"Active participation of youth and their engagement is important challenge for Europe. European countries need active young people empowered by social media literacy and community media skills that will give chance them to reach positive impacts in local communities. Community media has a multiplying impact both in local and European levels. Because of this reason, European Union Member States cooperate to increase capacity of young poeple through active participation to society. Increasing media litearcy will help to build capacity of young people. Community media is include tools and networks that young people can use to transmit their voice with local media actions in the community to become more empowered. European Parliament described the importance of community media in Europe “as non-profit making and independent, not only from national, but also from local power, engaging primarily in activities of public and civil society interest, serving clearly defined objectives which always include social value and contribute to inter-cultural dialogue” (Resolution 2008/2011 INI). Young people's insufficient communication is an identified common problem in Europe, because they do not have enough necessary media literacy and skills to effective communication. Community media will encourage young people to develop their skills and increase their potential to turn into more integrated with public domain so that they will claim their rights better and remain actions to their social life better. Otherwise, young people will face risks of marginalization. They will effectively failing to sustain themselves as “learning individual” and therefore less likely to adapt in our era of social and economic critical points. Community media networks and tailored trainings are related with needs and expectations of young people and it will help them to participate in society, engage the public and contribute to a strong youth movement as a whole. Young people have limited access to media trainings or hands-on support activites in media tools. Lack of access to community media skills training effect young people and they are unable to give their messages to public. This issue limits young people's engagement in active participation processes to gain public support for their aims and viewpoints. The project's idea is to share educational approaches as youth community media models, exchange good practices in local, national and European levels and empower young people's active membership of local communities (municipalities,neighbourhoods, disadvantaged communities etc) and guide young people through a process, where they get to: 1. Gain socail media literacy and community media skills 2. Obtain entrepreneurship skills to establish their own media (such as local news website, newsletter creation for local communities, blogs etc.). The project aims to develop and assure young volunteers' community media into civil society. The project will design and implement community media approaches and tools to create grassroot community development transfer to young volunteers. Other innovative element is the utilization of a ""self organizing"" approach in the project aiming towards ""youth volunteers community media"". This youth approach to community media is not very common when compared to community media in general. Creation of community media networks and tailored trainings are related with needs and expectations of young volunteers and it will help them to participate in society, engage the public and contribute to a strong youth movement as a whole. The project aims to accord recent media literacy strategies implemented in project partner countries, so as to improvement access to social media and community trainings hands-on actions.The project aims to increase access to community media skills training to able young volunteers' message to wider audience. There are 5 intellectual outputs in the project. These are: IO1: Community media training scheme IO2: Community media volunteering training toolkit IO3: Community media youth volunteering e-learning platform IO4: Community media youth volunteering animation videos IO5: Self assessment mobile application on community media youth volunteeringThe project is targeting socially disadvantaged youth due to being located in areas with huge unemployment rates, and these include youth from poor families, minorities; youth workers fromdifferent types of organizations; young people who are interested in social media and community media as volunteers. Project partners are foundation, education volunteering youth association and training association of disadvantaged young people those have experience on youth work and non-formal education. Partners are active in community media in their country with their youth workers, media editors. Scope and scale of the project will be specific to young volunteers."

ACCESS INTERACT project was implemented in the period 1/09/2017 - 31/08/2019 in partnership among four organizations from Bulgaria, Austria, United Kingdom and Belgium. The partners were selected on the basis of their experience, expertise and achievements in the field of social inclusion and work with youth communities, as well as their capability to contribute with specialized knowledge and inputs which to be included in the intellectual outputs of the project.Coordinator was NARHU, P2 was PhoenixKM, P3 Vienna Assocation of Education Volunteers (VAEV), P4 David Banes Access and Inclusion Services.ACCESSINTERACT project has set the following main goals:- to promote the inclusion and employability of young people with fewer opportunities (including those with disabilities);- to encourage intercultural dialogue, the acquisition of new knowledge and to enhance the understanding and acceptance of diversity in society;- to assist youth workers in developing and sharing effective methods of inclusion for marginalized young people, including refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, as well as prevention of racism and intolerance among young people;- to promote diversity, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue; sharing common values such as freedom, tolerance and respect for human rights;- to strengthen the initiation to solve socially significant problems.Shortly before the start of the project, our preliminary findings showed that despite the fact that about 15% of young people have one or more disabilities, the majority of youth without disabilities do not know how to interact and communicate effectively with their disadvantaged peers. This impedes the natural communication within the social environment. Young people with disabilities also face many barriers that make communication challenging. The most common are regret, ignorance, stereotypes and prejudices, fear, isolation, rejection and other.The materials developed within the ACCESSINTERACT project were intended to help overcome these barriers and create more favorable conditions for interaction between people in youth communities. A sought after effect of the project was to break stereotypes and raise awareness among young people about the specific aspects of disabilities and how they affect communication and interaction in the community.The results of the project were addressed to the following target groups of the ACCESSINTERACT project:- Youth workers and leaders;- Student Leaders;- Student organizations and councils;- Heads of youth organizations;- Representatives of youth organizations of and for people with disabilities.Within the project, three intellectual outcomes have been developed that currently can be used together as a suite of complementary interactive training materials or individually as standalone training material on a specific topic.IO1: A Guide for Youth Workers on establishing an inclusive communication awareness campaign IO2: Handbook “An ABC to inclusive communication with my peers with disabilities” IO3: Inclusive communication peer support hub In order to provide easy and quick access to intellectual results and to maximize the promotion of project activities, a multilingual website www.accessinteract.eu was launched at the outset of the project. In the implementation of the project, it was actively used as a powerful tool for disseminating information and involving target groups and beneficiaries. In the period 01/12/18 - 30/06/19, the four partners piloted the developed IOs with young people who are leaders, volunteers or youth workers in various formal and informal associations and clubs.As a result of the active use of the training materials and communication portal, young people were able to develop practical skills for successful interaction and effective communication with peers with disabilities. The youth leaders, as well as their colleagues, received specific guidelines for planning and conducting public awareness campaigns on disability and other socially relevant issues related to equality and social inclusion. The youth were prepared not to act upon their own assumptions, but to use specific knowledge and guidance to make communication respectful and inclusive to all.

Currently many young people expect quick results with low effort.Due to what,they are not willing to take unpaid actions, but still they often have high expectations towards e.g.future employer.Having such attitude stops from selfdevelopment.The project is also a response for the need of motivating young people to take up additional actions and show them they possibilities which they can use in order to increase their skills,and bring them valuable experience.We will support educators, youth workers, educational leaders and support staff by teaching them the methods which they will use while working with youth. In this way youth will benefit directly from the project, as the project objective.Moreover due to the pandemic, young people face many difficulties in order to increase their skills, competences and professional experience.Many ways have been closed for them due to lockdown, quarantine,closed borders etc.Due to that we want to show them the possibility of working on their skills even in such conditions, in which they can't participate in internatioan activities on site.We will show them the possibilities of e-volunteering by getting to know such possibilities during the virtual games.During the dissemination event, we will involve young people, including a minimum of 30 people in a virtual game about volunteering. Our game will include a variety of tasks prepared by partners in IO2. It will give us a chance to test it and adjust to young people's needs. Each partner will be able to choose tasks for games, the so-called cards with tasks that will be given to game participants during the event. Participants will work in groups. In addition, each game is attended by min.10educators/teachers who will see live the formula of the game, technical implementation and how young people are doing, and how they can be helped to overcome various technical barriers during online classes. For educators, it will be the so-called mini job shadowing,which in practice will give them the opportunity to work online with young people in the field of volunteering. In addition, the form of the game will be easy to adapt to other areas of educators' activity, e.g.educational education, tolerance, cybersecurity, etc.In this way we will have an impact that youth workers and educators will not be excluded from the selfdevelopment during the pandemic, due to lockdown or lack of digital skills.As the youth priority for us is to promote quality, innovation and recognizion of youth work. Youth will be encouraged to get the knowledge through digital tools by learning by doing including edutainment - education and entertainment - in this way we reached the idea of virtual games as the key factor of learning by doing in innovative way.Due to the IO3 both the youth and the organizations which are searching volunteers, will be able to fill in the test and check in what level thy meet each other's expectations in order to raise the correctness with the choice of international initiatives both for NGOs and youth.Objectives of the project:- increase the knowledge of digital tools by youth, youth workers, educational leaders- increase the knowledge and interest in international initiatives:projects,(e)-volunteering,internships.As the result of the project we will have two intellectual outputs:O1 - Research - each partner will be involved in the process on each level to reach different organizations through Europe. They will contact local organization, but also their partners, those from different countries to make more quantitive and qualitative resultsO2 - Virtual game - each partner will prepare tasks for a virtual game to be prepared in national and English language O3 - Check-test - we will involve each partner in creating the psychological questions that are able to fit the needs and expectations of volunteers and organizations in Europe. Transnational Project Meetings - the organizational meetings of the staff involved in the project from each organization, on different stages of the project, which will assure proper project management:- TPM 1 - kick-off - will be organized by the Austrian partner,-TPM 2 - midterm meeting - by Maltese partner-TPM 3 - evaluation meeting - by the applicant organizationJoint Staff Training - - JST - will be organized by the Greek partner, who has big experience in ITC activitiesVisual materials for the project will be prepared by the Austrian partner, due to their knowledge of proper graphical tools. Evaluation tools that will help us to improve our actions and outputs will be prepared by the Maltese partner. Both activities will be covered by management costs. Outputs:Multiplier events:- Virtual games - (in total 4) - Each partner will organize the same amount of virtual game for the same amount of participants (30) - Conference - incluging lectures, presentations and speeches and the small sessiions (80 participants)

"CultLit4Youth project is focused on the role of Youth Workers/Trainers/Mentors in the promotion of Cultural Literacy of young people in Europe, giving emphasis on immigrants and refugees towards their smooth integration in the EU diverse society. Becoming culturally literate, young people will acquire the knowledge and skills to understand and participate in a given culture and be smoothly integrated in the society of EU, personally and professionally. Knowledge of divers cultures, respect of beliefs and recognition of identities, through an intercultural approach, are decisive components that encourage the integration of young people, mainly immigrants and refugees, in European societies. Being culturally literate, could improve young people's everyday personal and professional reality, especially youths of minority groups, who are called to live in their ""new"" socio-cultural environment, in which they will collectively work for the growth and social welfare of Europe. Recent research has shown the need and value of this project. It has shown that cultural literacy has the power to transform youths', especially vulnerable youths' lives through sharing knowledge, promoting inclusion, dialogue, tolerance and respect; and contributing to social cohesion (file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/Access-Culture-migrants-refugees.pdf). It encourages integration and inclusion as processes built by vulnerable young people, such as immigrants and refugees, and host communities collectively and can help them socialise and express themselves freely in their new environment, which they understand better in new shared contexts they are called to live (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/cross-sector/refugees-migration-intercultural-dialogue_en). It, also, prepares them to adapt to the host society and meet the needs of a diverse population without having to forego their own cultural identity (https://www.unhcr.org/463b462c4.pdf).At the same time, ICT innovation is reshaping every aspect of our life (professional, social, educational, personal, etc), and so far has shown a great potential in affecting and improving it. In this sense, one aspect of our lives that is greatly affected is the development of virtual learning environments, which are considered to have a high degree of interactivity and complexity, not only due to the need of specialized and appropriate ICT learning environments but also due to the need of innovative didactic methods and learning material in order to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of ICT available resources, as the educational activities must be comprehensive, aiming to meet the needs of tomorrow.Having all these in mind, the purpose of CultLit4Youth project is to contribute to the development of a Beginner's Guide to Cultural Literacy, accompanied by Curriculum on Cultural Literacy, a Pedagogical Handbook and an e-Learning Platform to train Youth Workers, who in chain will train young people towards their smooth integration in the diverse society of today's inclusive Europe. This project aims to meet youths long-term need for knowledge, skills and competences acquisition regarding Cultural Literacy, in order to help their personal inclusion in diverse environments. This project is an international synergy between 5 European organisations with a transnational character, having as target groups Youth Workers, Youth Centres and educational organisations, and young people, focusing on minority groups, as final beneficiaries. They will jointly work to develop an educational toolkit (Beginner's handbook, Training curriculum, Pedagogical handbook) extending their scope beyond the boarders of their countries in order to define common strategies for fostering critical thinking through the use of ICT tools on Cultural Literacy. The project has the following objectives:1.To design innovative training contents and methodologies for Youth Workers on Cultural Literacy embracing effective use of ICTs2.To increase the professional development (knowledge,skills, competences) of Youth Workers to effectively support young people, mainly immigrants and refugees in integrating themselves, through Cultural Literacy, in the diverse society of Europe,3.Enhance pedagogical competences and skills development for effectively teaching issues related to Cultural Literacy,4. Build a creative, motivating and positive learning environment for Youth Workers and young people."

Digital inclusion of adults - let’s learn from examples of good practices [DigiAdults] project intends to explore end evaluate the impact of the use of digital tools and the Internet in the empowerment of a variety of categories of learners at risk of social marginalisation, then drawing out implications of findings in terms of guidelines for trainers involved in formal, nonformal and informal education, and generating a collection of case studies and best practices, assembled on an online resource center. The Partnership intends to address this issues by: a) Exploring the way digital tools can be used to empower people in a personal and professional perspective, and as citizens and consumers; b) Exploring new approaches and methodologies to promote digital inclusion through the identification of individual motivations and needs, followed by effective steps to improve technical abilities; c) Drawing out implications of findings in terms of guidelines for trainers involved; d) Creating an online resource center hosting a collection of case studies and best practices.In order to achieve such objectives, the approach considered by the Partnership primarily involves mapping digital literacy practices, programs and methodologies developed through the use of ICT, as well as tools involved in such practices, supporting various groups of persons at risk of social marginalisation. Partners then test a series of such tools (through workshops, courses or any other type of non-formal or informal educational activities), each with their respective target group, present to each other and compare testing results, and ultimately collate guidelines for trainers involved in formal, non-formal and informal education, and a collection of case studies and best practices. The partnership was conceived to be variety, working with a wide range of diverse target groups of adult learners (e.g. young adults, seniors, employed, unemployed), specifically in order to allow the mutual learning to cover a similarly wider range of experiences to develop on. The context is in line with Europe 2020 strategy which prioritized delivering growth that is: smart, through more effective investments in education, research and innovation; sustainable, thanks to a decisive move towards a low-carbon economy; and inclusive, with a strong emphasis on job creation and poverty reduction. While all such priorities rely on a proper exploitation of the benefits and opportunities offered by the information society in a digital age, the priority focused on inclusion is particularly affected by a low degree of media literacy. Low digital skills are follow also by low participation in adult learning.Acording to the „Education and Training Monitor 2018 Country Analysis” EU average as concern overall participation in adult learning is 10.9%. This Partnership assembles organizations from countries,with the exception of Austria (15.8 %) where the percentage is lower: Poland 4.0%; Czech Republic 7.5%; Latvia 7.5%; Spain 9.9%.Also, in Austria 70 % of those aged 25-64 possessed basic or above-basic overall digital skills,above the EU average of 59 %; in Spain 56%; in Poland, Czech Republic and Latvia the percentage is much more lower. In addition, acording to the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) - 1/5 of the adult population of Europe does not have sufficient so-called basic skills (including digital skills).Currently, and for the foreseeable future, our entire environment is not only permeated, but mostly defined by various forms and types of media, with 'new'/digital media covering most aspects of daily life. Moreover, the advent of digital technologies has increasingly generated a series of digital practices intervening at all levels primarily in urban public spaces. This very quick evolution brings the 'digital divide' into a new paradigm, with persons at risk of social marginalisation and exclusion rendered vulnerable on multiple levels. Development of digital skills and acquirement of media literacy play a huge role in employability and equal societal participation. The digitally illiterate are missing out on social and economic opportunities and on easy access to online public services that can save time and money. The importance of spreading digital literacy couldn’t be clearer: those without sufficient ICT skills are disadvantaged in the labour market and have less access to information to empower themselves as citizens, as consumers, their lack of the skills, confidence and means to use digital media severely limits their abilities to participate in today's society. The future is digital and digital literacy needs to be embedded in all levels of education and training.