While the right to work is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is far from being a reality for many people living with a disability or a long-term medical condition. The Europe 2020 strategy objective aims at reaching 75% employment rate in the EU. However, at EU level, about 47% of persons with disabilities are employed, compared to 72% of persons without disabilities. Women with disabilities, young disabled persons and people in need of high-level support are more likely to be discriminated against and excluded from the labour market. At the EU level, 19% of young people living with a disability are early school leavers compared to 11% of non-disabled young persons. The high rates of early school leavers among young people living with a disability can in most cases be related to accessibility issues and the absence of adapted programmes.Social entrepreneurship can act as an important bridge to inclusion for people on the margins of mainstream society. Online social entrepreneurship is an especially relevant area of endeavour for young people living with a disability or a long-term health condition. Sharing life experiences and demonstrating that living with a disability or a long-term health condition is possible; explaining how obstacles have been overcome; directing others to appropriate support services or networks; opening a forum for discussion and debate; connecting other young people in similar circumstances; are all potential social entrepreneurship opportunities that the INFLUENCER project consortium will explore.Technology provides opportunities to level the playing field for youth living with a disability or a long-term health condition like never before. It can support more equitable societies; more inclusive communities. It can help to build support networks for people of all ages who live with a disability or care for someone with a disability. It can help to demystify certain medical, physical or cognitive disabilities and create a more understanding and empathetic society. Partners believe that the areas where they work will be significantly impacted by the outcomes achieved by the INFLUENCER project.The key actions to achieve the aims of the project are:1. Developing an in-service training programme to introduce Best Practice Guidelines for youth providers on supporting the inclusion of young persons with disabilities through online social entrepreneurship while also guaranteeing their safety online2. Developing an EASY READ TOOLKIT for youth living with a disability on how to develop their social entrepreneurship idea into a sustainable entity. 3. Developing an EASY READ TOOLKIT for youth living with a disability on how to stay safe in online environments and a suite of media-rich resources to build digital and social media literacy.4. Developing an accessible, bespoke online environment to support the new young social entrepreneurs to launch their online careers where networks of youth living with a disability who are interested in developing their new social enterprise can congregate; build key skills; support each other; and exchange ideas and knowledge

While access to technology was one of the first key measurements of digital inclusion in today's digital environment the focus has switched from access to competence; participation in the digital domain depends increasingly more on knowledge, skills and attitudes than it does on access to and use of digital technology. Being digitally competent is nowadays both a requirement and a right (COM/2018/ 22).Digital technology enriches education and offers new learning opportunities. It facilitates problem-based and interactive learning and enables a personalisation of the learning experience (SWD(2017)264). Digital technology can improve results in education, in particular by enabling access to additional learning resources, and supporting disadvantaged students, such as those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, or with disabilities, or living in remote areas.Effective eLearning represents an innovative way to bring technology and critical thinking into the students learning environment, and the benefits are twofold: digital engagement is a crucial basic skill and promoting engagement in a learning environment even among those for whom formal education has failed; the collaborative elements help students develop social and team-working skills.The objectives of the project are to:- Build the digital competence of young adults through engagement with bespoke learning tools and resources, including a mobile Application- Support VET providers to harness the potential of elearning environments to build high-value skill sets within their target groups- Help educators assess the Prior Learning Skills and Competencies of learners in VET environments- Prepare VET learners for the new demands of the labour marketYouth unemployment is one of the most persistent negative impacts of the financial crisis in Europe. Within the ranks of young people there are a considerable proportion of NEETs for whom future prospects are bleak. Visual Paths, project, formed by five committed partners from five EU countries, will promote an innovative methodology to re-engage marginalised young people and support them to build high-value transversal skills essential for employment and employers to recognise them.

What was Art4Inc about? Art4inc was developed in response to the challenges facing adult educators who are working with an ever-increasing number of marginalized people, in particular migrants and refugees. Educators are the key enablers to support these communities on an educational journey to the highly valued key competencies that are essential for social inclusion and personal fulfillment. Yet many front line staff working in community programmes lack sufficient training to help build the key competences of their target groups, and adequately address linguistic, social and cultural barriers. What did Art4Inc do? Art4Inc used the ancient artistic disciplines of storytelling, music and drama to develop, test and implemented bespoke training resources that support adult educators in engaging with the acquisition of the key competencies among migrant and refugee groups and other marginalized communities of Europe. What has Art4Inc achieved? 1. IN-SERVICE TRAINING PROGRAMME AND HANDBOOK - Learner manual and research report that contributes to the continuous professional development being relevant to any educator working to support the inclusion of marginalized groups in any educational setting. 2. BUILDING BASIC SKILLS - Art4inc teacher's toolbox e-book is a suit of 12 open access learning resources in all partner languages, 4 for each of the three artistic disciplines selected: storytelling, drama and music. The resources developed support the acquisition of basic skills and are useful to any front-line worker engaging adult migrant 3. MULTI-LINGUAL E-LEARNING PLATFORM - In-service training programme providing access to the full suite of Educators Toolbox of Alternative Educational Resources and optimized for mobile access on laptop, tablet or smartphone 4. SCIENTIFIC PAPER - The document examines the experience of the project partners in 6 different countries and making key recommendations for future developments. How did Art4Inc achieve its objectives? The primary target groups of the art4inc project were adult education professionals and migrant support workers who are engaged at the front-line of the migrant integration process. The 7 project partners had extensive close contacts with the adult education and migrant integration professionals working in a range of diverse adult and community education settings with whom they interacted on a daily and weekly basis. This was also the initial target group for dissemination activities outside our partnership in the early phases of project planning and development. Each partner established a research control group comprising 6 to 8 adult education or migrant support workers. These forums were been used to test and validate the development actions of the consortium and the products and resources developed. This was an important element of the dissemination strategy in that has helped to build a cohort of advocates for the project in each local area. Once the development process had started, project partners extended their dissemination activities beyond the local and individual focus to regional, national and international level to organisations and institutions dealing with adult education, integration of migrants, lifelong learning and social integration. These organisations have been important multipliers in the dissemination strategy of the project. Local Learning Festivals have taken place in Germany, Ireland, Romania, Spain, Czech Republic and Finland and a final conference in Germany. These public events were used to present all project outputs to relevant target group representative bodies. All project results were presented to the relevant target group representatives at these public events. More than 25 adult migrants took part in learning activities during the festivals in each participating country and 90 adult education and migrant integration sectors participated in the final conference in Germany. In addition, at least 10 education managers and policy-makers participated in the National Campaign Events in each partner country at the end of the project when the scientific paper was finalized. The project was considered to be innovative among local participants because neither the adult educators nor the migrant learners engaged in local implementation activities had ever completed targeted training that helped them to use artistic disciplines to support integration activities. Some local projects have as early as used storytelling to support the integration of migrants in the past. But using storytelling still requires a certain level of competence in the host language. By using drama and music techniques, Art4Inc has made it possible for local adult educators to reach migrant learners with no English language skills at all and supported them to engage these adult learners in personal and social development programmes. This represents a significant innovation for adult education in the regions of partner countries.

<< Background >>Prior to the Covid pandemic, European countries had made significant progress in lowering the rates of early leaving from education and training. However, this tendency is not certain in the future due to the rapid changes in educational systems. Specialists argue that the number of students disengaged in the learning process might grow and cause the new wave of early school leavers, who are unhappy with the recent changes and prefer to enter the labour market earlier. This will be, however, not the thriving and receptive labour market, but the one struggling with growing unemployment rates. That’s why it is so vital to boost young people’s engagement in their education and, at the same time, equip them with the skills that will increase their employability potential in the future.There is a shortage of reliable data about the early school leaving in 2020, therefore the project consortium decided to perform their own research to observe any potential tendencies on the lower scale. The survey was performed among 263 young people in all partner countries, and some of them were also interviewed. 48% of people aged 20-25 and 32% aged 16-20, who are engaged in formal education, are currently considering terminating or pausing their education. 67% of these students pointed out the pandemic and educational transformations related to it as the main reason for such plans. At the same time, only 28 of participants felt properly prepared for the world of work, which presents very unoptimistic perspectives for young people. It’s crucial to state that the research wasn’t targeted only at youth from the groups in danger of social exclusion, but it seems reasonable to believe that youth from marginalized communities might be affected by these changes even more.Another interesting conclusion that can be drawn from the first phase of the Covid crisis, is that any professional activities and businesses that managed to shift their branding and marketing activities online in time, suffered slightly less. New media formats and social media seem to be significantly less affected by the crisis. It is visible by the statistics of giants like YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, Tik-Tok or Netflix, who observed an increase in users’ activities in I quarter of 2020 by 13-38%. This supports the statement that video has become the main and most powerful media format of recent years and this tendency was only intensified by the pandemic.These two conclusions – about risks of early school leaving and marginalization, and the potential of video creation and usage do not seem related at the first sight. However, the connection is significant – video creation skills have become a great advantage of any person entering the labour market or planning their own business. These skills can be used to support endangered youth communities in self-expression, but also professional networking, job searching, branding, life-long learning, sales etc. Online video creators seem to be more likely to recover from crisis than solely-traditional job professionals<< Objectives >>In general, the main objectives of the project are:1) To create a suite of video creation resources for young people2) To support youth educators in delivering the video creation training with the help of the bespoke in-service training and handbook3) To provide a series of virtual learning and collaborative environments for sharing project results, enabling education resources usage and gaining recognition for videos created by project participants4) To provide a series of events for both young people and youth educators: Film Festivals in each country for the total of 120 youth participants, Transnational Film-making Masterclass for 18 marginalized youth creators and the Joint-Staff Training event for 12 youth educators, to provide sustainable and practical skill acquisition and fully test the project results.The project, besides increasing the digital literacy levels among young people and youth educators, is designed to have more intangible values. It will increase the cultural awareness of young people, help their understanding and social inclusion, giving them voice, tools, and skills to express themselves, and understand each other. Project results are measured not only by created resources but primarily by a number of trained professionals and the impact of newly possessed skills on their professional lives, their students, and their environments. Therefore, the following training activities will be achieved by the consortium during the project lifecycle: 1) 12 youth educators will be trained in delivering the In-service training programme during the Short-term Joint Staff Training Event 2) 60 front-line youth and community educators will have completed the in-service training programme and upgraded their professional competences in the piloting phase of PR2 3) 120 young people, including marginalized youth, will grow their digital and media literacy levels by using the video creation resources and approaches while piloting the PR1 4) 18 young people, with special emphasis on marginalized youth will complete the Transnational Film-making Masterclass 4) 120 educators, students, parents, and policy makers will gain awareness of the project results and see the videos created by the students in PR1 piloting during the Film Festivals in all partners’ countries. 5) 40 educators, students, and policy makers will attend the final conference in Germany where all project results will be presented and discussed.<< Implementation >>Each partner will conduct multiplier event. Moreover, Final Conference will be organized in Germany in order to maximize the impact of the project. Partners will organize six transnational meetings, including two face-to-face meetings. Partners will also organize two transnational Training Events. The first is Transnational In-service Induction Training for youth educators and the second is Transnational Film-making Masterclass for young creators. The partners have planned activities related to the dissemination of the project. These include: the creation and updating of a project website, the creation and maintenance of a project fanpage on Facebook, four newsletters, and the posting of project promotional material on YouTube and LinkedIn. To ensure wide availability, the website and each of the 4 newsletters will be translated into all partner languages. The project partners will organise regular meetings with the Local Working Group to enable multiplication of project activities. Furthermore, partners will carry out regular activities related to evaluation and monitoring.<< Results >>There are three main project results for the new skill acquisition for both target groups: 1) PR1 – Video-making resources for employability and development of young people 2) PR2 – In-service training programme and handbook for youth educators 3) PR3 – Bespoke e-learning portal The first result aims at providing young people with a comprehensive suite of resources to use in formal and non-formal settings (also, adapted to online or face-to-face learning). The usage of these resources will result in: - Young people increasing their digital literacy levels, with a focus on video and audio production - They will have other skills increased, like research, planning, critical thinking, cooperation, and creativity - They will be able to use these skills professionally or to develop/support and advertise their businesses - The branding and self-presentation skills will help them in the job searching process The resources for young people will be divided into four main areas, covering video creation, production, and usage in four contexts: 1) Advertisement 2) Storytelling 3) Business development 4) Personal brandingIn this approach, the students will be able to use the newly acquired skills according to their current needs – to express themselves, monetize their skills, sell products, or seek employment. This aspect will especially important for young people from the communities in danger of exclusion. The second result is aimed at front-line youth educators. They need the proper resources to provide media production and usage training to young people. The bespoke in-service training programme for youth and community educators will increase their digital literacy levels and will help them understand the social media reality that is usually more intuitive for younger consumers and creators. The educators will gain skills and competences to: - Reach the marginalized youth effectively and have the empathy to support them to the best extent with their struggles - Provide young people with high-quality training in video production and usage, using the most relevant open-source software and commonly available hardware- Feel comfortable with delivering such advanced training using blended and online environments, with full awareness of their strengths and threats connected to it. Both educators and young people will have an opportunity to support their learning process using the bespoke online environment created in the project (PR3). It will be used to: - Providing the tailor-made platform to use the learning resources developed in the project - Providing recognition for the creativity and effort of young people participating in the project piloting, by uploading and sharing the videos they will create during the Film Festivals and the Transnational Film-making Masterclass - Support project and partnership dissemination activities.The results of the project will be uploaded on project website and will be available for everyone interested. The website with results published will be maintained after end of project development.

"Europe faces a real and ongoing threat from violent extremism - the forms in which extremism manifests itself have changed. On-and offline support for terrorist organisations shows an increase in radicalisation among young people on EU territory. In the words of Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs “no country is spared from the scourge of violent extremism but still far too few EU Member States are facing up to this rising threat. We need strong, preventive measures to counter extremism in all its forms”. So the HYPER project focuses on the prevention of radicalization themed ""Empower youths - against radicalization and violent extremism"". From a national and transnational perspective, the HYPER-Consortium of 6 European countries developed, tested and implemented a full innovative suite of educational resources that show the process of radicalisation in action. These resources focus on demonstrating how radicalisation can happen on the most popular digital and social media platforms where today’s young people hang out and where many are at their most vulnerable. The suite of simulation resources acts as a gateway to an online learning environment where a wide range of suitable and appropriate training resources are provided. In addition, to support educators and youth professionals to deliver this peer education programme to young people and to use the simulation resources in their sessions with young people, the team developed bespoke in-service and induction training programmes to enable to extract the maximum benefit from the full range of the simulation and training tools. Specifically, HYPER has achieved the following results and impacts: 1) a full innovative suite of interactive simulation resources that shows how the radicalisation process can unfold in a variety of different digital and social media environments. This includes a range of short simulation videos for use on smartphones and other mobile devices. Each simulation video supported by a full range of self-help learning resources presented in formats appropriate to the target group. 2) a peer training programme for young people act as credible voices against the extremist narratives. This training programme includes a suite of resources that can be used to help young people to think critically about extremists’ views and discourses and expose the flaws of their propaganda. 3) an in-service training programme for front-line youth workers to support their continuous professional development and an induction training programme for youth volunteers, parents and guardians. These resources facilitate the role of these key stakeholders as key multipliers within the framework of the HYPER project. It supports youth workers to deliver the proposed peer training programme and to extract the maximum benefit from the self-help resources and simulation resources planned. All resources developed are available online in 5 partner languages on website https://hyper-project.eu/. They are available to all interested parties without restriction maintaining the open access requirements of the ERASMUS+ programme. The main target groups addressed for developed resources are young people interested in becoming peer educators, as well as youth educators, youth workers and front-line trainers, parents and guardians who would like to learn more and new and emerging online threats. Especially the young people more learn about new and emerging threats and risks they face in online environments. They be able to support their peers to be protected against the online dangers. During the project period the consortium reached direct (attending the online or personally discussions, workshops, presentations, conferences) between 250 to 300 participants per country. These were e.g. youth workers; youth at risk; students; parents; youth volunteers and guardians but also police officer; service provider; educators; academic and policy makers. Indirect there were over 19 300 people (according to statistics) following the news and results thorough social media or by publishing articles and Newsletters."