SAFE YOUTH focuses on supporting and empowering youth workers combating the social obstacles young people face nowadays, because of their gender, sexual orientation and mental health status and help youth to build resilience and improve their well-being.According to Eurostat (2017) 28% of young people aged 16- 29 years were at risk of social exclusion in the EU. This lies to the fact that young people may enter the process of social inclusion at different points and move toward both poles – either marginalisation or achievement of autonomy; depending on the choices they make, the support and opportunities they have.The development of essential socio-emotional life skills may act as protective factors for youth’s empowerment especially in relation to their sexual behavior, mental health, quality of life and well-being. As proven, youth struggling with disadvantages are generally less active citizens and have less trust in institutions; something that leads them to isolation and to feel less included in their social environment. Sexuality Education comes to respond to this challenge by empowering youth workers on providing young people with the knowledge, skills and efficacy to make informed decisions about their sexuality, well- being and lifestyle as to feel more included in their social environment, be more confident about who they are and to become active citizens.Youth workers can facilitate and respond to this need empowering young people on a personal and a social level. According to the National Occupational Standards for Youth Work 2008, youth work enables young people to develop holistically- their voice, influence and place in society and to reach their full potential; something that the formal educational system cannot achieve solely.The project’s objectives which are also in line with the European Youth Strategy 2019- 2027 and the ERASMUS+ Guide 2020 in the field of Youth, are to:1. Educate and support youth workers and trainers’ acquisition of sexuality education, mental health, resilience and well- being competences by developing learning resources and innovative tools using non- formal education;2. Empower the development of attitudes of self-respect and self-value of youth target groups by developing a visual online space where all the OERs & Gamified learning resources produced will be available (learning kit, visual storytelling, digital escape rooms);3. Increase knowledge and awareness of youth workers and young people, regarding social inclusion, sexuality education, mental health, resilience and well-being issues building on European values through the implementations and study visit to take place during the project;4. Stimulate youth workers to connect, engage and empower youth to challenge the social taboos and stereotypes building more inclusive social environments and5. Contribute to practice policy development regarding sexuality education and validation and recognition of youth work at national and EU level.In order to achieve the above, the involvement and expertise of organisations of different types is needed (NGOs dedicated to youth, civil society organisation, technical partners) to highlight their needs, bring in experience and expertise that is applied in different European countries (Cyprus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland) to support youth, while it also involves new coming organisations. This EU perspective will target needs in the participating partner countries, and support the sharing of lessons and experiences from working with youth workers and youth in order to ensure that young people-especially marginalised- are well equipped with the knowledge and the skills required for sharing their opinion concerning their own sexual health rights and interests; have better mental health; and fight stigma and discrimination.SAFE YOUTH aims to reach 10,000 individuals during its lifecycle and more than 50,000 people at long-term. Specifically, more than 2000 young people -with a special focus on marginalised youth who seek of support- 2000 youth workers, 200 policy decision makers, and more than 100 other stakeholders will be reached directly and indirectly with various means.Through innovative learning modules that will be developed in the learning kit of the project touching sensitive issues, an online visual space which also includes visual storytelling/ narratives, digital escape rooms in the form of challenge-based learning activities, and a policy and practice report, SAFE YOUTH will raise awareness, educate, and support key stakeholders, youth workers and youth (including marginalised youth) throughout Europe regarding the importance of sexuality education, mental health and well- being of youth. The active involvement of youth workers will empower the field of youth work and lead young people to a more socially inclusive environment.

"We are a consortium of some of the region’s leading organisations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). We all focus on reaching marginalized and underserved young people, and we normally rely on face-to-face contact to deliver comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). The Covid-19 crisis has forced all of us to change how we work radically in a short space of time and all SRHR organisations are facing challenges in the provision of services and information. Coordinated by YSAFE, the youth network of International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network (IPPF EN), our project aims to capture what we are all learning under lockdown about moving our educational activities online and make this available to other organizations. Many members of our network are already using digital methods to support CSE delivery, and an emerging literature does exist on requirements for designing quality online CSE under normal circumstances. However, prior to our project, there are still no resources published on how organisations reliant on face-to-face CSE delivery might maximise their existing tools to shift to online working cheaply and quickly. Our objectives are therefore1) To create and disseminate set of guidelines on delivering CSE online, which will help organisations move online to overcome challenges where face-to-face delivery has been blocked and support their improvement of youth-friendly online reach even during normal operating.2) To raise the capacities of young youth workers from 8 organizations to pilot the use of the guidelines in designing and delivering online educational activitiesA core group of 16 young peer sexuality educators and youth worker staff attached to YSAFE, seven national members of IPPF EN, and the End FGM European Network will come together to share good practices and key learnings from their experiments in moving educational activities online. Together we will draft a 50-page document that draws on our experiences and the most recent UNESCO and WHO guidance to provide practical advice on:(1) delivering urgent key messages in an acute situation that blocks in-person work, including • assessing the most relevant needs in an urgent situation;• making use of existing social media channels to deliver concise educational messages;• appropriate branding and visual content creation for online campaigns• reframing messages for specific audiences/contexts(2) delivering 'live action"" CSE online, to expand an organisation’s existing offer and increasing reach in a sustainable way, including• adapting existing CSE workshop plans for delivery through video platforms • using online work to bridge the gaps between those who are currently being served and those who are notOnce the guidance is drafted we will offer training and support a further 45 young participants to test it out through delivering their own action plans for online peer-led educational activities. These will be on the theme of sexual and gender-based violence to build on YSAFE’s continuing work on prevention among marginalized youth and activities will be connected to thematically relevant international calendar events, such as the 16 Days of Activism and International Women's Day. The action plans will include ""live"" CSE sessions on video platforms as well as activities run using their existing social media channels, to test out the youth-friendliness and usability of both areas treated by our new guidelines document. We expect to reach 250,000 young people during the implementation of their online activities. We expect the guidelines to be of use to any organization looking to reach youth online with rights-based educational content when in-person delivery is not possible, thus maintaining the benefits of CSE to their personal development, health and wellbeing and reducing the disruption to this aspect of young people's education. For all organisations, SRHR or otherwise, the guidelines will have relevance both in crisis situations - the continuation of Covid-19 lockdowns, for example, or national events that cause a breakdown in normal educational access - and also in regular operating times, when it can be used to increase online work to reach more youth. The possibilities for using online methods of education to reach specifically marginalized young people with CSE to counteract their marginalization has been recognized by the major actors in our field, noting that digital interventions can reach populations missed by other forms of education. We therefore expect the guidelines to impact positively an organisation's reach to those who are marginalized and/or underserved."