As VR Marketing, ASEID and SEN are partners in the KA2 project “I’M NEW”, during one of the meetings we have shared the following needs in our organisations and also at a national and European level: - high rates of youth unemployment across Europe; - lack of specific skills needed for the emerging jobs, especially after the COVID19 pandemic; - a labour market mismatch between the skills of the youngsters and the skills required for the existing jobs, especially in the digital field. Statistics show that the Youth Unemployment Rate in EU 13.06 % in July 2022, in Portugal 17.08 %; in Spain 28.09 %, Lithuania 11.60%, Bulgaria 13.10%, Italy 24%, Romania 22.70% and Czechia 6.50%. Data from Eurostat shows that the employment rate of young people is most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of employment, young people have been more strongly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic than older people. Eurostat compared the youth employment rates of the third quarters (July, August, September) from the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 in order to understand the effects of the pandemic on youth employment (aged 15-29). According to the President of the European Commission – Ursula von der Leyen: “No Member State should have to choose between responding to the crisis or investing in our people. Therefore, Next Generation EU increases […] youth employment support. It makes sure that people get the skills and the training and the education they need to adapt to this rapidly changing world.” For many years, the big consulting firms including IBM and Deloitte have been warning of a looming digital skills gap that will affect the advancement of the economy. This is reportedly due to a lack of people “being trained to meet an inevitable rise in companies’ demand for big data and analytics”. In simple terms, the digital skills gap is a notion that refers to the gap between the demand for technological skills versus the skills which are available. This means that while many businesses require these skills to operate and drive innovation, these skills are not available or are so few that it causes a high amount of competition in the recruitment market for highly skilled talent. The digital skills gap is not only a problem for European companies, but it is also an issue around the world, including Australia and the USA. According to FutureLearn, digital skills are those needed to use digital devices, communication applications and networks to access and manage information. Digital marketing is one of several key digital skills. Anyone participating in the knowledge economy is a digital marketer to some extent. Whether you are an administrative assistant, lawyer, doctor or public relations professional, you need to be able to craft compelling communication across various formats to influence audiences, whether it is one individual or many. Young people are often thought of as ‘digital natives’ who are able to freely navigate online and who possess all necessary digital skills, however, the studies show that young people, 95% of whom access the Internet daily, do not inherently possess the skills for safe and effective use of digital technologies. Their engagement is usually limited to entertainment and communication, while only 13% of young people have engaged in programming activities, and just 10% have done an online course, on any subject. While the digital skills gap in Europe is still large, and the number of ICT graduates is way too low to fulfil a growing labour market demand, youth unemployment remains rather high across the EU. The rise of new technologies, globalisation, rapid changes in the world of work, the 2008 economic crisis, automatisation, and now COVID-19 have disrupted labour markets across the world in a seismic way for youth and their chances of decent, long term and meaningful employment. The increasing demand for digital skills is not only a prerequisite to enter the information technology sector; these skills are also needed in non-technical roles, such as customer services, health and social care. A closer interlinkage between the education and labour sectors becomes more important. NEEDS WE WANTED TO ADDRESS: -need of specific tools and instruments for youth workers to train youth on the field of digital marketing; -need of specific digital skills in the field of marketing of youngsters; - need of a labour market match between the existing and required skills of youngsters; - need to reduce the high rates of youth unemployment. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT: - to develop youth workers knowledge and skills related to digital marketing; - to provide tools and instruments to youth workers to help them provide further training to youth in the field of digital marketing; - to reduce the labour market mismatch in terms of skills, related to the jobs in the field of digital marketing;