BACKGROUNDMigrant youth is a target group that is not easy to be reached. Several factors contribute to the high degree of difficulty that characterizes youth work with migrants. The most prominent factor is the fact that young people from a migrant background are one of the groups most at risk of poverty and social exclusion. According to the European commission EU Youth Report 2015, “They usually face multiple disadvantages leading to persistent poverty and a marginalized position in society. As the 2012 EU Youth Report pointed out, immigrants often lack the social capital (networks and information) needed for being fully included in society. The situation looks similar when looking at second generation immigrants – the children of foreign-born. The atrisk-of-poverty rates of immigrant children are the highest in Greece (52.7 %), Spain (46 %)”. Due to their marginalization, either this is drop out, poverty or other situation, young migrants are difficult to be approached in a systematic way through official routes, such as school and other constitutions. The already disadvantaged position of migrants along with the tension produced by the current migrant flows constitutes necessary the provision of effective reaching out techniques for migrant youth work.OBJECTIVESThe Overall Objective of the project is to improve the techniques to approach and link youth workers to young migrants (refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers) in order to develop innovation addressed to improving integration processes of young migrants.The specific objectives of this project are a) to equip youth workers with innovative techniques for reaching out to young migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, b) to provide reaching out techniques tailored specifically to the characteristics of young migrants, c) to promote efficient youth work, d) to promote the concept of youth work among migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, e) to promote transnational cooperation among youth working organizations.BENEFICIARIESThe project directly targets youth workers working with young migrants, refugees and asylum seekers which constitute the indirect target groups of the project. A total of 500 persons will benefit from the project.Intellectual Outputs, Learning Activities and Multiplier eventsIO1: State of the Art Report on the obstacles for youth work with migrantsIO2: The reaching out handbook: innovative techniques for reaching out to young migrants, asylum seekers and refugeesC1-C6: 6 Short term Joint Staff events which will focus on the training of youth workers on the reaching out techniques of the Handbook.- Part 1: 1-2 days of training on the chosen reaching out technique. - Part 2: 1-2 days of implementation of the techniques by the trainees.- Part 3: Evaluation of the technique by the trainees.E1: Final transnational conference in order to disseminate the outputs.RESULTS & IMPACTThe project is expected to have a multiple impact on participating organizations, participants and stakeholders from the youth work sector and the immigration-related field. The main results will be the provision of innovative reaching out techniques for youth work with migrants and the improvement of cooperation between youth work organizations in the face of the migrant crisis (with the expected resault of the articulation of a future Network). Indirectly, migrants and refugees will enjoy the benefits of youth work. On the same time youth work initiatives will be cost effective and time effective.
Context The integration of young people of migrant origin, asylum seekers and refugees continues to be a priority for the European institutions (EU Action Plan on Integration, 2016). Priority is given to the need to increase the social inclusion of youngsters at risk of exclusion of migrant origin, emphasizing the NEET collective (EU Work Plan for Youth 2016-2018). In this sense, the increase in the number of migrants and refugees arriving in Europe, as well as their difficulty in accessing formal educational/work spaces, implies a great number of opportunities and challenges to which youth work initiatives are called to respond. The current increase of young refugees to Europe underscores the need for a youth work field that fits their situations. Through non-formal education, newly arrived young people in vulnerable situations can find a support space, which encourages mutual understanding among young people and responds to their changing needs. In order to achieve this beneficial impact, youth workers and organizations must have the necessary tools and knowledge to reach out to young migrants and maintain close cooperation with public services and youth organizations from the civil society. The MYTH WORK project was created precisely to address these needs, on the one hand to identify innovative techniques in the field of non-formal education aimed at young migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, and on the other hand to create with them high-quality materials aimed at the professionals in the field of youth work so that they can use evaluated and quality tools. Objectives The objectives of this project have been: -Equip the professionals in the field of youth work with innovative techniques to link with young migrants -Provide intervention techniques tailored specifically to the characteristics of young people -Promote efficient youth work -Promote the concept of youth work among migrants, asylum seekers and refugees -Promote transnational cooperation among organizations that work with young people. The main target groups of the project are professionals in the field of youth work and indirectly, young migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in vulnerable situations (16 to 26 years). Number and profile of participating organizations The Consortium has been made up of six organizations that work in the field of youth: ABD (Spain); SSF (Spain); Consorzio SIS (Italy); IASIS (Greece); SAFE (UK) and BDSL (Bulgaria). In addition, 32 youth work organizations have collaborated in the project at the local level through the learning activities. Description of the main activities carried out M1 Transnational meeting of partners in Barcelona to launch the project O1 European report on the obstacles of youth work professionals to reach out to young migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees (includes national reports: Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom O2 Reaching out Handbook: Innovative techniques to reach out to young migrants, asylum seekers and refugees C1 Short-term learning activity in Barcelona to implement an innovative technique C1 Short-term learning activity in Liverpool to implement an innovative technique C1 Short-term learning activity in Madrid to implement an innovative technique C1 Short-term learning activity in Sofia to implement an innovative technique C1 Short-term learning activity in Athens to implement an innovative technique C1 Short-term learning activity in Milan to implement an innovative technique M1 European Final Conference to disseminate the material created by the project Dissemination: 4 newsletters; project website; audiovisual material. Evaluation: Quality Assurance and Evaluation Plan Results and impact achieved 105 professionals in the field of youth work trained through C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and C6 220 young migrants, asylum seekers and refugees trained through C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and C6 50 professionals from the field of youth work interviewed for O1 32 organizations collaborating in learning activities and committed to using O2 180 organizations impacted by dissemination strategies 80 participants in the Final Conference Long-term benefits The Reaching Out Manual will continue to be developed after the end of the funding through: -Continuous use of methodology and techniques -Development of the methodology and techniques to meet the needs of new groups or fields. -The continuous diffusion of the products Expansion of cooperation through: Maintenance of the MYTH WORK NETWORK