The Youth Access to Grow (YAG) proposal aimed to improve the chances of young people with fewer opportunities in their participation in Erasmus + program actions, in particular, within the volunteer projects. The project stems from the reflection from the social entities about the real difficulties that these young people have in accessing the volunteer projects and about the little adaptation that these projects may have to accommodate a volunteer with some kind of difficulty. The project was structured based on the elements that can facilitate this access, pivoting on three points: the host projects, the people who are in charge of the tutoring and the preparation of the young people themselves. Thus, the project has created a network of entities that have reviewed existing tools and resources, have worked to adapt their host projects for young people with fewer opportunities and have promoted access to the network of new organizations interested organizations. It should be noted that the main purpose of the network is to create or adapt host projects that can explicitly accommodate young people with some kind of difficulty: social, training, economic, different capacities or geographical among others. The project has also had an important point in the training of the people in charge of the volunteers since it has been detected that an appropriate accompaniment to them according to their needs is essential. In this way, the entities have created training content and have trained the people in charge of tutoring for a better accompaniment, previous work on the situation of the young person and a more fluid and effective communication with the sending entity . The third actor from which the project pivots are the young people themselves, through the development of content for their preparation before departure and applying this preparation to a group of 10 young people per entity. The contents will be based on motivation, fears, expectations ... The project has also contemplated parallel actions, but with relevance for the effectiveness of the initiative: dissemination and promotion of the network to other entities, contact with the different National Agencies as well as the creation of a virtual space of content and tools related to inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities. The presentation of the first reception projects has also been contemplated.With all of this, we intend to ensure that there are defined projects that explicitly welcome young people with mere opportunities, that the people who will carry out the tutoring tasks are prepared and have direct contact with the referents in the sending country, that these people are prepared to make a proper accompaniment, that young people have an appropriate preparation phase to avoid project failure and make the most of this opportunity, that they know first hand the project where they will perform the service and that it is appropriate for them and, finally , disseminate and promote the initiative so that the number of entities that promote these adapted and quality projects increase more and more. The project has been carried out with a consortium formed by entities from different fields and different experience but with an explicit motivation to welcome / send young people with fewer opportunities. Organizations have shared functions and tasks equally based on their capabilities. From Coordination it has been guaranteed, through complete cooperation agreements and periodic communication, that the whole process has high quality standards.

<< Objectives >>The project aims to improve job placement opportunities for young people with social and/or educational deficits through a process of analysis and validation of the personal skills (soft skills) that appear on their CV but which lack the necessary credibility to be a differential factor. It intends to use this process as the basis of a methodology of guidance and competency improvement for young people through the development and training of the figure of a Competency Counselor.<< Implementation >>Activities aimed at planning and preparing the expected results will include: Competency validation methodology, Apps to support the validation process, Competency guidance methodology, tool-kit and Competency Counselor digital training resource. These activities will not only be focused on achieving the defined results but on doing it with quality and using an inclusive approach and in a collaborative way applicable to young people with fewer opportunities.<< Results >>A methodology for analysis and validation of the true skills of the young person will be developed, supported by a mobile App that facilitates this process (WP3); a methodology that supports youth professionals in defining the competency objectives of the young person, supported by a resource bank (WP3); and, finally, a digital training resource (e-learning) for the figure of Competency Counselor (WP4) supported by follow-up and dissemination processes.

The project intends, as described in different sections of this form, to offer empowerment and training to young people through the development of a project to transform different disused spaces. For this purpose, a process of involvement of young people throughout the process, empowerment in entrepreneurship and initiative and the added that this initiative will not be local, but will be focused on a dissemination to other groups of young people.The project therefore includes two differentiated parts, on the one hand the transformation of disused spaces (which usually accumulate waste and are not practicable) through a participatory process involving the local community and youth groups. The latter will be responsible for training by choosing the workshops to carry out and implementing the necessary actions for the transformation of the spaces. These actions will be decided in the participatory process but will contemplate, for example, construction disciplines (street furniture, tile making, ...), artistic disciplines (wall illustrations, graffiti, ..), landscaping (gardening, space design) , ...) or design (visual elements, creative elements, protest elements, ...). The group of young people will be involved in most of the phases of the project and their capacity for entrepreneurship and decision will be strengthened. Objectives and monitoring of youth learning will also be established with the opportunity to certify this learning at the end of the project.On the other hand, it contemplates tangible results derived from these experiences and processes. These results are: a base Manifesto that establishes the philosophy of the initiative, a Methodology that helps motivate and involve young people as well as help their learning process, a training workshops that help young people to be trained, to gain confidence and to face the transformation with guarantees, transforming Actions as technical support to the transformation and audiovisual elements of motivation and diffusion. These documents are intended to be an aid to other groups of young people or entities and will be made based on the experience and testing of the groups participating in the project.Both the training workshops that will be held and the workshops and dynamics contemplated in the tangible results will be based on non-formal education methodologies since, by the profile of the young participants, they are the best tool for a good development of the initiative and a effective learning of young people.The proposal includes various entities with different capacities to which the functions will be distributed according to their competences and experience. The entities are Basurama (Spain) as an entity that will coordinate the action of transforming workshops and actions with a technical-creative approach, Walk Toghether (Bulgaria) that will be in charge of the transformative management with a group of young people in addition to the preparation of the material related to the learning of young people, CET Skopje platform (Macedonia) responsible for the management of a group of young people and Associació Prosec (Spain) that will manage a group of young people and perform the functions of project coordination.We believe that the impact at the local level can be important, not only because of the transformation of a disused space, but also because of the empowerment of young people and the involvement of the local community that this initiative implies. We believe that the project also has an impact on local administrations, youth workers, partner entities and associated partners.A dissemination strategy is established that aims to show the results of the project as a motivating and replicable initiative with other young groups. These results will be accessible and will be free. This fact, together with the fact that the use of spaces by the community will be promoted, makes the initiative sustainable and lasting.

"<< Background >>Young people have always suffered particularly from economic and value crises, especially when it comes to job opportunities. The current situation of the youth unemployment rate (39.9% of young people under 25 years of age in Spain, 16% in Ireland, 18% in France, 14% in Poland or 17.8% in the EU as a whole), of youth inactivity rate and other elements derived from prejudices about young people make it important to work from a different approach to the traditional one and adapted to new needs.Traditionally, the skills and competencies of people have been certified through official qualifications, whether derived from formal studies such as those derived from courses and non-formal training. This trend has changed in recent years, prioritizing other personal skills and abilities as well, since official qualifications do not always guarantee certain necessary skills in the workplace and / or training. Employers embrace that trend and even value hiring young people who have values.And this fact can not only be applied to employability, but also in other types of processes, be they training, education in leisure time, volunteering, etc.If this fact has a general effect on young people, what happens in the case of young people with fewer opportunities? The statistics show that it is considerably worse with young people who have some type of social, educational, economic, family or even race or origin difficulty.These situations and these young people are the profile with which the social organizations partner in the project act and they know this problem and the reality that it entails, since it is the work we do every day.So, how can employability, training opportunities or anything that involves a selection process of a young person in a situation of social risk be improved? How can the young person be assessed if they do not have specific experience and / or training? What happens when one of these young people presents his resume in a job interview?The proposal of this project is: ""recovering / taking advantage of / validating"" the personal competencies and values that it has. Also helping them to establish new competency objectives and to work on reinforcing their values and establishing new ones. Therefore, making a process of validation of those competencies and values so that they are not the opinion ""only"" of the young person himself, but something validated and reinforced by a third party based on a homogeneous methodology that allows the credibility of their level of competence and values. .Therefore, give importance to what you do have, your personal skills and your values; and give that importance by reinforcing the veracity and credibility of ""I am responsible"" ""I am creative"" ""I know how to work in a team"" ""I have a good attitude"" ""I am a proactive person"", among many others.Therefore, new agents emerge: educators, youth workers and entities that, through a METHODOLOGY, can validate these competences with a scientific base and contrasted by a Chair of Social Innovation (University); and new tools: offering young people an accessible and simple MOBILE APPLICATION for collection and analysis of skills.The organizations that make up the project know that a competence or a value is not something binary, but rather implies skills, attitudes, aptitudes or approaches that need a deeper reflection. That is why the importance of youth workers in this process: to guide them, motivate them, support them and, finally, validate them in the competence process.<< Objectives >>The project raises the paradox that, being these competencies increasingly necessary and valued, they are the least verifiable. For example, in a curriculum we can identify skills implicit in official degrees, skills and abilities implicit in courses, work experience or non-formal learning; But when it comes to defining the personal skills and values of the young person (I am good at teamwork, I am a creative person, I have a positive attitude or I am responsible, among many others) it is much more difficult for this to have value or credibility with the employer or educator since, traditionally, this is contrasted once the employment relationship or the training process, volunteering, ...We want to reiterate the importance that the values and personal competencies that the young person has are one of the most important aspects that determine their future work or training but that instead cannot be contrasted or valued because they are not validated by any method beyond of personal opinion.Therefore, the general objectives of the project are:- Promote latent or hidden skills of young people with fewer opportunities to improve their future possibilities.- Create tools that facilitate this process and make it simple and effective.- Promote the participation of people close to young people who guarantee continued and close support.- Improve the possibilities of employability, training or volunteering for young people with little work or training experience.- Promote the valuation of personal skills and values among employers.From these general objectives, specific objectives are derived:- Enhance the strengths of young people without work or training experience who are facing a selection process.- Facilitate tools, exchange of experiences and good practices between entities for the work of improving the opportunities of the young people with whom they work.- Create a methodology (O1) based on facilitating homogenization in the validation process by youth workers of personal competencies and youth values.- Create an easily accessible tool (O2) for young people so that they can add the competences proposal, their assessment and the competency objectives.- Facilitate the selection processes for employers and other entities.- Generate a verifiable validation of the personal competencies and values of the young participants.- Disseminate these tools and methodologies to other entities and interest groups.<< Implementation >>The activities described in the project (especially in the Activities section) are based on processes that promote the creation of validation processes of personal competencies and values among young people with the support of referents (youth workers, educators or tutors).It is intended to generate a joint work with two profiles of partners; on the one hand social entities with access and active projects with young people with fewer opportunities with a diverse profile and, on the other hand, the reinforcement of a university that can validate the methodological processes. There are also a large number of non-formal partners, recipients of this work and potential implementers of the results.Specifically, the activities are based on joint reflection between the partners of the personal competencies and necessary values and their selection (A1). This will be based both on the experience of the organizations themselves and on contrast with different groups of young people. Subsequently, work will begin on creating a methodological basis (A2) that allows the referents of these young people (educators, youth workers or tutors) to have a process to validate these competencies. This process will not be binary, but will involve the continuous acquisition of sub-competencies that generate the acquisition of specific competencies. This methodology will not only contain validation but also processes to support and motivate the young person to set new goals to acquire new skills. This part will end with the creation of said methodology (O2).The following activity involves testing the process (A3) with different groups of young people from different organizations (and also non-formal partners) to test the effectiveness of the process.Once this phase is finished, the testing and validation process will begin with the different groups of young people and youth workers (A5).The activities will continue with the final preparation of these materials and other elements (A6) that can facilitate their dissemination, dissemination and distribution among interest groups (among others, non-formal partners).One of the most important elements in this phase are the Multiplier Events (E) since, given their degree of specialization in the target audience and their broad territorial scope, they will be a vital element of dissemination.The activities inherent to the purpose of the project will end with the dissemination and dissemination of the results (A7) beyond that generated in the Multiplier Events.Obviously the project has other activities more related to the project's own management (A1 Management and A8 Evaluation) but which are widely described in the development of this application.<< Results >>The group of partners promoting this proposal is convinced of the value and results of this project beyond the creation of the Project Results (O1 and O2).We believe that the fact that the consortium has detected common needs in different European countries and is grouped to seek solutions and generate processes that improve the situation of the young people with whom it operates, has an important value and can be considered an implicit positive result .In the same way, we consider that the participation of the young people themselves in the test groups generates an important value for them, since it enhances their participation, motivation and resilience. They will be co-creators of these tools and will have the possibility to get involved at the level they want in the process of creating the tools. The same happens with the involvement and participation of youth workers, educators and tutors who will be direct participants and co-creators of the methodologies.On the other hand, the benefit generated by this project at the level of connections and cooperation between different types of organizations, be they social, youth organizations, occupationally oriented, companies and the rest of non-formal partners also generates added value to the proposal.However, the tangible results that are intended to generate are two:- A methodology (O1) that supports the referents of young people (youth workers, educators or tutors) to carry out the validation process of the personal skills and values of young people. Therefore, a document prepared with a pedagogical basis that allows them to apply the methods to be able to assess the acquisition of a specific competence or value through the fulfillment of certain conditions and that, all this, can be recorded so that there is an effective validation. This result will be a joint process of all project partners, where the University of Lleida, through its Chair of Social Innovation, will be the guarantor of the pedagogical and social base of the tool.- An Application (probably mobile application) accessible and simple to facilitate that young people can dump the data of acquired skills, skills to be acquired and objectives, so that this information can be contrasted and validated by the referents of said young people. The purpose of this is that young people can contrast these skills beyond their own opinion or perception."

"<< Background >>The presence of an immigrant population of third-country nationals is a common feature of all European Union countries. Many of these people are under 30 years of age and include refugees from countries in the midst of war or economic crisis, unaccompanied minors, and young people who lack adequate schooling. From this point emerges the need to seek strategies to facilitate the integration of these groups to ensure social and economic progress, as well as intercultural cohesion; objectives which, for several years, have been a priority for the European Union. However, many of these groups (notably in the five countries of this project) find themselves in positions of disadvantage and fewer opportunities, and non-formal education organisations stand out as a powerful tool to remedy this. Unfortunately, there is a lack of coordinated strategies and efforts to bring together the innovation and experiences of organizations working in this field at the trans-European level. The consortium of organisations of this project propose the development and dissemination of tools and materials which address a wide variety of topics with the aim of facilitating the work of non-formal education entities and organizations in their activities with young refugees and migrants.<< Objectives >>The project aims to establish common pedagogical approaches and innovative tools in training and educational work with young people of migrant origin that are applicable by both the project partners and in the activities of other organizations in the same field at a European level. Therefore, the general objectives of the project are:- To enhance the level of innovation of youth workers and the quality of the pedagogical basis at an organizational level with regard to the identified target group.- To promote cooperation and the exchange of knowledge, good practices and methodologies which are applicable in the actions and educational activity of organizations involved with young migrants and refugees in non-formal education.- To create tools and materials that facilitate this process and make it simple and effective.From these general objectives, specific objectives are derived:- Facilitate the revision and innovation of the pedagogical bases by youth workers within the partner organisations.- To assess the real needs of the target groups in their diverse local contexts.- To promote the learning and training of youth workers in a C1 event. - To create a tangible output (O1): a teaching and learning manual containing a bank of resources with session/teaching plans and printable materials with six focus points: linguistic provision/support, intercultural activities, risk prevention, mental health/psychological support, and digital pedagogy. - To create an online platform to ensure the widest and most effective dissemination of this output.- To disseminate the materials, tools and methodologies to other entities and stakeholders.<< Implementation >>In order to respond to the identified needs and meet its objectives, the project will contain three distinct phases. The first one will be based on the evaluation of the local contexts and actions of the five organizations with respect to the needs of the trainers/youth workers and target groups, and the sharing of good practices already implemented so as to inform the preparation of the materials for the subsequent phases of the project. A process of collaborative research at the local level will employ interviews, surveys and focus groups to produce a shared vision of local the environment, realities and needs of each target group. The inclusion of a Learning Activity (C1) focused on participatory observation, the exchange of good practices and the development of didactic sessions and workshops will allow for the analysis of pedagogical approaches and strategies for the organizations of this consortium. On the other hand, the project has been designed to produce tangible results derived from the second and third phases of activity, which will provide tools and resources to trainers in their activities with the target groups through the development of materials and the creation of a digital platform to disseminate them, elements which will also ensure a sustainable and lasting impact for the project, and access to what has been created for other organizations working with similar groups. To develop these tangible project results, a process is envisaged that will include a needs analysis, research of existing tools, testing phase of activities, material design and final adaptation.The activities will continue with the final production of these materials, to a professional level, and other elements that can facilitate their diffusion, dissemination and distribution among stakeholders (including non-formal partners). One of the most important elements in this phase are the Multiplier Events (E) since, given their degree of specialization in the target audience and their wide territorial scope, they will be a vital element of the dissemination. These activities will end with the dissemination and diffusion of the results beyond those generated by the Multiplier Events.<< Results >>Beyond the identification of the described needs and the implicit collaboration carried out in a project of this nature, the most important project outcomes to highlight will be the manual of teaching and learning materials, alongside the digital platform, created to facilitate the dissemination of the manual. The manual will be developed based on innovative pedagogical principles and will have six main approaches: - Tools for language acquisition - Intercultural activities and tools - Risk prevention (identity, gender, radicalization, stereotypes and xenophobia, etc.). - Mental health/psychological support - Digital pedagogy - Background cultural profiles of the target groupsThe use of this resource by the trainers, educators and youth workers of the five partners (and the benefits brought about for the target groups through their educational and recreational activities) will be another notewroth outcome of this project. From the processes that will facilitate the creation and development of these main aspects, other secondary, but important, outcomes will emerge. For example, from the needs assessment phase and the evaluation of provisions already implemented for the target groups (A2), will come the results of interviews, surveys, focus groups, and the self-reflection processes of the trainers and youth workers themselves. Likewise, from the learning and training activity (C1), will come the learnings and experiences of the participants themselves, in addition to the completion of its main objective: to provide a space for creation and testing ""in situ"" the methodologies and tools created, in order to analyze them and use them as a basis for the manual itself. Finally, another implicit result that will emerge throughout the course of the project will be the evaluation of the process, as well as the materials developed, to inform the actions of its partners, and the possible extension of the scope and duration of the project at a later date."