-To empower youths at risk of exclusion sustainably, to enable them to engage in society and politics and ensure thereby their inclusion -To develop joint approaches to achieve inclusion in youth work of differently marginalized youths, even amidst crisis, thereby the project not only benefits the participants but marginalized youths generally -To build the capacities of all participating organizations through professional exchange, sharing of expertise, training trainers, and to establish a closely cooperating EU partnership - To include diverse actors of inclusion to develop innovative strategies, methods and tools and thereby to compose a handbook of inclusive youth work amidst crisis -To facilitate the cooperation of teachers and social workers, formal and non-formal education, and to benefit from both fields of experience and expertise -To create an exhibition and social media content together with youths with different abilities, to enable them to express their voices and enhance the visibility of the issue internationally -To equip the partner organisations with trained personnel, new methods - To embed the youth work of the partners into their local contexts, to engage more stakeholders, and to sensitize local communities
The project idea was developed in a joint workshop, and due to the urgency of several crises and the still prevailing COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, and the common recognition of the partnering organization of the relevance of youth work in these circumstances. Even though emergency responses should be prioritized in the immediate crisis, functioning, resilient, and equal systems of education and youth work are still essential and should not be forgotten in crisis and post-crisis situations. Acknowledging the relevance of youth work in times of crisis, the implemented project 'Include, Engage and Involve' aimed to develop strategies, methods, and tools to ensure social inclusion in and through youth work, and to utilize it as a means of peacebuilding and conflict resolution. All partner organizations offered youth work in times of crisis, and a major challenge faced is to ensure social inclusion and to reach marginalized youth groups at the risk of exclusion. The partnership contributed to solving this problem jointly, enhanced the organizational capacities of each organization, and enabled networking and sharing of expertise in the field of social inclusion.