iNFEr aims at providing the applicant organization with the skillsf and organizational capacities to deliver on this crucial purpose through innovative methodologies capable of enhancing its outreach to the target audience as well as the number and quality of its activities from a local and European perspective. Through iNFEr project, ACP aims at delivering on the recalled priorities by developing the competencies of its experienced staff in the use of NFE methodologies as instruments of inclusive educational support, as well as in the employment of the innovative method of Storytelling as a tool of enhancing reflection and ownership of the learning process by learners. Storytelling (whose scope also includes Digital Storytelling, i.e. the application of Storytelling to digital and media tools) is an unconventional methodology to support the learning process that is increasingly used, which uses the immediacy of narratives as a tool to facilitate the transmission of even complex knowledge and skills to learners, while encouraging reflection, critical thinking and the communication of knowledge through the use of the cause-effect structure that characterizes the narratives. Summarizing the objectives of the project were the following: - Develop the skills of staff and organization in using non-formal education as an inclusive and effective educational approach for young adults with educational difficulties. - Develop the skills of staff and organization in the use of Storytelling as an innovative educational approach.
Associazione Culturale Pitagora performs its regular activities in North Sardinia, with its main center of activities being the provincial capital of Sassari. The audience of disadvantaged learners who benefits from the organization's activities is localized in Sassari and in the towns/villages of the latter province. As an association of committed teachers operating for the educational support to the audience of youngsters and young adults in the region, ACP focuses on providing an educational approach to tackling the most pressing challenges of the area, with a primary view to enhancing the human capital and range of opportunities of the young Adults who face educational difficulties and are at risk of long-term social exclusion and unemployment, particularly those characterized by a difficult socioeconomic background (NEETs, young Adults from poor rural areas and urban suburbs). The main challenges related to the context in which ACP operates are the following: - Youth unemployment: according to iSTAT data, Sardinia is the sixth European region with the worst results in terms of youth employment, with an overall unemployment rate of 56.3% of the population aged 15 to 24. The challenge of youth unemployment for the sustainability of the local social fabric is further amplified by the negative consequences of the long economic crisis that affects Northern Sardinia and the island in general. The CRENOS research institute identified Sardinia as one of the 65 poorest European regions in 2015, with a GDP that fell from 77% to 70% of the European average between 2010 and 2015. - School dropout: the statistical surveys of ISTAT (2017) quantify the percentage of young Sardinians who leave the school circuit before obtaining the high school qualification at 18.1%, compared to a national average of 13.8%, making Sardinia the second Italian region with the worst performance after Campania. The school dropout rate is particularly high at the high school level, with a percentage of 5.4% of students. In this context, ACP considers it a priority to be directly active in supporting the re-integration into the education circuit of the large audience of young adults with educational difficulties, in order to provide them with the skills and aptitudes to realize their individual potential and facilitate school inclusion and employment.