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InFormal Intelligence: Enhancing Inclusion in Youth Work Through AI

2025-3-LV02-KA153-YOU-0003752502025Mobility of youth workersongoing
Countries: LV|MT|ES|TR|RO|PT · Grant: €43,745
Digital skills and competencesDigital transformation planning and implementationArtificial Intelligence (AI) and data usage

Objectives

The primary aim of this project is to equip youth workers with the practical knowledge, tools, and attitudes needed to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a way that supports accessibility, inclusion, and adaptability in youth work practice. The need for this project emerged from the growing presence of AI in daily life, contrasted with the limited knowledge and confidence that most youth workers and young people have regarding how these tools can be applied meaningfully in non-formal education. While text and image generation are widely recognised, few understand how AI tools can support simplification, accessibility, or adaptation of youth work content — especially in a way that saves time and resources while enhancing quality. Youth workers are increasingly expected to adapt content to diverse learning styles, simplify complex information, and make sessions more inclusive for participants with fewer opportunities — yet many operate with limited support or technical tools. This project responds to those challenges by offering realistic and accessible pathways to help youth workers improve their practices using digital tools, without requiring advanced technical skills. It focuses on the ways AI can remove barriers, not by replacing human connection or empathy, but by supporting those values through smarter workflows and personalised outputs. The main objectives of the project are: -To raise awareness among youth workers about the potential of AI tools in supporting inclusion and adaptive content delivery; -To build practical skills in using AI tools (e.g. large language models, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, visual generation) to create content tailored to diverse participant needs; -To help participants understand the fundamentals of prompting, digital adaptation, and content reworking as part of inclusive design; -To strengthen participants’ confidence and digital literacy, enabling them to explore, test, and apply new tools without fear or hesitation; -To foster empathy-driven thinking, ensuring that the use of AI is guided by human values and a strong commitment to accessibility. The learning process will be rooted in non-formal education methodology, using simulations, storytelling, and reflection to explore the experience of exclusion and the importance of content adaptation. This will create a values-based foundation before introducing AI as a practical solution. Participants will not only learn what tools exist, but why and how to use them effectively. Throughout the project, youth workers will experiment with adapting texts, generating visual or audio content, reworking workshop plans for different cognitive styles, and testing real-life use cases they can later apply in their organisations. The project will also highlight how AI tools can reduce the workload for youth workers who operate with limited time and resources, allowing them to offer better support to participants without excessive administrative strain. Tools like NotebookLM, ElevenLabs, Canva AI, and others introduced in the sessions will help participants reframe their approach to content creation — making it more responsive, inclusive, and accessible across language, format, and comprehension differences. These tools will be presented not as a replacement for human-led facilitation, but as an extension of a youth worker’s toolkit — helping simplify complex messages, convert text into other media, and customise delivery formats. By the end of the project, participants will have not only the technical ability to use new tools, but also a mindset oriented toward innovation, inclusion, and adaptability. They will leave with confidence in their digital competence and a clear understanding of how to continue exploring AI tools in their daily work. More importantly, they will be empowered to apply these tools ethically and creatively — using them to break down barriers, engage more participants, and make non-formal education settings more welcoming and responsive to individual needs. In sum, the project aims to give youth workers the competence and confidence to work more efficiently, inclusively, and flexibly — enabling them to lead projects that reach further, adapt faster, and reflect the realities of a digital, diverse generation of young people.

Project partners (6)