"<< Background >>In a fast-changing socio-cultural and economic scenario, everyone is required to react promptly and proactively to uncertainty, rapidly adapt to new paradigms both in human relationships and labour contexts and interact effectively with more complex and diversified environments. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing labour market vulnerabilities and disengagement among young people, leaving further behind those youngsters that have been struggling to manage their transition from education to the labour market. After reaching the lowest point for a decade in 2019, the pandemic brought the number of youth Neither in Employment nor Education or Training in the EU up to 13.7% in 2020. Social distancing, restrictions, and isolation have profoundly affected the engagement, connection, and empowerment actions sought by the EU Youth Strategy, bringing young NEETs further out of the main channels through which human and social capital can be accumulated, like education and work. Innovative interventions to foster Young NEETs’ personal and social development are essential to build resilience and equip youth with the skills to positively challenge themselves in a world that constantly changes its rules, and therefore reach the ambitious target of a 9%-NEETs rate by 2030, set by the EC in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. Personal, social and learning to learn competencies can play a decisive role in preparing young NEETs to develop the right skills for a changing world of work. In this context, the “InKEY” project aims to offer young NEETs new motivating and stimulating programs to acquire the key competence stressed in the LifeComp Framework by developing engaging digital tools that embed game dynamics, mechanics, and components, and online communities of practice. To create such tools, the project consortium will:-analyze the existing learning opportunities and best training practices, addressed to young NEETs, in the field of the implementation of the European Framework for Personal, Social and Learning to Learn Key Competence in the countries involved;-create tailored e-learning programs for the different sub-groups of the NEET population to foster the nine competencies of the personal, social and learning to learn areas of the Framework, such as wellbeing, flexibility, self-regulation, empathy, communication, collaboration, growth mindset, critical thinking and managing learning; -develop an e-learning platform to deliver the programs: the platform, starting from the assessment of skills, competencies, and aspirations, will provide learners with more personalized learning content, engaging and motivating them through simulations, role-plays and other active learning techniques, based on learning by doing, within a flexible and gamified learning-oriented environment, supported by an online community that will favour peer-to-peer learning and review opportunities;-develop “offline” learning activities for youth workers and trainers to integrate the e-learning programs, together with a toolkit with training materials to foster each of the nine competencies of the Framework.<< Objectives >>The project pursues the following objectives:GENERAL OBJECTIVES[1]To enhance the employability of Young NEETs;[2]To increase the quality and effectiveness of the empowerment actions of the organizations and professionals working with young NEETs.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES[1]To develop tailored learning programs to enhance young NEETs’ engagement and motivation in learning;[2]To increase the key competencies of young NEETs, to let them unleash their dynamic potential, self-regulate their emotions and behaviors, cope with complexity, be thriving individuals, responsible social agents, and reflective lifelong learners;[3]To equip youth leaders, youth workers and trainers with knowledge, skills and innovative tools to empower young NEETs.<< Implementation >>WP1-PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION: administrative and financial management, scope, task, resources, knowledge, quality and risk management, project communications and meeting management, stakeholder engagement management.WP2-SHARING AND PROMOTION: activities aimed at sharing information on the project and promoting the e-learning platform among the target groups, ensuring the sustainability of the major project’s results through the appropriate exploitation planning, and ensuring the evolution of the INKEY’s virtual community after the end of the project. WP2 includes the development of the Sharing&Promotion Plan, knowledge transfer cafes, digital marketing campaigns, pilot tests and final conferences.WP3/R1-""LifeComp for the Employability of young NEETs: State of Art and Best Practices"". Research will be conducted in all the partner countries in order to identify and analyze the existing status and best practices in the application of the LifeComp concepts into formal and non-formal curricula and courses addressed to young NEETs. Activities to produce the R1:A3.1 Methodology DevelopmentA3.2 State of Art ResearchA3.3 Best Practices AnalysisA3.4 Focus Groups with youth workers and trainers (two focus groups per partner, with no. 12 participants each)A3.5 Data AnalysisA3.6 Publication of findings, recommendations and conclusionsWP4/R2-INKEY Tailored Learning Programs. Learning programs, based on non-formal education principles and gamification dynamics, will be developed to provide young NEETs with opportunities to foster the nine competencies of the LifeComp Framework. The programs will embed the conceptual provision of the Framework, tailoring the learning pathways around the existing skillset of the learners, evaluated through a gamified skills assessment tool. Activities to produce R2:A4.1 Development of the Methodology for the Tailored Learning ProgramsA4.2 Development of the Skills Assessment ToolA4.3 Development of the Learning BlocksA4.4 Development of the Tailored Learning ProgramsWP5/R3-INKEY E-Learning Platform. The platform will digitalize the developed Learning Programs (R2) to provide young NEETs with a free and open space to develop their competencies, in addition to guidelines for trainers and educators to integrate the learning contents and digital tools within their practices. Activities to produce R3:A5.1 Platform design (Information Architecture, User Interface & User Experience, Wireframes and Visual Mockups)A5.2 Platform developmentA5.3 Piloting cycles with early adopters (min. 20 young NEETs per country)A5.4 Final refinements and launch of the Beta version.WP6/R4-Toolkit for youth workers and trainers. This Result will consist of a collection of training and learning materials for youth workers and trainers to adopt and integrate into their work the methodologies and tools developed during the project. Activities to produce R4:A6.1 Development of blended training itineraries for young NEETs (integrating offline workshops and the e-learning blocks)A6.2 Training of Trainers (one ToT per partner, involving min. 10 participants, such as youth workers, youth leaders, trainers, educators and youth project managers)A6.3 National Bootcamps (one Bootcamp per partner, involving min. 20 young NEETs)A6.4 Development of the Guidelines for the implementation of the InKey modelA6.5 Design and development of the MOOC ""Implementing the LifeComp Framework to strengthen NEETs' employability: the InKey model""<< Results >>WP1. Project Management and Implementation•Tangible: 5 Partnership Agreements; PM Toolkit; Knowledge Repository; project documentation (administrative and financial documents, reports, registers); TPMs documentation (certificates of participation, agenda, participants lists, evaluation questionnaires, and minutes).•Intangible: improved governance and management capacities for the participating organisations; increased capacity of the participating organisation to operate at a transnational level; reinforced cooperation between the consortium members; increased quality in the implementation and monitoring of EU projects.WP2. Sharing and Promotion•Tangible: Sharing and Promotion Plan; Visual Identity of the Project; project website; 5 project newsletters and joint press releases; min. 4 knowledge transfer events; min. 5 promotional videos of the project e-learning platform; project promoted in min. 6 relevant third-party conferences, seminars and workshops; Follow-up Agreement.•Intangible: Extended impact of the project on youth professionals and organisations not directly participating in the project activities; transferred project knowledge, solutions and know-how to other organisations and educators at local, regional, national and transnational level; educators and organisations' increased awareness on the opportunities offered by the Erasmus+ Programme; development of new partnerships to promote further development and sustainability of the project results.WP3/R1-""LifeComp for the Employability of young NEETs: State of Art and Best Practices""•Tangible: Research methodology; 5 National Reports on the state of the art research and the best practices in the field of the implementation of the LifeComp Framework for NEET employability in the countries involved.•Intangible: engagement of 220 youth professionals in the project; increased knowledge of the gaps and successful applications in implementing the LifeComp Framework for NEET employability in the countries involved.WP4/R2-INKEY Tailored Learning Programs•Tangible: Methodology for Tailored Learning Programs; Skills Assessment Tool; min. 90 Learning blocks (10 per each of the nine competencies of the LifeComp Framework); Tailored Learning Programs.•Intangible: for the partners' staff, 200 youth professionals directly participating in the activities to produce R2, and those targeted by WP2, increased knowledge and know-how in the field of NEET empowerment, and the acquisition of innovative approaches to meet the needs and expectations of the different sub-groups of the NEET population.WP5/R3-INKEY.EU E-Learning Platform•Tangible: platform's requirement analysis; E-Learning platform to deliver personalised Learning programs (R2), tailored around the result of the LifeComp Skills Assessment Tool; evaluation reports and satisfaction surveys by early adopters (youth workers and trainers, and young NEETs). •Intangible: engagement of 100 NEETs and improvement of their personal, social and learning to learn competence; increased quality and effectiveness of the training practices targeting young NEETs of the professionals and those targeted by WP2.WP6/R4-Toolkit for youth workers and trainers•Tangible: 5 Reports of the national workshops with youth professionals and Bootcamps with young NEETs to, respectively, validate and pilot the blended training itineraries; publication of a training scheme for blended training itineraries, combining outdoor learning experiences and the learning blocks on the e-learning platform; MOOC for youth workers and trainers with 10 e-learning modules to learn how to implement the LifeComp Framework to strengthen NEETs' employability through the INKEY model.•Intangible: increased knowledge and know-how about innovative e-learning pedagogies to support young NEETs in developing their lifelong learning competencies for the partners' staff and the 50 youth workers directly participating in R4 activities, and those targeted by WP2."