Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity has no place in our society, but for many people in Europe, it is a daily reality. The European Commission is standing against discrimination, against prejudice and against hate. The 2015 Eurobarometer on discrimination (latest one available) shows that almost 60% of EU citizens see discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as widespread. According to a recent study by the European Fundamental Rights Agency, twothirds of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex (LGBTI) people, conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity. The vast majority of participants recall harassment against LGBTI students during their time in school. Even conservative estimates suggest around 10% of the population is LGBTQI+ and, we know that more and more young people identify outside the gender binary spectrum each day. It is highly likely that at least a few of the young people a practitioner works with at any one time identifies as LGBTQI+. However, most of the educators find themselves uncertain and/or unable to answer the specific needs of this group, sometimes feeling uncomfortable. In the last few years, the applicant has develop and deliver several KA1 mobilities of youth workers focussed on LGBTQI+ Inclusion. Through that work we have found that there is a widespread need in Europe (and beyond as we had partners or requests from countries such as Morocco, Jordan, Russia,...) to build the capacity of youth workers in the area of LGBTQI inclusive youth work. Youth Workers and educators argue in their applications to the course that they face difficulties to know how to work or what to do when young people with diverse gender identities or sexual orientations disclose that to them and also on how to manage the group setting to ensure that the young people feel safe and welcomed. They also face often homophobic bullying and disclose difficulties managing it. In the process of planning and improving the training we have face difficulties finding adequate information to point to participants before the training course to do some pre-training work and there is little in terms of a competency framework for inclusive LGBTQI youth work. The need for this project starts from the desire to build a society that is inclusive towards every kind of diversity. The information above point to our experience in terms of LGBTQI inclusion and it is hightlighed by the results of the LGBT Action Plan by the UK Government (2018) that reports high levels of negative experiences regarding LGBTQI education. The target groups to be address are youth workers, and secondarily other educators. The project’s main aim is to promote the inclusion of LGBTQI youth through the creation of understanding and inclusive youth work experiences and spaces and will be reached by several key actions:-The development of a competence framework addressing the competences needed to became an LGBTQI+ inclusive youth worker. -The creation of an online training course to support wider reach, and a community of practice to offer peer support and learning. -The development of a long term training of trainers to reach the local and regional communities with face-to-face trainings. -The production of a manual to support youth workers implementing inclusive youth work activities and projects.
The project’s main aim was to promote the inclusion of LGBTIQ+ youth through creation of understanding and inclusive youth work experiences and spaces. The project had the following objectives: 1) To increase youth workers’ knowledge and understanding of the experiences of LGBTIQ+ young people, enabling them to create understanding and inclusive youth work 2) To improve the skills of youth workers to enable them to improve their work with LGBTIQ+ young people 3) To combat and reduce discrimination on the basis of SOGIESC within youth work 4) To strengthen youth work in Europe to ensure that it is equipped to meet European policy in respect of SOGIESC (including the goals in the EU Youth Strategy, the objectives of the Erasmus+ programme, and other key policies at European level) Specifically, we wanted to upskill youth workers and educators to train others in these topics, and provide resources and learning tools that help youth workers and educators to implement LGBTIQ+ inclusion in their practice.
The reasoning behind this project was based on the fact that an increasing number of young people openly identify themselves as LGBTIQ+. This creates challenges for youth workers as they are often not equipped with the tools they need to work with this population, being uncertain, unable, or even uncomfortable to answer the specific needs of this group. The need for this project was also driven by feedback received from our practice. Prior to project preparation we had delivered several KA1 Rainbow Youth training courses and we had: - specific feedback as part of the evaluations of those courses - our analysis of frequently asked questions and issues on our community of practice page - answers to a follow-up survey which we conducted in early 2020 From this feedback, we discovered strongly that youth workers didn’t just need the knowledge or the understanding of the experiences, but they also needed to be able to practically apply this to their own contexts and to be able to relate these issues within their existing frame of reference in order to move away from it being seen as specialised work, to a new understanding that LGBTIQ+ inclusive youth work is something that can be delivered well within existing youth work structures.