Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action Type: Strategic Partnerships for youth
Project Identifier: 2019-2-IT03-KA205-016467
Project Title: “Escape from Marginalisation”
Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) |Inclusion – equity
Results Platform Project Card: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/search/details/2019-2-IT03-KA205-016467
Coordinating organisation and country: BANGHERANG Associazione di promozione sociale, IT
Participating Countries: IT, HR, SE, DE
Funded by: the Agenzia nazionale per i giovani, the Italian National Agency for the Erasmus+ Youth programme.
Project duration: 01/12/2019 – 30/11/2020
Summary:
Most of the today approach of youth workers in establishing a contact with youngsters many times is ineffective because the methodologies to attract the youngsters’ attention and interest are outdated. Youth workers struggle in finding contacts and moment of dialogue with youngsters because they use tools that are too far from the daily life of teenagers today, who spend most of the free time online.
Gaming and social networks are some of the most common hobbies for youngsters and can be considered as a passive activity. Or, from other perspective, the youngster in that moment can be described as an active contributor to an activity or a common project in a game platform or as a moderator in a chat.
The forms of establishing and maintaining communication have undergone fundamental changes. ICT-aided solutions are playing an ever-greater role, replacing interpersonal communication.
Many times, youngsters discover most part of opportunities for their free time online and that’s why they don’t get usually in touch with youth centre and youth workers. Even if youngsters show a big confidence in using online tools they are still not educated in using these tools with full awareness.
This project responds to the needs of our youngsters (mainstream and marginalised) and youth workers, as well as is in line with the latest findings on European level that there is a need for innovative youth work approach towards youngsters that spend a lot of their time online and do not visit (local) youth centres and youth clubs so much, any more.
With this project, we aimed at further empowering our youth workers in innovative usage of digitalisation and gamification methodology in regular work with marginalised youngsters in our communities, in order to increase attractiveness of the youth work activities and make them up-to-date for better impact on inclusion and engagement of both mainstream and marginalised youngsters.
Project objectives were:
- Empower youth workers with knowledge and skills to implement digital tools in their everyday activities, with special focus on inclusion.
- Empower youth workers and improve knowledge management of youth work organisations in theory and practice for building competences of youth workers in Gamification and adventure/escape room methodology in online and offline youth work for inclusion.
- Encourage more youth workers for organising creative and innovative digital tools and youth work activities with gamification methodology based on affordable, low-cost and efficient adventure/escape rooms among mainstream and marginalised youngsters in our communities.
- Attract more youngsters to our youth work activities by multiplying the innovative low-cost and efficient escape rooms against marginalisation in our communities, and thus increase inclusion among youngsters.
Project activities were:
A1 – Project Management
M1 – Kick-off meeting
O1 – E-learning course “Digitalisation of youth work for inclusion”
M2 – Second meeting
O2 – Toolkit “Gamification and Escape room methodology in online and offline youth work for inclusion”
M3 – Third meeting
E1, E2, E3, E4 – Open conferences in SE, HR, IT, DE
M4 – Evaluation meeting
Project directly impacted organisational capacities. Partner organisations increased their capacity and competences for providing quality youth work activities for inclusion based on innovative approach with using digitalisation, gamification and escape rooms methodology in their online and offline youth work with beneficiaries.
*Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.