ContextThe project aims to equip professionals in Europe with the necessary resources as to be able to cope with the online technologies and social distancing to better serve the excluded LGBTQI population as a result of the new situation that emerged from COVID-19 crisis. This is a novel situation for the whole world, to which our proposed action will attempt to respond by using innovative tools and practices that exploit the benefits of ICT solutions in times when social distancing and all other precautionary measures are at the top of the EU’s priorities.RAINBO aims:a. To support professionals, relief aid officers, social workers, mental health, health care providers on how to better include intersectionality and LGBTQI perspectives in their activities b. To enhance their acquisition of digital competences and enable to incorporate in their work do delivery high quality and inclusive support in order to meet the needs of LGBTQI beneficiariesc. To create an incentive for VET, adult education, professionals, and stakeholders to adopt the project approach after project closured. To strengthen transnational learning and cooperation’s networks of institutions, CSO’s, public bodies/services, community centers, helplines, professionals and foster social inclusion and equality, ensuring that LGBTQI people is included in all health, humanitarian and economic relief efforts-To raise awareness of medical and mental health inequalities faced by the LGBTQI communityRAINBO project will be implemented in 5 countries, (UK, Greece, Portugal, Luxembourg, Netherlands).Target groups:a) professionals supporting LGBTQI such as youth workers, community mediators, humanitarians’ officers, health care providers, medical personnel, mental health professionals, social workers, helplines officers, counselors, and volunteers etc.b) LGBTQI people will be the secondary target group and the end beneficiaries of the project activities.The project is expected to deliver:-VET programme for 100 professionals in order to a) improve their knowledge in LGBTQI medical and mental health issues and under the lens of intersectionality; b) acquire the appropriate digital competences for providing support in social distancing context c) contribute to the elimination of biases and stereotypes for sexual and gender minorities and ensure that LGBTQI people is included in all health, humanitarian and economic relief efforts.- Increased transferability of the project outputs and results for professionals, stakeholders, CSO’s, health care providers, etc on how to better include intersectionality and LGBTQI perspectives in their activities.-An e-learning platform in order to a) facilitate the VET programme for practitioners b) raise awareness about the project & disseminate all project material, c) motivate professionals and VET providers to use the project’s products.-A sound and updated report in order to a) explore the specific inequalities that LGBTQI individuals faced in their countries under COVID 19 crisis and b) the level of professionals’ digital competences, in order to perform their obligations and providing adequate services.- Strengthen the links between the consortium members, VET and educational stakeholders in the one hand and organisations supporting human rights and LGBTQI rights and fighting stigma and discrimination on the other hand. -5 open days will be organised in the participating countries, the UK, Greece, Portugal, Luxemburg, and Netherlands for promoting the project and its results.-3 online workshops for VET and adult education providers will be organized in the participating countries, Greece, Portugal, and Luxemburg.- An international conference will be organized, in the UK to present the project and its outputs to interested stakeholders.-Enhanced know-how of all participating project team members on practices, terms and tools for promoting LGBTQI inclusion in their work cycle.-All participating partners will enhance their relationships with CSOs and LGBTQI associations and networks, stakeholders at the national and EU level.Long terms benefits -The professionals in Europe will be equipped with the necessary resources to be able to cope with the online technologies and social distancing to better serve the excluded LGBTQI population as a result of the new situation that emerged from COVID-19 crisis. -The level of services provided to LGBTQI can be elevated and the organizations and institutions providing such services will be enhanced. -Increased awareness of the public on the power and importance of how to better serve the excluded LGBTQI people and elimination of stereotypes and biases.

Target Group: Adults, and people around them (i.e. indirectly impacting young people, friends, family, and etc.) Main objectives: This project will support individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences in Mental and Emotional Wellbeing (MEW) divided into three categories:1)Raising awareness of mental and emotional wellbeing – this area of the project helps people to become more aware of how important our mental and emotional health is in all aspects of our lives and that it is a fundamental and essential part to our overall health and wellbeing and to our quality of life. 2)Developing an understanding of how our mental and emotional wellbeing can suffer and how this may manifest itself, for example depression, anxiety, panic attacks, self-harming and other ways. Here we also look at what period or situation within our lives may have prompted this mental and emotional struggle and what the triggers may be for a recurrence or even worsening of these states of mind and emotion. 3)Addressing and taking corrective action – introduce some essential skills, attitudes and behaviours that can help us tom deal and cope with life’s issues in a more positive and constructive way leading to a better outcome or result and ultimately a better quality of life where we can create more happiness for ourselves.What is the programme about? – Promoting training topics that can help to raise awareness, have an understanding and improve people's perception of mental and emotional wellbeing. This informal training will be led by CCW and our partners. This can be via an online training portal. It will give people a more constructive and positive way on how we can gain an understanding of strategies which will help them deal with the stresses and pressures of everyday life and of stressful situations. There are a high number of factors that could contribute to the mental wellbeing of youth; i.e. family, friends, relationships, history, bullying, pressure (too much work, employers’ contribution), job loss (short or long term), location (where you live or work), etc. All of these could lead to low self-esteem, lack of confidence, stress, depression and anxiety. These factors were considered during the design of the training materials. The following topics will form the training modules; •Communication/respect: active listening, questioning•Confidence and self-esteem•Assertiveness•Problem solving and decision-making•Relaxation techniques•People and environment (Socially deprived areas) This training will help to improve participant’s self-esteem, confidence and assertiveness, teach them the methods of relaxation and coping with difficult and stressful situations. Why - because according to many reports, young people admitted experiencing mental health problems at a higher level than other age group (evidence supported https://tinyurl.com/y3nauys2), yet they are less likely to receive mental health treatment (evidence supported https://tinyurl.com/ydd8pse2). Whilst this project’s target group are for adults, nevertheless young people and people with fewer opportunity are also important target groups because of the preventative measures be fully utilised. The time from childhood to adulthood is a sensitive period at which help is often needed, but services are not always sufficient (evidence supported https://tinyurl.com/yxm7nyko). The issue with young people will also have an indirect impact on family members, friends, and others affecting an even larger part of the population (evidence supported https://tinyurl.com/y3nauys2). Unresolved mental health problems may have lasting negative impact in terms of employment, relationships, likelihood of disability and it is important to break the circle of mental illness (evidence supported https://tinyurl.com/ydd8pse2). Intellectual Output (IO)There will be 5 intellectual outputs, IO1: Design of training Tool-kit (Lead by University of Gloucestershire; IO2: Video Productions (Lead by CESIE); IO3: Good Practice (Lead by ADICE); IO4: Interactive Games (Lead by ; IO5: Design of the on-line training portal (Lead by CCW).Project Impact and Outcome By undertaking this programme, individuals across all sectors will be able to develop their skills, attitudes and mindset which will help them to become active citizens, feeling more positive, confident and in control when struggling with challenges at work and in their environment. Summary:This project looks at some fundamental and essential skills, attitudes and mind sets that, if developed and enhanced further, will help people deal with difficult and challenging situations as part of their work in a more positive and constructive way. A programme of topics that can help raise awareness, give an understanding and improve people's perception of mental health and emotional wellbeing.

Research points that Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) are more likely to become marginalized and to suffer from poverty, social exclusion, crime and mental/physical health problems, while at a macro-economic level they represent a considerable loss in terms of unused productive capacity and a considerable cost in terms of welfare payments. In fact, low self-esteem and self-confidence, typically present in this target, seems to be linked with increased isolation and lack of belonging, what contributes to the perpetuation of this cycle of decreased motivation to assume an active role in the community and increased social exclusion. This project aims to increase NEETs’ Social Inclusion and promote Active Citizenship, by developing key competences in Youth NEET and train youth workers to address better to NEETs’ needs, namely: the need to break the cycle of isolation/social exclusion; lack of motivation to become an active citizen; lack of self-awareness of their passions/talents and, even, the low self-esteem and lack of key-skills that are required to take an initiative and build an action plan to concretize it. Therefore, the objectives of the project are:- To create and test an innovative LEARNING PROGRAM for NEET Youth to develop key social and personal competences that will allow them to become active citizens and increase their social inclusion;- To motivate NEET Youth to engage and discover their passions/talents;- To increase NEET Youth’s awareness of some key societal challenges; - To empower NEET Youth with key-skills to materialize their goals in a creative and organised way; - To foster the NEET Youth’s Connection to the local/global community through the creation of concrete volunteering action projects to approach societal challenges;- To promote the exchange of good practices among partners from 5 countries (PT, CY, RO, UK and SE), strengthening cross-cooperation and a multidisciplinary approach; - To invest in the capacity building of youth workers competences promoting high-quality work and innovative methods of reaching out to NEET Youth;- To contribute to the sense of belonging, as European Citizens and motivate participants to learn more about EU, creating a European Network;For these objectives, we propose:(1) Gathering different public/private institutions from 5 countries to exchange good practices, share knowledge, tools and efforts to build an innovative approach with NEET, strengthening cross-cooperation and a multidisciplinary approach, and, consequently, improving the quality of work with NEET in each organisation.(2) Building together an innovative learning program – YES: Youth Engagement in Society - that will gather not only all our methodology and knowledge, vision and good practices in the field of Non-Formal Education, Learning to Learn and Experiential learning principles with support of Psychology, Coaching, Entrepreneurship and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, but also that will challenge us to go further and search for innovating ways to combine these and other relevant methodology and experience. For the correct testing at local level with a minimum of 50 Youth NEET, we will train the staff in question, aligning a common strategy.(3) Investing in the professional development of youth workers competences promoting high-quality work and innovative methods of reaching out this target group, through local (multiplier events) and a transnational pilot/training course (involving 30 youth workers).At the end of this project, we want to contribute to the EU Youth Work Agenda, by promoting not only quality and innovation of youth work, but also to promote the engagement, empowerment and connection of NEET young people with the local and global community, making them feel more inclusive and European.

"It is now demonstrated that european mobility has concrete impact on the social and professional life of young people. It is for that reason that more and more young people are interested in realizing such european initiatives. To support all these young people (and especially the young people with fewer opportunities) it seems absolutely necessary that more professional actors in the field of Youth to be well skilled in the management of european mobility projects. High number of Youth Workers know that such european opportunities exists and that they can be really useful for their beneficiaries but they do not have the skills and knowledges to support them correctly in their european initiatives. Indeed, there are many very important steps in the management of European Mobility projects for young people. For all these steps, strong skills and knowledges are required to accompany them perfectly in the construction, the preparation before the european mobility project, the monitoring during the experience, the capitalization and the professional orientation of the young people after their return. A support to Youth Workers is absolutely necessary to insure the relevancy of such european experience on the professional and social life of the young people (depending on their objectives, their difficulties...). Moreover, a good mobility project management from Youth Workers also insure the good impact of such opportunity on the young people (especially those with fewer opportunities) and facilitate their social and professional inclusion after their return. This project called ""European Mobility Project Management Platform"" (e2MP) aimed at bringing new skills and knowledges to the Youth workers in the management of European Mobility Projects for young people. In order to reach these objectives, different tools were created: - Online quality training in the field of European Mobility Project Management for Youth Workers.- Specific online session dedicated to the European Mobility project management and support of people with less opportunities.- Evaluation and certification process to evaluate and certify the quality of support and the skills of Youth Workers in the European Mobility Project Management after following the training- Guide for a quality professional orientation and inclusion session from Youth Workers to Young people after their mobility projects- Online platform to capitalize and share all the created tools, practices and methods concerning the training on European Mobility Project Management for the Youth Workers in EuropeAll this innovative and online tools were largely disseminated to Youth organizations and institutions at the local, national and European level to ensure a high quality support in the management of european mobility projects by many Youth Workers and to ensure a real and long term impact on the professional and social life of the young people (and especially the young people with fewer opportunities)."

Context: Europe is facing difficulties in integrating the refugees and providing YP with employability skills and jobs. This matter becomes more difficult for PWFO who may face learning difficulties, discrimination, social exclusion. According to Eurostat, ‘youth unemployment rates are generally double or more than double than the unemployment rates for all ages’. (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Unemployment_statistics ) In 2014 about 5.1 million YP in EU were out of work, increased from 4.2 million in 2008. (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Labour_markets_at_regional_level) PWFO face daily problems of social integration, differences of culture, difficulty in financing their education and training, and as a result at risk of marginalisation. COPE objectives:- to promote EU values, diversity, social inclusion, inter-cultural and social dialogue;- to fight against long-term work/education/training inactivity;- to connect young people (YP) in Europe to Erasmus+ (E+) beneficiaries to exchange good practices, discuss opportunities, - to increase YP participation in community,- to connect YP with job centres and E+ sending/hosting organisations,- to motivate YPWFO to take part in a mobility project. Research (http://ec.europa.eu/youth/tools/documents/evs-impact_en.pdf ; http://www.europemobility.eu/download/Workshops/DIMITRIOU_Workshop_Impact.pdf ; ADICE-Europe Direct Roubaix from Nord-Pas-de-Calais' study) shows that PWFO taking part in a mobility projects become more confident, open-minded, improve their language skills, enhance their employability skills and in consequence, find jobs easier. The partnership is aware that not all YP and especially PWFO are aware of the existence of such projects and proposed the Target group: youth and especially YPWFO. The consortium realises that YPWFO need more/simplified/bespoke training than others to increase their employability skills, prepare for the departure in a mobility project and have equal chances in finding a job. It is also known that PWFO participating in a mobility project are likely to face a ‘cultural shock’ not only upon arrival in the receiving country, but also in making the transition back to the values of their community at home. Activities and results: To address these needs, the following tools have been created: - An online platform: will gather all the created tools and give YPWFO in Europe. Our original (parts) of the project description suggested that we offer the opportunity for YP to connect and exchange good practices, advice, practical information, as well to develop their network and to keep in touch with people after their mobility project. However, having detailed discussions with our partners and web design company, we agreed that in order to implement this specialist requirement it would raise high risk to potential users. The other challenges were future maintenance of partners to deal with abuse of the forum. Our web design experts advised that this type of website would require bespoke type design in order to accommodate this requirement. EU and European and international mobility grants - making EU and mobility understandable to all YP. - A guide helping young people YP in their project preparation: the guide will explain practical information and the life cycle of a mobility project.- Online training materials to enhance YPWFO soft skills and support acquisition (documents, links that people can use to prepare themselves before the departure). Impact: As previous participants and managers of mobility projects are aware, the importance of exchanging knowledge with peers is paramount. Connecting people and offering an online training, will not only develop engagement on E+ projects, but allow them to socialise and exchange on cultural diversity, debate about community subjects, cultural events, methods of working. The platform will also facilitate youth managers work while preparing YP before the departure. The participants will already have an overview and know what to generally expect from their future project. The partnership expects from this project to increase YPWFO soft skills, to address the lack of information regarding the mobility projects, to increase the number of YP taking part in a mobility project and in the community's activities and to increase their cultural and diversity awareness. In the long term, more YP will participate, increase their acceptance regarding other cultures, will find it easier to attain a job and contribute to economic growth. The tools are accessible from a distance and at no costs which makes them available to everybody in Europe and around the world. M-Events have been organised in all the participating countries gathering representatives, young people with fewer opportunities (YPWFO) and Alumni. The IOs have been presented and the online platform has been tested by those attending the Multiplying Events held at all partner.