"<< Objectives >>The aim of the ComE project is to share practices for the social inclusion of migrants and the building of solidarity communities, inspired by an ""educating community"" approachThe aim is to promote contamination between: organizations, operators, migrants, communities,in order to define an educational model.Specific objectives of the action:•the development of practices of social inclusion of migrants•the construction of communities of solidarity•to increase the specific skills of operators<< Implementation >>ComE foresees: •Management activities for the smooth running of the Preparation, Implementation and Dissemination phases.•A Training Event for sharing practices of social inclusion of migrants•A Training Event on the theme of developing supportive and inclusive communities through an educative community approach•A Training Event to increase operators' knowledge on inclusion practices addressed to migrants.•Dissemination<< Results >>ComE will produce Deliverables:- A research on social inclusion practices of migrants - A toolkit on tools for the development of supportive communities- A training module for practitioners on intercultural play, sport and cultural practices and Results such as: - The development of solidarity community networks- Increasing the educational competences of operators- Development of intercultural activities- Improved synergy between partners- A Model for Building Solidarity Communities"

Homelessness and the situation of disadvantaged people is a general problem in whole of the European Union and not only in new member states but also in the most developed countries, as well. To deal with the problem is not only a budget but a social integration issue, too. That is why social inclusion seems the best approach.Homeless people need a non-formal way of education to emerge themselves from their social situation. They need special competencies. Social workers who communicate with homeless people and assist them in their daily life also need trainings to cope with the challenges occurring during their institutional or street work.Homelessness is the most extreme form of poverty and social exclusion violating human dignity and rights, as well as housing is a fundamental human need. Homelessness has recently increased in practically all Member States due to several factors such as the impact of the economic crisis, societal changes, discrimination against minorities or badly regulated migration issues. In addition there is insufficient social housing and affordable housing in some countries. European Member States should have their national homelessness strategy and the EU has also its directives. But the problem exists and extremist voices increase in everyday life. The role of civil organizations is very important in informing, educating and helping society to become more empathic and inclusive. The main goals of the project are sensitization of the European societies and strengthening the inclusive attitude of the majority towards homeless people. So the international exchange of good practices is an important tool of the project.Learning about good practices and jointly spent time mean a great opportunity for each organisation that after each meeting/event and enriched with new ideas and information they could – as a refreshment – show something brand new in their home country to their professional community. If adaptation can take place in each country that would mean a very important first step towards forming a common European Strategy which could be targeted at the prevention of homelessness, diminishing and overcoming of social inequalities, strengthening of social skills and competences of the most vulnerable, as well as restoring their human dignity, and combating social drawbacks.This will be supported and backed by our joint publication i.e. our statement, our professional policy recommendation. We will find it a success if new ideas will be exchanged and each partner can take a good practice from abroad to their home country and can successfully adapt it to the circumstances there.We will also deem it an achievement if those who are involved in this issue will acquire tangible knowledge for improving their lives or they simply enrich with the feeling that they were secure and listened to. Both the creation of national strategies is necessary and the homeless strategy of the European Union should be refreshed in a way that all the member states could handle the situation efficiently. Besides, the individual, country-specific issues must also be addressed in each country..In a sustainable manner, we will repeatedly update the statement and professional recommendation issued by the project and we will hand it over to representatives of the profession and we will extend it at inter-professional discussions. These extended versions will contain proposals for housing, employment and training policies. In our opinion, the simultaneous and complex management of these issues is the key to overcoming social problems.

According to official numbers based on Eurostat, the European Union saw a record of 1,2 Million asylum seekers in 2015. This unprecedented number of people - many of them will be officially acknowledged as refugees and gain unrestricted residence permits - poses an exceptional challenge in terms of integrative measures to be taken in different policy areas, predominantly in education, labour market access, health issues, and family reunion. Moreover, providing sufficient and adequate housing is not only a must to accommodate refugees, their families, and additional EU movers, but needs to be done right to prevent ghettos and exclusion on the one hand, and to grasp opportunities on the other. Unlike school or the workplace, peoples` places of residence as such are undeniably the site where integration and learning from each other happens, 24 hours a day. Issues of providing inclusive housing in the context of migration, which means a certain percentage of the flats in (newly built) residential complexes and areas should be (built for and) inhabited by newcomers, have been widely discussed in recent years in the participating countries and many exceptional examples have already been realized taking into account the needs and interests of their (future) inhabitants, which means they are implemented following a participative approach involving people right from the beginning of the planning process and when living together finally.The notion of inclusive neighbourhoods being intercultural learning environments is multifaceted and needs to be explored and charted to subsequently being able to describe, develop, and mainstream sustainable learning opportunities.The main purpose of the project proposed therefore was to involve relevant stakeholders (residents with or without migrational background, adult educators, social and community workers, architects, city planers, city council representatives) to exchange know-how and experiences on inclusive approaches in building and/or providing inclusive neighbourhoods and identify and discuss criteria that make a residential area a place for facilitating successful intercultural learning.The project evolved around a series of 5 transnational workshops with altogether more than 100 participants from the target groups mentioned. At the beginning criteria for quality of inclusive neighbourhoods were discussed and defined. Based on these,14 examples of good practice were described accordingly. Results were made available over the project website (inclood.org), social media (Facebook and Instagram), and the final documentation, which is available at the website in English, Italian, German and Swedish in the form of a PDF document. Diverse dissemination activities garanteed a wide impact of INCLOOD`s activites and results.The project specifically aimed at:- exchanging know-how and experiences on participative approaches in creating inclusive neighbourhoods- identifying and discussing criteria for inclusive neighbourhoods to be places for successful intercultural learning- collecting examples of good practices for inclusive neighbourhoods being successful places of intercultural learning- discussing and recommending innovative learning opportunities in the context of inclusive neighbourhoodsPartners involved:inspire - Verein für Bildung und Management, Austria, www.inspire-thinking.atSpeha Fresia Società Cooperativa, Italy, http://www.speha-fresia.eu/enFolkuniversitetet Uppsala, Sweden, http://www.folkuniversitetet.se/uppsalaSoziallabel, Germany, http://soziallabel.de/SVEB, Switzerland, https://alice.ch/en/The geographical range (Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy as partners, and Switzerland as associated partner) of the partners involved was essential for a successful project delivery and can be considered most relevant under the context chosen (refugee and asylum situation in Europe, housing situation of refugees and asylum seekers). Results are very likely to serve as a model for other European countries in successfully encountering the question of creating inclusive neighbourhoods. The project information and reports will be available on organisational and the project websites as well as our social media channels over the lifetime of the project, giving the opportunity to other multipliers to take inspirations from our common experience and potential outputs.

"<< Background >>The COVID-19 pandemic and the confinement measures implemented in many EU countries have caused major upheavals in people's lives from multiple points of view. Indeed, the way in which people can relate to each other and carry out the most basic every-days tasks has been limited, significantly altering the regular implementation of education, training and youth policies. According to some studies (""Youth and COVID-19 Response, Recovery and Resilience"" - OECD, ""Living, Working and COVID-19"" - Eurofund, ""The European Youth Blueprint To Recovery"" - European Youth Forum) focused on the effects of current pandemic in relation to the employment situation and the mental health of young people, these are strongly affected with higher levels of depression, loneliness, tension, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.ACTMEM is based - within this context - on the importance of memory as a way to enhance resilience among young people. Memory, understood both as historical memory and as ""memory of the present"", nourishes the social fabric, enlivening the relationships between different generations, helping the crisis to be elaborated, also thanks to comparisons with the past.The project ACTMEM aims at creating an innovative learning experience addressed to young people and based on storytelling techniques, as a means to combat the sense of isolation related to the restrictive measures adopted by National Governments in response to the health crisis, while increasing key competences such as sense of initiative, social and civic participation and intercultural awareness and expression. The project idea stems from the will to promote a radical change of perspective towards the perception of being young in times of pandemic: from victims of unhappy circumstances limiting their freedom to move, meet, learn and discover, to protagonists of an absolutely exceptional historical era, who showed a great capacity to react and reinvent themselves and whose stories deserve to be recorded and told as sources of inspiration for the present and future generations.ACTMEM is focused on an emerging need stemming from the isolation and dramatic reduction of sociality of youth. Youth organisations recognise the need to involve with new methodologies youth in activities and experiences able to radically change the perception and the perspective of being young in time of pandemic through the implementation of narrative methodologies aiming at helping the expression, sharing and comparison among youth experiences of this historical period and emergency in a cross-border approach. Youth need to reflect on the current difficulties and understand their role as protagonists of an absolutely exceptional historical era, who showed a great capacity to react and reinvent themselves and whose stories deserve to be recorded and told as sources of inspiration for the present and future generations.ACTMEM wants to give new awareness to all youths as promoters of the communities. TARGET GROUPS of the project are:•YOUTH experiencing isolation during the pandemic but also active in solidarity actions within their own communities.•YOUTH with fewer possibilities and economical, social obstacles including youth with disabilities experienced the most difficult isolation: to listen to them and find solutions for tackling such disparities is one of the most compelling needs of youth organisations and society as a whole. •YOUTH Leaders in need to acquire new skills and methodologies for improving the involvement of youth in collective and individual solidarity actions.•YOUTH ORGANISATIONS are in permanent need to engage youths in active citizenship by promoting solidarity and a common sense of citizenship.<< Objectives >>Youth need to reflect on the current difficulties and understand their role as protagonists of an absolutely exceptional historical era, who showed a great capacity to react and reinvent themselves and whose stories deserve to be recorded and told as sources of inspiration for the present and future generations. Telling and sharing the ""memory of the present"", with reference to the new generations, means in particular:· the possibility, for young people, to narrate and share experiences related to the pandemic, as a contrast to isolation; both as communication to each other and intergenerational communication. We know how social distancing, the closure of schools, youth centers and social places generated deep discomfort in young Europeans of all ages, in a phase of life where the relationships with peers and with reference adults, even outside the family, are key.· At the same time, ""memory of the present"" means telling and sharing the experiences of resilience and solidarity that were achieved by civil society as a response to the crisis, and which saw the strong presence of young people. We are talking about different experiences of solidarity from the bottom: from the distribution of food and medicine to the most vulnerable people, to remote listening and support activities to combat the loneliness of the elderly, to the most various cultural initiatives.The project partners aim to actively involve young people in the process of collection and reconstruction of their individual stories and inspiring experiences related to the way they went through the pandemic and the different strategies they developed to tackle the new challenges brought by the virus.In particular, the specific objectives of the project ACTMEM are:• To transform the experience of the pandemic into an opportunity for the development of self-confidence and key competences among young people, such as intercultural awareness and expression, sense of initiative, social and civic participation• To promote inclusive, creative and innovative approaches to storytelling among young people, so as to combat social isolation and reinforce their resilience in response to the current health crisis• To foster the participation of young people in civil society by spreading good practices related to solidarity actions in times of pandemic • To promote the EU values among young people and in particular active citizenship and the pillar of being united in diversityThe project will achieve the above mentioned objectives by creating a blended training path based on storytelling methodologies. This result will lead to the realisation of a Manual addressed to youth leaders for supporting the involvement of youth by providing methodologies and practical guidance. Furthermore ACTMEM will realise an Open Narration virtual space for collecting individual and collective stories representing a priceless digital archive of the memory of life in times of pandemic from the perspective of young people.The expertise and complementarity of the partners inspired the overall design of the project by focusing on narration of individual and collective stories about pandemic and related solidarity’s action born under these difficult times, which, in no other example more than this, may boost the achievement of the general goals by:•Providing youth and youth leader with the possibility to engage with peers coming from different countries;•Providing the possibility to carry out a transnational experience through blended mobility will grant the target groups with an enriched and qualifying experience in different cultural environments.•Giving them the chance to know and to understand different experiences improving in this way both the knowledge about different countries and the sense of European citizenship.<< Implementation >>ACTMEM work plan is structured in such a way to show consecutive and intersecting activities that can be simplified in different phases. Phase 1 Setting up the ACTMEM instruments: the ACTMEM managers and working teams will set up the tool for a smooth and timely implementation of all the activities: management plan and tools, dissemination plan, quality assessment plan and tools will be prepared and placed in force. These activities will be carried out for the whole duration of the project. The internal reporting of project activities and outcomes will be performed on a six-monthly basis. The work on R1 - ACTMEM blended learning workshop will start with the establishment of the didactic team/ editorial team taking care about the analysis and methodology definition including contents for the transnational training event. This phase will see also the production of learning contents for the training event and tutorials (interviews, video, presentations). On the digital side of the project, in this phase also R2 - ACTMEM Digital space for narration will start with an initial definition and drafting features of the web platform, set up of the digital structure for the web platform including Blog and Vlog. In addition, it will start the realization of a set of guided storyboard tools for different thematic areas. The selection of participants for the transnational training event will start.Phase 2 Implementation of core activities: R1 activities such as the production learning contents and tutorials will be still ongoing but the first outcomes for organizing the transnational training event will be ready to be provided: trainers and trainees will meet to set up a common methodology of provision of learning content and a shared approach to the organization of the successive local workshops. Further tutorials, training contents and storytelling will be realized by the Youth Leaders attending as learners and at the end the learning outcomes and achievement will be assessed and validated.The realization of Manual for youth leaders, still under preparation, will benefit also from this first feedback. Concerning R2, the definition and realization guided storyboard tools and related virtual tools will be fine-tuned, while the definition and implementation of a co-narration virtual space for storytelling (Open Narrating Virtual Space) is under preparation for a first deployment during the Local Workshops activities. The Local Workshops will be organised by youth leaders for transferring knowledge about storytelling toward peers undertaking a pair working approach simplifying the realization of video narrations and storytelling with at least 50 youth per country. At this stage, the Open Narrating Virtual Space will be used: youth leaders and mentors will support youth in approaching this new tool, which will enable the remote collaboration among 40 people in building a collective story also with the support of tutors and facilitators operating on line. Phase 3 Validation, finalization and final dissemination : the Local Workshops and their final validation of the learning outcomes towards target groups will be finalised. The realization of the Manual for Youth Leaders will include feedback of young trainees whose contributions will be included in the verification and finalization of the digital tools as well. The dissemination activities will see their final phase with the organization in each partner country of the Multiplier Event. Along the three phases of the project, the partners will carry out an intensive communication and dissemination activity by involving also associated partners and relevant stakeholders in order to get an high outreach and to build the the basis of a sustainability plan for the future. A quality assessment activity will accompany and support the achievement of results.<< Results >>ACTMEM will realise two main Results:R1 – ACTMEM Blended Learning Workshop - Innovative methodologies for the narration of memoryThis result consists in the realization of a blended training path based on storytelling methodologies. The training contents will be realised by the partners and tested through the involvement of youth leaders during the project implementation (namely transnational training activity). In order to ensure correspondence to the needs of the target groups and facilitate their further enhancement, youth leaders will replicate the learning path by organising local workshops with peers. The whole process including feedback on training contents and learning path and validation of learning contents, will lead to the realisation of a Manual addressed to youth leaders for supporting the replication of the workshops by providing methodologies and practical guidance. Local workshops will be organised in each country’s involving youth groups: all the partners will experiment the educational activities and contents with different groups of young people. In particular: each partner will set up 5 storytelling workshops with the involvement of a very high number of young people: 50 per country and 200 in total. As an additional output the whole process will lead to the Manual including guidelines for Youth Leaders on adapting methodologies in different contexts and different groups of young people.ACTMEM Workshops is an innovative result, and will contribute to: -increase of skills in youth leaders/mentors and organisations regarding educational work with young people through narration methodologies, focused on developing resilience in young people in the pandemic crisis and leads to a greater ability to address the needs of the young people they work with.-increase of skills related to storytelling methodologies, enhancement of resilience skills and capacity to reflect and take action to face the pandemic crisis effectsR2 - ACTMEM web platform This result consists of an interactive virtual space targeted to young people where individual stories will be shared and by the end of the project around 240 stories will be available. The web platform constitutes a tool to facilitate the collection and constructive reflection on the experiences developed and lessons learnt during the times of pandemic, representing as well a networking tool aimed to facilitate interaction among young people at European level, thanks to the implementation of the feature “Open Narrating Virtual Space” allowing the collaboration of 10 to 40 people for the realization of a collective narrations across Europe. The platform will include tutorials, training contents and storyboards aiming at supporting the realisation of individual and collective narrations. The feature Open Narrating Virtual Space enables young people to co-creative sessions with peers, giving the possibility to open dialogue with different cultural approaches to pandemic and to increase the social aspect. ACTMEM Platform will contribute in creating the following benefit: -for young people the platform will facilitate the practice of some of the educational activities created by the R1, thus facilitating participation. -ACTMEM will not be yet another platform but, creating a historical memories archive, it will allow different study domains to access civil society and youth memories in order to analyze and acquire a more comprehensive knowledge about the social and moral effect of pandemic. Even when the pandemic is defeated, the experiences of resilience born in this period of emergency, the awareness and lessons learned from these experiences, can remain as a memory of this historic challenge that Europe is going through.ACTMEM results are highly transferable since the narration techniques and tutorials may be transferred to a plenty of different domains such as: social and demographic investigation, psychology research, and so on."

The European Council invites to act in order to provide learning opportunities to the Union's 61 million low-skilled and/or low-qualified adults. (Council conclusions…Upskilling Pathways: New Opportunities for Adults 2019). Increased levels of migration create diverse and complex societies with stronger needs for intercultural understanding and democratic values, as well as the provision of individual learning (languages, basic knowledge and values of the host societies) and societal learning (strengthening intercultural understanding and mutual respect)” (European Agenda…). It is a call to improve literacy in the EU, as “the ability to identify, understand, express, create, and interpret concepts, feelings, facts and opinions in both oral and written forms, using visual, sound/audio and digital materials across disciplines and contexts. It implies the ability to communicate and connect effectively with others, in an appropriate and creative way.” (Council Recommendation on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages, Brussels on 22 May 2019). The council also states that “Non-formal and informal learning play an important role in supporting the development of essential interpersonal, communicative and cognitive skills such as: critical thinking, analytical skills, creativity, problem solving and resilience” Our project’s main objective is to develop language literacy, cultural exchange and the building of cross-community communities, through cultural participation, using theatre experiences as a highly motivating learning methodology.OBJECTIVESThe LiteracyAct project is addressed to education professionals, trainers, artists, voluntary workers in the field of migration and adult education at national and European level, as well as to Policy makers responsible for adult education. Its main objectives are:Developing and disseminating language/cultural learning strategies based on theatre activitiesFacilitating the exchange of good practices among European organisations involved in social/educational projects related to migrant populationCreating a set of tools to guide professionals, associations and institutions from the adult education/migrants’ issues sector in sharing/delivering such learning approachesNUMBER AND PROFILE OF PRTICIPANTSThe project will involve 4 staff members from each of the 4 participating organizations experienced in adult education, theatre-based learning methodologies, European projects planning and delivering.Around 200 adult migrants from target groups involved in the piloting activities are expected to participate to the laboratories (see below 01).Around 600 participants are expected to attend the 4 multiplier events planned.ACTIVITIES and METHODOLOGY Planning, development and delivery of the project’s goals will include:•4 Transnational Meetings: 20 people from partner organizations involved as educators, trainers, experts.•1 Joint Staff Training: 20 people involved from partner organizations staff•4 Multiplier Events: 600 participants expected from associations, institutions from the adult education/migrants’ issues fieldThe working style will be cooperative and based on decision sharing, project planning and implementation will rely on S.M.A.R.T. criteria.Project’s activities are aimed at the production of 5 intellectual outputs:O1 – LiteracyAct Desk Research: collection of good practices based on educational theatre activities aimed at developing basic skills in disadvantaged situations, to be published on relevant European platformsO2 - LiteracyAct Labs: creation of a Toolkit based on 3 piloting workshops involving different approaches to learning through theatre. Workshops are based on active spectatorship, creative acting/authorship, critical appraisal of the language learning outcomes from the previous activities.O3- LiteracyAct Tutorials: Production of 3 video tutorials based on the above described workshops and resulting performances (O2)O4 – LiteracyAct Handbook: Training people to form communities, a handbook for social workers/teachers/artists willing to improve social/cultural literacy through theatre practices. 05- LiteracyAct Impact Evaluation Guide Lines: Evaluation tool for assessing the impact of theatre practices in language/social literacy improvement.RESULTS AND IMPACTExpected results:- developing new methodologies for literacy skill development through theatre- increasing at local/national/European level the awareness on need of motivating, and effective basic skills teaching strategies-wide visibility and exploitation of the educational/training tools elaborated through the project’s productsLONG-TERM BENEFITS-creating a Europewide network of educational/cultural associations actively involved in theatre-based literacy improvement-promoting and sharing cooperative, creative innovation among professionals, associations and institutions from the adult education/migrants’ issues sector-availab