COMANITY Concept
State of play of young people inclusion in the European Union
The project’s vision is based on a stark observation: that the youth system is failing disadvantaged and marginalised young people. Increasing demand for youth services, reflecting high youth unemployment, increasing NEET rates and growing social exclusion are set against significant cuts in social and welfare services as a result of the ‘economic crisis’. This has led to a reduction in the level and quality of service supply, and a lack of credibility in mainstream institutions. One way of addressing this problem is for youth services to increase their intake of volunteers, particularly from excluded communities. However, due to lack of time, money, motivation and trust, marginalised young people are less likely to volunteer. What’s more, many youth workers and current volunteers lack the necessary skills to engage with marginalized youth.
What do we understand by “inclusive learning system”
The Comanity project aims to develop a community-based ‘inclusive learning ecosystem’ for marginalised and vulnerable young people by creating the conditions in which ‘hard to reach’ youth can apply their skills, talents and creativity in participation activities that improve their communities, through the “Community Animateur” programme.
What we offer as a solution
The project has a dual ambition:
- Getting youth services to become more engaged with marginalised youth
- Getting marginalised young people to become more engaged in youth work
The project starts with identifying the competences needed to train future Community Animateurs. These are then converted into a Competence Framework, which forms the basis of a training programme. Which will be made freely available on an online platform: The Learning Village. The programme will be implemented and evaluated in four pilot sites.
Comanity is a two-year transnational project funded by Erasmus+ (Key Action 3 Support for Policy Reform, Social Inclusion call). The partnership gathers 9 diverse statutory organisations (CSO, cooperative, public authorities, EU network and university) operating in various fields: research and consultancy, ICT, social and local services, social inclusion, innovation, applied social research…
Funding: 484 408 €
End of project: 30/11/2019
Project number: 592182-EPP-1-2017-1-UK-EPPKA3-IPI-SOC-IN