The UN Sustainable Development Goals contain a specific focus on shared decision-making for all groups, with the aim of creating ‘responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels’ (SDG-target 16.7). Furthermore, the global definition of social work notes that human rights principles are central to the profession. Within this, much attention has been given to social work and children’s rights and there has been progress nationally and internationally. However, the participation rights of young children (aged 12 and under) remains an ongoing concern because professionals across Europe experience shared difficulties and barriers regarding implementation. There is much learning to be had across and between countries to secure an inclusive society for all children regarding their involvement in decision making.The overarching aim of this project is to promote the participation of young children (aged 12 years and under) in decision making in a transnational context through strengthening professionals collaboration with young children involved in child welfare/child protection services by collating and disseminating learning materials for social workers, managers, policy officers and trainers. There are four objectives: first, to increase the competence of social workers/professionals; second, to support organisations to create the conditions for participatory social work with young children; third, to provide a framework for policy officers and managers to support the implementation of a participatory approach to social work; and fourth, to provide trainers of post-initial training to teach new tools and methods. To achieve this, 8 partners (drawn from managers, policy officers, academics and trainers) from 4 countries (B, Es, N, UK) will work together. Guided by an Advisory Board which will bring in the voice of the child, all project outputs will be codesigned in cooperation with all stakeholders and offer an integrated approach to enhancing knowledge, skills, values and practice in collaborating with young children. The project will comprise tangible outputs, namely the development of one online platform with three outputs comprising: a media library for all stakeholders; a framework for management and policy officers; and a toolkit for trainers. The media library will be accessible to all stakeholders in a transnational context and will reflect the principles, targets and goals associated with SDG 16 and the UNCRC (both internationally applicable frameworks with obligations attached). It will comprise: methods and tools accessible for social workers to use in their interactions with young children; podcasts of interviews and testimonials; vimeos that explain specific methods and tools; reports (written and vimeo) of the explored practices; and reflections of participants on their use, views and experiences of new methods.The management and policy framework will be informed by the conditions and contextual factors commonly shared in a transnational context that enhance opportunities to strengthen the competence of social workers to work with young children. The new framework will enable managers and policy officers to develop implementation strategies for new models of participative social work in child welfare/protection services; provide guidance to managers in the supervision and appraisal of their staff thereby helping to create the conditions for their staff to work in more participatory ways through collaborative approaches with young children.The toolkit, accessible to all, will comprise: vimeos with demonstrations of methods and tools in use with young children; vimeos with demonstrations of challenging situations in collaborating with young children; and exercises that stimulate self-reflection. The project will also host multiplier events and 3 transnational learning events that will be organised once a year, for 3 days duration each in Belgium, Norway and the UK. In this way, hundreds of people in this field of work will be reached. Regional Innovative methods will be collected, explored and trained. New practices will be co-produced. Between the transnational learning events, regional peer learning sessions will be held to transfer and experiment in their own context. Tangible results and impacts from the project include: children in child welfare/protection participating and collaborating with their social workers; social workers gaining competences (knowledge, skills, attitudes) in collaborating with young children; policy officers and managers creating the culture and context for improved participatory social work; and trainers enhancing the competence of social workers. Impact will be measured using indicators and principles associated with SDG 16 and the UNCRC. Within these parameters, the Advisory Group will assist in developing the most appropriate impact indicator framework.

Roma face a number of challenges in gaining employment in the form of paid work. To begin with, lagging educational levels and the lack of qualifications and vocational skills lead to highunemployment rates and high inactivity levels among the Roma population. Moreover, Roma have faced significant changes in their employment patterns, as the demand for traditionalcrafts, products and services progressively diminished. Furthermore, the economic crisis seems to have had profound negative effects for those at the bottom end of income distribution,Roma included.Persons with low qualifications, in low-wage sectors and in precarious employment were among the first to lose their jobs. Also, extreme residential segregation, both in urban and inrural settings, and poor housing conditions experienced by Roma population throughout Europe, exert a detrimental impact on their employment opportunities.Finally, the pathway of Roma to employment is hindered, also, by a number of structural barriers. Roma in Europe face prejudice, intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion. Theproblems faced by Roma are complex and therefore require an integrated approach. The vulnerability of Roma households is rooted in multiple and interlinked deprivations. Within this context, and in view of the present economic downturn and increasingly competitive labor markets, Roma need more than ever to gain skills and competences to enhance their employability. Since any attempt to increase Roma employment by others faces such high hurdles, the alternative of fostering entrepreneurship and self-employment for Roma becomes an important consideration.The main focus of the ROMA STARTUP project is dealing with the issue of young Roma entrepreneurship. The ROMA STARTUP project rests on the assumption that as long as the social and economic conditions of the Roma preclude a significant proportion of its population from being assimilated into the workforce, entrepreneurship can emerge as a viable alternative to traditional employment; much more so, if we take into consideration the fact that Roma – especially in the countries under consideration –have a long tradition of selfemployment and entrepreneurship and still many carry out crafts, trading and artistic activities. According to FRA “in southern and western EU Member States, such as Spain and Greece, a long tradition in trading, crafts and seasonal work is still visible in the high proportion of self-employment”, contrary to the cases of central and eastern Europe in which the communist patterns of full employment in many large-scale state owned or collective enterprises, led to the oblivion of this tradition.RESULTSThe main primary result is that young Roma may find an alternative viable way to social and economic integration, that of entrepreneurship. Also:• promotion of entrepreneurship education in Europe, especially for vulnerable social groups.• promotion of an inter-agency and inter-discipline approach to address specific challenges for socially marginalized groups.• creation and development of innovative approaches to support a specific target group which is normally recipient of negative stereotypes and behaviors.• development of specific methodologies and tools to enhance social inclusion and cohesion,by combating existing inequalities among European citizens. Apart from these long term expected results, there is a series of subsequent results which areexpected to occur in terms of project outputs and deliverables. These expected results are:1. Entrepreneurship Vocational Training Curriculum2. Trainers ´Resource Pack3. Mentoring Protocol4. A Book with collaborative work methodologies.These results, expected to occur during the project implementation phase and after itscompletion, promote the innovative aspects of the project as well as its broad Europeandimension, hoping to bring a permanent change in the lives of all the people who will bedirectly or indirectly involved in it