About the project

YOUCAN (YOUth with migrant dropout tackling: CApacity buildiNg) was a KA2 European Project aimed at contributing to the modernization and strengthening of the response of education, training systems, and youth policies, considering the main challenges posed by the dropout of migrant youth from schools and their social exclusion. This was achieved by building the capacity of the consortium to work transnationally and adopt a cross-sector approach..

Objectives

The implementation of the project led to the following achievements:

Established synergies and enhanced cooperation with local organizations/partners active in the fields of education, training, and youth, as well as in other socio-economic sectors. This strengthened collaboration among all actors within schools, as well as with families and other external stakeholders.

Saw an increased allocation of financial resources (other than EU funds) to organize EU/international projects in the field of education, training, and youth.

Witnessed an enhanced quality in the preparation, implementation, monitoring, and follow-up of EU/international projects, along with an augmented capacity and professionalism to work at EU/international level (improved management competences and internationalization strategies).

Activities

To achieve its objectives, the project conducted several activities:

Three Transnational Project Meetings were held in Turin (Italy), Brussels (Belgium), and Milan (Italy).

Six Organisation-to-Organisations tailored Trainings involved participants spending a week training in another organization within the consortium.

Six Local Multiplier Events and one Final Multiplier Event took place in Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Belgium.

One Learning, Teaching, Training event was organized to train participants on the use of the Toolkit.

Outputs

The final results of the project, which can be downloaded below, were:

Publication of the YOUCAN best practices: This publication identified best practices from projects that focused on the importance of cross-sectoral cooperation in addressing youth dropout from school due to migration.  

Publication of the YOUCAN toolkit: This toolkit provided training for members of participating organizations, enhancing their proficiency in preparing, implementing, monitoring, and following up on EU/international projects. It also increased their capacity and professionalism in working at the EU/international level by improving their knowledge of project cycle management.

PROJECT PARTNERS

The European Centre for Economic and Policy Analysis and Affairs (ECEPAA) is a Belgian non-profit research organisation founded in 2011. It is specialised in the development of European Union projects in the fields of social inclusion, education, youth and migrant. The association, thanks to the use of funding from different programs, aims to contribute to the knowledge of topics related to social exclusion, the persistent difficulties of the marginalised population due to economic, cultural, class, race and gender reasons. We are aware that sharing this knowledge through a bottom-up approach can contribute to a better management of the above-mentioned issues. The association is organised on a voluntary basis and is governed by a board composed of three people.

The school is located in Greece and was founded in 1984. It serves about 600 students aged 16 – 19 with 80 teachers and comprises four different sectors (Informatics, Healthcare & Welfare, Agriculture/Food Technology/Nutrition and Business/Economics). The school includes a number of specialised teaching laboratories for each department and is equipped with modern ICT infrastructure.

Joint is one of the biggest and most innovative Youth Association in Italy. It is the Italian member of ICYE global network, the coordinator of the Italian Network for European Volunteering (RIVE) and the coordinator of an informal network recognised by the European Union, counting on 232 international partners. Joint focuses on providing learning opportunities to young people through international experiences such as European Solidarity Corps, International volunteering, Work Camps, local and international Training Courses, Youth Exchanges and Capacity Building Projects focusing on advocacy, active participation, intercultural learning, social entrepreneurship and sustainable tourism. Associazione Joint was founded in December 2003 and its mission is to provide non-formal education opportunities for young people through international mobility.

AidLearn, created in December 2003, resulted from the union of professionals with diversified background in the fields of Management, Economics, Human Resources Management, Social Sciences, Social Psychology, Organisational Behaviour and Intercultural Relations. It is a Training, Research-Action and Consulting Company, which operates at local, national and European Union level, dedicated to the design, implementation and evaluation of studies, projects and training activities that promote individual, organisational or local development. It aims for contributing to a better qualification of Portuguese HR by building up a learning organisation concerned with the equality of opportunities, providing quality and innovative services targeted to actual needs of organisations and individuals, and by internally developing a strong commitment and team working.

Founded in 1899, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cáceres (Camara Oficial de Comercio e Industria Cáceres) is a Public Law Body, whose main aim is to defend the general commercial and industrial interests of the province of Caceres. The Chamber is run by a group of 29 entrepreneurs who are elected every four years by all the entrepreneurs from the Province of Caceres. They represent the Assembly which defines all the general objectives to be reached. In this one, the President and the Executive Board are elected. The Assembly is composed of workers commissions whose aim is to closely analyse the problems of the economic sectors and to define the objectives in detail. A group of employees and technicians headed by the General Manager oversees its starting and implementation. People, citizens, or juridical persons, who practice commerce or industry in the province of Caceres, belong to the Chamber.

The Association Maison d’Enfant pour la Culture et l’Education is a social promotion NGO based in Turin since 2000; its activities aim to understand and address the needs of children, teenagers and young adults with migrant backgrounds, most of them originally from north African countries. The organisation seeks to foster the growth and education of the new generations, starting from their extra-curricular and social education. In particular, AMECE works in order to raise awareness in migrant families about their children’s needs, offering targeted action in school support, promoting opportunities for discussion and intergenerational dialogue and pushing for intercultural social education in the local community.

The english version of the YOUCAN publication can be downloaded below:

The english version of the YOUCAN toolkit can be downloaded below: