Almost four in five (79 %) of the first-time asylum seekers in the EU-28 in 2018 were less than 35 years old with the largest share of applicants being those aged 18–34. The time spent waiting is usually wasted time considering their wasted chances for education and the fact that they have to take a lot of steps to become part of society (e.g. learn the language or prepare themselves for the job market). The experiences all over Europe show that most of the past generations of refugees end up doing jobs far below their potential and this happened due to various reasons, but mainly because they lacked a professional network or they missed chances for education due to lack of information and opportunities. A study from 2018 from the Journal of Youth Studies points out that support for young refugees to make successful transitions into and through the education system is critical to their future lives and longer-term integration outcomes. This support is often neglected by institutions and there is a lack of this kind of support on the whole European level. To provide quality support, youth workers first need to build their capacity and become empowered in terms of teaching this vulnerable group prone to drop out in a non-formal digital environment. The GENERAL objective of the project is, on the one hand, to empower youth workers who work with refugees and migrants in non-formal digital education and, on the other hand, to strengthen the chance of asylum seekers and refugees on the labor market by empowering them to pursue their education in the digital field by providing the best possible conditions for that and preventing drop out through quality youth work with them. This will be done through: 1. Focus group which will be conducted by 3 participating organizations among their previous beneficiaries in order to understand specific needs and challenges refugee youth are facing when it comes to their education in digital schools and to get useful insight for the other activities. 2. Three training sessions: - Teaching digital skills to refugee youth and young asylum seekers - Motivational and environmental factors related to the successful non-formal education in refugee youth - Validation of non-formal digital education and working in demanding environments 3. Pilot courses in digital schools of each participating organization based on outcomes from previous activities The participants are youth workers working specifically in projects involving digital education of young refugees and asylum seekers. Each organization will select its participants according to their experience, past involvement in similar programs and projects and expertise. Expected results and impact on the youth workers is the following: - New and improved processes of recognition and validation of competences gained in non-formal education - New and improved practices to cater to the needs of disadvantaged groups in terms of their non-formal education - Development of skills for youth workers in line with individual needs and organizational objectives - Reinforced cooperation with partners from other countries - Greater understanding and responsiveness to social, linguistic and cultural diversity - Improved skills and competencies of youth workers working with refugees and asylum seekers in non-formal digital education - the Increased quality of education and provided youth work for the disadvantaged group of refugees and asylum seekers - Promotion of best practices learned and obtained in the project The project will generate physical outputs as well: - Adjustments and improvements to the curriculum used by youth workers in digital schools - in order to facilitate the learning process for students and upgrade teaching methods of youth workers - A digital manual addressed to teachers, educators and youth workers, based on the working methods matching the target group needs - in order to prevent drop-out - 5-day training course based on the working methods addressed to teachers, educators and youth workers, matching the target group needs - in order to prevent drop-out With this project participating organizations aim to build the capacity of their youth workers, improve the quality of youth work within organizations and lay the foundations to future potential partnerships. All results and findings will be disseminated through many channels in each country and European relevant channels in order to share it with other youth workers to whom they may be helpful in their work. Everybody will benefit from a better understanding of reasons in the background that make refugee youth and young asylum seekers drop out from demanding educational paths and thus provide better conditions in which they'll get more support and chance to complete the education. In general, they are a marginalized group but, having in mind their life circumstances, their background, reasons and motivation in some way are different from other marginalized groups.
The general objective of the project was, on the one hand, to empower youth workers who work with young refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in non-formal digital education and, on the other hand, to strengthen the chance of asylum seekers and refugees on the labor market by empowering them to pursue their education in the digital field by providing the best possible conditions for that and preventing drop out through quality youth work with them. The specific objectives were: getting valuable insight about issues and challenges directly from our target group by conducting a focus group; exchanging best practices for maintaining their motivation and preventing drop-out; exchanging best practices for the recognition of skills learned through non-formal digital education in order to motivate them; exchanging new learning and teaching methods (especially in demanding environments); testing the methods through pilot courses in our digital schools; sharing know-how between partners in order to empower youth worker skills and improve youth work itself; gain visibility by promoting project activities in order for other organizations to start with similar projects.
Through this project partner organizations wanted to build the capacities of the staff involved in their non-formal educational tech courses for young refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. We aimed to combine and get together youth workers in the digital/tech area working with refugee and migrant populations in order to engage, exchange good practices, connect and empower them and, in the end, promote youth work and establish good practices achieved in the project. More precisely, we wanted to empower and build capacities of youth workers through mobility, sharing knowledge, different trainings and learning methods, and researching and discussing together future best practices. Indirectly, we addressed the needs of refugee youth by fostering equity and inclusion in education, training and youth in order to enable quality learning for all as well as to prevent drop-out of vulnerable groups and promote the participation of disadvantaged groups in society.