Erasmus+ Priorities

Among the objectives to pursue, here are the four main ones:

• Promoting inclusion and diversity;
• Making projects ‘greener’ and encouraging environmentally sustainable and responsible behaviour among participants and participating organisations;
• Supporting the digital transition through projects and activities that boost digital skills, foster digital literacy and develop understanding of the risks and opportunities of digital technology;
• Promoting the participation of young people in democratic processes and civic engagement.

Environmental Sustainability

A new research maps out Erasmus+ projects in education for environmental sustainability and highlights 15 case studies, summarising the findings from the Erasmus+ programme which showcase successful educational approaches towards learning for environmental sustainability. 

Education and training plays a crucial role in helping people understand and act on environmental sustainability. For this reason, the European Commission supports actions which work towards this goal. According to a new study, there have been thousands of Erasmus+ projects which focus on learning for environmental sustainability since 2014.

The Power of European Projects Toward Sustainability

Over European Projects, transnational teams come together to explore environmental challenges of common European and global concern, with a variety of innovative, interdisciplinary, hands-on methods: from simulation games, and science-technology-society education models, to GPS-based scavenger hunt apps.

Explore these successful cases, and get inspiration!

Read also

Report on the Outcomes of Erasmus+ Projects

Toolbox on Values, Sustainability and Social Impact of Social-Solidarity Economy

L'articolo Erasmus+ Projects for Environmental Sustainability proviene da Youth Networks.

SALTO Inclusion & Diversity organised the conference with the aim of focusing on creating greater visibility for inclusion & diversity and building bridges between stakeholders in the EU youth programmes.

The participants exchanged good practices, looked over achievements and learned more about the Inclusion & Diversity strategy.

Inclusion & Diversity in Erasmus Plus

The Inclusion & Diversity Forum 2021 was structured around participatory activities, such as:

• round tables;
• presentations by national and international experts;
• workshops on specific topics;
• best practices.

Purpose of which was to highlight the work that has been done in the past generation of the EU youth programmes, as well as the new formats and possibilities in the new Erasmus+ programme and European Solidarity Corps, and in the new Inclusion & Diversity Strategy.

To explain how to drive Inclusion and Diversity in Youth Programmes (Erasmus Plus and European Solidarity Corps) SALTO made available a roadmap.

How To: ID in Youth Programmes

The five main points on how to drive Inclusion and Diversity in your European projects are:

1. Increase commitment and buy-in: through increased knowledge, awareness and understanding, people should feel inside themselves why I&D are so important and connect their beliefs to their attitudes and actions. Nobody should doubt that this is (one of) the priorities.
2. Active outreach, to have more young people with fewer opportunities in the EU Youth Programmes: it is not enough to just say ‘we are open to all’ but there should be some active effort to appeal to and reach out to (organisations working with) specific (underrepresented/disadvantaged) target groups. Going the extra mile – not just waiting for them to come. It is about promotion to specific organisations/networks that represent young people with particular needs.
3. Reduce barriers: take away as much as possible all obstacles – and if not possible, support beneficiaries to overcome the obstacles, either by upskilling them and increasing confidence and know-how, or with structural support. Give the (potential) beneficiaries the tools/skills to make it happen. Aim towards a system for the programmes that is flexible enough to accept and support all people with different needs, not asking the individuals to adapt to a system.
4. Maximize the impact of your European projects;
5. Mainstreaming Inclusion and Diversity: all E+ youth & ESC projects should be ‘inclusive with diverse participants’ by default. In the ideal case, there should not be any special I&D projects anymore. The basic setup of all projects should cater for different needs and diverse backgrounds. It’s not about ‘normalising’ the topics, but embracing it, making it ‘every day’ and encouraging for everyone and anyone to be ‘within the circle’.

To see the above steps in more details, visit the roadmap.

The ID Forum 2021 website is everyday-updating with new contents and information about how to consider Inclusion and Diversity when writing your European project.

Read also

The Meaning of Solidarity in European Projects 

Erasmus Plus Programme Guide 2022 Just Published

L'articolo ID Forum Event: Inclusion & Diversity in Erasmus Plus and European Solidarity Corps proviene da Youth Networks.

The Consortium

The organisation coordinating the DO-IT project is Ecepaa (European Center for Economic and Policy Analysis and Affairs). It is specialized in the development of European Union projects in the fields of social inclusion, education, youth and migrant. 

Associazione Joint is a youth association based in Italy, the work of which mainly focuses on providing learning opportunities to young people through international experiences, such as European Solidarity Corps, International volunteering, Work Camps, local and international Training Courses, Youth Exchanges and Capacity Building Projects.

AMECE (Association Maison d’Enfant pour la Culture et l’Education – Italy) is based in Turin. Its activities aim to understand and address the needs of children, teenagers and young adults with migrant backgrounds, most of them originally from north African countries. 

Fundacion Red Incola is a Foundation composed by nine religious entities. Its mission is to support the immigrant population in risky situations of exclusion, in the promotion and defense of their rights so that they can have a dignified life.  

The 2nd Vocation High School of Katerini is a school in Greece that serves around 600 students, aged 16 – 19, with 80 teachers and comprises four different sectors (Informatics, Healthcare & Welfare, Agriculture/Food Technology/Nutrition and Business/Economics). 

The Project

Complying with the general Erasmus Plus policy and the Call for Proposals in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the overall objective of the DO-IT project is to develop an innovative practice in the digital framework, while committing to a greater social inclusion of students with a migrant background by tackling the early-school-leaving phenomenon. On such a perspective, giving a transnational dimension to the project means to allow a deeper understanding and examination of the digital education sector, strong of a comparative analysis.

Moving forward, the specific objectives of the project are:

• Identify, develop and disseminate good practices and innovative digital tools to provide teachers and trainers with skills that make them able to address the needs of youth with a migrant background, arised as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic;
• Promote the recognition of digital competences and soft-skills acquired with youth with a migrant background while participating in informal activities;
• Increase the capacity of 50 teachers and trainers on digital competences by providing them with a training on the 5 competences framed in the “Digital Competence Framework 2.0”;
• Increase the capacity of 50 teachers and trainers to recognise the digital competences and soft-skills acquired by youth with a migrant background during informal experiences. 

The background

Given the above, the DO-IT project takes its origin from a general consideration over the consequences of Covid-19 towards the most disadvantaged young people (with a migrant background) in the education sector. 

In fact the lockdown restrictions over Europe, made compulsory by governments, have had different effects, depending on the family income. This establishes huge issues with respect to how to ensure access, equity and inclusion in the learning environment. 

From this perspective, and a consequence, while the indirect beneficiaries of the DO-IT project outputs are young people with a migrant background, the direct ones are the members of the organizations participating in the project itself, i.e. teachers, trainers, researchers, youth workers and associations of migrants and their children.

DO-IT implementation

The DO-IT project is expected to reach several results. The partners, bringing together their expertise in the field of reference, will be creating 5 questionnaires to deliver to 5 different categories of stakeholders:

• Youth workers;
• Trainers;
• Teachers;
• Researchers;
• Migrant associations members.

In addition to that, the consortium will be working on building 5 additional questionnaires for in-depth interviews. After collecting the data, the final result will be a digital publication over several topics, such as school dropout, lack of digital skills to cope with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the good and best practices to address in order to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic on the education and learning of young people with a migrant background. 

DO-IT therefore represents an innovative way to address the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on education, with a focus on the needs of youth with a migrant background and the wide range of professionals working with them.

Read also

Case Study: Youth Education in Post-COVID EU

Study on Youth Work in the EU

L'articolo How To Tackle Covid-19 Effects On Young Migrants’ Education proviene da Youth Networks.

The Framework

Inclusion and diversity are part of the core values of the European Union. Diversity is indeed what features the European society, besides representing at the same time its strength. Taking that into consideration, the context is a good starting point to enhance cohesion and inclusiveness.

EU Programmes and Inclusion&Diversity

The European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus Plus are therefore key programmes to pursue the need of cohesion and inclusiveness. For this reason, the EU Programmes should provide opportunities that are accessible to all. The evidence tells that there are in fact many young people facing barriers when it comes to opportunities. Those are the people having fewer opportunities in education, training and youth work. People then to address by policy initiatives.

Inclusiveness is not new to the Erasmus Plus programme. But the way further is way still far to reach actual and effective inclusiveness, as evaluation and research point out.

The new Erasmus Plus Programme 2021 includes a chapter on inclusion, among other elements. It therefore requests the European Commission to establish a framework for inclusion measures outlining the main areas of work for the next seven years in this regard.

Recommendations

• Target groups: the main target groups of the Inclusion and Diversity strategy are people with fewer opportunities in life, which put them at a situation of disadvantage in comparison with their peers. This refers to both participating in the programmes and in education and training systems.

The exclusion factors that determine the situation of disadvantage may be one of the following:

• disabilities,
• health problems,
• cultural differences,
• social barriers,
• economic barriers,
• barrier linked to discrimination,
• geographical barriers.

• Inclusion and Diversity as priorities in the assessment process: inclusion and diversity are part of the criteria to select applications for funding and to allocate financial support. Quality projects that actively address inclusion and diversity and that involve participants with fewer opportunities, newcomer and grass-root organisations should get priority in the grant awarding process.
• Preparatory visits: when participants with fewer opportunities are part of mobility activities, the organisers should carry out planning visits to the hosting organisations, together with these participants, if relevant.
• Reinforcement in Mentorship: when dealing with people with fewer opportunities, it is important to keep particular attention to the mentorship process to support them.
• Dedicated financial support: the Erasmus Plus and ESC Programmes offer an additional financial support when including people with fewer opportunities.

• Smaller, easier-to-access actions: the Programmes provide smaller and more flexible grant amounts, simpler administrative and reporting requirements, as well as shorter project duration for organisations with smaller administrative capacity. This is the case of organisations supporting people with fewer opportunities.
• Step-by-step capacity building pathways
• Mobility duration: short-term and small-scale mobility can be a first experience for individuals with fewer opportunities who, due to their circumstances, cannot take part in or do not feel it for a standard mobility duration.
• Local European activities
• Online exchanges
• Language learning support

The full text of the Guidelines is available online in English.

Considering the above, applicant organisations should address inclusion and diversity in their projects.
They play indeed a key role in making inclusion real, especially in terms of organisational development (capacity building), and of outreach to and interaction with participants before, during and after the project.

Read also

Case Study: Youth Education in Post-COVID EU

New Features of European Solidarity Corps 2021-2027

L'articolo European Solidarity Corps (ESC): Inclusion and Diversity Strategy proviene da Youth Networks.

The last EU Youth reports are also available for consultation.

EU Youth Report 2021

The report usually includes:

• a joint Council-Commission report (political part);
• supporting documents (statistical and analytical part).

The EU Youth Report evaluates the progress with respect to the overall objectives of the framework. It shows the progress regarding the European priorities for the most recent work cycle and identifies good practices. This last part presents data and information on the current situation of young people in Europe. The benchmark refers to the EU Youth Indicators dashboard.

The 2021 EU Youth Report aims at to highlighting the initiatives and actions the EU Member States ,young people, and youth organisations took, to implement the EU Youth Strategy since 2019. It also informs the next three-year Work Plan for the EU
Youth Strategy.

In addition to last years, the 2021 Report will focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of young people in the EU too.

Why It Matters

The EU Youth Reports has got a wide broadcast. It is a point of reference for EU Officials and other institutional stakeholders over Europe. It represents also a valuable resource for policy makers.

This can be, in fact, the starting point from which start building new practices and policies for young people. As it provides insights into the current situation of young people, plus an overview of the policies and initiatives affecting them, it allows to look at what has been done so far and better plan the future actions and policies that would further benefit young people and youth organisations.

For Your Organisation

But what’s the impact of the report on your organisation?

The EU Youth Report is a good opportunity to showcase the work that your organisation has been doing on
local, national and European level, and that can contribute to reaching the objectives set in the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027. In fact by implementing projects and activities, youth organisations contribute to advancing youth rights, and supporting public authorities in implementing youth policy measures. They should therefore be considered as crucial partners.

As the Report will highlight initiatives and actions carried out by youth organisations, it can contribute to the recognition of the
role youth organisations play in bringing European cooperation in the youth field forward.

How To Contribute

The European Commission is looking for good practices and examples around the three main priorities of the past EU Youth Strategy:

• Engage
• Connect
• Empower

To facilitate the process, EU Youth Forum has created an online board for submission.

The deadline for contributions is May 3rd 2021.

Read also

EU Aid Volunteers For Organisations In Need

How To Write A Project: Erasmus+ Writing Challenge

L'articolo Call for Contributions: EU Youth Report 2021 proviene da Youth Networks.

For this reason, Open Space Foundation, an organisation based in Bulgaria supporting youth initiatives, has released a book on short-term volunteering as a door for development. The aim is sharing good practices on the basis of their gathered experience over the last eight years.

The purpose of the book, called “Short-term volunteering as a door for development“, is to give useful information. The target is any organisation that wants to know more about what dealing with international volunteers means. In fact there are not-written challenges they may face, in terms of reputation and also on the human side. It focuses also on how to get prepared and to be able to make the best out of the program’s provisional accomplishments. The beneficial effect of hosting international volunteers is indeed achievable but it does not have to be taken for granted.

It is important to point out that the book covers several and detailed topics. They concern both Short-term and Long-term projects, including:

• The accreditation process step by step (now called Quality Check)
• The further steps in terms of partnerships, applications and selection process;
• Any aspect concerning the preparation of hosting volunteers (the agreement, the infopack, living basics);
• What must be considered upon arrival, the scheduling, the mentor;
• How to boost motivation;
• What comes next: the effects on the organisation after the conclusion of the projects.

The book is available both in English and Bulgarian and it is free to download.

Read also

How To: Positive Organizational Culture
How to Empower and Support Young Entrepreneurs

L'articolo Short-term Volunteering: a Book by Open Space Foundation proviene da Youth Networks.

What can you find in the booklet? 

In the booklet “Mountains & Memories” you can find useful information about hiking, how to pack for a hike, how to make various knots, what kind of herbs to look for and may be used for tea, and how to prepare a blueberry jam. 

You can have a look at the booklet HERE.

Related articles:
Create a more sustainable life with… PERMACULTURE!

L'articolo Adventure in NATURE is calling me! Prepare for it well by looking at Mountains & Memories – a booklet on exploring nature and a healthy lifestyle! proviene da Youth Networks.

During the project participants gained the knowledge in working with this type of camera, as a form of art and expressing yourself. Youngsters tried a different kind of photography, to learn the basics of photography and to understand the freedom that taking photos with a different camera than the one on their mobile phones gives. In the project, all participants created their own pinhole cameras and experienced this way of taking pictures themselves.  

HERE you can download the booklet with instructions on how to do pinhole camera on your own! 

L'articolo What about making your own camera? DIY PHOTOGRAPHY proviene da Youth Networks.

During his state of the Union address in 2018, Commission’s president Jean-Claude Juncker launched the new Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs. It stated the necessity to “build a true partnership among equals and deepen the EU’s economic and trade relationship with Africa, through strategic investment and job creation”. The goal within the end of the seven-year period 2014-20 is to reach 35.000 mobilities.

Which programmes?

Mobilities for teachers and learners are the most popular initiatives. Students, researchers and staff traveled through short-term Erasmus+ University exchanges between Africa and Europe.

There have been also many projects under capacity buildings in the field of youth. Between 2014 and 2018, 206 projects in Africa have been approved, covering 39 African countries from Benin to Zimbabwe. 8.500 young people and youth workers from European and African countries are involved. Projects cover topics from human rights to inter-cultural dialogue, migration, rural entrepreneurship, digital empowerment and innovative learning platforms.

Capacity Buildings in Higher Education are very important instruments too. Since 2015, 146 projects have focused on Africa. The 35 projects involving African institutions selected in 2019 are helping to foster innovative learning and new methodologies, supporting entrepreneurship, laboratories of Innovation and Business for Young
Actors of Start-ups, new study programmes on climate change.

Almost 1.200 have also benefited from Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees scholarships, in order to spend a period of studies abroad in the above mentioned countries.

A new project for mobility in vocational education and training (VET) has been launched, covering a three-year period. it is a pilot project, the selection of the institutions is still ongoing. It aims to develop technical skills and revitalise vocational education.

This pilot project will offer an Erasmus-type cooperation between VET providers in the EU Member States and all regions of Africa, combining capacity building and learner and staff exchange programmes in the priority fields of engineering, manufacturing and construction, agriculture and tourism/catering.

The magnitude

“Empowering young people in Africa is key in building a better future. This means promoting education, and this year, we have focused in particular on boosting cooperation with businesses to ensure that young people in Africa acquire all the skills they need for their professional life” said Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.

“Our Africa-Europe Alliance is first and foremost about people. We want to invest in quality education in Africa. We want to strengthen the connections between European and African students and higher education institutions. Giving them the chance to exchange know-how and inspire one another will boost inclusive socio-economic growth, and reduce poverty and inequality. On top of this, it will equip African students with the skills they need to find decent jobs” also commented Neven Mimica, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development.

L'articolo Africa-EU alliance boosted with over 17 million proviene da Youth Networks.

• Eastern Partnership Window Project: Civil Society Fellowships for Youth
• Eastern Partnership Window Project: Partnership for Entrepreneurship
• Capacity Building in the field of Youth – ACPALA

The projects cover the following action:

• Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
• Capacity Building in the field of youth

Have a look at the list of the beneficiaries here.

L'articolo Selection results – Capacity Building in the Field of Youth 2019 extra EU proviene da Youth Networks.