Beyond Future Skills

"<< Background >>As both partners, we believed that this project would allow us to further enhance our capabilities and projects as such. The availability of financial support from Erasmus+ presented a valuable opportunity for us to not only improve our youth workers but also incorporate an international dimension through partnerships with organizations abroad. This project focused on our core priorities, including strengthening our internal capacities, promoting social inclusion, mental health, active youth participation, disseminating information on the acquisition of skills and employability, and embracing the digital dimension. The project enabled us to invite expert trainers who could help train our volunteers. It enabled us to exchange international good practice. Knowledge was tested on proposed focus groups enhancing the impact. Furthermore, our Italian partners, who have been actively engaged globally, possess invaluable experience in working with youth in Italy and participating in E+ projects. Their expertise in both areas significantly contributed to FGE's development. The project helped both partners to stay relevant in important topics, improving their capacities and expanding their impact for years to come.<< Objectives >>The main goal of the project was to enhance the quality of work of the participating organizations by building their competencies and skills by training representatives of partner organizations in lectorial skills and in knowledge of selected topics and provide know-how to utilize this knowledge in the future (""TC - training courses""). This goal has been further extended to provide verification of achieved knowledge through organizing test information seminars, lectures, or workshops targeting the young audience (""practice trials-PT""). This led to popularization of the topics among focus groups directly. Additionally we aimed to support European cooperation and intercultural learning, as well as exchange of experiences with the partner from Italy. The topics for this project were selected because they are included among the 8 key competences recommended by the Council, which need to be developed. We also conducted a short questionnaire survey as a basis for the project, in which we inquired about the importance of these topics for young people. We also asked our members regarding their interest in enhancing competencies. Therefore we aimed to provide effective methods for youth to improve in demanded topics.<< Implementation >>The activities were event-based and distributed into 4 Working packages. These activities were executed through formats of Training courses („TC“), Practice Trials („PT“) and Conferences („C“). Some of these formats were organized only in Slovak, some of them were organized only by Italian partner and some of them were organized jointly by both.Generally, the proposed plan has been fulfilled. In WP 1, C1 + TC0 event has been organized in the beginning of project – 3/22. Online dissemination conferences have been organized in 3/23 and final event of the project has been organized 4/23. Included in WP1, regular monthly online conversations between partners took place. In WP2, TC1 has been organized jointly online in 4/22, TC2 has been organized both in SK and ITA 5/22. PT1 for high school students has been organized jointly according to plan in 6/22. In WP3, TC3 has been organized in SK and ITA in 8/22, with TC4 organized in SK and ITA in 9/22. PT2 has been organized for HEI female students by both parties 10/22. As of WP4, TC5 has been organized in SK and ITA in 11-12/22 and TC6 has been organized by both parties in 1/23. PT3 has been organized for youth from socially disadvantaged background jointly in Italy 2/23.<< Results >>Concrete project outputs (aligned with proposed outputs) included: Implemented training courses (TC) as internal educational outputs, project meetings, and a conference.Implemented Practice Trials (PT) as external educational outputs. Exchange of best practices and experiences via effective communication between project partners. Update of the project's initial impact analysis with new acquired knowledge. In connection to outputs, successful results can be stated, such as training of representatives of both organizations in lectoring and in selected topics (digital competences, mental health, opportunities on labour market), testing of attained knowledge on representatives of 3 target groups during PTs. This objective resulted in knowledge multiplication of selected topics to target groups and their communities. The topics were also successfully shared through dissemination campaign. Lastly, project fostered exchange of best practice between partners. All this led to proposed and achieved main objective – enhancing the work quality of the participating organizations by developing their competences and skills. Achieved knowledge and methodology can be further utilized in activities after project."