META

The reason for carrying out this project stems from our contact with young people: working with them daily we see that they have a great potential but are often unable to direct it towards their goals and sometimes they are even unaware what these goals are. The Western world politics promoting the individual over the collective, isolation, vulnerability to the modern world problems are very visible in young people lives, resulting in much deeper and complex problems on personal level.

According to the Synthetic Index of Comparative Youth Development 2017 report issued by the Spanish Reina Sofia Centre, the overall development of the young Europeans from our Strategic Partnership countries is 7,3 out of 10 points in case of the UK, 5 points for Spain and 4 for Italy (the average score being 6,1). Youth unemployment rates in the partner countries are very high: UK: 8%, Spain: 26,2% and Italy: 24,8% (data from November 2018). The social participation data is also worrying: according to the Global Youth Wellbeing Index, UK ranks 10th and Spain 13th. EU Watcher states that with 5.6 million unemployed young people (under 25) in the EU – and this figure will only rise the coming years – the necessity for drastic labour market improvement becomes enormous. After the analysis of the information provided by the partner organisations and focus groups, we agreed that one of the solutions to alleviate the dreadful situation of Europe’s young is to promote youth entrepreneurship. Growth will not come from existing companies, so startups and new sustainable organisations are essential to create jobs and avoid the looming lost generation, which is why we decided to make a joint effort to try to improve the existing situation.
The organisations: Creativity Works Preston (CWP, UK), Oriel (Italy), Chamber of Commerce of Cantabria (COCIN Spain) and Permacultura Cantabria (PC, Spain) decided to form this Strategic Partnership to help to improve the existing situation of young people from our countries and other young Europeans, providing them with tools useful for collaborative entrepreneurship, social activism and environmental awareness. The reason to form our Strategic Partnership is the need to activate and empower youth workers and young people, improving their sense of initiative and social participation supporting.

In order to achieve it, we established the following objectives:

1.Transfer participating organisations’ knowledge and best practices regarding collaborative entrepreneurship, social activism and environmental awareness that will be a basis for the new methodology.
2.Create an innovative META-TOOL meta-methodology featuring collaborative entrepreneurship, social activism and environmental awareness.
3.Transfer META-TOOL meta-methodology to young people from our strategic partnership and communities.
4.Consolidate new knowledge and skills acquired by youth workers by applying them in practice while working with the organisations’ young beneficiaries and their communities.
5.Facilitate the access to this new methodology to other young people and youth workers from the whole Europe using an effective dissemination campaign.

The transnational activities planned for this project are:

3 transnational meetings in Spain, Italy and UK.
Participatory Visit in UK, where the organisations will exchange tools in collaborative entrepreneurship, innovation, social activism and environment awareness.
Creation of an Intellectual Output: Interactive Book about the innovative META-TOOL meta-methodology
Course in Spain: where youngsters and youth workers will acquire the newly created methodology. They will learn how to apply and transfer it to other people from youth communities.

As a summary of the impact, youth communities will benefit directly from the project because of its focus on promoting entrepreneurship, social activism and environmental awareness.

The project will help with reaching higher social participation among youth, as the new tools and abilities will grant them possibilities of creating better, more attractive projects, both professional and personal. Youth workers will improve their leadership skills and quality of their work. Increased level of self-esteem and confidence of youth workers that participated in the activities will translate directly into greater diversity, creativity and sustainability in their professional and personal life.

The Intellectual Output is an Interactive Book whose purpose is to present the innovative META-TOOL – meta-methodology for collaborative entrepreneurship, social activism and environmental awareness to our target groups and, subsequently, to all the people who may be interested.

The book is innovative as it has the following characteristics:

1. ITS CONTENT
The book will document an innovative meta-methodology, different from those used nowadays to create sustainable projects for and by youngsters interested in collaborative entrepreneurship, social activism and environmental awareness.
It will enhance the participation of all the members of a working team, becoming a great alternative to the traditional methodologies such as waterfall (See Annex Comparative Analysis). The book will strengthen youngster’s perception of the universal European values, and intensify their sense of belonging to the European community. They will also be more motivated to have an active participation in the society.
The book will make youngsters more responsible in fighting against climate exchange as they will consider the Earth for the definition of their projects.

2. ITS VERSATILITY
The created product will adapt easily to any working environment, regardless the cultural (or multicultural) background, experience or age of its users. It puts diversity in the spotlight, converting the weaknesses (for example, minority background) into advantages (for example, first-hand essential experience for carrying out a project for refugees). This will result in greater social inclusion of the meta-methodology users, especially those with fewer opportunities.

3.ATTRACTIVE TO YOUNG PEOPLE
The form of the book will also be innovative – it will be completely digitized, which, apart from its attractive graphic design, will improve its reception by the target groups being more in line with their lifestyle. It will contain videos and links for the relevant web content. It will be readable from any electronic device or as a printed traditional paper version copy, so that it can be used by many young people (for example, in public libraries, social centres and organisations that work with youth).

4.INTERSECTORIAL AND UNIVERSAL
The content of the book will be completely intersectoral and universal so that it can be applied both professionally and privately and in all stages of each project. What will make it especially valuable for youth will be its flexibility and collaborative nature that will facilitate the connection between people of different ages, professions and experiences. together will make young people feel more empowered and it will be easier for them to develop and manage new initiatives quicker and more effectively.

5.KNOWLEDGE EVALUATION
At the end of each chapter, the readers will have tests so they can evaluate the knowledge and tools acquired.

E1: According to the evaluators’ recommendations, the first Multiplier Event will take place on August 1st, 2022, just after the completion of the interactive book to add strength to the project. The multiplier event will be carry out by CWP with the purpose of disseminating the IO created during this project. It will last 1 day, planned and it will involve 40 persons of the target groups members: young people, youth workers, social and environmental activists, young entrepreneurs, etc. The event will be of an open invitation and will give the visibility not only to the project, our Strategic Partnership and collaborating organisations, but also to the Erasmus+ in general. The dissemination coordinator will be responsible for the multiplier event’s logistics, such as choosing a reduced mobility friendly venue, stakeholders invitation dissemination, translation services if needed, refreshments purchasing etc.

E2/E4: In order to have a wider impact of the project and the dissemination of the intellectual output and project results, we decided to carry out 2 multiplier events in Spain that will be organized by each Spanish partner for the following reasons:
-COCIN will carry out it in Santander (the capital of Cantabria) to reach decision makers from important organisations. COCIN plays an important role in the dissemination strategy as they have a wide network of 400 organisations affiliated, chambers of commerce, public bodies, etc.
-Permacultura Cantabria will carry out it in Ramales de la Victoria, which is located in a rural area. The objective to have the multiplier event held in this place is because we are interested in revitalizing rural areas in a sustainable way. Youngsters, youth workers, development agencies, etc. will be have access to the interactive book and will be able to use it for the creation of new projects in the area.
In order to use properly the Erasmus + funds, we decided to invite 25 participants in each multiplier event so the budget is balanced among all partners.
The dissemination coordinator will be responsible for the multiplier event’s logistics, such as choosing a reduced mobility friendly venue, stakeholders invitation dissemination, translation services if needed, refreshments purchasing etc.

E3: This multiplier event will be carry out by Oriel with the purpose of disseminating the IO created during this project. It will last 1 day, planned and it will involve 40 persons of the targetgroups members: young people, youth workers, social and environmental activists, young entrepreneurs, etc.The event will be of an open invitation and will give the visibility not only to the project, our Strategic Partnership and collaborating organisations, but also to the Erasmus+ in general.The dissemination coordinator will be responsible for the multiplier event’s logistics, such as choosing a reduced mobility friendly venue, stakeholders invitation dissemination,translation services if needed, refreshments purchasing etc.

C1: The objectives of this activity are the following:

-Exchange the tools and best practices used in each organisation in their work with young people in order to create a basis for the innovative META-TOOL.
-Understand and interpret new concepts to use them in the creation of the META-TOOL.
-Systematise the collected information.
-Exchange ideas for the creation of the interactive book.

Description of the activity

The members of our partnership agreed that the participatory visit will be carried out in Preston where CWP develops its initiatives. During the participatory visit, the organisations involved will exchange tools that will imply improvements in the processes of creation and management of youth projects. Eachorganisation will share these tools according to their expertise and the innovative features of the Meta-tool Methodology:
CWP: Experience in alternative learning
COCIN Experience in innovation and entrepreneurship
Permacultura Cantabria: Experience in environmental awareness and prevention for climate change
ORIEL: Experience in social activism
The course will be participatory in order to ensure that all participants are able to contribute with their opinion, ideas and experience. At the end of each working day an evaluationsession will take place in order to maintain flexibility and adaptability to everyone ́s needs.

It will last 3 days and its outcomes will mark the beginning of our practical work on the innovative META-TOOL. It will consolidate the new knowledge acquired by the IO developersneeded to create a new collaborative methodology with the elements of entrepreneurship, awareness, social activism and climate change prevention.

C2: Objectives of the activity:

-Transfer the new META-TOOL methodology to participants.
-Encourage entrepreneurship and social and environmental activism among the participants. Strengthen the leadership capacity of the youth workers.
-Promote active citizenship among the participants.
-Promote and deepen European identity and values among the participants.
-Offer the possibility to get to know other cultures and use other languages.
-Encourage the development of a greater awareness and culture that encourages responsibility for the environment among the young people
-Test the innovative META-TOOL meta-methodology and interactive book using it in sustainable projects developed in an inclusive and collaborative way.
-Evaluate the results obtained and introduce, if necessary, changes to adjust it to the needs of young people.

Description of the activity

Groups 1, 2 and 3 will participate in a 8-day long META-TOOL course. The members of our strategic partnership have agreed that it will be carried out in Ramales de la Victoria, the facilities where Permacultura Cantabria develops its activities. During this time the Group 3 (youth workers and young participants), guided by Permacultura Cantabria, will test the functionality and effectiveness of the innovative META-TOOL, using it in the process of creating new projects with entrepreneurial, inclusive and collaborative characteristics. During the course we will work to raise the levels of environmental awareness and social activism of young people and they will have the opportunity to participate in the development of an important initiative for their communities in a controlled environment which will directly improve their levels of self-confidence. The international collaborative work environment will help them find and reconnect with their European roots.

To achieve the objectives of the project (PO), we established its expected results (R):

PO1
Transfer participating organisations’ knowledge and best practices regarding collaborative entrepreneurship, social activism and environmental awareness that will be a basis for the new methodology.
R1 A Participative 3 days long visit in UK to transfer their practices and methods in collaborative entrepreneurship, social activism and environmental awareness, that will be useful for the creation of the META-TOOL.
PO2
Create an innovative META-TOOL meta-methodology featuring collaborative entrepreneurship, social activism and environmental awareness.
R2 Intellectual Output 1: Interactive Book presenting the META-TOOL meta-methodology.
PO3
Transfer META-TOOL meta-methodology to young people from our strategic partnership and communities.
R3. 8 days long course in Spain of the META-TOOL meta-methodology while working directly with its target beneficiaries, young people.
PO4
Consolidate new knowledge and skills acquired by youth workers by applying them in practice while working with the organisations’ young beneficiaries and their communities.
R 4. Internal workshops provided by the youth workers and youngsters who attended the course in Spain, with the aim of transfering the new META-TOOL meta-methodologies to other young people.
PO5
Facilitate the access to this new methodology to other young people and youth workers from the whole Europe using an effective dissemination campaign.
R 5.1 Dissemination campaign at a local / regional / national and international level (details in the «Dissemination» section).
R.5.2 Multiplier events that will be used to promote the Intellectual Output.