The EmpowerInclusive (PowerIn) project aimed to strengthen the employability, digital readiness, and active participation of young people, particularly those with fewer opportunities, through innovative and inclusive youth work practices. The overall objective was to support young people in making informed, confident, and future-oriented career choices in a rapidly changing digital environment. A key objective was to enhance digital empowerment, especially by increasing awareness and practical understanding of artificial intelligence and digital tools relevant to career planning and entrepreneurship. The project also aimed to improve access to quality career guidance, providing young people and young adults—especially migrants and refugees—with practical, multilingual resources to better understand labour market opportunities and identify their own strengths. In addition, the project sought to foster an entrepreneurial mindset, supporting the development of initiative, creativity, and problem-solving skills applicable to both employment and self-employment contexts. Strengthening the quality and innovation of youth work was another core objective, achieved by equipping youth workers and educators with new methodologies.
The project EmpowerInclusive (PowerIn) was developed in response to clearly identified needs affecting young people and young adults—particularly those from migrant, refugee, and other disadvantaged backgrounds—in the partner countries. At the time of application, partner organisations were observing that many young people were struggling to make informed career decisions, lacked awareness of emerging labour market trends, and felt unprepared to respond to rapid digital transformation, especially in relation to artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven tools. Both European-level evidence and local needs assessments confirmed these challenges. International studies highlighted persistent gaps in the quality and accessibility of career guidance, limited use of innovative and digital approaches, and insufficient alignment between young people’s skills and labour market needs. In parallel, the partner organisations conducted their own surveys with youth, secondary school students, and young adults, which revealed high levels of uncertainty about future career paths, a strong demand for professional career guidance, and very limited knowledge about how AI and digital tools could be used in career planning or entrepreneurship.