In the era of Millennials, when youngsters spend more and more time online, the need has arisen to move some of the youth work practices to the virtual world. Online space provides a great opportunity for youth workers to affect young people’s lives and habits and reach high number of them without limitation to a specific geographic region or time frame. However, these campaigns need to be youth-appealing and stand out from a huge amount of information young people are overwhelmed with, in order to be effective and reach the planned goals. In the time when youngsters are more and more comfortable on the web, overwhelmed by huge amounts of information and carefully choosing and filtering the information they pay attention to, youth workers need additional support and space for developing skills in order to reach out to the youngsters online in the most effective manner. Online campaigns can be a very useful tool for youth work practices, but only if conducted in a quality and youth appealing manner. This is where youth workers need additional support, to develop and improve their competences (IT skills, but also behavioural knowledge) in order to create programmes and campaigns that will be digitally-youth-friendly and have the desired impact on the target group. There are two extremely important main goals to meet when online campaigning: 1. Be visible and stand out from a huge amount of information and 2. Have the desired effect on the target group (whether it is delivering information, a change of perspective, move to action etc.). Peer-to-peer online campaigns have a great potential, since it is the youngsters who know best what the current trends are on the web and especially on social networks, and can predict very easily the reaction that a current action or content can cause on the web. During the project implementation, youth workers will have the opportunity to gain knowledge on online campaigning, and also develop skills and competences in this area. They will be able to work on creation of their own methods during the TC, and they will have the opportunity to try out and furtherly develop those methods during three youth exchanges. Furthermore, participants of the youth exchanges will start and implement three European level campaigns after the exchange. This way, planned activities will give youth workers and youngsters the opportunity to practically try out their new knowledge, use and test the newly adopted skills and measure the results they had on the target groups in comparison to the expected results. One of the crucial outputs of the project will be the Recommendations (Online campaign as a tool in youth work) the project team will develop and publish at the end of the project implementation. Recommendations will be made public and available for all the interested individuals, organisations and entities who wish to implement project or programmes using online campaigning as a tool.

For the E-UNITE project, a competent consortium was established consisting of a University, three NGOs and two Research Institutes that combined efforts to deliver the E-UNITE network – an international youth network, that promotes community-led initiatives in the fields of tolerance, inclusivity, and diversity. The consortium addressed challenges effectively through concise project management approaches, appropriate risk mitigation techniques, and an excellent team spirit. For the successful completion of the projects, partners formed a Steering Committee based on the following rule: every partner (except the coordinating partner) appointed a representative, and UNIC (in its capacity as the coordinating partner) contributed two representative, namely, the project manager and the financial officer.The Steering Committee was responsible for examining any project-related issue and facilitating collective decision-making. The main enabling factors entailed mutual understanding, collaborative efforts, and frequent communication using a variety of channels with an emphasis on electronic means.The main output of this project is the E-UNITE Hub that allows the convergence of young minds, exchange of ideas, and a showcase of various initiatives. This output has been tested, and the results are comparable to the high specifications initially sought. This platform, the E-UNITE Hub, was pilot-tested in two phases. Initially, tests were performed by the project partners with the support of selected youth; the outcome of such tests consisted of suggested changes and improvements. The second phase took place during the E1 activity, i.e., the youth workers workshop held on the 16th of May 2019 in Sofia Bulgaria, with the participation of 34 youth workers.The E-UNITE Manual is an electronic book targeted at youth workers promoting tolerance and diversity in community-led actions. The E-UNITE Manual is designed to encompass practical advice and guidelines, highlighting good practices and business models aiming to develop networks of stakeholders and facilitate the implementation of grassroots initiatives.Finally, the E-UNITE Sustainability Roadmap has been developed. This output supports the E-UNITE HUB sustainability through the development of an online community and a series of activities for its members that will yield the necessary resources (financial and others) for its future growth, visibility, and acceptance. All Intellectual Outputs were developed according to high-quality specifications; the Intellectual Outputs of E-UNITE were translated in partner languages as it was outlined in the application form and the Amendment; Intellectual outputs O1 and O2 were translated in all partner languages while the O3 was developed in English. A short term Learning/Teaching/Training Activity – the Joint Staff Training was held between the18th and the 20th of June 2019 in Athens, Greece. Participants came from the targeted groups described in the application form and were extensively involved in the project activities. At the same time, transnational partner meetings and all other events were implemented as in the approved Amendment.The project carried out extensive dissemination using the primary means youth frequently undertakes: the internet and social media.

<< Background >>In our times of increased multiculturalism and multilingualism though, there is a need for a way to build empathy, teach and understand, and communicate ideas through universal languages. While the number of migrants in the EU is rising (according to Eurostat, more than 5% of the population of the EU is non-EU citizens) and mobility within the EU has been on the rise (COVID-19 crisis), tensions are rising as well. These divides can be mended to a large extent through change of attitude, understanding and increase both of quality and quantity of communication between different groups. Inclusion and integration within the EU must be based not just on common interests, but also on shared values and insight into the differences, which make cultures richer. Not in the last place, diversity has many faces, through which we can see the need for flexibility and adaptability - accommodating people with various specific needs, like dyslexia (which is observed in between 9 and 12% of the population in the EU according to the European Dyslexia Association) or autism disorders (which affects around 1 in 100, according to Autism Europe) just to give an example. According to the European Council (2013) youth work plays an important role in preventing social exclusion and enhancing social inclusion. Social inclusion in its turn encompasses various aspects of one’s life, including mental health and control over levels of anxiety, ability to participate in discourse and decision-making, as well as ability to communicate effectively, share stories and express opinions. Comic books and graphic novels on the other hand, provide a method of work, which lowers barriers to entry for young people, and invites them in not only as consumers, but as creators of content, which may be crucial to integration into their communities. Studies of using comic creation as a tool, have shown a lot of promise in this idea. When used with Native American youth in 2012 shows that comic creation can lead to improved knowledge and behaviour, as well as healthier decision-making. The small-scale Comics Youth initiative in the UK has also shown promise in supporting young people express and discover themselves. It is also important to consider that consuming and creating comics promotes media literacy education, as well as learning and growth overall. Creating a bond between youth workers and young people; getting the interest of the recipient in order to intervene and provide support - those are some of the most important aspects of youth work. As a result, any approach that can be used to increase the connection between the youth worker and the young people has the potential to increase the impact of youth work and can be included in youth work. Regarding the target group of young people, CO-MIX intends to equip them with a tool that they can express themselves safely and freely. Nevertheless, the overall experience in comic book creating calls for a mix of various soft and hard skills. For instance, the creation of a comic book that focuses on a story, requires the “author” to organize thoughts, decide on what elements to use, perhaps communicate in the case of extra collaborators and as well lead them. For young people that face learning difficulties, the vibrant motifs, the ability to freely design their own visuals, will bridge gaps and eliminate constraints in communication. There is an ever-growing need for competencies and skills that are not necessarily taught in a formal educational environment. Just to be included in the process of creating a comic book (regardless of topic, length,) the author gains the experience and skills of communicating, organizing, delegating, creative thinking, sensitivity, and content creation. These skills are transferable to many industries and can lead to employment in fields such as digital design, directing, animating, graphic design, acting.<< Objectives >>CO-MIX aims to support cooperative learning in an inclusive and flexible way - by using comic creation in youth work. Through a specific focus on inclusion work and tackling difficult subjects in an approachable way, the project is going to address its overarching objectives: - to support young people and youth workers in integration, understanding, empathy-building and promotion of common EU values; - to build capacities in the field of youth by promoting the practice of creating comics as a methodology in youth work; - to expand the impact of youth workers even in limiting situations (such as the one of Covid-19) and in more situations that require versatility and flexibility; - through broad consultation and cooperation with many local actors, to create not only useful learning materials, but a means of useful connectivity and interaction in the field of youth; - through further local activities and international cooperation within and after this project, contributing to Sustainable Development Goals #3, #4 and #16.<< Implementation >>The CO-MIX methodology for implementation will unfold in 5 distinct activity groups (A), structured in a manner to complement each other with the purpose to achieve the set by the current proposal objectives. The execution of these Activities will be coordinated by efforts, grouped under A1 Management and Coordination, which will be executed through the whole project lifetime. Each activity group will aim at a number of results to be achieved, linked to respective qualitative and quantitative indicators. A2 is concentrated towards the development of PR1 - Creating the CO-MIX online platform, which will be led by TFN. The tasks envisaged under this work stream aim to design and create the online platform, put it through rigorous tests, involving stakeholders, and adding to it useful materials (including templates) and information. Part of the activities in A2 will also contribute to the development of the methodology to be worked on in A3, but mostly the work done in this Activity group will address the objectives of:-to support young people and youth workers in integration, understanding, empathy-building and promotion of common EU values; -to expand the impact of youth workers even in limiting situations (such as the one of Covid-19) and in more situations that require versatility and flexibility; -through broad consultation and cooperation with many local actors, to create not only useful learning materials, but a means of useful connectivity and interaction in the field of youth. A3, the development of PR2 - Methodology on inclusive work through comics, will be led by HIGGS. As will be presented in further detail below, the methodology is aimed at youth workers,and will contribute to the same objectives as A2 but will build up on that by specifying approaches, examples and guidelines on implementation of comic creation in youth work, thus working to the objective of “to build capacities in the field of youth by promoting the practice of creating comics as a methodology in youth work”. It is extremely important for the project consortium that the created outputs are immediately useful and that value can be found in them throughout multiple uses.A4, which will work for the creation of PR3: Comic books for inclusive youth work, is led by MCC. This PR is aimed both at youth workers, and at young people, inviting them to explore the subject of comic creation through the lenses of the finished comics. This activity will lean on the practical expertise of MCC and will build on it with good practices, theory and engagement with interested stakeholders and of course, the cooperation of all partners. Through engagement of youth and youth workers and attention to connectivity, relationship-building, effective engagement and tools for capacity building, all activities of CO-MIX will contribute to the objective of the project to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals #3, #4 and #16.Simultaneously with the implementation of the aforementioned activities, a wide dissemination campaign will be undertaken to ensure on time update of the project progress and promotion of project results. Led by OFCI, Activity 5 will involve face-to-face meetings, online and offline dissemination of information related to the project, as well as maintenance of social media. The MEs play essential role for the achievement of the project results and objectives, as they will be attracting and engaging target groups in the project outputs; raising awareness on the issues targeted by the project and give the floor for discussion; and extending the potential to reach out to national and EU policy- and decision-makers and focus their attention and understanding of the needs in the youth sector. The dissemination efforts will contribute to the achievement of all objectives of the CO-MIX project and partnership.<< Results >>The CO-MIX project aims to enhance the experience of youth workers and the service they provide to young people by equipping them with a methodology, an online platform, and a series of pre-made comics on sensitive issues. During the creation of all these results we will be engaging youth workers in informal meetings and involving them at every step, gaining feedback and adjusting the outcomes in order to tailor to the needs of both the youth workers and young people.In depth, the project aims to create an online platform (available in 5 languages: the 4 partner languages and English) that will host a proprietary comic book creating application. The aforementioned application will be designed in such a way that the target group demographic will feel comfortable to use. In addition, the application will be equipped with text, character models, environments and a large volume of customizability. The platform will be available and free to use by anyone. Furthemore, on the platform, the methodology on “Inclusive youth work through comics” will be uploaded and available for anyone who wishes to use it. It will be created by organizations that host youth workers and will be including them on all relevant steps of the project such as brainstorming, testing, and use with young people. The purpose is to complement youth workers with a methodology that is aimed to be more inclusive. Given that youth workers have already a large repertoire of activities to use, the methodology will keep that in consideration and strive to provide the final reader with all possible explanations, templates and guidance in order to make it easier for them to start the comic book activity and make the learning curve less steep. Moreover, continuing from the second project result , the methodology, the CO-MIX project will produce a series of comics (created using the abovementioned platform) that will cover a series of sensitive topics with the ultimate purpose of being used for inclusive youth work. It is generally expected that taboo topics as well as topics of sensitive nature are not always easy to portray or begin exploring with a group of youngsters, therefore these comics will be already curated by experts of the relative fields and available on the main website-platform.Additionally, the project during its course will include Joint Staff Trainings where in total 8 youth workers from the partner countries will join. In 4 multiplier events it is expected that around 150 participants will be acquainted with the finalized products of the project. Also, at least 6,000 partners, target audiences, national and European stakeholders will be updated about the results of the project via the dissemination channels and events.Upon choosing the proper graphical art for the project CO-MIX, social media accounts (Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram for the general public) will be created providing to the public, updated regarding the project as well as opportunities for them to add their inputs if requested. For the group of professionals, LinkedIn will be used. This mix of social networks will ensure that a wide group of individuals can be addressed.Lastly, just as comic books have influenced the imagination of many young people, the ability for those same young people to create comic books, expanding their imagination, feeling included regardless of the demographic they belong in, and creating art that can be shared to their social circle, will influence their perception on inclusive and social matters.

"Projekt APEL združuje 4 partnerje, iz različnih evropskih regij – Srednja Evropa (Slovenija in Avstrija), Vzhodna Evropa (Bolgarija) in Zahodna Evropa (Nizozemska) in so odraz trenutnih izzivov in trendov na področju mladinskega dela. Misija našega projekta je v skladu z Resolucijo o strategiji Evropske unije za mlade, za obdobje 2019-2027, s poudarkom na potrebi po izboljšanju kvalitete mladinskega dela. V tem strateškem dokumentu so države članice spodbujene k fokusu na spodbujanje dialoga in participativnih mehanizmov na vseh ravneh odločanja, npr. prek MLADINSKIH SVETOV, s fokusom na povratnih mehanizmih in rezultatih mladih iz različnih ozadij. To bi lahko vključevalo podporo javnim organom pri izvajanju participativnih praks, npr. prek orodij. Vidimo ustaljen trend, da so tudi v državah z dolgo tradicijo udeležbe mladih pri oblikovanju pomembnih političnih iniciativ, odločitve sprejete s strani odločevalcev, kar so v večini primerov odrasli. To je medsektorski izziv, s številnimi poudarjenimi dejavniki, zahtevajoč sistemske urkepe. Zavedajoč se, da s projektom ne moremo nasloviti in obravnavati vseh dejavnikov, se bomo osredotočili na specifičen element tega izziva, vezan na vodilno vlogo mladih pri spodbujanju nenenhne mladinske participacije. Naš splošni cilj je opremiti mladinske delavce s potrebno metodologijo in viri za krepitev vloge mladinskih vodij, da bi bili učinkovitejši pri spodbujanju participacije mladih v procesu oblikovanja politike na lokalni in nacionalni ravni ter eventualno na EU ravni. Z opolnomočenjem mladinskih voditeljev, bomo podprli politični dialog od spodaj navzgor. Z drugimi besedami in v bolj metaforičnem smislu, mladim bomo omogočili, da prvi dosežejo politični dialog. Predvideli smo tri ključne intelektualne rezultate: - Intelektualni rezultat 1 (v nadaljevanju IO 1) – APEL Metodologija usposabljanja. Ta rezultat bo sintetiziral trenutno znanje na področju mladinskega dela na ravneh partnerskih organizacij, partnerskih držav in EU ravni. Medtem ko so številni poskusi že poudarjeni med projekti, ki jih financira EU, bomo sami šli korak dlje – z integracijo elementov metodologije usposabljanja, ki se uporabljajo v drugih učnih okoljih (npr., korporativna usposabljanja v poslovni intuciji in ''coaching-u'', usposabljanja profesorjev, programi za razvoj vodstva odraslih) in prilagoditvijo teh glede na potrebe mladinskih voditeljev.- Intelektualni rezultat 2 (v nadaljevanju IO2) – APEL Kartice za usposabljanje. Ta rezultat bo sintetiziral obstoječe znanje in instrumente na področju usposabljanja. Podobni, visoko ugledni izdelki se osredotočajo predvsem na širša področja poklicnega in osebnega razvoja (npr. Points of You, OH-Cards). Po meri bomo izdelali kartice, z izrazitim fokusom na vodenju. Vsebina kartic in metodologija za njihovo uporabo bosta v okviru učnih rezultatov znotraj IO1. - Intelektualni rezultat 3 (v nadaljevanju IO3) – Politična priporočila ""APEL Dialog"". Ta rezultat bo dodana vrednost, saj bo predstavil niz jasnih in izvedljivih ukrepov za zagotovitev močnega dialoga med oblikovalci politik in mladimi na vseh ravneh - od mikro (organizacijskih) do lokalne, regionalne in državne.Pričakujemo doseg naslednjih ciljnih skupin: -48 mladinskih delavcev, ki bodo IO1 in IO2 vključili v svoje vsakdanje delo (fokusna skupina: 16 in razširjanje rezultatov: 32).-120 mladinskih vodij, ki se bodo usposabljali prek IO1 in IO2 (fokusna skupina: 40 in razširjanje rezultatov: 80).-1200 mladinskih delavcev, mladinskih vodij, mladih, političnih odločevalcev in ostalih deležnikov obveščenih o rezultatih projekta prek diseminacijskih aktivnosti (1 zaključna konferenca, 36 spletnih publikacij, 12 tematskih prezentacij na zunanjih dogodkih, zagotavljanje sprotnih informacij).-25 političnih oblikovalcev je izrazilo zanimanje za sprejetje političnih priporočil, ki jih daje IO3.Kar zadeva kvalitativne rezultate, pričakujemo:-Izboljšati poklicne kompetence mladinskih delavcev v partnerskih organizacijah, pridruženih partnerjih in zunaj njih, za potrebe izvajanja usposabljanja za krepitev vloge mladinskih vodij. -Izboljšati vodstvene veščine mladinskih vodij pri zastopanju mladih in njihovega glasu ter krepitvi dialoga mladih s političnimi odločevalci;-Izboljšanje ozaveščenosti ustreznih deležnikov v partnerskih državah o krepitvi vloge mladih in učinkovitem dialogu med političnimi oblikovalci in mladimi.Dolgoročni učinek bo ustvarjanje mladinskih skupnost za proaktivno sodelovanje v procesih oblikovanja politik. Večja udeležba mladih v dialogih o politikah bo vodila k sprejemanju političnih odločitev, ki so bližje potrebam te skupnosti, kar bo privedlo do pozitivnih in trajnostnih rezultatov."

"Political and wider social participation of young people is important as it shows the ""health"" and functioning of democracy, and has a positive impact of development of the identity of the young person (Levine, 2010: 160). Youth participation is also important because political and civil society functioning in adolescence predicts an individual's behaviour in adulthood (Obradović and Masten, 2007; Plutzer, 2002). The youth are getting more and more inactive, although different organizations are providing possibilities to encourage active participation, the problem still remains. It turns out that the big issue that all participating countries need to tackle is youth inactivity. Main mission of all participating organizations is to encourage youth participation, that young people realize, that they are in charge of developing and establishing the society they want to live in. Project 4Youth aims to develop skills, knowledge and competences of youth workers to increase their productivity and effectiveness, to encourage youth participation and to develop activities to strengthen soft skills of youth. By the end of this project we will be able to develop permanent methodology to improve the existing programs and serve as policy directives for up-coming youths or the generations to come. Within the project, we will train youth workers and give them new tools, approaches and will develop environment for fostering youth participation. We will establish intercultural cooperation among partners, networks and will conduct research of the situation in each country aiming to share best practices and to combine effective approaches into new methodology."