Young people are a priority at EU level. The Council of Youth Ministers adopted the EU Youth Strategy for 2010-2018, which is about providing opportunities for young people who are in education and on the labour market, and promoting active citizenship and social inclusion for youth. One of the most important opportunity for youth work to reduce youngsters social exclusion is to engage them (especially those at-risk, who are most likely to need it) in work. Youth work activities support the development of necessary working skills as competencies, performance, sense of obligation, being a part of the society and many others. To achieve this goal, young people are offered a variety of youth work activities with a variety of agencies involved, which may not be directly related to youth work. The main aim of our project is to reduce social exclusion among young at-risk (including NEETs) by implementing innovative youth work methods in Estonia, Sweden and Germany. Objectives of the project: 1. To establish a permanent network in each region (national and international) , bringing different actors and services together to create an effective support mechanism for young at-risk. 2. Learning, analyzing, adapting and implementing new youth work methods of Estonia, Germany and Sweden. 3. Raising competencies of youth workers through training. 4. Exhibitions to increase public's awareness of youngsters potential for participating in society and being active citizens. Project involves a considerable number of youth work specialist at different levels from Estonia, Sweden and Germany. This includes representatives from local authorities, non-profit organizations, open youth centres, educational institutes and police department). Projects activity plan has been built up so that it supports the overall objectives of the project. Project activities include two transnational meetings, local/regional meetings in each country at least once in two month, engagement of 300 youth at-risk, one multiplier event in Estonia for wider range of specialists and continuous monitoring and evaluation of activities (monitoring methods include focus group interviews and feedback sessions to determine if the awareness or views have changed since the implementations of your project). Methods we plan to use are interactive elements such as panel discussions, workshops and break-out sessions for discussions; focus group interview and "Collage your learning!" method from Youtpass. Due to project "NowWeMeet" the risk of being socially excluded for young at-risk in Estonia, Germany and Sweden is reduced and public is more aware of youngsters potential for participating in society and being an active citizens. Project partners have become aware of the innovative practises from Estonia, Germany and Sweden. SWOT analysis about the implemented methods in each participating country is done to identify the risks and resources for implementation these methods also in other countries. Participating organizations will have increased capacity and professionalism to work at EU/international level: improved management competencies and internationalization strategies. Networks of youth work specialist from Estonia, Germany and Sweden are established, so the cooperation will continue.
One of the most important opportunity for youth work to reduce youngsters social exclusion is to engage them (especially those at-risk, who are most likely to need it) in work. Youth work activities support the development of necessary working skills as competencies, performance, sense of obligation, being a part of the society and many others. To achieve this goal, young people were offered a variety of youth work activities with a variety of agencies involved, which may not be directly related to youth work. The main aim and result of our project was to reduce social exclusion among young at-risk (including NEETs) by implementing innovative youth work methods in Estonia, Sweden and Germany. Partner organisations: Estonia - NGO Tähe Youth Club has more than a decade of experience in youth work. Tähe Youth Club activities are focused on different forms of youth work, including open youth work, youth work for at-risk groups, targeted delivery and outreached based approaches. Organization is also taking part of enhancing social services and activities in the city of tartu. Youth workers are active in national and international level. Sweden - Fryshuset is often referred to as the largest youth centres in Sweden. Fryshuset runs more than 40 different programmes: passionate interests, social perspectives, education and labor Germany - nonprofit association of voluntary welfare. They work with all public institutions that are active in the social and health sector. They employ more than 730 permanent employees and 850 volunteers.The Streetwork Würtzburg is part of the "Evangelische Kinder-, Jugend- und Familiehilfe". That institution is part of the Diakonisches Werk Würtzburg e.V. Objectives of the project: 1. To establish a permanent network in each region (national and international) , bringing different actors and services together to create an effective support mechanism for young at-risk. 2. Learning, analyzing, adapting and implementing new youth work methods of Estonia, Germany and Sweden. 3. Raising competencies of youth workers through training. 4. Exhibitions to increase public's awareness of youngsters potential for participating in society and being active citizens. Project involved a considerable number of youth work specialist at different levels from Estonia, Sweden and Germany. This included representatives from local authorities, non-profit organizations, open youth centres, educational institutes and police department). Projects activity plan was built up so that it supported the overall objectives of the project. Project activities included two transnational meetings, local/regional meetings in each country at least once in two month, groupworks using innovative methods (engagement of estimably 300 youngsters), one multiplier event in Estonia for wider range of specialists, the exhibition of collages (by youngsters, headline "My life") and continuous monitoring and evaluation of activities. Project partners have become aware of the innovative practises from Estonia, Germany and Sweden. Participating organizations have increased capacity and professionalism to work at EU/international level: improved management competencies and internationalization strategies. Networks of youth work specialist from Estonia, Germany and Sweden are established, so the cooperation will continue.