Summary

"Let's Take Sport Out of Youth" (lTSOY) was an initiative of organizational development which enabled the applicant organization Champions Factory to employ the educational potential of Sport to the promotion of up skilling and entrepreneurial development of disadvantaged Adult categories (low-qualified Adults from disadvantaged rural areas and urban suburbs, migrants) as an instrument of empowerment, employability (also in terms of entrepreneurial engagement) as well as social inclusion. The applicant organization has achieved substantial results in the use of Sport as an educational tool for the empowerment of young people (also disadvantaged categories of NEETs and migrants) and expanded the variety and audience of its offer, at the local and European levels, in the Adult field. The project was inspired by an assessment of the development needs of the organization for the above identified purpose as well as tailored to answering the challenges highlighted by a specific context analysis.

Context:

Eurostat (2017) quantifies in 18,243 million the number of unemployed in the EU-28 total population as of October 2017, making up 8,8% of the workforce. Females are more affected than men by the unemployment trends, with an average unemployment rate of 10% as compared with 8% for male workers.

Low-qualified Adults are particularly vulnerable to dynamics of long-term unemployment in the EU-28, with 53,6% of Adults in the lowest tiers of educational attainment (up to lower secondary education) unemployed in the EU-28. Eurostat findings show a substantial portion of the EU-28 population belonging to the low tier of educational attainment (20%), with an high proportion registered in the UK (20,5% in the 25-64 age-band). First-generation immigrants to Europe are particularly affected by dynamics of long-term unemployment and social exclusion due to a low level of qualifications compounded by cultural/language barriers.

The EC’s ”Communication on Developing the European Dimension in Sport” (2011) highlights the substantial contribution of Sport “to growth and jobs, with value added and employment effects exceeding average growth rates”, therefore endowing Sport with a specific relevance for the achievement of the objectives set forth in the EU 2020 strategy.

ITSOY objectives were reached and we:

• Increased organizational capacities in the design and management of project proposals in the Erasmus Plus Adult field, with a particular focus on KA2 and on the use of Sport as a tool of upskilling and entrepreneurial development of disadvantaged Adult targets.

• Acquired methodologies and professionalism in the use of Sport, in combination with Non Formal Education (NFE) methodologies as an instrument of education fostering the social inclusion, employability and entrepreneurial attitudes/skills of disadvantaged Adult targets.

• Enhanced the range of targets and educational offer of the organization through regular activities, at the local and European levels, connecting the educational potential of Sport with the specific learning needs and constraints of disadvantaged Adult targets.

• Fostered the European dimension of CF by developing long-term partnership arrangements and regular exchange of knowledge/good practices with established European NGOs working in the Adult field.

• Developed specific Erasmus Plus project initiatives in the Adult field focused on the educational use of Sport as a tool of social inclusion, employability and entrepreneurial development of disadvantaged Adult categories.

In the project were involved 8 mobilities where Project Managers, Trainers and staff members were involved. All were active members of the sending organization's staff in need of acquiring knowledge and competences in the design of Erasmus Plus KA2 project proposals focused on Sport in its dimension as a tool of upskilling and entrepreneurial development of disadvantaged Adult target.

The mobilities were divided in 3 prject activities:

1. Training course in Sassari, Italy

2. Job Shadowing in Sassari, Italy

3. Training course in Sofia, Bulgaria

Project gained impact on the involved participants, the applicant organisation and the audience of disadvantaged Adult targets in the UK and in Europe as a whole. The project created awareness about the importance that transnational mobility represents for Adult staff, in terms of development of working and transversal skills. Materials created during the project were shared to our partners and other interested stakeholders. An e-booklet was delivered to the local and European partners and associations which actively work in educational support of disadvantaged Adult targets, press and social media new methodologies in a database, keeping all comments for future actions and improvements. Specific proposals of joint project initiatives in the field of Erasmus Plus Adult were jointly elaborated by MVNGO and CF as a tangible outcome of the Job Shadowing in Italy.