Crossing the Digital Divide: Training youth workers in Digital Marketing to support vulnerable young people gaining the skills for accessing remote jobs

<< Background >>The 21st century is an era of new technologies and interest in working remotely increased during the pandemic due to COVID-19. During the meetings that were held between the applicant and the partners, the issue of young people who are disadvantaged because of their lack of access and knowledge of digital skills was strongly felt. This disadvantage became even more accentuated when the young people looked for jobs and discovered that the opportunities available to them were very limited. This inspired the organization's representatives to find new ways of supporting young people in accessing avenues that enable them to find good quality employment opportunities.The demand for remote jobs is continuing to increase. Youths who are mostly involved in digital space are actively looking for new ways and opportunities in reaching remote jobs, especially employment in the field of digital marketing. The needs of vulnerable youth who are a valuable part of this society, must be fully integrated in every kind of social challenge. Young people with fewer opportunities grow up without having the benefits of a good education and of online access that is a critical resource that we all need when growing into the world of employment.<< Objectives >>We wanted to:1. Train a group of youth workers on digital marketing skills and tools so that these youth workers would be better prepared and they would be able to build capacity for reaching out to and supporting young people to find employment.2. Train a group of young people with fewer opportunities giving them access to digital employment tools and employability skills, offering them equal opportunities and thus, supporting the creation of a more equitable society where these people can work with dignity.3. Create collaboration between participating organizations allowing them to build a stronger network with a European perspective to enhance the capacity to improve their service to society << Implementation >>1. First Transnational Project Meeting in Rome. It served as an initial encounter to bring the partners closer and set the project in motion2. Research on Digital Employment Trends in Europe was done by the researcher and supported by the participants. This gave a solid grounding for the project activities3. Online meetings were held regularly to update and manage progress4. Two sessions of Online Training were held in preparation for the training in Malta. This introduced the participants to the results of the research and prepared the framework for the training in Malta5. In the Training in Malta the participants explored concepts related to online presence, online trends, digital marketing, netiquette, and worked with new digital tools that helped them to prepare the training courses for young people6. Pilot Training Courses with young people were held in each partner organization. The youth workers delivered the training to groups of young people many of whom came from disadvantaged backgrounds7. Dissemination events were carried out by each partner organization8. Second Transnational Partners Meeting was held in Budapest to conclude the project. Evaluation of the project was carried out and future plans were discussed<< Results >>1. Tailor-made training courses were created by each partner based on the learning from the project activities and the needs of the young people they support2. The young people who participated achieved a level of competence in digital marketing skills that will allow them to enter into employment both through the skills learnt as well as in the digital marketing world. 3. The organizations increased their capacity to support young people in their search for gainful employment. 4. The youth workers understood better how to support young people both in their work in the organization as well as in their own personal development.5. The partners have started discussions on other ways they can continue to develop the project results to be able to reach more young people with renewed resources according to changing needs