"<< Background >>The priorities had been chosen starting from the detection of a PROBLEM in the youth participation and employment and the NEEDS of all the partners of the consortium. As P1, P3 & P4 are all hosting organizations of European Solidarity Corps and previously European Volunteering Service and are able to see the fact that volunteering is still not highly appreciated, as an experience developing skill&competences. Even if volunteering is an enabling environment for informal learning, and accordingly enhances employability, to have an effective impact, there NEEDS TO BE A BRIDGE BETWEEN VOLUNTEERING AND THE LABOUR MARKET. In this sense, NEXT project aims at CREATING VALUABLE RESOURCES, KNOWLEDGE AND KNOW-HOW OF PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING FOR YOUTH PRACTITIONERS AND ORGANIZATIONS, IN ORDER TO GUIDE YOUTH VOLUNTEERS UPON A SUCCESSFUL CAREER, ACCORDING TO BOTH PERSONAL NEEDS & CURRENT LABOUR MARKET REQUESTS. In the context of the ESC, volunteering is the main mechanism for promoting solidarity as a value, helping to overcome important societal challenges and addressing the needs of local communities. It also enables young people to acquire useful experience, skills and competences for their personal, educational, social, civic & professional development, thereby improving their employability and active citizenship.All the partners are sharing the same values of commitment towards the community, civic participation, by improving the participation of all young people in the democratic and civic life in Europe, encouraging active citizenship, volunteering, solidarity & sense of initiative & entrepreneurship. Therefore, promoting, engaging, connecting and empowering young people is a high priority for all the partners involved in the project and this project was conceived in order to create a bridge between volunteering and labour market integration. Our project will foster the development of so much required competences, such as problem solving, critical thinking, innovative thinking etc. We will also create an online platform, which will serve as a network involving stakeholders from all relevant fields of the labour market (companies, social enterprises, NGOs, public bodies and of course youngsters looking for a job).In addition, through our project we intend to prove that volunteering abroad is not only an activity for a gap year, but it is an important experience which can provide both personal & professional development, if a proper guidance & counseling is provided in the process of integration in the labour market or even undertake an enterprise.Volunteering is one of the ways to optimize social cohesion, sustainable integration into the labor market, through the creation of the necessary framework for acquiring specific skills and competencies. It prepares youngsters to face and adapt smoothly to the dynamic changes from the socio-economic environment. However, there is still a LACK OF TOOLS, SYNERGIES AND STRUCTURES TO ENSURE A DIRECT PASSAGE FROM VOLUNTEERING TO THE INTEGRATION IN THE LABOUR MARKET, which may cause youth frustration and even lack of motivation to volunteer.We have chosen these priorities to tackle the ISSUE OF YOUTH PARTICIPATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT and we expect positive changes, by achieving the objectives which will be mentioned in the following section.Moreover, our project also address other horizontal and field specific priorities, such as inclusion and diversity and increasing recognition of youth work, through the fact that the partners of the consortium are working regularly with youth with fewer opportunities, which will be involved in project activities leading to the creation of results, as well as through the fact that one of the project results aim to create a mechanism of recognizing and validating the volunteering experience, in order to facilitate the integration in the labour market and to create synergies among key actors in the process of youth employability.<< Objectives >>Through NEXT, our consortium wants to achieve a strong and extended network of key actors involved in the youth field, such as NGOs, (social)enterprises, public entities, universities etc., in order to foster the integration in the labour market of the current and former volunteers. This network will be created through an online platform in which all these actors can create their profiles and post opportunities (jobs, trainings, (volunteering) projects etc.). All young people can create their profiles, as well, however the current and former volunteers will have the opportunity to upload their youthpass in their profile (in the case of ESC volunteers) and to receive comments from their host organization, acting like recommendations for the possible employers. Through this mechanism we want to address the issue of recognizing and validating volunteering experiences, as opportunities to develop valuable skills and competences and to acquire knowledge, all needed and required in the current labour market. This platform will facilitate the process of selection of candidates and will provide a seal of quality to volunteering experiences. Moreover, through another project result planned, an Employability Guide – “From volunteering to employee and entrepreneur” we want to provide the needed tools and knowledge to youth practitioners, to support them in their regular activities of training, counselling and guiding youth and youth volunteers upon a future career path. Through this Guide, we aim to promote young people’s sense of initiative and (social) entrepreneurship, as well as to strengthen the employability of young people.OBJECTIVESThe objectives were set according to the priorities tackled, the needs encountered both inside the partners’ organizations and in the field of youth volunteering in general. These objectives were further correlated with the activities planned to create the main result, which is expected to improve the partners’ work in volunteering projects by integrating it in the daily activities.-To promote volunteering as a tool to raise employment opportunities;-To create tools, resources and synergies to ensure a network between all important actors of the labour market;-To support the development and improvement of youth skills and competences needed and requested in the current labour market;-To equip youth practitioners and youth association with the needed resources to guide youth volunteers towards employment and/or entrepreneurship.<< Implementation >>The achievement of the project objectives and delivery of the planned result depends on well implemented activities, according to the strategies and parameters set. Each activity of the project is thought and structured with the aim to target the priorities, to achieve the objectives and to create qualitative tangible results, especially project results and to have an important positive impact on the target groups, which also leads to the achievement of intangible results. Each activity has been assigned a leader to coordinate the working process, to oversee the other partners’ tasks and to ensure that deadlines are respected, as well as the quality of the result. We rely on agreements and quality plans which all the partners have already expressed their commitment.Activities from A1 to A15 (according to the Gantt) are financed under project management and implementation.A1 - Overall coordination of the project (P1), A3- Daily management (all) and A4- Transnational project meetings are all important to maintain a good communication flow between the partners and to organize the tasks according to the deadlines. A2- Actualization of Quality Management Plan and quality controls and A7- Evaluation of the project in terms of quality and impact are necessary activities to provide instruments and processes that guarantee the quality and the success of the project.A5 - Collection and provision of documents for interim and final report for the NA is a standard and necessary activity that enables the consortium to organize all the necessary documents needed to report on the project development. Sharing and promotion activities are activities which will ensure the visibility of the project and will create an online community interested in the topic of the project that will generate a wider impact and sustainability of the project result and the overall project. These activities are also generators of tangible results: photos, videos, articles, publications and posts.A9 Update the promotion plan & create monitoring tools A10 Create the visual identity of the project A11 Monitor all partners promotion activities A12 Preparation of project brochure & newslettersA13 Creation and maintenance of the project website A14 Creation and maintenance of the relevant social network pages A15 Webinar Events A6 - Actualization of the COVID 19 protocol for all the presential meetings and events is necessary in the context of the current world pandemic, in order to ensure a safe environment for the participants of all the presential meetings and events.A8 Create sustainability plan is essential in ensuring a further use of projects results outside the partnership after the project ends.The first project result is structured into 9 activities and the 2nd project result into 8 activities, following the steps of the Educational Design Research (EDR) and Agile methodology, transposed in the creation of a Guide and a online platform, which will serve to address the needs of the target group, address the priorities and achieve the objectives. The activities are planned for the following purposes:-better knowledge of the specific needs of the TG related to volunteering -creating the proper content and design of the tools-testing, validation & providing feedback -improvement in terms of concept and design and creation of the final version of the results-ensuring the sustainability of the project’s result<< Results >>NEXT expects both tangible and intangible sustainable results, which will achieve the objectives set and will target the priorities chosen. Since the very beginning, the project was planned with the aim to generate innovative, sustainable, impactful and transferable results to other educational sectors.The main TANGIBLE RESULTS will be the PROJECT RESULTS, which will be concretized into an Employment Guide - ""From volunteer to employee or entrepreneur"" (PR1) and a platform of Stakeholders Online Network (PR2). PR1 is an open educational resource (OER) which will serve as a tool for youth workers, volunteers’ mentors and tutors and any NGO who wants to support and counsel youth and young volunteers in finding a job and/or opening their own (social) business.PR2 is a free digital tool which will serve as a network among all the key stakeholders (NGOs, enterprises, public entities etc.) and youth and young volunteers to facilitate the integration in the labour market, by valuing the volunteering experiences, the knowledge and transversal skills and competencies gained during the volunteering service.These 2 project results are divided into activities which will generate DELIVERABLES, as tangible results.Deliverables of PR1:PR1/A1Research on the current changes in the dynamics of the european labour market and most demanded jobs & skills PR1/A2Research on the regular european opportunities (training, internships, traineeships etc.) PR1/A3 Index of the Guide PR1/A4Content of each chapter PR1/A5Practical non-formal activities to develop the needed skills and competences and evaluation methods and tools for each PR1/A7Proofread Guide PR1/A9Final version of the Guide according to the feedback of youth workers and youth volunteers Deliverables of PR2:PR2/A2 Database of stakeholders PR2/A5 Descriptions of the stakeholders PR2/A8Content of the Open call for further european stakeholders and youth volunteers to join the platform More TANGIBLE RESULTS will be generated through the sharing and promotion activities during the entire life cycle of the project. - Sharing, promotion and communication plan - The logo of the project- Content to be published on the project websites and on the partners’ website- Posts regarding the project to be published on the social media pages of the project and of the partners- Photos and videos taken during the multiplier events or any other sharing and promotion event- Project’s brochure and newslettersThroughout the project one of the priorities will be to make visible the project, the needs that we have demonstrated, the problems associated with those needs as well as the SOLUTION that we provide, in such a way, we are not only manifesting and making visible the problem but our interest in providing youth associations, centers, or any other sector easily accessible and useful digital tool.INTANGIBLE RESULTSThe intangible results are expected to be seen in the partner organizations, direct and indirect target group in terms of:. increased participation of young people in volunteering projects. improved collaboration between NGOs, stakeholders and youth. expanded knowledge and skills of the youth workers in using innovative digital resources to improve youth sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. hosting organizations and youth workers, volunteer coordinators enabled with a tool to provide to their volunteers support to access the labour market"

The aim of the project is to give effective tools to young women living in rural areas to take up their lives thanks to specific entrepreneurial training in sustainable development, to foster their employability, socio-educational and personal development. Through the promotion of green thinking, raising awareness of sustainability, promoting the development in rural and/or isolated areas, exchanging good practices, providing expertise and knowledge for women from rural areas, the project will considerably promote the entrepreneurship education and activities amongst young women. As stated in the European Green Deal for the European Union (2019), the future development of the EU must be green and sustainable, or it shouldn’t be at all. Offering young people and particularly young women, tools, to improve their potential in the labour market and, at the same time, find sustainable solutions to support the local development of their rural communities, is a good strategy to have a “greener” Europe. This is also in line with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals and with what is called for in the UNESCO’s Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Addressing sustainability, development of rural areas and capacity building/training opportunities for young people is the key to make sure that younger generations, even in disadvantaged conditions, can be the real change-makers.In fact, YOU_WEEN! focuses on young women as they suffer from a particularly challenging set of educational barriers, due to cultural, political, social reasons that leave them out of education or job market: nearly 14% of world’s young women are unemployed (UNESCO, 2016) and are considered globally as a vulnerable youth category, having limited knowledge of their civic and political rights, including the capacity to express their political and social views (UN Interpeace).On the other hand, it has been shown by numerous studies and field researches that working with young women becomes particularly effective thanks to the social role played by women since when they have the opportunity and the skills to do it, women take the lead of the social change (UN Womenwatch Organization).YOU_WEEN! objectives are:- train the trainers about instruments for rural development, (social) entrepreneurship, women empowerment, and sustainable ideas- start rural development local grass-roots initiatives lead by young women- Inspire rural communities for agro-economic and social change- Share good practices of rural development and women empowerment in Consortium countries- develop 3 I.O.:1- Set of educational videos2- Virtual Interactive Network and platform3- Exploitation roadmap and guidelines for policy influence- Strengthen Consortium partnership by developing common events and activitiesTherefore, at the end of the project, we’ll have:- 280 young women involved, that will have, as results:- empowered entrepreneurial and managerial skills;- discovered insights and knowledge about different rural life, hidden opportunities and organizational structures (in terms of business and entrepreneurship);- improved communication, interpersonal and foreign language skills;- refined and increased teamwork capacity, social skills, cultural awareness, acceptance of cultural diversity, increased tolerance to others and gender equality;- raised awareness and knowledge about environmental issues and good practices as well as sustainable solutions;- better ICT competences thanks to the use of the platform and the creation of innovative content;- increased self-confidence and self-worthiness;At the end of the project the 56+ Youth workers will have:- improved competences in non-formal training methodologies;- improved communication, interpersonal and foreign language skills;- improved ICT competences;- experience in leading youth groups in sustainable grass-roots projects.The intellectual outputs are all addressed to foster the long-term impact, as they will remain available for further training and bottom-up projects, as well as the Virtual Network that should become a reference for young women all over Europe.Moreover, each community will have trained youth workers that will continue applying the acquired competences with other young women willing to improve their entrepreneurial potential in the framework of sustainable development. At the same time, we hope and seek out that the young women that had participated to the project will continue their path in promoting sustainable development, as well as involving their peers and their communities. The effectiveness of the bottom-up approach is a fundamental pillar for guaranteeing the project sustainability over time, while the tools such as the educational videos will remain at disposal and eventually updated by the youth workers.

<< Objectives >>The project has three purposes: educate and foster the concept of sustainability as a new European value, evaluating it from a digital and green perspectives and analysing its potentials and threats; gather young people’s ideas on such issues, in order to understand how new generations will impact European future, and finally bring those ideas to policymakers at national and European level, to let them understand how to better shape Europe for the next generation.<< Implementation >>In order to reach these objectives, CSI and its partners will organise a series of 7 Trainings both online and offline addressing to young citizens and university students from all social and economic backgrounds. Throughout the project, participants will reflect and debate their own idea on Sustainability to address the challenges of Europe’s future. In each training, ideas, data and reflections of participants will be collected to draft a Policy paper addressed to policymakers.<< Results >>The main result the project expects to have is firstly to strengthen the knowledge of young people on the new digital and green challenges, such as: the fair use of data, a fair use of new technologies and the co-existence of an advanced and green society. The second important result we wish to accomplish is to reach the policy level, and let national and European policymakers to understand which are the ideas new generations have to face the post-pandemic world.

Partner institutions from the UK, Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania got together to implement this project about inclusion and respect for diversity. All partner countries experience situations of intolerance (related to ethnic origin, sexual orientation, etc), especially among youths, and a lack of efficient strategies at national level to deal with it. With this project, partners, who are organisations working with youths at different levels, decided to come together and share methods and techniques in order to equip youth workers from the partner organisations with tools to promote respect for diversity among youth people and develop successful long term strategies to create a better society. Project partners identified as target group educators and trainer working with youths. Each partner identified the needs of their target group to acquire new strategies to promote respect for diversity and social inclusion and, on the other hand, to share the strategies each partner is using, enhancing European experience to deal with cultural diversity. The project aimed to develop a culture of diversity in order to facilitate the social inclusion of young people belonging to discriminated groups, such as ethnic minorities. The main objectives were the following: 1. To increase the professional development of each partner organization through European collaboration, through non-formal and intercultural learning for managing cultural diversity by means of 2 Short-term joint staff training events. 2. To create a project website containing information about the project, including videos of the activities carried out, which could serve as a point of reference or inspiration for members of the community who wish to use the tools provided in their daily activities with young people, to facilitate social inclusion of young people belonging to minorities. 3. To launch an awareness-raising campaign- Respect for Cultural Diversity The objectives were achieved through: - 2 Short-term joint staff training events during which the target groups of each partner learned, among other things, to use arts (drama, painting, dance) and sports (football, volleyball), and other activities (making bread) for developing a culture of diversity and to stimulate social inclusion of young people belonging to different minority groups. - A project Website containing information about the project, including a section with Videos containing examples of the activities carried our, including best practices in non-formal learning- as a valuable tool for learning will be used by youth workers. - Launching of an awareness raising campaign called Respect for Cultural Diversity. This campaign was first launched via a dedicated Facebook group, due to lockdown and the difficulty in organising public events in the partner countries. Each partner organised different activities in their country to promote diversity, such as flash mob in the UK, or a singing and dancing activity in Lithuania, and so on.- Local activities with young people to implement the methods and techniques learned during the international training events. The project had an impact on the staff of the partner organisations taking part in the trainings. They acquired skills and competences to be better prepared to train youth to develop o culture of diversity, to respect cultural diversity and to stand against intolerance, for social inclusion. Also, the project had a great impact on youth too. Through the activities they have become more capable to develop a culture of diversity, to respect people belonging to different cultural diversity groups, to stand against intolerance. Partner organizations also improved their professional capacity acquiring new strategies and practices to deal with cultural diversity as well as acquiring innovative methods of combating intolerance, so that youths can be more tolerant and more involved in lives of their communities.

<< Background >>The tourism sector has a significant and increasing role in the EU economic performance. Along with its strengthening, some new directions appeared recently. In parallel with the growing role of short domestic travels, offbeat destinations became more important against mass tourism ones. The highlighted tendencies raise the need of new approaches. The first one of these is the community-based ecotourism.In the existing agendas, regional tourism is mostly connected to individual attractions, while the growing need on community-based tourism has less attention. Even if it is a core element of local population retention and welfare, the complex development of the community through tourism – over some valuable initiatives - is out of the tourism development initiatives. Community-based ecotourism should emphasize the development of local communities and allow for residents to have substantial control over, and involvement in, its development and management, and a major proportion of the benefits should remain within the community. Community-based ecotourism should foster sustainable use and collective responsibility, but it also should embrace individual initiatives within the community. Additionally, it is essential that approaches to community-based ecotourism projects are a part of a larger community development strategy and carefully planned with community members. The second one is the role of the new regional destinations.Among the wide range of tourism destinations, offbeat ones – mostly in hidden rural areas – have increasing role in European countries (European Agenda for Tourism 2050). Their growing importance directly relates to the breakthrough of regional tourism against long distance one. The offbeat destinations give the opportunity of different tourism types, like agrotourism, ecotourism, geotourism, rural tourism, responsible tourism as well as special interest tourism. All of them are good ground for helping local communities and the environment, while supporting climate neutral tourism.Even though regional community-based tourism (with offbeat destinations) is indicated in EU and territorial strategies as an efficient driver of tourism industry, its development following a greener and more digital approach is not a standard component of the related agendas. Additionally, while circular economy has central focus in local economic development, the circular tourism approach is rarely used. Finally, regional tourism is mostly run by family or micro businesses on the hosts’ and suppliers’ side. They are well experienced in their traditional tourism business, however, need further skills and competences on the acceleration of their services through the approach of community-based circular tourism.As of the preliminary territorial analysis made during preparation phase of the project, tourism hosts, operators, and suppliers (as learners) as well as their supporting organizations (as educators) have no competences and skills to adapt circular tourism principle to address community-based development. The combination of missing competences is currently not part of the adult education curricula and need the integration of new learning elements and methodologies. The partnership decided to join its forces to offer a a valuable solution to increase competences of tourism staff to successfully face these challanges.<< Objectives >>Following the given needs, RE-CONNECT has identified a clear need to accelerate the competence and skill development of community-based tourism in offbeat destinations by implementing a greener and more digital development approach to assure more sustainable tourism along circular tourism approach. The solution offered by RE-CONNECT is to address the given needs and challenges by developing and implementing a toolkit on competence and behaviour development on circular tourism for local communities. Especially tourism labour force at operators, local SMEs, NGOs, suppliers, and local government, as well as tourists are planned to be involved. •Being in line with the priorities of environmental sustainability and climate goals as well as digital transformations, the project aims to increase the competences of local tourism communities on greener and more digital tourism products and services by:•Developing a viable interregional digital ecosystem of local tourism communities along circular tourism.•Increasing the readiness and competences of tourism labour force on climate neutral tourism at offbeat destinations.•Developing a knowledge base to accelerate to co-create new innovative products and services<< Implementation >>RE-CONNECT partnership is going to implement the following activities:1. Development of a circular tourism collaborative HUB - a platform for climate neutral tourism solutions, cooperation and knowledge sharing. The HUB is dedicated to local tourism staff (hosts, suppliers, operators) to share their experience, challenges and best working practices within a common network. The interactive hub will provide an online environment where tourism and tourism development staff could meet, seek guidance, exchange knowledge and share ideas, concerns and valuable information related to circular tourism development. The online hub will form an integral part of the much-needed online basis for a strong and supportive regional tourism community and network.2. Competence development for greener and more digital tourism. As one of the core project result, by adapting the elements of the existing training programmes of the project partners, a circular tourism training curriculum of offbeat destinations will be developed and tested. From the content related perspective, the training development and implementation will focus on the following topics: Sustainable tourism offers, Selection, planning and booking through a sustainable process, Green transport, Sustainable stay and services (green & safe accommodation, local consumption, waste sorting), Circular tourism development opportunities (stressing on digital solutions). 3. Co-creation pack development on circular tourism. A knowledge pack (guidebook) will be developed on how to accelerate circular tourism projects, products or services through co-creation. All stages of co-creation will be covered with the final goal to offer better tourism services in the involved areas. The co-creation pack will be also tested (through the collaborative hub) and 3 interregional product/service development projects will be qualified.4. Over the main project results, a set of trainings, as well collaborative, learning by doing competnece development activities will be implemented, with extensive involvment of all stakeholders of the tourism ecosystem of offbeat destination.<< Results >>The main result of the project will be 1) dissemination of climate neutral tourism in offbeat destinations; 2) acceleration of the economic potential of rural areas; 3) spreading of green and digital solutions in less favoured areas; 4) significant competence development of the target group.The expected main results are:•Set of digital tools (hub, training curriculum, co-creation pack) on climate neutral tourism products and services•Developed interregional network along circular tourism•3 interregional co-creation-based competence development projects implemented on a learning by doing base and certified with the quality certificate•Learning interactions through staff exchange (within bootcamps for at least 5 participants form each partner regions)•200+ regional tourism hosts, suppliers, service providers trained from 10 countriesBesides this, some more results are created: - In all participating countries the development and the implementation will be carried out to test all PRs outputs. - Each partner will organize one multiplier event. The goal is to promote the developed competence and skill development tools to different target groups, the project's outputs and results achieved as well as importance of promoting and boosting circular tourism at offbeat destinations. - The results under dissemination activity are: dissemination plan, visualization and promotion materials, project website, social media pages and 4 e-newsletters. Additionally, RE-CONNECT partnership will attend to 6 external events/fairs to promote project results.