YOUTH+ aimed to increase the quality of youth work, digital skills and promote social inclusion and active participation of youth w.f.o. - it was meant to be a step toward destroying prejudices, negative beliefs and establishing successful inclusion of ywfo by giving guidance, practical tools and competence development to youth workers and recognition to youth work where the target groups are highly challenging. Also, we intended to fill the gap between highly vulnerable ywfo and implementation of own initiatives (eg. ESC). We believe strongly that the establishment of empowered youth groups who are capable of initiating local volunteer actions are the best solution to break the negative circles of their life and make a step toward positive changes thus realizing “tangible” social inclusion. Plus, we wanted to spread messages about these sprouts of youth groups that they are a useful part of the society if they are empowered. They can offer volunteer projects that make them role models in the eyes of others. Furthermore the purpose was to create an enhanced SM campaign and its best practice to address the grass-root inclusion strategies and practices to start discussions and actions and sustain best practice projects.
Youth with fewer opportunities -especially our target groups that are most in need (poverty; traumatized family background; foster homes; segregation; low level of education; migrants) - get very little positive feedback on their qualities from the part of the society, communities they live in and their families. They do not know them and they do not own them therefore they often feel unworthy or useless and need intensive support to be included in society. We welcomed the initiation of Erasmus + programme to run long-term local youth projects (ESC) with the most difficult youth groups. However, with the target groups most in need we have found that the national ESC programme is not low-entry-level even with the extended support of NAs and the programme itself. The youth sector in non-formal education, especially the majority of NGOs and youth workers, were lacking the courage, the tools and resources to approach, reach out and engage these highly vulnerable youth into long-term learning relationships. Working with challenging youth groups is often stigmatized, youth workers lack appreciation. When NGOs reachout for financial or other resources in the wider society, they often receive negative answers from different stakeholders