Young people leaving institutional or alternative care face many challenges in the process of adapting themselves to independant living. An important majority of them do not enter higher education, while an important number of the young people leaving foster or residential care are neither in employment, nor in education or training (NEETs), which strongly compromises their chances to successfully transition into adulthood. In the context of the above described challenges, the current proposal aims to contribute to the already ongoing effort to find solutions through: 1. Providing guidance and support to young people by creating a “one-stop-shop” where they will be able to access information, guidance, support and services provided by relevant organizations and institutions. 2. Support young people through the process of transition to independence by creating a network of volunteer mentors to help them build their personal plan and assist them in their communication with institutions and organizations. 3. Establishing long term cooperation among the partners with the objective to assist the insertion of care leavers in European Youth Mobility, Volunteering, and Apprenticeship programmes. The opportunities the EU provides for Youth and Education represent an enormous opportunity for vulnerable young people for inclusion, participation, gaining professional experience and important professional and individual competences. The project will directly involve about 60 young people aged 18-26 through the activities as well as around 500 indirect participants. The main activities of the project are: 1. The Life Skills for Care Leavers support e- platform and mobile app where care leavers will be able to access information and guidance on the services at their disposal, provided by relevant institutions and organizations, as well as support and coaching online through the app, by phone or person to person. 2. The Life Skills for Care Leavers training course for Mentors in order to ensure that the youngsters will benefit from high quality mentorship and coaching competences. 3. The Life Skills for Care Leavers training course for Young People in order to complete and facilitate the work of the mentors and provide young people with a set of important skills for their transition to adulthood. 4. A Tool Kit for organizations and staff in European Cooperation and mobility for disadvantaged young people containing guidance in the introduction of quality, safety, and responsibility standards for sending and receiving young people in this situation. 5. A six months long pilot Mentoring programme will be organized in each country as part of the project 6. Two international training events, one for mentors and one for care leavers, will be also implemented. The project will assist young people leaving care to receive continuous support during their transition to adulthood; acquire specific social, financial and organizational skills and competences which will allow them to successfully transition to adulthood and reduce significantly their risk of social isolation; strengthen their sense of initiative, and motivation to continue with education and/or employment and improve their educational and vocational outcomes.
The context The project coordinating structure has implemented corrective actions to conduct the activities' management. To allow each partner to work in better conditions, the French Agency granted additional time. Numerous video conferences enabled the coordinating structure to facilitate meetings with partners and members of the management board. The planning and implementation of activities were decided on collegially. The general activity of the project has been seriously impacted since March 2020. The partners, in agreement with the coordinating structure, have decided to focus their work on Intellectual Outputs. The objectives 1. The REDEFINE association, partner in charge of this project, has put all the intellectual productions online on the platform intended for young people through the institutions, or online through an application. 2. All the courses written for the mentors were finalized and uploaded to the platform mentioned above. This work was carried out by trainers with recognized expertise in mentoring and coaching. 3. The training materials were developed using the expertise of the partners in the field of animation, educational follow-up, and youth. 4. The Toolkit for organizations and staff involved in European cooperation and mobility of disadvantaged young people has been finalized. 5. The six-month pilot mentoring program could not be implemented. 6. An international training event was implemented. - Description of the activities carried out - dissemination of documents and signature of the agreement - Establishment of a project management board composed of the project leaders of each partner, in charge of technical decisions and quality management - appointment of the persons responsible for the intellectual output - organization by the local partner of the kick-off meeting in Slovenia - drafting and quality control of the intellectual outputs. - Results and impacts achieved - With the activities developed, the young people through the development of the project were able to understand the professional environment of today's world, the importance of planning and defining precise objectives. - Graphic Creation of a logo by the coordinator Life Skills for Care Leavers - The partners felt the need to foster a sense of initiative - The mentors worked on welcoming young people. - Long-term benefits The contact of the partners with other people and organizations (non-partners) indirectly involved in the project activities (institutions, training/education organizations, youth associations, experts, etc.) allows for the possibility of sustainable collaborations, has opened up possibilities for sustainable partnership. The partners were able to exchange knowledge and experience in terms of pedagogical approach, organization of work, the posture of the project, etc, The partners were able to exchange knowledge and experience in terms of pedagogical approaches, work organization, and attitudes towards adolescents with their potential and their fragility. The complementarity of the organizations and especially the actors of the project would easily allow envisioning another collaboration, indeed, the professions are diverse: teachers, trainers, social sector executives, health workers, psychologists...;