O1. Equip 20 youth workers with necessary tools for combating the social exclusion of young people with hearing deficiencies aged 18-25 through a 5 days training course. O2. Enhancing the communication skills of the 20 youth workers through a 3-days sign language course with the help of language instructors. O3. Raising awareness among youngsters from each country about the communication barriers and obstacles that hardhearing and deaf young people face in their day-to-day activities through one local event per country with 40 participants, half of them with hearing disabilities. O4. Improving the organizational capacity of partners to address inclusivity in their projects, specifically focusing on their ability to work with and develop projects tailored for young people facing hearing disabilities.
The project aimed to develop youth workers’ capabilities of addressing the social inclusion of hard hearing and deaf young people by equipping them with the necessary tools in conducting their work with youngsters with hearing deficiencies. At the societal level, young people with hearing deficiencies face social and economic barriers, hindering their full and effective participation in society. These young people need to be integrated in a diverse society and they need to interact with peers in a professional or social context. A research conducted on the consortium partners (bit.ly/3yh1qgb) revealed that while the organizations would like to develop such initiatives, they lack specialized youth workers and there is a shortage of training opportunities for the existing staff. The majority of youth workers struggle to fully comprehend the specific challenges and needs of hard of hearing and deaf young people. They need training and resources to better comprehend the varying degrees of hearing loss, communication methods, and tools that can assist in different situations and training in methods to gently encourage and support young people in exploring new opportunities and pushing their boundaries.