Association Co-Efficient and its partners has a wide range of experience/expertise of involvement young people with fewer opportunities into local and international actions/learning experiences. Inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities is a main horizontal objective of our daily work, offering regular community and development services in our Afterschool service at Gyöngyös. Early school leaving (ESL) is a concerning phenomenon across Europe, but particulary in Hungary and Romania. A joint empirical research conducted by Association Co-Efficient and Nevo Parudimos between 2015-17 (LEADNFL) confirmed that ESL is having a particularly negative effect on marginalised Roma youth living in poverty, often experiencing double discrimination an facing the negative consequences of ESL. Youth work had a particular responsibility during the lockdowns experienced in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic: marginalised young people couldn’t follow the digital curriculum for a variety of reasons, further boosting the negative effects already experienced. The problem was not only access to digital tools, but more deeply routed: a mismatch in institutional expectations and available support. ’Avas Khetane - Get Together’ project aims for a paradigm shift by developing a long-term structural methodology using art and experiental learning as a tool, tailor-made with individual development plans for the needs of young people with fewer opportunities, endangered by ESL. The project combines the expertise of youth workers and teachers, as it is cross-sectoral involving primary schools a grassroot human service providers engaged in youth work. The partnership aim to gather best practices, develop the tailor made methodology, pilot it with the involvement of 30 young people and widely disseminate the results via the intellectual outputs. ACTIVITIES OF THE PROJECT 1. Kick-off in Hungary – start of the project (3 working days + two travel days) 2. 3 subsequent Transnational meetings- TMs scheduled for major milestones 3. IO1– methodology handbook based designed, tested by a cross-sectoral and multinational team of experts. 4. Dissemination: national conferences organised by Hungarian and Romanian partners to disseminate the results of the project and an international conference aimed at mainstreaming the results for the wider European audience.
The partnership involved in this project gathered the best practices, developed a methodology, and documented the experience and lessons learned in an approx. 300-page book. The project involved the following stages: 1. Kick-off in Hungary - a four-day event to launch the project 2. Four subsequent Transnational meetings (TMs) are scheduled for major milestones. 3. IO1 - the methodology handbook was designed and tested by a cross-sectoral and multinational team of experts. 4. Dissemination - the Hungarian, Romanian, and Macedonian partners organised national conferences to share the project results, and an international conference was held to mainstream the results for a wider European audience.
Early school leaving (ESL) is a significant issue in Europe, especially in Hungary and Romania, affecting marginalized Roma youth living in poverty and facing double discrimination. Studies by project partners (LEADNFL 2015-17 and Loose Ends 2020-21) highlighted ESL's adverse effects. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these issues as marginalized youth struggled with the digital curriculum, highlighting a deeper problem of mismatched institutional expectations and support. The 'Avas Khetane - Get Together' project sought to address this through a paradigm shift, creating a long-term methodology that utilizes art and experiential learning. Tailored with individual development plans, it aimed to support young people at risk of ESL, combining youth worker and teacher expertise in a cross-sectoral approach involving primary schools and grassroots human service providers. The partnership focused on gathering best practices, developing and piloting the methodology with 30 young people, and disseminating the results through intellectual outputs.