Recent research has proven that gamification is a valuable tool for e-participation and educational and learning disciplines targeted at youth, based on interaction, collaboration, networking experimentation and creativity. The gaming experience offers a diversified, active and dynamic learning tool in the context of informal education, which contributes significantly in developing civic, social and intercultural skills and ICT literacy.Based on this, the best way to rebrand social engagement and politics in an interesting and engaging way and to help young people to participate in political and social life is through a creative, innovate and modern gamified platform. These platforms should offer basic education and training on democratic principles and imaginative activities, and engage young EU citizens in discussions about democracy, access to rights and active citizen participation. The scope of the EmpoweringYou project was to promote political and social participation of young EU citizens through the design and development of an interactive gamified platform, which is available online and via a mobile app -http://empoweringyouproject.eu/game/login/index.php or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cardet.empoweringyouproject. The main objectives of the project were to:•Educate and equip young EU citizens with civic skills through an entertaining and engaging learning environment.•Create an innovative, inclusive non-formal educational tool which addresses diversity in education and training, developing social, civic and intercultural competences and media literacy.•Provide an accessible way for EU young citizens to express their political, economic and social views.•Strengthen civic cooperation, exchange of information and good practices across EU.•Combat against social exclusion and civic apathy of EU young adults.The target group of the project were young adults aged 13-30 who were considered to be 'disadvantaged', i.e. early school leavers, NEET, having behavioural difficulties etc. We also targeted key stakeholders, such as youth workers, teachers and others working directly with young people or who have the potential to influence policy in this area. During the course of the project we have worked with over 400 young people and 350 stakeholders.The project began with a period of research, where we worked with young people and stakeholders to gain a better understanding of the learning and training needs of young people and how they currently engage with online training and social/political issues. This work led to the development of a curriculum which was used to produce the content for the online 'gamified' platform which is the main outcome of the project. The platform leads the user through a series of scenarios linked to key topics such as climate change, voting and migration. Each scenario aims to provide a basic introduction to the topic and help young people understand how they can get involved. During the project, the platform has been piloted with both young people and stakeholders. Partners collected feedback in order to understand the potential impact of the platform and see where improvements could be made. Finally, partners have developed a guide for teachers and trainers which gives advice on using 'gamification' in the classroom and, in particular, how the EmpoweringYou platform could be implemented in educational settings.The key results of the project are:•A Situation and Needs Analysis Report, outlining training needs and current provision for young people in terms of engagement with political/social issues.•An ‘EmpoweringYou Curriculum’ outlining the learning objectives and content for the gamified platform.•The Platform itself, which is a ‘gamified’ environment taking users through a series of ‘missions’ which help them to start thinking about key topics and how they can take action/have their voices heard on issues they care about.•A Training User Handbook, which is a guide for teachers/trainers to help them understand the impact of gaming and ‘gamification’ in learning settings and how they can use the EmpoweringYou Platform in their own contexts.The project has:•Increased the capacity of young citizens to successfully participate in public life.•Promoted youth engagement in political, civic and social participation.•Enhanced capacities and knowledge of young participants in democratic values, access to rights, national and European governance principles.•Contributed to the self-empowerment and self-esteem of young EU citizens.•Boosted public awareness on values of democracy, access to rights, freedom and intercultural dialogue among young adult communities.•Rebranded social engagement and European politics in an interesting, engaging way and helped young people to participate in political, civic and social life.•Enhanced the capacity of partner organisations to promote youth civic participation in the political, social and economic field.

Millions of users around the world are gaming regularly. Even though online gaming was primarily designed for entertainment and profit, quite recently it moved beyond private industry and turned into a research field in educational, training and learning disciplines. Gaming is based on interaction, collaboration, active and dynamic learning and an informal educational process that is invaluable. Such activities can help users to dynamically develop skills such as collaboration, networking, engagement, experimentation, creativity, problem solving and decision making which constitute basic attributes of a progressive, entrepreneurial and market based economy and society.However, the majority of literature on the field, reports that existing online games in the field remain too “formal” and informative, rather than interactive and motivational, focusing of skills and attitudes empowerment. Therefore, the field of gaming and seek to propose alternatives ways design, development and provision of such games. Adventure and role-playing games allow users to explore hitherto unattainable situations and learn from simulated experience enhancing critical reflection on multiple circumstances and building skills that will lead to the inception of an entrepreneurial culture in EU, both within the market and the society.According to the Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, the reduction of inequality and social exclusion in Europe (80 million people at risk of poverty, 14 million young people not in education, employment or training) remains as one of the biggest challenges for the future of Europe. Tackling unemployment rates of 12% in general and 20% among the youth (Eurostat, 2015) have yet to be overcome.In this context, EntrInno addresses the demands of revisiting the notions of entrepreneurship and innovation, as the driving forces of a new EU culture that will be sustainably developed financially and socially and enhance users’ aptitudes for new socio-economic initiatives and interventions. EntrInno satisfies a number of ERASMUS+ objectives. • develop an online game designed to educate and equip young adult learners with transversal skills such as entrepreneurship and innovation, and basic skills such as digital literacy, communication and networking skills•provide an innovative ICT–based educational practice that will motivate young adults to commit in active learning• validate gaming as a novel form of non-formal learning practice• strengthen cooperation and exchange of information and good practices between different areas of Europe• support the development of the EU as a knowledge-based societyThe work of the consortium will be broken down into a series of overlapping phases incorporating research and analysis, design and development, testing and implementation, validation, localization, communication and exploitation of project outputs. Underpinning the work through all phases will be competent management and effective monitoring of the scheduled activities, on-going assessment and evaluation of project outcomes, rigorous quality management and appropriate dissemination activities to generate awareness of the aims and objectives of EntrInno and the innovative tools and resources developed.The consortium consists of 9 partners from 8 European countries, which cover a wide range of expertise and experience related to the scope and the aims of the EntrInno, as well as they have a European outreach in their activities. The diversity within the partnership facilitates the exchange of best practice and learning from others which is an important added-value. The achievements of partners in their local settings as well as in European ones, inspires confidence that the consortium will be able to engage effectively with all target groups. The consortium has all the skills necessary to support the successful development, implementation and dissemination of the project. Longer term benefits: Sustainability will be boosted by involving members of the target groups and stakeholders in all project phases. Case studies of successful implementation will be show-cased in order to convince more stakeholders to utilize project products and results. Critical aspect for securing sustainability is the extended networks of partners which consist of more than 20000 organizations. Those organizations are in need of innovative tools that could boost the motivation of adults to be involved in entrepreneurship education and learning processes. It has been ensured during the proposal preparation phase that Adult Training Centres, NGOs, Local and European Networks and Institutions, Local and National Authorities will integrate the EntrInno in their normal training, communication and promotion activities in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation skills build-up.

DYVO project will contribute to facilitate and innovate recognition and validation of competences acquired through non-formal and informal learning in the field of youth volunteering, with the aim of enhancing young people’s employability and social participation and youth/voluntary organizations’ quality of work. The project will contribute to overcome some of the obstacles that still hinder the diffusion of validation practices in the voluntary sector: the lack of flexible, easy-to-use instruments; the lack of awareness on the relevance of transversal skills, and on volunteering as an experience of development of those skills; the lack of specific skills in youth workers for guiding validation processes of young volunteers; the lack of a clear framework of learning outcomes of informal learning through volunteering and of the related competences that can be acquired. Coherently, the objectives of the strategic partnership are: 1) to develop a new digital, easy-to-use and innovative tool to support the recognition and validation of competences in youth volunteering; 2) to empower young volunteers, youth workers and organizations in the development and exploitation of methods, tools and procedures for validating competences, included the new Europass framework; 3) to elaborate a clear framework of learning outcomes, and related competences, of informal learning through youth volunteering, and a clear methodology of validation; 4) to promote recognition and validation of competences of young volunteers with fewer opportunities.In order to achieve these objectives the project develops, tests and disseminates an innovative model for validating young volunteers’ competences called DYVO Model, composed of 3 Intellectual Outputs. DYVO App is IO1 and is the core innovative output of the project; it is a blockchain-based certificate platform (Desktop and Mobile app) for the management of the validation process, whose final version will be fully accessible in five languages: English, French, Italian, German and Lithuanian. The App will be developed and tested with a transnational group of 40 young volunteers (included a subgroup of young people with fewer opportunities) tutors and assessors. Within this digital environment all the steps of validation can be easily performed: identify and document acquired competences producing a portfolio, assess and certify them through blockchain technology. E-book on the DYVO Model is IO2 and will contain: a competence framework, that is a set of competences commonly acquired through volunteering experiences, with a link to the labour market perspective, in order to highlight ways of capitalizing learning outcomes into a job context; a methodology of validation, that is the definition of methods for identification, documentation, assessment and certification of competences under DYVO Model; a collection of case histories of young volunteers and voluntary organizations to work as role models. DYVO Training Package is IO3, that is a set of innovative training programs for young volunteers, tutors and assessors aimed at empowering them in recognition and validation of transversal skills. The training package will be designed and piloted and then released as OER.IOs will be disseminated according to a sound dissemination strategy aimed at creating the conditions for further exploitation of IOs at regional, national and European level. The main results of the project are: a simplification of the process of validation; an increased awareness on the importance of validation and transversal skills among relevant stakeholders; a qualitative and quantitative increase in young volunteers’ participation in transnational activities, also among young people with fewer opportunities. On a longer term, the expected impact is that the project contributes to increase the share of young volunteers who receive formal recognition and who use Europass; that the DYVO Model can become a standard at least in the regions where it is tested, but also be transferred in other regions and countries, so that an increasing number of youth/voluntary organizations may implement it and an increasing number of young volunteers may validate their competences; that DYVO project can contribute to national and European debate on validation, especially as regards the use of ICT-based tools.The project’s desired impact on young volunteers is that they are facilitated in accessing the labour market; they continue validating competence and updating Europass; they increase the quality of their volunteering and social participation. As for youth workers, the expected impact is that they are trained to serve as tutors for guiding validation processes; increase the quality of their youth work; make a more strategic and effective use of digital technologies; benefit from more motivated and qualified volunteers.

The scope of the project was to develop a comprehensive tutoring approach for building key skills and competences of low-skilled adult migrant-refugees (1st main target group), in order to facilitate their integration in the educational, professional and social life. This comprehensive capacity plan have been based on a volunteer-based tutoring model facilitated by an electronic platform and supported by volunteers or professionals (2nd main target group), who would act as tutors to the low-skilled adult migrants/refugees for building their literacy, numeracy & digital skills (LDNS) building, necessary for empowering the target group to fruitfully participate in social and economic life and to improve their self-reliance. The basic objectives of the project were: a) To foster social inclusion of low-skilled adult migrants in their recipient countries by building their literacy, numeracy and digital skills; and b) To elevate the level of support skills’ building services to migrants by introducing a new tutoring methodology, facilitated by volunteers.This project has been implemented in 6 countries (Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Cyprus), either heavily affected by the recent migration flows or hosting a significant number of third country nationals (i.e. Sweden). The above have been achieved through the implementation of the following activities: 1. Design and development of capacity building course for volunteer tutors 1.1. Preparatory work 1.2 Specification of the didactic methodology 1.3 Content Development of capacity building course on literacy, numeracy and digital skills 2. Design, development and piloting of capacity building web platform 2.1 Development of web platform infrastructure 2.2 Pilot Testing Implementations 2.3 Finalisation and Translation of the Web platform and upload of the capacity building contentAs a result of the project the online modules below have been published on the projects official website: www.volutoring.eu:a)Module 1 – Horizontal: General Overview of Migration to Europe 2020,b)Module 2 – Horizontal: EU/National Legislation on Migration,c)Module 3 – Horizontal: Inclusion Care for Migrants,d)Module 4 – Horizontal: Administration/Evaluation,e)Module 5 – Numeracy: Helping to Improve Migrants’ Numeracy Skills – A Guide for Volunteer Trainers,f)Module 6 – Digital: Helping to Improve Migrants’ Digital Skills – A Guide for Volunteer Trainers,g)Module 7 – Literacy: A Guide for Volunteers Teaching Migrants’ Literacy Skills in Turkish, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Swedish(as 5 different literacy modules).Developed LDNS can facilitate the integration of refugees & migrants by providing access to information about available education, health or other services, about political and administrative information on the host country, and support systems/organizations available. They can also support the learning of the host country language, looking for a job, getting qualifications recognized. Thus at local level, the project developed the skills and competences of volunteers or potential volunteers involved as tutors of low skilled and low qualified migrant adults by the self-implementation of the tutoring scheme, enabling them to elevate the level of support services provided by them to low skilled migrant adults. The project has also allowed migrant adults improve their LDNS built by receiving tutoring support from the trained volunteers. This will facilitate their acceptance by local communities and also allow them to access the labour market easier, therefore unemployment and social exclusion rates will be reduced in the longer term.Moreover, professionals, volunteers and higher education graduates wishing to become volunteers for low skilled migrant adults, as well as other organizations working with/providing support to low-skilled/low-qualified migrant adults at local regional or national level, will have access to new improved methodologies and tools to can enable them to provide more appropriate and tailor-made services to their target groups. In this way, the level of support services provided to migrant adults will be elevated and the organisations and institutions providing such services will be enhanced in the long term.Local, regional or national authorities involved in policy making and implementation of social inclusion strategies promoting the integration of low-skilled/low-qualified migrant adults in their recipient communities have been increased awareness on how the mainstreaming of the proposed methodology in their social inclusion Action Plans and practices can support their work towards the up-skilling of the population and the reduction of marginalization and unemployment. By developing basic skills of low-skilled/low-qualified migrant adults, the project connects with other Erasmus+ Adult Education and VET, which contributes to the Erasmus+ Programme objectives and the priorities of the New Skills Agenda for Europe.