Destigmatising mental health, encouraging active citizenship, and advocating for a resilient and democratic youth among marginalized groups, youth workers, trainers, youth leaders, and staff of youth organisations.
Context
Research by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has shown that although mental health and democracy are not commonly discussed in relation to one another, they are intimately linked: citizens with mental health problems may feel disconnected from their local communities and may lack the political optimism, energy, trust, and/or interest to participate in democratic life.
Unfortunately, young people are at higher risk of social exclusion: the European Youth Strategy for 2019-2027 showed that 19% of 16-29 year olds are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, 15.9% are unemployed, and 4.9% of young people in the EU experience moderate to severe symptoms of depression. The COVID-19 pandemic further complicated matters by severely impacting young people’s ability to participate in the social-political environment around them at critical stages of their transition into adulthood. A generation’s ability to develop essential life skills, find their place in the world, develop socio-political optimism and active citizenship, trust in the institutions around them, and transition into adulthood and working life were severely impacted.
The YOUTHWELL project will tackle these challenges by advocating for well-being, social inclusion, democratic participation and resilience, and network-building. We aim to connect young people across participating Member States to take their future into their hands with regards to their mental well-being and participation in society, politics, and democracy. YOUTHWELL will also encourage them to set up their own initiatives and projects which equally advocate for mental health and active citizenship.
Objectives
- Build a network dedicated to youth engagement
- Provide the space and tools to establish structured cooperation online and offline among youth organisations, public authorities and society
- Build youth workers and young peoples’ competencies and transversal skills
- Cultivate resilience, critical thinking and active citizenship
Activities
- Establish a youth network for resilient, inclusive, informed and active youth between the 7 European partner countries: Cyprus, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Serbia and Portugal
- 16 youth workers / youth professionals will attend the Transnational Competency Building Training in Belgrade, Serbia on the importance of building resilience and reaching out to marginalised youth
- 35 young people (5 participants per country + 7 youth leaders + 2 facilitators) will attend the European Youth Exchange in Barcelona, Spain on non-formal educational activities to build resilient youth
- 28 participants will attend the Networking Event in Barcelona, Spain
Resources
- Training packages on topics such as stigma of mental health; crisis management; depression, anxiety and addictions; media literacy; intercultural dialogues; political participation, etc
- Youth Workers’ Manuals on topics such as inclusive societies, Youth Civic Engagement, mental health and well-being, emotional intelligence, communication and resilience, etc
- The Youth-Well e-Learning platform with interactive tools on mental health and active citizenship
- Online course material on digital storytelling, problem-based learning, gamification, etc
- Podcasts on active citizenship, mental health, inclusive societies, and well-being
Impact
- 140+ youth workers / youth professionals will be trained to empower young people, especially underrepresented and marginalised groups, and build resilient and informed youth. They will also be better equipped to design and deliver conferences, workshops, seminars, etc, thereby transmitting to their peers and other youth participants their knowledge and practise developed through this project
- 10,000+ young people and under-represented youth across Europe will participate in the project’s mobilities, consultations, events, webinars, workshops, testimonials, online campaigns, etc
- 140+ digital youth advocates will be recruited in 7 European countries to promote and disseminate the project and ensure the sustainability of the youth network. These will work with the youth at a national level to draft a policy report including recommendations, best practises for the improvement and support of inclusive societies, constructive dialogue, and mental health, well-being and resilience
- 150+ youth workers, youth professionals, youth NGO representatives and young people will attend the Youth-Well events in Youth-Well Local Network Assemblies
- Young people – in particular the youth advocates – will be able to transmit their knowledge and acquired skills in the future either by sharing their experiences or by putting into practise what they learned from the various Youth-Well programmes
- Involve youth in EU democratic life and engagement with EU decision-makers
- Improve the youth sector’s capacity to work transnationally, promote transnational learning and systematic cooperation between youth and decision makers.
- Contribute to a sustainable relationship between organisations and youth for collective initiatives in line with the EU Youth Strategy 2019 – 2027 feeding into youth policy department
Partners
- CARDET – Cardet Centre for the Advancement of Research & Development in Educational Technology (Cyprus, coordinator)
- Cyprus Youth Clubs Organisation KOKE (Cyprus)
- KMOP – Education & Innovation Hub Non-Profit Company (Greece)
- CESIE ETS (Italy)
- OBREAL – Global Observatory (Spain)
- Rightchallenge Associacao (Portugal)
- The Rural Hub Company Limited by Guarantee (Ireland)
- WEBIN – Western Balkans Institute (Serbia)
