Young Women for Grassroots Engagement Actions project aims at improving the social and labour market integration of young women with low basic skills by improving youth workers’ capacity to engage them in grassroots actions for the sustainable development of local communities. Young women living in post-conflict or in countries facing profound social transformation will become real changemakers in their communities, by experiencing the setting up of a grassroot project and gaining skills to further develop it. In fact, young women suffer from a set of challenges and barriers, due to cultural, political, and social reasons that leave them out of the education or labour market.

Hence, this project seeks to implement three training courses for youth workers, which will take place in Iraq, Colombia, and India; focusing on digital skills & cultural heritage; entrepreneurial skills & social innovation; and peacebuilding & participatory democracy, respectively. At the end of each training, one experienced youth worker will stay on the field to develop together with the host organisation, local community, and stakeholders, a grassroots project, involving at least 20 local young women. At the same time, in the other countries, local engagement activities will be carried out by the trained youth workers. The project will be concluded by an international youth exchange, aimed at developing a follow-up and sustainability plan for international cooperation of young female change-makers.

Expected results are to: raised awareness on the conditions of young women, specifically those living in post-war or post-social transformation and on the opportunities given by education on innovative aspects through non-formal learning tools; create a community of people interested and active in the field of reducing gender inequalities; create new opportunities to further develop the project’s activities to increase trust in the potential of youth-oriented projects by policy makers; and produce a handbook of best practices, 7 digital storytelling, and a project platform used as a tool for exchange between the partners and a learning resource for the participants.