Young Refugees’ AI Student Empowerment Program

The unemployment gap between native-born and refugee/migrant youth remains wide (Eurostat, 2020), with foreign-born youth more likely to be out of employment, education, or training (UNHCR, 2019)....

The project’s main goal was to support young migrants and refugees in integrating into the labour market through a tailored, three-part approach: 1) AI-based skill assessment, 2) a customised learning plan, and 3) practical guidance to offer workshops in local communities. This enables participants to gain relevant skills, reassess their progress, build networks, and start potential careers as educators or trainers. This approach aligns with the EU's goals for building more integrated and inclusive societies (EU Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion, 2021-2027). The project’s second goal was to support youth workers by using advanced AI tools that allow for personalised educational programs. The adaptable framework, based on expert decision models, helps youth workers offer personalised coaching efficiently, saving time and resources. This approach responds directly to the EU Action Plan’s call for “targeted training for youth workers” to better support young migrants’ integration.

As part of PR1, we designed and developed an AI assessment and coaching tool called the Custom Learning Planner (CLP Tool) to enhance the eVELP online learning offering by enabling young refugees/migrants to receive customised learning plans tailored to their background and level of knowledge. The CLP tool was directly integrated into the Volunteer Educator (VE) course. 21 young refugees/migrants and 2 youth workers enrolled in the VE course, completed the CLP tool survey and received a personalised learning plan for the course. 6 youth workers and educators from the consortium tested the CLP tool interface developed for the Educational Coaches. In addition, during the C1/C2 training we collected feedback from 7 young migrant/refugee and 10 youth workers on how to improve the CLP tool and the eVELP programme in general. All the collected feedback led to improvements for the CLP tool and the eVELP programme. It is important to emphasise that the project managers put a significant amount of time and passion into supporting all the young refugees/migrants in the project on a one-to-one basis, as well as organising bi-weekly online workgroups and some face-to-face meetings. In addition, at their request, they were matched with a Volunteer Educator trainer who supported them on their way to becoming a Volunteer Educator. Beyond the initially promised activities for PR1, we developed a simplified version of the VE course in 4 languages, based on the time and language barriers identified by the target group of young refugees/migrants. Efforts did not stop there and we launched a campaign to recruit new participants to the simplified VE courses. We successfully increased the attractiveness of the course and collected success stories of young refugees and migrants who completed the course and offered their workshops. Further into the project, as part of PR2 part (a) activities, we put immense effort into evolving our internal software into a high quality, easy to integrate open source software product. We refined our code base and simplified the technical setup and processes. We have also extended the tool to support multiple educational programmes and added other useful features to the software. A great source of feedback and improvements to PR2 was the C3 training, which was attended by 16 youth workers from educational, voluntary, youth and migrant organisations, who gave feedback and contributed to the development of the product. During the testing of PR2 as part of the C3 training for youth workers, we went beyond the originally planned content. Considering the burning need of the target group to increase their AI knowledge in general, we integrated sessions to introduce them to AI, data management and AI tools for education, in addition to introducing them to the CLP tool. As part of PR2 part (b), we have gone beyond the original objectives. The original plan to produce an open access 'handbook' and a 'short scientific article' was exceeded by the creation of a comprehensive wiki site for the CLP tool and several international and national publications and presentations. Our publications covered our developed tools, research and innovative approach leveraging AI technologies, neurodidactics and cognitive theories to build inclusive and AI-based educational methodologies, to support the employability of young refugees/migrants to improve AI support for youth workers at several national and international conferences. Furthermore, as part of the PR2 objectives to extend the use of the CLP tool beyond the eVELP project, we identified 7 real use cases for the adoption of the CLP tool and are in contact with potential future adopters to define new projects and collaborations. As part of the dissemination activities, we conducted 6 multiplier events. During these events we invited local/national stakeholders and stakeholders from European countries not represented in this consortium, thus ensuring an EU-wide reach for the RAISE project. At the project management level, we conducted ongoing sprint planning and meetings, reflecting on our learning and progress and iteratively improving our collaboration. We met on site over 3 TPM's, which increased our sense of team building, collaborating and unifying as a strong consortium.

PR1 Custom Learning Planner (CLP) Tool Integration: The CLP Tool was developed and seamlessly integrated into the eVELP Learning Management System. For course participants, it functions as a survey that generates a personalised learning plan upon submission. For educators, it includes an interface to define decision-making rules and create custom questionnaires, tailoring learning experiences to each individual’s needs. CLP Tool Demo: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFryiCjt28/KVVHZ1H-srotxdvKtiDE3w/edit?utm_content=DAFryiCjt28&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton PR1 Multilingual, Simplified Volunteer Educator (VE) Course: The eVELP program was expanded to include four condensed, multilingual courses available in German, English, Romanian, and Italian. These courses were designed to provide accessible, streamlined training for young refugees and migrants. Course Access: https://evelp.teachsurfing.org/courses-page Youth and Youth Workers Engagement and Empowerment: - 21 young refugees/migrants and 2 youth workers enrolled in the Volunteer Educator(VE) course, utilising personalised learning plans generated by the CLP Tool. - 7 young refugees/migrants completed C1 training, equipping them to design and lead workshops as Volunteer Educators (VEs). - 10 youth workers joined C2 training, enhancing their coaching capabilities to support VEs. - 53 people enrolled in the online course on how to become VE Trainer - 78 people enrolled in the online courses on how to become a VE Public Course Release: An online course titled “Impactful Workshop Planning – Tips and Tricks” was launched in four languages (German, English, Romanian, Italian). Within six months, 149 unique users accessed the course, generating 690 page views, significantly extending project reach. Workshop Delivery and Success Stories: - 10 workshops were successfully conducted by young refugees and migrants (VEs), directly benefiting participants. - 8 success stories from these workshops were published on the eVELP and TeachSurfing platforms, encouraging other young refugees and migrants to join the program. PR2 CLP Tool Open Source Release: The CLP Tool was developed further as an open-source project to support other educational initiatives in personalising multiple online courses and supporting multiple Educators. Along with the tool, a comprehensive wiki was created to serve as a user and developer manual, promoting widespread adoption. CLP Tool Wiki: https://github.com/TeachSurfing/raise-clp/wiki - Promotional Webpage: A dedicated page was created to showcase the CLP Tool’s features and invite usage by other organisations. CLP Tool Page: https://evelp.teachsurfing.org/clp-tool PR2 Open Access Publications: the project produced 3 international, 1 national open access publications, and 1 international conference presentation covering different aspects of our unique approach to building inclusive and AI-based educational methodologies. All available on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform. Youth Worker and AI Training: - 16 youth workers participated in C3 training, which covered AI concepts, data management, and AI tools in educational contexts. These participants served as initial testers of the PR2 CLP Tool and subsequently became ambassadors for its integration within their own organisations. Adoption and External Applications: - 7 organisations presented real-world use cases of adoption of CLP Tool outside the eVELP context, expanding its impact. We summarised the use-cases in one article available in Project Results Platform. Outreach and Multiplier Events: - 328 representatives from youth non-formal educational organisations and policy makers active in the field of youth and migrants, organisations working with refugees and migrants, refugees centers and shelters, non-profit associations, formal educational institutes (universities and schools), students, migrant associations and communities, refugees, asylum seekers from partner and other European countries participated in 6 multiplier events learning about the project outcomes and were encouraged for use and leverage the project results in their own context. - 362,502 impressions and engagements generated through social media, newsletters, press releases and events reaching ~26,396 individuals. Through these initiatives, the RAISE project has empowered young migrants and refugees, equipping them with skills to share knowledge in local communities and prepare for European labour market demands well beyond the project’s lifespan. Additionally youth workers and youth/migration related organisations expand their knowledge and experience using AI tools for education and personalising educational offerings using AI tools.