SALTO Inclusion Activities in 2015

Inclusion & Diversity strategy for Erasmus+: Youth in Action

In 2014, we organised a European-wide consultation with inclusion experts to refresh and upgrade the ‘Inclusion Strategy of the Youth in Action programme’ to fit the Erasmus+ Youth chapter. The new ‘Inclusion & Diversity Strategy’ was presented at the Programming Committee in December 2014, so 2015 is the year of the official launch of this strategy.

• Launching event, 50 people, at an EU building (Brussels, May 2015, 1 day)
• SALTO Inclusion will help promote this strategy and is responsible for the Steering Group that makes sure the actions contained in the strategy happen.
• Linked to the ID Strategy, SALTO Inclusion will monitor the impact of the inclusion efforts within the European youth programmes. It will cooperate with researchers to analyse existing data (e.g. YouthLink, RAY) with regard to inclusion in international mobility projects. This will shed light on the effectiveness of the European programmes as tools for inclusion. Where appropriate, recommendations will be made for future impact research regarding inclusion.

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Young people in NEET situation, Status Zero, the excluded, alienated, disenfranchised...

We adopt a longer-term strategic approach to address European burning issues in the field of inclusion. For the period 2014-2016 we focus on young people in NEET situation (young people Not in Education, Employment or Training).
Research shows that being in a situation of NEET can have scarring effects on the future lives of these young people. Therefore, early and holistic interventions are needed. In 2014 we already started pooling existing knowledge and experience together from different sectors (inventory & research), so that we don’t reinvent the wheel.
Based on these findings and conclusions, in 2015, we propose a number of relevant activities, partnerships, publications, tools... for youth workers, as well as NA Inclusion officers.

• iNEETiative Seminar  - Holistic Approach to Youth at Risk and in NEET situationis: creating bridges and sustainable cooperation between professionals from different sectors working with young people in NEET situation and creating better opportunities for this vulnerable group on their pathway to reintegration in society and the labour market. (19 – 23 May 2015, Romania).
  Cooperation with NA Romania
• “Project Factory” - training course on growing cross-sectorial projects for youth at risk and NEET. For 25 participants: representatives of youth, educational, social & business sector. (19-24 October 2015, Greece). Cooperation with the Hellenic and Italian NA
• Inclusion Colleague Support Group “Reaching out to youth at risk and NEET” - NA Inclusion officers explore possibilities how to make a better use of the Erasmus+: Youth in Action programme, in addressing the issues that youth in NEET situation are facing. (17-19 June, 2015, Estonia). Cooperation with NA Estonia.
• Supporting long term project “EVS as a tool for NEET”. Cooperation with NA Latvia & NA Estonia.
• Analysing challenges young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training face: research will focus on yout work and connected services approcheas to issues thise young people are facing. Publication based on the findings will be ready by October 2015.

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Connecting to the wider world

• Inclusion in Eastern Partnership countries & Russia: this long term cooperation aims at designing the support mechanisms and non-formal training activities in the framework of Erasmus+ Youth in Action, based on expertise of relevant stakeholders and a needs analysis of practitioners in the field of youth. This should in the future contribute to a systemic impact on youth workers education to further the Inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities of the Eastern Europe and Caucasus Region in society.
  Results of the pilot study will be available by May 2015. Cooperation with Austrian, Polish, Finish NA & SALTO EECA
• The 2nd Eastern Partnership Youth Forum - Innovative approaches to foster young people's employability. (9-11 February, 2015, Latvia)
• The 2nd European Youth Work Convention: the SALTO network will connect to this event to mark its 15^th anniversary. (27-30 April, 2015, Brussels)

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Inclusion tools & Publications

• Good practice on Inclusion - Good Practice Database
• Inclusion A to Z - A compass to international inclusion projects - this publication should help you to steer through the issues of inclusion as well as through the steps to managing an international-level activity from beginning to end. It will be available from February 2015.
• Publication based on research findings on young people in NEET situation. Avaliable from October 2015 
• In house reports of the Inclusion Colleague Support Groups

Trainers & TOY

• Further developments of TOYdatabase
• Participation in relevant trainer meetings to promote and collect feedback on TOY and make the tool (even) more user-friendly and effective.

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