Manual about peer support among young LGBTIQ+ people

Peer support can help you find missing pieces of yourself

The aim of the “Youth workers alliance for the development and promotion of youth peer support in the area of youth mental health” (YAPS) project was to create peer support practices that will help mitigate the risks of mental health issues in young LGBTIQ+ people. Several studies and the practical experience of youth workers show that there is a causal link between mental health problems and socio-economic problems among these young people.

Prevention of LGBTIQ+ youth homelessness

Manual for youth workers

In the course of our work, we draw upon concepts that significantly shape our understanding of the
existential challenges faced by young LGBTIQ+ individuals and all the associated risk factors and
consequences. Understanding housing exclusion and homelessness is of paramount importance
if we are to grasp the complexity and dynamism of inadequate housing situations. Simultaneously,
we must take into account certain specific circumstances that accompany LGBTIQ+ individuals and
social phenomena that profoundly influence their daily lives and life trajectories.

Volunteering as a tool for inclusive society

Good practices manual

“Volunteering as a tool for an inclusive society” aims to build intercultural understanding and solidarity through activities engaging local communities in practices of inclusive volunteerism. This project explores how to use volunteering as a tool to deal with homophobia, racism, and xenophobia in the context of NGOs and local communities, as well as how to create inclusive environments when working with different stakeholders. Volunteering of marginalized groups is a key tool for promoting solidarity among EU citizens and beyond, as well as to cultivate more inclusive organizations. With this manual, the partner organizations want to share useful tools for all sorts of CSOs, with specific value added for the youth sector and local communities particularly interested in getting young people involved in their volunteering activities. The collected best practices they have established in their projects or organizations when it comes to volunteering are a tool for an inclusive society.

Recommendations on inclusive volunteering

These recommendations were developed as part of a transnational partnership, funded by the Europe for Citizens (EFC) – European Commission program, involving organizations from Croatia, Germany, Ireland, Serbia, and Slovenia.

Between March 2021 and September 2022, five organizations (Youth Initiative for Human Rights Croatia, INAR Ireland, Loesje Berlin, Ljubljana Pride, and Youth Initiative for Human Rights Serbia) collected recommendations on inclusive volunteering, both via an online survey and during physical events. The majority respondents are young people coming from marginalised backgrounds and identities themselves. We collected 2540 responses and 915 recommendations for decision makers. A lot of recommendations were similar so we compiled them in a way to express their core idea.

Inclusive Organisations

Manual for organisational development

This manual is primarily tailored for youth organisations, both youth-led and those working for and with youth. But ultimately it is useful for any sized or type of organisation, institution or public body that wants to develop further in the direction of becoming more inclusive and non-discriminatory towards people with marginalised backgrounds. The core added value of this manual is the concrete support it offers to you in your own organisational reflections, hence it is most appropriate for any organisational manager, staff member(s), group leaders or volunteers who are regularly engaging with the organisation, planning its programmes and activities and implementing the work with participants/beneficiaries (be it youth or other target groups).

Transforming Hate in Youth Settings

Practical Toolkit

This toolkit has been developed to help youth workers transform hate speech and behaviour in youth settings. Hate expressed by words, behaviour and attitudes is a form of violence that can easily be overlooked or ignored. When it is left unchallenged it can become normalised within our society and escalate into physical violence on a larger scale. Challenging hate when it occurs sends a clear message to young people that these attitudes and words are harmful and it takes the dehumanising impact of hate seriously. With the rapid growth of social media, which provides a willing platform, the ways in which hate speech can impact on people in all areas of society have multiplied. There is no widespread clarity on what hate speech is and how to address it. We intend for this toolkit to meet some of these needs by supporting youth workers to have concrete and adaptable tools to enable them to recognise, challenge and ultimately transform hate speech.

Transforming Hate in Youth Settings

An Educational Tool and Practice Manual for those working with Young People

This Manual is designed to support youth workers engaging with young people who express hateful speech and/or behaviour in youth settings.
It focuses on our practice as youth workers: to become more aware of our communication and listening skills; to understand how we can create safer spaces in youth settings that support learning and change to happen; and to focus on working with those young people that spread hate – through their speech or behaviour – whether they are conscious of doing so or not. The Manual gives us the tools to work towards transformative practice with young people with the aim of bringing about a real change in attitudes and behaviours with young people.