Youth Employability through Arts and Culture

<< Background >>We as a project consortium applied for this project because we aimed to tackle the following aspects in our organizational and community capacity:-Limited resources and inadequate youth service provision -Increase levels of youth deprivation by using tools such as arts and cultural-based activities -Overcome the limited organization budgets to train and support young people effectively-Overcome lost opportunities for young people ( who then become dependent on the state for support and not able to contribute to thelocal economy )-Overcome Young people becoming at risk of anti-social behavior, excluded and deprived across their local community-Trying to support and motivate Young people who were losing hope and motivation, suffering from stress, and anxiety caused as a result of educational, economic, and social failure that has increased due to CovidThe project enabled partners to come together to test the methodology of using creativity as a hook to engage and support the employability needs of young people, whilst training staff and improving youth provision. The project also provided us with the chance to modernize and improve and thereby helped our development as well as achieving National and EU strategies in Youth << Objectives >>1. Tackle the barriers faced by young people by creating safe environments while using arts2) Improve our youth work provision and resources by creating intellectual outputs such as Toolkit to educate and empower YW3) Build capacity with our organizations to work across the EU and its structures by exchanging good practices, methodologies, and tools4) Motivate staff and young people through arts and cultural activities5) Share peer learning<< Implementation >>1) Kick-off meeting and study visit that took place in Ruse, Bulgaria (March 2022) including 10 participants from 5 partner countries2) Training course for youth workers to train them in the arts, culture, and crafts to engage and support the employability of young people that took place in Istanbul, Turkey(November 2022) including 20 participants from 5 partner countries3) Training Web-based resources that can be used by workers and be implemented through local pilots implemented by each partner organisation in their local community 4) Final Conference (with additional local events) implemented in January 2023 in Ruse, Bulgaria, involving more than 50 delegates from 5 partner countries.<< Results >>Toolkit in English including best practices in Arts and Craft based activities for youth with a description and illustration of the materials. After the project(according to the feedback received) we believe that we achieved a greater understanding of youth needs leads to better outcomes for our young peopleMore than 20 Trained and motivated youth workersArts and employability resource pack of youth engagement and support materials available in our social media channels and across the EU5 Localised pilots that inform local youth provision and impact positive changeImproved 5 organizational capacity to understand/manage Erasmus Projects acrossOne implemented Conference that shared and promoted our work across the EUProject Digital Handbook with all documents and dissemination materialsProject video, pictures and Printed Booklet