The project aimed to empower youth workers with the competences needed to support young migrants through inclusive, non-formal education. We wanted to strengthen skills in communication, intercultural understanding, group management, conflict resolution and the creative use of methods such as gamification. A distinctive feature was the combination of a 15-week online module with a 7-day residential training, which created a comprehensive and innovative learning pathway. The strong interest received (over 500 applications) confirmed the relevance of the project’s objectives. Another core goal was the co-creation of a practical resource – the Handbook for Socio-Educational Animators – developed together with participants, collecting methods, exercises and guidelines to support organisations and youth workers across Europe. By implementing the project, we also fostered active citizenship, solidarity and European cooperation among youth workers, while ensuring sustainability through open-access materials and practices that can be reused beyond the project’s duration.
Our organisations have long been working with migrant communities, focusing on social inclusion and youth empowerment. However, the war in Ukraine and other recent crises have increased the arrival of young people with complex needs, often marked by forced displacement, trauma, and post-traumatic stress. These realities made it urgent to strengthen the competences of youth workers, who often felt unprepared to address such sensitive situations. At the same time, many organisations lacked structured training and innovative tools to equip socio-educational animators with practical methods to support young migrants in their integration process. The project was therefore designed to respond to this gap, by providing youth workers with skills, resources and a shared European approach to inclusion, intercultural understanding and psychological well-being in youth work.