"What about values? WAVE YEU - Youth and social work for young migrants/refugeesThe European wide discourse and the value framework within youth social work for young migrants has to find has changed in the last few years. Distinct nationalism, increasing xenophobia and anti-democratic sentiment in the host population and among political opinion leaders are establishing themselves in almost all member states. European values such as cross-border solidarity and tolerance are negated and nationalist attitudes become mainstream. But also not a few of the migrants coming to Europe have little relation to the classical European values. Youth social work has to take these changed conditions into account. The aims of social inclusion must be more closely linked to the consideration and communication of ""European values"" and democracy building. Therefore a more holistic view and efforts related to the practice of youth social work within a changing migration influenced society is necessary. In addition to the exchange of good practice on the integration of young migrants at European level this strategic project pursues an expanded objective: the discussion, analysis and evaluation of offers, methods and strategies of European youth social work for young migrants regarding the impact of ""European"" values and also the communication of those values. The wider focus is on the possibilities and chances of nonformal education and political education.A network of seven Organisations from five different European countries which are all well experienced in youth social work and/or in organising European funded projects for young people with fewer opportunities will cooperate for two years to gain results of good practice in youth social work regarding to the transfer of European values by working on social inclusion of young migrants. The main target groups are for the first the practitioners and organisations on youth social work, than young migrants and also the hosting society. The main objective of the transnational project is to analyse methods and approaches of youth social work with young migrants in connection with the communication of European values, to surge for relevant and adequate concepts of nonformal education in the practice of youth social work and to determine recommendations as a quality feature of youth social work.Six transnational meetings will be organised. Participants are mainly practitioners on youth social work from the sending organisations, representatives of organisations and forther institutions from the local, regional and national level, young migrants from the local level (and if possible as internationals) and representatives from the hosting community like volunteers and other engaged people. Four of these transnational meetings will work on specific topics like: ""European values basics""; ""Democracy building and the practice of youth social work ""; ""Youth social work and the hosting society"" and ""Nonformal political education in the frame of youth social work - methods and practice"" . The last meeting will be organised as a final meeting with a broader audience to summarise the gained results and to formulate recommendations which can be used to improve the quality of European value based youth social work.For further information please contact: hauser@caritas-dicv-fr.de"

Context/background of th ProjectBackpack_ID is an innovative intervention for promoting the inclusion of refugee children at school in four European countries (Greece, Italy, Germany and Sweden). In all European countries today the creation of more inclusive classrooms for all students is a common goal, rarely achieved. To address this challenge, the Backpack_ID advances an innovative multidisciplinary approach based on expertise in social and developmental psychology, linguistics, and educational theory and practice. Bringing together academic expertise and valuable experience from educational organizations, international educational networks, and NGOs, it develops an intervention focused on elementary and lower secondary-school (10-15 years old) pupils’ multiple collective memberships, backgrounds and identities.ObjectivesThe Project addresses both refugee and non-refugee pupils and seeks: (a) to empower all pupils and make them see and experience aspects of “otherness” in themselves. Pupils’ families and/or immediate social background (their communities) served as pupils’ main resources to this end. “Never leave your backpack behind” refers to the trivial belongings of great emotional and symbolic value that refugees may carry in their backpacks, and serves as common ground in the quest for “pathways” and “bridges” across group-memberships and identities. (b) to advance pupils’ literacy development through (auto)ethnographic collections of narratives and reflection on multiplie identities that emerge in these narratives.Participants- The academic staff of two universities who offered the necessary theoretical elements that formed the innovative intervention of Backpack_ID and trained accordingly the participating teachers. - Twenty-eight teachers of 12 schools (11 ordianary schools and 1 reception unit of municipality) that co-developed the intervantion and implemented it in their classrooms providing all the partnership with constant feedback.- 585 students of 12 schools who developed the educational material of the Project through the (auto)ethnographic activities they involed and their reflection on it. - Students' families (and communities) that offered their pictures, memories, languages, stories, the main sources on which the Project's educational material was based. - Other teachers, researchers, students, parents/ citizens, municipality authorities, policy-makers, NGOs and other stakeholders who participated in the dissemination activities and multiplier events of the Project. Undertaken activities- 7 transnational meetings as originally planned, 6 of them face-to-face and the last virtually due to covid19- Review of the litterature and initial formation of the intervention- Informal training of the participating teachers and final design of the intervention-Implementation in schools, collection of the material by the sudents and reflection on it-Development of the IO1, 2 and 3 that reflect the work done in the participating schools-Development of the IO4 by the academic partners (EKPA and University of Crete)-Numerous dissemination activities at a local, regional, European and international level.-Development of a free acces on-line platform that provides to all educators and researchers the opportunity to use all Backpack_ID outputs.Results and impact The Backpack_ID reports positive results and important impact attained at various levels:- Regarding the project’s outcomes, all the developed IOs were of the highest quality and translated to five languages.- The direct participants (researchers and teachers) acquired significant gains in both academic and educational level. They enhanced their research skills, developed a deep understanding of the dynamics of multiple identities and created a strong potential for expanding the method of intervention for more inclusive classrooms. They also gained experience of mechanisms that led gradually to inclusion, enhanced their networking and cooperation with colleagues and social-networks from other European countries. - In participating schools, the dynamics in class changed and facilitated communication in creative ways; pupils developed a readiness to recognise bias and discrimination while respecting other people’s social identities; thei literacy improved.-The initially designed dissemination activities were not only met, but were expanded significantly, reaching large numbers (around 16000) of members of the international educational and academic community, policy-makers and NGOs. Long-term benefitsThe project is expected to have a timely positive impact on affirming common European values because of its bottom-up approach. Rather than seeing them as an imposed set of restrictive regulations, Backpack-ID approaches common values as the ultimate outcome of addressing the needs and perspectives of refugee and non-refugee children, local communities and stakeholders, in a common account of social inclusion challenges.

"Young people are the ones hit hardest by unemployment and precarious employment. At the same time, all EU and national elections in the last few years have revealed increasingly low youth turnout combined with growing Euroscepticism, as dramatically illustrated by the Brexit referendum. The complex situation of young people in transition to adulthood thus calls for trained and experienced European youth workers. Driven by YES Forum’s membes, YES Academy addressed this issue by contributing to achieve a greater impact of the Erasmus+ Youth Inclusion and Diversity Strategy by:• Creating a more inclusive environment, with more and diverse young people participating in civic activities throughout Europe• Enabling organisations working with and for vulnerable young people to be a more effective force in making it easier for them to actively participate in society• Increasing the capacities of youth workers and their organizations in working with young people and fostering greater cooperation and synergies among youth organisations and other stakeholders throughout the EUThe project idea came from our partner organizations and their ongoing interest in increasing civic participation of disadvantaged young people. All the project partners brought strong expertise in working with young people affected by various disadvantages (e.g. educational, psychological, economic inequalities) in their own communities. Ranging from school social work to street-based youth work, our partners aim to prevent, resolve and avoid the worst effects of exclusion while helping young people to flourish. Through 4 major events conducted over the span of 16 months and involving 115 participants from 15 EU countries, the YES Academy project innovatively combined a process-oriented learning approach prioritising youth worker’s reflection and exchange of experience to create tools for sustainable approaches in working more effectively with young people across Europe:-Through a Contact-Making Event in Germany, the first activity built a common approach based on mutual understanding and fostered the exchange of experiences on promoting youth engagement, active citizenship, participation and social inclusion, preparing the ground for an action-oriented report on how to be more effective in reaching young people.-The second activity, an International seminar held in Brussels, continued the learning activities while providing the space for a dialogue between project partners, representing the youth field, and European policy and decision-makers – the European Parliament and the European Commission in particular – as well as public bodies involved in youth social inclusion, youth unemployment, and active citizenship.-The third activity, a study visit in Finland, was co-organised with After Eight, an organization with a long standing experience in the development of youth active citizenship, participation and social inclusion. The event offered an in-depth look into After Eight’s measures, projects, methodologies and political, financial and administrative infrastructures targeting youth. The event also enabled further exchange of experience between youth workers, resulting in a Good Practices Guide for the Promotion of Active citizenship and Youth social inclusion-The last Contact-Making Event in Germany facilitated transfer into practice. The action-oriented report on how to be more effective in reaching young people was finalised and prepared the ground for future projects following this objective. Policy recommendations on Erasmus+ were also finalised thanks to the partners’ gathered feedback.The tangible results of the project include (all available under ""Downloads"" here: goo.gl/CtAhD9) :• An action-oriented report that summarized the next steps in order to better promote youth active citizenship and participation through concrete project ideas, leading to several Erasmus+ project applications by YES Academy partners on the 4th October 2016 deadline;• A Good Practices Guide for the Promotion of Active citizenship and Youth social inclusion, based on the experiences and case studies shared during the project in order to share them with youth workers throughout Europe. • Policy recommendations on Erasmus+ to help public institutions better support youth and social work across the EU in the future, thanks to feedback from project partners, all grass-root organisations involved in Erasmus+ Youth.The learning results for youth workers were:• Deeper knowledge of structures and support measures for young people and youth organisations at EU and national levels• Qualitative support for the dialogue between the European youth sector and stakeholders in the field of European youth policies with a focus on youngsters with fewer opportunities;• Greater knowledge of good practices related to the social inclusion of young people and the promotion of active citizenship, leading to the concrete implementation of new"