In spite of general declines in levels of youth crime across Europe, it has been found that local people living in deprived, densely populated urban areas are more likely to have high perceptions of youth disorder and to view young people’s behaviour as problematic. Further, evidence suggests that relationships between young people living in socially deprived communities and other local residents are often fraught with mutual distrust and stereotyping. Building on the Strength-Based Approach used in social work, the principles associated with Assets-Based Community Development rely on true empowerment of local residents and community groups while significantly adjusting the mind-sets of service providers to create an equilibrium of understanding and avoid a deficit view of young people and disadvantaged communities.The project aims to design collaborative open educational resources in the form of innovative inter-professional educational resources to enable professionals and practitioners to implement an assets-based approach to foster inter-agency and inter-generational connectivity. In turn, these approaches will nurture and mobilise existing community assets and encourage pioneering collaborative approaches towards enhancing local community participation in order to enhance the protective factors that can both prevent youth disorder and crime and reduce negative public perceptions about young people. The first stage of the project will culminate in the co-production of comparative case studies from across northern, central and eastern Europe illustrating traditional and assets-based approaches to youth crime prevention and inter-generational community participation from different professional perspectives. A stakeholder led gap analysis will examine what is required to enable interprofessional teams to implement assets-based approaches to youth crime prevention and promote positive inter- generational community participation initiatives. The second implementation phase of the project will see the development and piloting of an innovative virtual interprofessional learning environment and validated module materials in a range of languages. The specific objectives and outcomes are as follows:Phase 1 Objective: an inter professional understanding of Assets based approaches to Community Participation to combat youth crime and promote positive intergenerational communication and community participation.Phase 1 Outcomes:1.1) A stakeholder led gap analysis of what is required to enable inter-professional teams to implement assets based approaches to youth crime prevention and promote positive inter generational community participation initiatives. This process will produce a toolkit that can be used across geographical and socio-cultural contexts.1.2) Comparative case studies from the partner countries illustrating traditional and assets based approaches to youth crime prevention and inter-generational community participation from different professional perspectives.Phase 2 objective: Develop innovative collaborative educational resources to transform the way in which a range of professional groups and community stakeholders work with disadvantaged communities. Phase 2 Outcomes:2.1) A learning and facilitation framework based on a pedagogical and impact study review of case based collaborative elearning resources and facilitation methods and interventions.2.2) An online collaborative learning environment for module delivery based on a case based learning approach and a Community Assets Based learning facilitator manual and student handbook outlining the pedagogy of a case based approach and how to use the collaborative educational resources in a range of European languages.2.3) Validated interprofessional modules that will provide the basis for an International Masters programme in Assets bases approaches to community participation.To deliver the project ambition we have assembled a six country partnership from Higher Education comprising combined expertise in youth inclusion, crime prevention, policy analysis, civic and political participation, community learning and participation. Each partner has considerable existing networks of excellence, and opportunities for international stakeholders to engage with the project will include online and social media, a consensus conference, a virtual engagement event and end of project conference. The project legacy will include the building blocks for a virtual community assets network, a European Academy and the foundations for the establishment of a fully accredited European Masters programme in Community Learning and Participation. The project will refresh approaches to community engagement, will contribute to mobility and virtual mobility and equip the qualified workforce to lead reform and champion evidence–informed approaches to community enhancement through harnessing untapped talent within European Community.
Context/background of the project Evidence suggests that relationships between young people living in socially deprived communities and other local residents are often fraught with mutual distrust and stereotyping. Building on the Strength-Based Approach used in social work, the principles associated with Assets-Based Community Development rely on empowerment of local residents and community groups while significantly adjusting the mind-sets of service providers to create an equilibrium of understanding and avoid a deficit view of young people and disadvantaged communities. The project aims to design collaborative open educational resources in the form of innovative inter-professional educational resources to enable professionals and practitioners to implement an assets-based approach to foster inter-agency and inter-generational connectivity. In turn, these approaches will nurture and mobilise existing community assets and encourage pioneering collaborative approaches towards enhancing local community participation in order to enable communities to flourish. Objectives and Description of main activities The first stage of the project developed a stakeholder led gap analysis that identifies the challenges faced by a range of professional groups and community agencies. Research was carried out across 10 community stakeholder groups through the lens of five different academic disciplinary perspectives investigating assets based practices in relation to these challenges. This process culminated in the co-production of comparative case studies from across northern, central and eastern Europe illustrating assets-based approaches to youth crime prevention, inclusion and inter-generational community participation from a range of professional perspectives. The second implementation phase of the project started by developing a learning and facilitation framework informed by case based pedagogy for online learning. This informed the development of the online collaborative learning environment. This was built using Moodle and hosted on the Openlearn create platform to facilitate open access to the resources which can be retrieved, reused, revised and retained. The higher education partners and community stakeholder groups developed and piloted a series of 5 Collaborative Open Educational resources in the form of short themed courses on Assets based approaches to Multi professional working. These OER are embedded in wider Masters level modules on ‘Multi professional working’ hosted at the University of the West of Scotland. In addition this process produced a pool of resources that can be used across geographical and socio-cultural contexts by professionals and community workers with a focus on assets based approaches to working with communities. Participating organisations To deliver the project ambition we have assembled a five country partnership from Higher Education comprising combined expertise in youth inclusion, crime prevention, policy analysis, civic and political participation, community psychology and community participation. Each partner has worked closely with community stakeholder organisations with focuses on youth work, community health, reducing youth crime, social work, community policing, housing officers, teachers and criminal justice. Results and impact attained Partner organisatons and stakeholders have actively engaged in the research and design process to develop educational resources that are locally relevant and can be recontextualised for other professional groups and community contexts drawing on a collaborative case based learning pedagogical method. In addition partners and stakeholders have developed their digital skills and methods for designing and engaging in open educational practices that bring together different types of knowledge across disciplines and educational contexts to generate new knowledge making processes and innovative practice. Longer-term benefits The project legacy includes the building blocks for a virtual community assets network, a European Academy and the foundations for the establishment of a fully accredited European Masters programme on Multi Professional working with communities. The project has developed innovative approaches to community engagement, has contributed to mobility and virtual mobility and equipped the workforce to lead reform and champion evidence–informed approaches to community enhancement through harnessing untapped talent within European Communities.