<< Background >>The aim of Career Paths Inclusive 2.0 (CPI 2) is to design, develop and test digital multimedia career guidance tools in sign languages. Deaf youth can plan their career paths unaided or in a supported setting (training) in their first language (sign) and are empowered and informed in their choice of future career. CPI 2 is a follow-on project to augment the existing tools and develop new complementary ones. Through CPI 2, we want to address the priorities, particularly relevant for deaf youth: Strengthening employability, inclusion and addressing digital transformation: Deaf youth - is particularly vulnerable to marginalisation, exclusion and unemployment. They experience linguistic barriers to participation in education and training systems throughout their lives (WHO 2021, p.46). The problem starts at birth - 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, so they lack an adult language model at home (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2004). Structural and linguistic limitations in education systems mean little or no bilingual instruction is available in schools throughout Europe. Most deaf children learn reading and writing without reference to sign language. Deaf youth often finish compulsory schooling with low literacy levels and few qualifications. Deaf students often demonstrate a lack of career planning (WHO 2021, p.46f), a lack of information about the job application process and a lack of employed deaf role models (Accessible Work 4 All 2020, Napier et. al. 2020, Hoogeveen 2015).Access to career guidance in sign language helps bridge linguistic barriers, provide access to information, enable self- study, self-determination and increased literacy levels, and enable fair and equal participation on the first labour market. CPI 2 augments the CPI toolkit, adding animated video tutorials, more careers videos, a training course for the job application process and an evaluation and guidelines of the quality of sign language in the outputs. The results are designed to provide deaf youth access to careers guidance in their first language. Self-determination is vital - bilingual content enables deaf job seekers to access digital content without the need for interpretation or communication assistance. Through the training course they gain practical experience guided by a trainer. With digital resources in sign language at their fingertips which they can refer to in their own time, replay and repeat, deaf youth can use the project outputs for self-study or in a training setting, thereby improving the transferable skills that they need to find a job. As a result, they are more attractive candidates in the first labour market. This is empowerment. Equipped with transferable skills developed through CPI 2, it is easier for deaf job seekers to work in companies interested in diversifying their workforce. Deaf youth have embraced some aspects of digitalisation, and many deaf users show more advanced digital skills and competencies than their hearing peers. Nevertheless, digitalisation relies heavily on written language, and even though the tendency is falling, 45 % of internet content is in English. Complex formulations and foreign languages constitute barriers to people with lower literacy levels, such as is (sadly) often found in deaf communities (Krausenecker 2006). This means that digital transformation needs to be carefully implemented using an inclusive approach. In the context of deaf youth, this means developing bilingual digital materials – in sign and written language – to ensure that content is accessible and easily understood by people who identify as native signers. Accessible digital transformation needs to include the accessibility of content, not just the infrastructure – digital content must include sign languages, but also supporting graphics, visual images or animation, as well as the use of plain language (easy-reading format). All of these enable full and broad access to all users across the literacy spectrum<< Objectives >>CPI 2 is a follow on project from the highly successful Career Paths Inclusive (2019 – 2021) project to design, develop and test digital multimedia career guidance tools in sign language (success indicators: unique website visitors: 46.765, users of interest profile: 800, Facebook Fans: 304, Instagram Followers: 332, YouTube views: 25,4 K/watch time 680h - 10.2021). The overall objective is to contribute to deaf youth empowerment and the realisation of articles 21 and 24 of the UN CRPD. The specific goal remains to inform and empower deaf youth, enabling them to plan their own career paths unaided or within a training setting through the provision of accessible career guidance information in their first language (sign language). We developed the Career Paths toolkit during the first project phase, which consists of an interest profile in Sign Language and numerous career orientation videos in 4 Sign Languages. The toolkit starts with CHECK YOUR PROFILE – a survey that invites users to answer 44 questions based on their interests, strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the survey, the three most appropriate areas of work appear as results. Accompanying the results are career orientation videos featuring 51 possible careers. We used plain language to facilitate a greater understanding of written accompanying texts, and there is a vocabulary section for difficult terminology. It combines picture or photo with the written word and Sign. CPI 2 augments the existing toolkit, adding additional resources and languages. We plan to develop four work packages: Output 1 consists of step-by-step explanation videos, which comprise animation and SL moderation on selected subjects such as job searches, interviews and CV/applications, and more. Output 2 consists of 40 videos in sign language about additional professions , output 3 is a training course about deepening the topics of the IO1 tutorial videos. For output 4, the partnership will develop an evaluation and guidelines on how to assess the quality of sign language in the project outputs. The tools are available in the following sign languages: Austrian, Dutch, Slovak and Italian, as well as German, Dutch, Slovak and Italian written languages. The use of plain language and focus on visual presentation means that the tools can be used by other groups such as people with intellectual disabilities or hearing youth wishing to acquire Sign Language skills and competencies. The tools can be used in integrative and vocational schools and organisations offering employment services, counselling, career guidance and support throughout Europe. There is a clear need for projects that provide bilingual tools for Deaf youth. Deaf or hard of hearing children and youth face many barriers in education, training and employment. Despite many advances in recent years, adequate bilingual education in sign language and written language is still not available in most European countries. That means in practice that many deaf children acquire only lower literacy levels, and there are currently few bilingual resources available to them. The first Career Paths Inclusive project had an exceptional resonance with the target group, which is why we would like to continue our work. The availability of career guidance tools in sign language enables deaf youth to decide for themselves, to plan and experiment in their first language, thereby facilitating greater self-confidence, self-determination, and inclusion.<< Implementation >>Activities are divided into 3 main areas. These are activities relating to project management, i.e. monitoring, reporting and quality management, those relating to the development of the 4 outputs, and finally, those relating to the dissemination, exploitation and long-term sustainability of the project outputs. Project management activities include communication and coordination, admin and financial management, maintenance of the logical framework analysis, work plan and Gantt chart, financial and narrative reporting, dissemination reporting, quality management and risk management activities.Through well-run and timely project management activities, we coordinate and harmonize activities between project partners while ensuring that the achievement of milestones and quality management are all assured, and all tasks are fulfilled in a timely way. Activities relating to the development of the outputs are as follows: Output 1 consists of 9 animated video tutorials providing careers guidance information on topics relevant for deaf youth looking for a job. Partners use a research template to ensure consistent information collection and topics are divided between partners. When the research phase is concluded, content is translated into written language and glossed for sign language translation. The animated video templates are produced by equalizent, and partners film the sign language moderation to overlay on the template. Completed videos are uploaded to the multilingual project platform. Testing throughout is undertaken by deaf youth and representatives of associated partners and other stakeholders (working and focus groups). Output 2 consists of 40 career guidance videos in 4 sign languages (160 videos) which focus on the daily tasks of a particular job, presented by a deaf role model. The careers and interview subjects are carefully chosen to augment the videos already available. The Dutch and Italian sign language version of CHECK YOUR PROFILE is filmed and added to the platform. Testing as described above. Output 3 Consists of a training course based on the topics of the tutorial videos in Output 1. A curriculum and a handbook are produced and piloted by 10 deaf youth in each country. The output is tested (as above). Output 4 is the development of an evaluation tool and guidelines on how to measure the quality of the sign language content. An information video is filmed at the MEs in each country, showcasing the outputs and the skills and achievements of the deaf youth themselves. Dissemination is undertaken using a mix of online and face-to-face approaches, project-specific channels using the existing CPI website and social media channels, as well as existing partner channels, websites, social media channels, and newsletters. We utilise existing contacts, fora and conferences to ensure the project is widely disseminated. Deaf community acceptance and use of project outputs ensures greater long-term sustainability.<< Results >>Deaf youth are empowered and informed in their choice of a future career, have access to and use bilingual digital tools and have augmented their transferable skillset. Verifiable indicators: By 2024, more than 100 deaf youth have used the tools independently. By the end of the project, 40 deaf youth have acquired transferable skills visible in their youth pass. By the end of the project, 80% of deaf youth participants express greater empowerment. 20 institutes, organisations and schools use the tools in their training programmes and career guidance.Output 1 - explanation videos: 9 animated explanation videos are available in 4 sign languages (SPJ, ÖGS, NGT, LIS), so a total of 36 videos. 20 deaf youth have tested the tutorials 20 institutes are informed about the tutorials and have tested them.Output 2 - Professions : Digital information on 40 selected careers is available in sign languages / in a multimedia format CHECK YOUR PROFILE is available in Dutch and Italian. 40 career guidance videos in SPJ, ÖGS, NGT, LIS (160 in total) 20 deaf youth have tested the tools 20 institutes are informed about the tools and have tested them . Output 3 - Training: Curriculum, blended learning training course and accompanying digital handbook on skills needed for job applications. Curriculum, training course & handbook available in English, German, Slovak, Dutch and Italian for download on the website. Training has been piloted by 40 deaf youth. 20 institutes, organisations are informed about the training and have tested it.Output 4 - Evaluation: an evaluation tool and guidelines on how to measure the quality of the sign language content. 5 evaluations (1 for each output of CPI and CPI 2.0). 1 final evaluation with guidelines to produce accessible teaching materials for deaf youth.4 MEs have taken place with at least 200 participants 80% of the user (tester) feedback is positive Effective dissemination of the project goals, activities and outputs has taken place.