According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) report, 38% of young people are not very hopeful about their career futures, as the crisis will create even more obstacles in the labour market and prolong the transition from school to work. 50% of teens are likely to experience anxiety or depression, with an additional 17% likely to be affected. In this context, urgent measures are needed to support the mental health of young people, among the others. Artistic work is one of the most effective ways to improve people's mental health. Performing art helps a person to express himself and provides physical, mental and emotional well-being. Digitized artistic works are an important tool to support young people in the global epidemic crisis. Unfortunately, youth work has not been able to keep up with the digital transformation and not sufficiently include young people. When the mental effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on young people are taken at the centre of the project, the focus will be on Digital Storytelling. As an innovative and artistic approach to teaching and learning that integrates human creativity and technology, it enables the creation of learner-centred and technologically rich interactive teaching and learning environments. Digital Storytelling includes all artistic elements such as scriptwriting, music, literature, photography, animation making. Digital storytelling allows individuals to tell their own stories, learn digital media skills, build confidence and self-esteem, develop language and literacy skills, foster higher-order thinking skills. In addition, digital storytelling supports non-formal education method with C-L-A-SS (Communication-Language-Art-Social Science) approach and perfectly fits as a solution of the impacts of Covid-19 in youth work. In order to achieve these goals, the various activities will be carried out such as the development of intellectual outputs, transnational meetings, virtual LTT activity, the online festival and various dissemination activities. The project will offer two intellectual outputs which are The Non-Formal Training Set of Creation Digital Storytelling and "xPress Yourself" e-platform. The training set will be a tool for youth workers in order to support their work in the Covid-19 process. This output will enable online non-formal activities through Digital Storytelling. This will also contain the basics of photography art. “XPress Yourself” focuses on digitalized artistic works and strengthening the mental health of young people. It will provide users with the opportunity of self-learning in photography and digital storytelling. The aim of the platform is to bring young people together with creative remote activities in the Covid-19 period, to increase their dialogue with their peers, to enable them to develop transversal skills and to show new ways for them to express themselves. While showing this way, it is to expose creativity through photography and digital storytelling. These intellectual outputs will support youth work not only in Covid-19 period but also the digital transition of youth work which will be widespread next years. These outputs perfectly fit e-mobility/virtual mobility aspects which encourage by Erasmus+. The online festival which will bring together young people and youth workers from all corners of Europe will be carried out. The theme of this festival will be culture. Participants will prepare digital storytelling videos for this festival where they will tell their local stories, heroes, histories, lifestyles, etc. These digital storytellings will be published in a certain order at the festival. Young people will get to know their peers' cultures while promoting their culture. This cultural transfer will strengthen EU Awareness and common values. It will also strengthen the EU identity among young people. Some of the expected impacts of the project as follows; - Young people in our main target group will discover and develop their creativity through photography and digital storytelling. While engaging these activities, they will strengthen their mental health affected in the Covid-19 period. - Young people will gain the ability to express themselves through photography and digital storytelling. Producing digital storytelling will enable them to discover much more different artistic talents. In addition, they will develop many soft skills and transversal skills as their communication and dialogue with their peers will strengthen. - Youth workers will gain alternative tools to support their work which affected during the Covid-19 period by using the project outputs. In addition, they will be inspired by the project and bring innovative ideas to your career. - The project will have long-term impacts on those who conduct training activities in different disciplines and branches. For example, digital storytelling can be used in various training such as mathematics, science, foreign language, etc.
The project aimed to support young people through the power of art, create digital channels for young people to socialize and express themselves, and produce roadmaps for youth workers. For this purpose, the project focused on photography-based digital storytelling. Digital storytelling or photography has become a new hobby and field for many young people. Youth workers have discovered a channel to reach young people in all areas. Positive results have been achieved in increasing young people's motivation for self-expression and overcoming social phobias. These positive results are manifested in more communication with peers, greater participation in social processes, adopting an artistic approach, and enhancing digital skills during and after the project. In other words, digital storytelling, as defined in the project, has transformed into an instrument that can address various adverse conditions, be used in all fields, and especially allow young people to express themselves freely. Therefore, the most significant success of the project has been reaching young people by popularizing digital storytelling and making it accessible. These were exactly what the project wanted to achieve.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global process that has impacted and changed all of our habits. During this process, various fields have developed different digitalization and remote work methods to adapt to quarantine conditions. However, not every field has been able to adapt equally, which has exacerbated the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those most affected and struggling to adapt to this process are young people and youth-related activities. Works such as ILO reports and RAY-CAP analyses have shown that young people are facing challenges in areas such as social isolation, employment, mental health, disruption of youth programs, and uncertainty about the future. To contribute to the solution of these negative conditions and to support young people and youth-related activities, a project proposal has been submitted.