About Project
The first step will be to raise the capacity of youth workers to engage young volunteers in activities related to real societal issues, and help young people develop mentoring skills, teamwork, communication skills, organizational and leadership skills. Having developed and improved all these skills through project activities, young people will become more self-confident and responsible citizens and after all more employable.
An additional benefit will be provided for seniors, who will improve their digital skills and literacy, will get more attention from young generations, will have fun and will be more adapted to life in the 21st century. We are planning to involve 6 countries, and 3 youth workers in each country; 30 young volunteers per country; 30 seniors (60-70 yo) to be trained by young volunteers.
PARTNERS IN PROJECT
Educational content
Skills matrix for young people needed for mentoring seniors and educational framework for youth on the topic of mentoring will be developed by the consortium.
Training program for Youth workers
Youth workers need to learn how to train young people to mentor seniors. The consortium will develop the program of the training for youth workers and will organize the LTT for youth workers. 3 youth workers per partner will be trained to develop needed skills in young people, so they can become successful mentors and active participants in the society.
Mentorship Program for young people
The consortium will create a program for young people to develop their skills to mentor seniors on digital competences development.
The living lab will be organized to bring together young people and seniors who need the development of digital skills. In order to prepare the living lab the LTT for young people will be organized, where youth workers will work with representatives of young people from each country to train them for the living
labs. The aim of the living lab is to initiate the intergenerational exchange and sensitize young people to the needs of seniors.
Once the young people understand the challenges seniors are facing in the digital world, they will be ready to mentor them and help them successfully face these challenges. The youngsters will then prepare and hold 5 workshops for the development of digital skills of seniors.
Guidebook for Youth Workers: providing step by step instruction on how to Organize “Hackathon”
We will organize the “hackathon” for seniors on national level so seniors can demonstrate and use the gained skills. Teams of seniors will compete in the use of digital skills (online banking, ordering food online, checking the relevancy of information sources, scheduling medical examinations, internet safety,
digital photos storing…)
Youth workers will be trained as per the developed guidebook at the LTT for youth workers, and then involved in the organization of the “hackathon”.
The project will bring great experience both to young people and to youth workers. To enable young people from participating countries to share the experiences between themselves, we will gather them in a youth exchange event. The event will consist of discussions among the project participants, but also of the workshops for young people in the hosting country. Young participants of the project will share the gained skills and experiences with the local young people through these workshops. This event, as well as the final conference, will be hosted by Bosnian partner. The seniors who have shown the best results at the national “hackathons” will also be invited to the final conference to present their experiences from the project.
The local dissemination events will be held after this in all other participating countries.
Educational Program
for the training course "Upskill"
Vision of the project
The youth has always been a fundamental group in society, and they are expected to take over the leadership in their communities and lead this world towards a better future. However, we can often hear from employers that the young professionals are coming to the job market without the needed
skills.
The approach to teaching and outdated curriculum in formal education is not providing young students with the skills necessary for the 21st-century job market. The curriculum does not tackle societal issues and real problems, so the students are not getting ready for real life through formal education.
We want young people to develop real-life competencies while mentoring seniors in facing challenges in the digital world.
Problem: After completing their school education young people do not have the skills necessary for the 21st century labour market and responsible citizenship.
OBJECTIVES
Empowering youth workers to provide 21st-century skills education for the target group; Support the youth work sector in educating young people for the mentorship in the use of digital tools, and in the development of collaboration, communication, problem-solving and other skills needed for the job market of the 21st century. Through WP3, 18 youth workers from 6 partner countries will be trained to disseminate the methodology for mentoring in their local communities;
Develop and test an innovative approach for engaging young people with societal issues – through mentoring of seniors to help them acquire digital skills needed for everyday life. The methodology of organizing a hackathon for seniors will be developed and tested within WP5.
Raise awareness among youth, including those with fewer opportunities, about the needs of seniors in terms of digital skills. This will be achieved through living labs and youth exchange (WP4). 24 teenagers from 6 partner countries will go on mobility and will be trained in mentorship skills. Upon
returning to their country, they will be country promoters and through peer-to-peer learning will educate another 180 young people at the consortium level.
Broaden the project idea and exchange experiences on the topic of upskilling and engaging young people in intergenerational topics between EU and non-EU countries and third countries non-attached to the program; WP6 Cooperation between 2 partners from EU countries and 3 partners from the
Western Balkans and 1 from the South Mediterranean will increase understanding and openness through teamwork in different European contexts.
The Project focuses on two specific target groups:
1
Young people 15 – 19 years old, including those with fewer opportunities
2
Youth workers working with young people 15 – 19 (teachers, trainers, professors, mentors, coaches, etc.)
Needs of young people/teenagers 15 - 19 yo
- Getting real-life skills to be employable and to become responsible citizens and future leaders
of societies - They need to develop: Teamwork, communication skills, collaboration, critical thinking,
organizational skills, knowledge sharing, mentoring skills - They need to be sensitized to the needs of other groups in their societies
- They need to get more responsibility to connect better to the problems in their societies
- They need to build self-confidence
Benefits of usage of our results on the target group 1
- They will get real-life skills and become more employable
- They will create useful networks both within their age group and on an intergenerational level
- They will get more attached to their societies
- They will build self confidence
- They will learn what it means to be a responsible citizen
Needs of youth workers
- They need to learn how to approach the young people and motivate them to participate in
societal issues - They need to learn how to develop skills in young people needed for the job market of the 21st
century - They need the methodology and materials needed to involve young people in mentoring
- They need organizational skills to organize events that will be interesting for young volunteers
and enable them to practice skills and gain experience in mentoring
