5 young people in EU is still unemployed. In July 2016, over 4.2 million young people from EU, under 25 years old, still did not have a job. One of the causes of this worrying situation is the youth’s lack of some ""soft"" skills, knowledge and attitude necessary for the labour market. This project seeks to develop a proposal under KA2 which marries digital and future / soft skills, and seeks to examine how to best incorporate these vital skills into youth work programmes, and how best to build trainings and supports for youth workers and organisations to best deliver these future skills to young people, thus significantly enhancing the employability and mobility of young people.We will also seek to identify ways and best practices which contribute to the professional development of youth workers to train young people on key digital competences and future skills necessary to accessing the labour market, and help them find their own career path. The project’s priority is to examine current programmes and practices, identify where best practice can be developed and to build a partnership and proposal which creates a weaving of digital and future skills into both mainstream and targeted youth work programmes and services. In addition we will identify opportunities to provide youth workers with trainers knowledge and skills in order to provide workshops a range of digital and future skills topics, to professionally help young people to better integrate on the labor market. In addition the seminal document European Youth Strategy 2012-2018– Investing and empowering Youth (European Commission: 2009) acknowledges that young people are one of the most vulnerable groups in society, especially in the current economic and financial crisis, while at the same time they are a precious resource. This project will seek to build a KA2 project which establishes Best Practice Approach in the integration of digital and future skills into youth work, and youth services, By developing a best practice approach the partners seek to improve the outcomes for young people relating to a number of key policies at national, international and European levels. The key touch-points are; The Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Erasmus+, Europe 2020, 2008 Council of Europe Youth Policy Agenda 2020,Irish Government 2014 Better Outcomes-Brighter Futures, European Youth Strategy 2010-2018-Investing and Empowering Youth."

Objectives;The main objectives of the project were as follows:• Priority1: Promote the best practice approach development for those engaging and working with young Travellers• Priority 2: Build contemporary alliances between young people and those who work with young people • Priority 3: Improve outcomes for young Travellers, awareness of Cultural Identity, resilience and employability in young peoplePriority 4: Develop an on line bank of knowledge which can be accessed and maximised by organisations, service designers and managers, policy shapers and influencers, volunteers, and professionals alike.Number and profile of participating organisations;The project involves four organisations including:Lead Organisation: Youth Work Ireland (trading as the National Youth Federation) National Youth Federation Limited (trading as Youth Work Ireland) works to develop the potential of young people and to strengthen communities in Ireland through quality youth services. Young people are at the heart of the organisation and are supported with excellent standards in volunteers, leaders, staff and services. We are a national youth organisation, established over 50 years ago, a federation of local services run by local communities. This gives us a number of advantages in terms of reach and efficiency in delivering our work at minimum cost with maximum impact. Our Integrated Youth Service is responsive to local demand and not prescribed or top down. It harnesses the goodwill and voluntary effort of local people because of this. Our services are closely aligned with Local Government, Education and Training Boards and Children`s Services Committee’s working in these communities and able to form key strategic partnerships to deliver locally on national priorities. Equally, our national role allows us to take a unified approach and channel the local experience into national policies and practice.Partner organisation: Youth Action Northern IrelandYouthAction NI (YANI) is a membership based, regional, youth organisation, with a 70 year history of working with young people to tackle inequalities in their lives, improve their life chances and contribute to flourishing communities in a peaceful and shared society.YANI are ambitious to tackle some of the issues most critical to young people, including youth unemployment and, with others, contribute to a flourishing population. Our vision is that young people are happy, healthy and hopeful. Our interventions work primarily with young people aged 13-25yrs, with over 15,000 young people benefiting each year. YANI support their membership and local community connections through a range of mechanisms including information, quality assurance of youth work practices, the development of an E-News newsletter, local and regional hub support, insurance services and discounted rates for events.The organisation comprises over 50 staff (including youth work staff, apprentices, interns, administrative staff), 200 locally connected members and over 500 volunteers. There are regional offices across Northern Ireland, with some incorporating training rooms and learning hubs. Areas of expertise include youth employability/accredited training, rural based youth work, youth arts, equality work with young women and young men; and area based youth work strategies. YANI envisage and plan for outcomes which build young people's resilience, increase their economic activity, increase their volunteering and leadership skills, increase their contribution to peace-building, increase their creative expression and which increase their advocacy and political engagement.YANI operate a range of quality assurance and quality impact assessments. For example, the Investors in People quality mark, operate a purposeful quality assurance framework recognised by the Department of Education, and also utilize a range of outcomes based evaluation mechanisms. Self evaluation and reflective practices are embedded as the norm across the organisation. YANI are also in the process of modernising their monitoring processes through a new computerised social impact tracker, and improving youth workers ability to integrate ICT within their practices.Partner Organisation: InvolveInvolve is a specialist youth and community development organisation working young people and their families from the Traveller community. Originally known as the National Association of Traveller Centres (NATC), it was founded in 1972. The organisation’s original function was to act as a representative body for Senior Traveller Training Centres (STTC’s) with Government Departments and other Statutory and Voluntary organisations. In 1988, it was funded to provide youth services with young Travellers. The STTC’s were phased out 2012 and Involve’s vision and mission for youth work, which was already in place for the youth work bring practiced under the NATC umbrella, evolved and expanded further in different ways.Involve’s work is based