Sexual Education for youth empowerment

Background The project "Sexual education for youth empowerment" initiated by Dominou Association brought together 4 youth organisations and local authorities from SE, SP, PT, and RO that worked with local authorities, schools, and parents to create an innovative OER multilingual platform on the subject of holistic sexual and health education. The project was cross-curricular because it addressed a main priority of the youth sector, "Promoting, engaging, and empowering young people," and a school priority education, "Tackling early school leaving and disadvantage." There was nothing simple about teaching young people about sex during those times of precocious pre-teens, teenage pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. Aim: The aim was the transfer of knowledge and innovation in modern and gamified sexual education tools and activities for youth workers through the development of an innovative OER multilingual platform and the establishment of a network of organizations active in health and sexual education. The aim was also to promote the qualitative development of youth work. Objectives O1: to create an innovative OER multilingual platform on the subject of holistic sexual and health education by transferring good practices from SE, RO, SP, PT and developing modern gamified new tools accessed by 1204 youth workers working with disadvantaged young people. The platform was functional during the project lifetime (2020-2023) and will be until 2028. O2: to create a 6-day training course for 15 youth workers, youth trainers, and other professionals educating youth on the topic of sexual education for disadvantaged young people. The course was tested in national and intercultural settings, and the competences were transferred to 300 RO youth workers during the project life. O3: to promote health and sexual education to local communities from 5 countries (RO, SE, PT, SP) and 240 young people, out of which 205 were disadvantaged. The goal was to increase youth empowerment, gender equality, equity in access to sexual education and a healthy lifestyle, and decrease early school leaving. O4: to create an international network of 4 organizations consisting of experts in sexual and health education at international standards. Implementation Activities: International level: Learning Activities (Training in SE for 15 youth workers; Youth exchange in RO and PT, 40 youth and team leaders) 3 Transnational meetings (in total 21 staff) Multiplier event (290 stakeholders) Intellectual output - E-learning Platform (1204 youth workers, teachers and other professionals enrolled on the platform) National: Pilot testing the platform (20 youth workers trained in the program) Round table and webinars with national stakeholders Local: Youth work activities testing sexual education methods (involving 240 young people, 85% disadvantaged) Parent workshops and seminars ( 180 parents) Local/online center for sex ed counseling Types of target groups: Those working in the youth field such as educators, street workers, heads/coordinators of youth centers, trainers, teachers, school counselors, class mentors, school psychologists, active members of youth associations, disadvantaged young people involved in Peer Education programs, and participants working on educational policy, inter-sectoral working groups including policy makers, pedagogues, social workers, directors,, coordinators of educational campaigns, and representatives of institutions and NGOs. Achievements The project created high-quality learning outcomes both in the professionals involved and in the youth in the field of sexual education, respecting the World Health Organization Standards. An innovative collection of non-formal and gamified methods, activities, and videos was presented in a modern, sustainable, and easily transferable format—a multilingual e-learning platform. As a result, 5136 stakeholders gained awareness of the importance of sexual education and utilized some of the project tools. Tangible results: - Compilation of gamified activities, and tools for young people, adaptable for implementation in the school education sector – available in 5 languages -Assortment of videos demonstrating the application of the methodology with young individuals - Online learning platform accessible in 5 languages - Training provided to 15 youth workers/local authorities representatives from 4 countries. - Project website serving as the primary source of information featuring a multilingual plug-in and integration with the project's social media profiles on Facebook. - Creation of youth-generated materials supporting peer-to-peer comprehensive sexual education - training of 180 parents through workshops in activities