Connect Young

Connect Young (Conecta Joven) is based in Catalonia, Spain, and part of the wider Conecta Now initiative alongside Conecta e-inclusion. It aims to promote networking between the educational community, local associations, young people and adults, and to fight social exclusion by reducing the digital divide.

To provide basic ICT skills to key target groups, including women over 45, older people and immigrant populations, through an intergenerational Service Learning project promoting the participation of young people aged 15-19 in their community via vocational training and lifelong-learning opportunities for marginalised adults, supporting employability and social inclusion.

Classes are run by young people recruited and trained by project motivators, who are in turn trained by the project's two coordinating staff. The project provides hands-on ICT training and blended learning with Web 2.0 features (weblogs, forums, co-authoring, media sharing) across 23 centres, based on acquisition of competences, intergenerational collaboration, service-learning methodology, optimisation of public training spaces, and networking with public administrations. Partners include Esplai Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, Wrigley, and Spain's Ministry of Work and Social Affairs, Ministry of Education and Science, and Injuve (Institute of Youth).

The project has reached 5,400 people across its 23 centres.

The key success factor of the project is the voluntary participation of young trainers and motivators and the continuity of their work at the local level.