The project PLAY4CHANGE aims to create an innovative tool based on a strategy game that has as its backdrop the action lines of the European Strategy for Youth: Education; Employment; Creativity and Entrepreneurship; Health and Sports; Participation; Social Inclusion; Volunteering; and Youth in the World. The tool will be created with the contribution of the participants in a participatory and collaborative dynamic between the project partners. Thus, the tool becomes enriched by the strategic partners. The tool created will allow to work with young people with fewer opportunities, including institutionalized and / or in vulnerable situations . In this process, participating organizations, respective staff and volunteers will be also empowered.The project will be developed in five phases: (1) PREPARATION: transnational coordination meeting; design of project image ; identification of staff and volunteers to be involved; (2) TRAINING: Training Course with volunteers and youth workers for capacity building and creation of the Game; production of the final version of the Game; production of game materials in 4 languages - Portuguese, Italian, German and English; (3) INTERVENTION: tool implementation with young people with fewer opportunities as the target group, by volunteers and youth workers; (4) MONITORING: individual follow-up sessions with young people, establishing conclusions and future commitments; and (5) EVALUATION: Final conference for the dissemination of results and the tool created.Apart from formal partners, the project will include two informal partners with national influence: the Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth and the General Directorate of Rehabilitation and Prison Services. These two partnerships greatly strengthen the project has to ensure on one hand a network of dissemination of results and high standards of quality and on the other ensure access to young people with fewer opportunities, including those in institutions in Education Centers. Similar dynamics occur in the countries of the formal partner organizations. 420 young people will be covered with fewer opportunities, 24 youth workers or volunteers, 8 technicians for Education of DGRSP centers. The tool can be used with other public / groups and will last far beyond the formal end of the project.The game will be available in 4 languages: Portuguese, English, Italian and German and can be requested by any organization in the youth field which allows to reach a wide audience.

Unlike their peers, the mobility impaired young people live at high risk of social exclusion due to impossibility to reach places for leisure and social contacts. In this way, these young people are deprived of equal participation in socio-economic processes in the country. Often such young people are abused due to not understanding of their rights and forced to an unpleasant life.Taking into account this challenge, partners conducted a survey resulting in an analysis as a separate project document with the following identified needs:- No adequate training content for disabled youth on accessibility issues allowing them to exploit existing opportunities for social contacts - No training content on the rights of physically disabled youth both for them and for youth workers on autonomy of movement adapted to the local situation- No supporting means at local level promoting the accessible places for leisure and free time.The general objective is to equip physically disabled young people and youth workers with a tool to enhance the awareness and understanding of the rights of people with disabilities on the autonomy of movement, accessibility regulation and standards, and to stimulate the social inclusion through provision of online mapping of accessible places for free-time and leisure activities with regards to empower mobility impaired youth to protect and benefit from its rights, to seek and use existing and newly established accessible places by provision of opportunities to be in touch with their peers and to prevent them from social isolation.The specific objectives are:- To survey areas of disparities, level of alienation and obstacles in integration processes on local level due to barriers to free-time and leisure places to physically impaired youth.- To create training content adapted to disabled youth and supporting youth workers to ameliorate their understanding on disability and accessibility issues- To provide constantly upgraded information about accessible places for free-time and leisure activities via platform for share of useful examples, knowledge, advices and feedback on the rights of disabled youth.Within the project the following participants across RS, IT and BG will be involved:- Mobility impaired young people with varying types of physical disabilities such as muscular dystrophy, CP, etc. (60 in total)- Members of families having physically disabled young people (60 in total)- Youth organisation workers oriented to accessibility issues (60 people in total)- Local social services staff (30 people in total)The project will include the following activities:= Development, piloting and optimization of intellectual outputs:IO1 Training course for disabled youth on the rights of people with disabilities for autonomous movement and its protection (with curriculum and learning units in respective modules to young people and youth workers)IO2 Online mapping platform on accessible places for disabled youth (with shared editorial team and exchange sections)= Project management, dissemination, quality monitoring and exploitationIn order to produce the planned outputs and to achieve the results, the project team has adopted a methodology consisting of a set of the following approaches:. Selection of efficient methods for project management. Use of contemporary technological tools. Structuring of proper hierarchy framework of involved actors. Maintaining flexible and viable document and reporting system preventing from misunderstanding due to different language levels. Mobilizing of associated partners and organisations outside the consortiumOn its completion the project will achieve the following results:- Identification of areas of disparities and obstacles in integration processes due to barriers to free-time and leisure places to physically impaired youth- Enhancement of the attractiveness of the organized youth activities and presenting the advantages of multiplying of the social contacts and raising the understanding of complex relations among people with different abilities.- Offering of an assistive tool for disabled youth and supporting youth workers to ameliorate their understanding of the needs for including discussions on disability and accessibility issues.- Establishing multilingual online platform for share of useful examples, knowledge, advices and feedback on the rights of disabled youthThe potential project longer term benefits will be expressed by:- Increasing the number of young people acknowledged with the accessibility policy- Improving perspectives of ensuring accessible environment for the disabled young people by giving them real understanding of their rights and providing of practical tools to making better their mobility capabilities. - Raising understanding of the role of properly offered assistance and the ways of its desired acceptance- Improved capabilities to deal with topics such as assessing of accessibility of the environment

<< Background >>- Importance of creating innovative digital intervention tools to ensure sustainability of youth work, increase impact in the target audience and ensure the possibility of intervening at a distance.- The need to increase knowledge about the guiding lines for young people in Europe, with civil society, in particular youth organizations, and also with young Europeans themselves;- The need to train youth workers and young volunteers in innovation in youth work, digital gamification and effective intervention with vulnerable young people;- Promotion of European values, focusing on interculturality and active citizenship among organizations, youth workers, volunteers and young people at local, national and European level.<< Objectives >>(1) Capacitation of the organizations involved, through the training of its youth workers and young volunteers;(2) Creation and implementation of an innovative non-formal education tool, taking the form of a digital game, raising awareness of the general objectives of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-27 (in particular, environmental sustainability, social inclusion and health mental);(3) Raising awareness among young people on the importance of European values, particularly on interculturality and active citizenship, through at least 40 European awareness actions.Within the scope of the first priority, the intention is to involve and train youth workers and young volunteers who are then able to carry out and guide the game process, as well as to develop the necessary skills to use it as an intervention resource for children and vulnerable young people. This will be acquired either through specific training, or through experience in the implementation phase. It is expected at the end of the project: promotion of the digital tool, among the participants, as a determining strategy in the intervention with certain target groups, namely young people with fewer opportunities, and / or in situations of social and/or personal vulnerability; promote their active participation in society; promote their personal and professional skills.The second priority aim is to create an innovative, attractive and digital tool that will allow working with young people who are more vulnerable and/or at risk of exclusion. The aim here is to create a concrete digital tool: a digital game, integrating non-formal education methodologies, and against the background of the European Union Strategy for Youth 2019-27. It is intended that the game is designed by the participants who are part of the Training Course.Regarding the third priority, after the creation of the digital game, the implementation will take place, constituting the intervention phase as the pilot test of the game and evaluation of its impact on young people. In particular, the intention is to foster the desire of these young people to take an active part in society, raising awareness of European priorities for youth, as well as to achieve some of the objectives of the European Youth Strategy, namely to create favorable conditions for young people to develop their civic skills; realize their potential; develop their personal and social skills; participate more actively in society; and take part in the construction of the European project. Likewise, the game aims to instill in young people fundamental values ​​to life in society and respect for oneself (mental health), for others (social inclusion) and for the environment (environmental sustainability).Thus, the main objective of this project is the creation and implementation of an innovative work tool, based on the concept of digital playful-pedagogical application, where young people with fewer opportunities are actively involved, and develop their skills through active participation in the game. To facilitate this process, the contribution of elements from the community is used, namely young volunteers, who will be trained and qualified for this specific intervention and whose perspective will be valued and heard for the idealization of the tool to be created.<< Implementation >>The project will be developed in 5 phases with specific associated activities:(1) Preparation - transnational coordination meeting; outlining the project; identification of staff and volunteers to be involved and training course;(2) Production and distribution - production of the test version of the virtual tool by the University of Minho, specialized in ensuring quality standards; tool distribution by the participating organizations in at-least 2 main languages ​​(Portuguese and English); preparation for the implementation of the test version of the game; (3) Intervention - implementation of the digital tool with young people with fewer opportunities, by the youth workers and young volunteers of the organizations involved and that participated in the preparation phase;(4) Monitoring - conducting the effectiveness assessment study, considering the data collected (pre, post and follow-up) organized by the national partner organization, namely the University of Minho; individual meetings with the Game facilitators to collect general conclusions; form to assess the impact of the Game with a representative sample of the population involved, establishing final conclusions and possible adjustments to the test version of the tool;(5) Evaluation - Preparation of the final report of the project, with presentation of the results; multiplier events: final conference to disseminate the results of the project and the tool created and implementation of online workshops with decision makers / politicians and other youth organizations with the aim of disseminating the game and its pilot results.<< Results >>Through the implementation of the project it's intended to have a positive impact on the 3 target groups of this project: (1) the organizations involved; (2) youth workers/young volunteers involved in implementing the project; and (3) the young beneficiaries of the created tool.As for the organizations involved, collaboration throughout the project, is expected to strengthen inter-organization relationships, as well as to increase the likelihood of future collaborations. International partnerships derive from previous projects and partnerships that have been strengthened and also culminate in the present partnership. As part of the project, there will be clear training for organizations, fortifying them with skills to create this type of intervention resources, within the scope of the European priorities for Youth. We also want to enable innovative approaches to work with the vulnerable youth population, namely the use of virtual games as a strategy, and of non-formal education methodologies. In addition, after participating in this project, the organizations involved will be able to integrate this specific intellectual output, the virtual game, the methodologies and good practices acquired in their daily activities.With regard to volunteers, the experience gained through participation in the Training Course and through field intervention will promote their empowerment. Their participation foresees a process of continuous development in young volunteers, making them more gifted and able to intervene with other young people in situations of social vulnerability. It's anticipated that through their participation in this project, volunteers will be able to acquire and strengthen certain key competences, especially communication in other languages ​​(English); civic and social skills; and awareness of cultural and social differences and the development of digital skills. At the same time, they will also increase their knowledge of innovation in youth work, as well as in the European Youth Strategy and its 11 strategic objectives.Finally, with regard to the young beneficiaries, it is expected to increase their knowledge about the European Youth Strategy 2019-2027 and its priorities, as well as to increase their awareness of the current importance of issues such as social inclusion, environmental sustainability and mental health, strengthening their capacities for active participation in society and civic awareness, influencing other peers and local communities for action and at the same time foster their own social integration.

All for You(th)-You(th) for All came from an urging situation of the refugees and immigrants of the World; since we are living in the era of global (im)migration caused by wars, economical reasons or by climate change, we, as international youth workers intended to offer our knowledge, experience and contacts to deal with this topic on an international level to help refugees and (im)migrants and local people to improve the current situation and prepare ourselves and other organisations to deal with this phenomenon. All world is affected by migration, and especially young people, who are one of the most mobile groups and the ones who determine how the future world will look like. For this it’s important that youth workers that are working with young people would be aware of the causes, opportunities and consequences of (im)migration and could support both – refugees and young (im)migrants by creating opportunities, fighting discrimination and providing support these young people need. Youth unemployment forces young people to move out of their country, and in new country they often face social exclusion and discrimination as refugees and (im)migrants. They lack support in their country of origin from youth workers (who could advise them on different opportunities about mobility) and they lack support in their country of destination where youth organizations should be able to include them. We focused on 2 main issues – the (im)migration related issues in connection to refugee crisis and discrimination towards immigrants and second – emigration of young people in connection to youth unemployment. This is situation of emigration countries, but also attention should be drawn to immigration countries and inclusion of immigrants (especially refugees). With this project we developed the capacities of youth workers. We created intellectual outputs and we trained youth workers so they are able to continue their mission in training other organization and developing the work with refugees and migrants. This work must be with a double focus. There are different triggers and causes, push and pull factors for migration which affects everyday life on incoming and outgoing (im)migrants which is important to be realized and dealt with.There were 2 phases of the project; Phase 1 about cultural sensitiveness, fighting xenophobia, racism concerning immigrants/refugees and fight for their basic human rights with the help of international cooperation, and non-formal methods. In Phase 2 we would like to take a step forward and support the integration of immigrants/refugees by dealing with their employability.Project dates: 03 September 2017 – 01 September 2019Participating countries and venues: RO, HU, IT, TZ, VN, CRPlanned activities:3 project management activities1 youth exchange1 large scale youth event2 training courses1 conferencedissemination activities: virtual platform, campaign, digital story telling, etc.