AYCH PERFORMANCE by Lug Open Factory

AYCH

PERFORMANCE FINAL REPORT OF THE ATLANTIC YOUTH CREATIVE HUBS PROJECT

THIS PROJECT IS CO-FINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND THROUGH THE INTERREG ATLANTIC AREA PROGRAMME

CONTENTS

Table of Contents

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

01. INTRODUCTION

02. OUR VISION AND MISSION

03. WHAT IS AYCH PROJECT?

04. WP TO WP

05. CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs (AYCH) project partners worked to deliver over fifty targets with the ultimate aim of enabling young people in the Atlantic Area to live independent, creative and fulfilling lives whilst protecting the planet and humanity. For us, delivering our targets was definitely not a 'tick-box' exercise. Our successful project was a consequence of our collective motivation and determination to work with and for young people in improving life opportunities and behaving ethically and sustainably. Each partner was targeted to achieve outputs but the approach and delivery was as a collaborative endeavour. Whilst we continuously monitored and evidenced our outputs and outcomes in our Deliverables Tracker, the 'AYCH way' was to care about quality, to embrace design-thinking, and to adapt as the world around us changed. This AYCH Performance Report forms part of a suite of AYCH evaluation documents which each have a different focus and complement one another. We are delighted to share these reports which reveal the positive difference AYCH has made to young people, partners, communities and stakeholders. This particular report examines our performance against each target accompanied by a succinct commentary describing the context and the output. Finally, we reflect on the project as a whole and consider the future of AYCH. We welcome your feedback at communication.aych@vidalactea.com

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

OUR VISION

Our vision is that young people can cocreate and connect across borders, and improve their employability skills and/or start a responsible and sustainable business, by using free incubation spaces and informal learning provided by AYCH partners and organisations adopting the model. Reporting on our results is important. It allows us to reflect on our work, ensures accountability for the work we have delivered, and helps us to measure progress over time. As a partnership, we believe in the principle of democracy through which education is open to all of society. This belief also connects this project to the principles of the European Union. Participation in AYCH has been open to all young Europeans and AYCH has actively and successfully created a synergy between young people from different economic, cultural and academic backgrounds. The basic pillar of our project has been to support young people to develop their vision and expectations for the future. Young people are the true protagonists of AYCH. Through a dedicated body of AYCH Ambassadors we have worked closely with young people throughout the project. Our Ambassadors have informed and been involved in most AYCH processes. We hope that through AYCH we have created an alternative and non-formal education model for European young people that will have continued relevance and impact.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WHAT IS AYCH?

Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs: a European project in the Interreg Atlantic Area The Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs (AYCH) project was a European collaboration involving thirteen partners from the Atlantic Area located in France, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom between October 2017 and May 2021. The aim was to develop an innovative model to strengthen the employability of young people between the ages of sixteen and thirty years old in the cultural and creative industries. AYCH gave long-term support to participants in order to: raise their awareness of entrepreneurship; help them to develop their ideas and projects to the extent that some entered the marketplace; and direct and equip others towards training, internships, jobs or self-employment. Partners Devon County Council (Lead Partner), Exeter Ashton Community Trust, Belfast Atlantic Cities Association, Rennes Ayuntamiento de Gijón, Gijón Brest métropole, Brest Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso, Santo Tirso Grand Angoulême, Angoulême DYS Space Limited, Devon L’École de design Nantes Atlantique, Nantes Pacificstream Enterprise Solutions CIC, Liverpool Plymouth City Council, Plymouth Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth Vida Láctea, Lugo

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

AYCH Overview: The global challenges that we face will have the greatest impact on our young people and the generations that follow. Challenges include, the Climate Emergency, growing inequalities, access to clean water, population growth, habitat and species loss, to name but a few. Therefore, it is important that we listen to young people and encourage and equip them to find solutions to the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world we live in and the global challenges from which we cannot escape. At the same time, we must enable young people to live independent and fulfilling lives. AYCH Aims: AYCH responds to this challenge by working with young people to design expansive learning opportunities through interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches. Here Key Enabling Technologies (KET) are used alongside pen and paper, geopolitical boundaries are immaterial, and solution finding is shared. This approach is highly valuable as we observe that the remit of mainstream and mandatory education is becoming increasingly narrowed in many societies and because opportunity is often rationed according to affluence. AYCH gives opportunities to all participating young people to discover or explore their true interests and sometimes to re-invent themselves. AYCH Approach: Learning from previous projects but not limited by them. Practicing what we preach by being innovative, using iterative prototyping, maximising our resources, and collaborating. Learning by doing and exposing young people to KET. Creating a critical mass of entrepreneurially minded individuals. Living in a world where transnational interaction and mutual respect is the norm. Creating lasting networks and celebrating together.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Output Indicators: The main body of this report will provide a reflection on the partnership’s performance against specific deliverable targets that were distributed across seven work packages. The work packages were a practical way to cluster actions and organise work around overall goals in order to deliver the AYCH project. Consideration of the deliverables and targets at the level of the work packages is very useful in allowing us to explore the detail of the project. However, when considering the overall efficacy of the project it is important that this is done against the Output Indicators. Output Indicators are goals that were set by Interreg Atlantic Area (AA Interreg) and are based on aggregations of targets from across all of the seven work packages. By blending these targets into summary thematic groups the Output Indicators provide a snapshot overview of the performance of the AYCH project. The Output Indicators and our performance against them are listed below:

227% 500 Internal project meetings and events

100% 5 Project reports

358% 43 Project Newsletters

100% 15 Case studies and pilot actions implemented

100% 3 Policy, strategy and operational instruments produced

4875% 7 507 Actions for the dissemination and capitalisation of results

This is a total of AYCH committee and subcommittee meetings, Transnational Creative Jams, and the KET and Enterprise workshops delivered to Young People.

This consists of the number of project reports and the Final Evaluation Report. This output will be fully achieved after the project finally closes 31 May 2021 and within the following administration period allowed.

This represents the number of AYCH newsletters. These newsletters provided attractive and vital information about previous and planned events and campaigns, and 'AYCH people'.

This brings together targets from WP4: Connection of the Atlantic Hubs and WP6: Co-creation of new products and services by Atlantic Youth.

This consists of policy documents for WP3: Capitalisation and WP7: Consolidation. It was finally completed after the AYCH Youth Summit was hosted by Brest Métropole, in March 2021.

This aggregates a number of targets from WP2: Communication, WP3: Capitalisation, WP5: Increasing the Entrepreneurial Confidence of Atlantic Youth, and WP7:Consolidation. It includes AYCH plans, events, videos and social media outputs.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

22239% 1 277 421 Participants in actions for the dissemination and capitlisation of results

161% 229 Enterprises receiving support

222% 80 Enterprises supported to intruduce new to the market products

111% 40 Enterprises supported to intruduce new to the firm products

This represents a number of targets from WP2: Communication, WP3: Capitalisation, WP4: Connection of the Atlantic Hubs and WP7: Consolidation in relation to the participants. It includes a wide range of targets including social media engagement.

This aggregates three targets from WP5: Increasing the Entrepreneurial Confidence of Atlantic Youth and WP6: Co-creation of new products and services by Atlantic Youth. These targets are all connected with enterprise engagement and new products to the market and to firms. We are pleased to have achieved these outputs given the economic landscape for 2020/21.

This output maps directly to one AYCH target which is the number of new products to market. We are very pleased to have achieved this output target despite hostile conditions.

This maps directly to one AYCH target which is the number of new products to firm. Like the preceding output this target was achieved under hostile conditions.

As evidenced, all of the targets set for these Output Indicators were either met or exceeded; outputs in which social media were measured were significantly exceeded. However, it is the three Enterprise related outputs that are perhaps the most significant of these achievements in terms of their impact. For AYCH to have assisted young people in the development of so many new enterprises and products is notable. Therefore, the Output Indicator demonstrates that the partnership was extremely effective in their delivery of this project and that the AYCH project was unequivocally a success. This success of the project is particularly poignant when considered in the context of the challenges that arose through the COVID-19 global pandemic. Furthermore, the focus of AYCH on creating opportunities for young people and tackling global challenges during this period means that the impact and importance of these achievements are amplified. "The AYCH project made me a more dedicated and flexible professional when it comes to work group and cooperation dynamics." Eduardo (Portugal) “AYCH gave me the confidence to evaluate and present the ideas and values I believed in. Through discussion, with my new found peers, my artistic and creative ideas expanded. Travelling and discovering a place together with a group of people really brought it all together and levelled everyone's experiences out." Bernadette (UK) “Good job opportunities after. The experience with presentations etc has been very helpful. Changed my job completely, now I work outside [somewhere else].” Martin (France)

"AYCH changes the lives of young people because we feel accompanied on a path that is often difficult. Above all, I have felt the strength to start new projects and create my own work." Manoela (Spain)

The success of AYCH performance against these Output Indicators is told in numbers, these numbers are important and provide evidence of the work that was undertaken and outputs achieved. This context is essential to underscore discussion throughout the rest of this report. However, it tells only part of the story and in order to understand the process by which we achieved these a more detailed analysis of the individual work packages and their targets follows.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP TO WP

Work Package to Work Package The AYCH Project Approval Form (hereafter the PAF) sets out the partnership, budgets, objectives and deliverables of the project. Within the Work Plan section of the PAF the objectives and deliverables are divided into logical groupings for the purposes of implementation and execution, these are called ‘work packages’. The PAF set out more than fifty project targets that were distributed within seven work packages. In addition to the deliverables specified in the PAF, the partnership set its own ‘stepping stone’ targets; these were intermediary objectives to enable the partnership to work towards more complex deliverables. In AYCH each work package was led by a designated partner who monitored and managed performance. During the lifetime of the project the leadership of some of the work packages changed. The details of these work packages are:

WP1 WP2 WP3 WP4

COORDINATION Leader: Devon County Council

COMMUNICATION Leader: Vida Lactea

CAPITALISATION Leader: Grand Angoulême with L'École de Design Nantes-Atlantique and Atlantic Cities

CONNECTION OF THE ATLANTIC HORIZON HUBS Leader: Vida Lactea

WP5

INCREASING THE CREATIVE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL

WP6

CO-CREATION OF NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

WP7

CONFIDENCE OF ATLANTIC YOUTH Leader: Vida Lactea

BY ATLANTIC YOUTH Leader:Plymouth College of Art

CONSOLIDATION Leader: L'École de Design Nantes-Atlantique

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Each partner recorded their performance in real-time against the targets in the shared Deliverables Tracker tool. This document was available to every partner and became central to the management of AYCH. The Deliverables Tracker was initially developed by our youth service provider partner DYS Space Limited (Space*). It was a significant step in simplifying the rather complex PAF and communicating it to partners. Our Partner L’École de design Nantes Atlantique then up-graded the Deliverables Tracker to include Dashboards showing performance in each work package. Later, further enhancements included an Output Dashboard, calculations for % of target achieved, and a commentary for each individual target. In the next section of this report the work package lead organisations list and report on the deliverables for their work package. Each work package is introduced by the work package lead. This is followed by text from the formal agreement between ACYH and AA Interreg as per the PAF. Finally, the details of each of the targets is outlined including targets set, actuals achieved both in numerical and percentage form, and a short summary reflection on performance.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP 1

WP1 - COORDINATION DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL AYCH was a complex partnership led by Devon County Council. Throughout its lifetime, it is our understanding that the AYCH project had the most partners and the largest budget (€ 422,7620) of all the AA Interreg projects. The diversity of the AYCH partners was one of the project's strengths; it also meant that there were challenges. AYCH partners came from four different countries, there were different types and sizes of organisations, with different functions, and they had different budgets. Some partners were new to one another, others were not. Some partners worked directly with young people everyday, others worked through third party providers. Some partners were well prepared to start AYCH, others were less so. Most partners shared a range of common project deliverables, some partners had a subset, and other partners had special responsibilities within the project. Furthermore, while some individuals remained with the project throughout, there were personnel changes within most of the partner teams.

I believe successful collaborative partnership work relies on a synergy of respectful relationships, a recognition of everyday practical considerations, shared objectives and commitments, the ability to ‘weather storms’ and in collectively celebrating success. Making this kind of ‘magic’ is a mixture of the mundane and something like the ethereal. It's been a privilege to be part of AYCH.

OENONE THOMAS

AYCH Lead Partner AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

As lead partner, Devon County Council was key to finding a way to support these diverse organisations to work together towards the common goal; the challenge was to find unity while respecting and maintaining the diversity. Key to the Lead Partner’s approach to this was a series of considerations. For example: ‘contextual ’ considerations about each partner’s organisational structures, processes and constraints, and the underlying culture; ‘practical’ considerations about technology and tools, available budgets, the use of language, and the shape of the working day; ‘talent’ considerations around where expertise, interest, aspirations and agency lay; ‘paymaster’ considerations about understanding rules, regulations, mechanisms, and navigating the dysfunctional reporting platforms which ultimately consumed partners’ time and patience, and created series cash-flow issues, and targets. These considerations interrelated with one another and changed as the project and partners changed. The role of Devon County Council was to manage this change through leadership that promoted flexibility within the working method to accommodate these changes. To make sense of the jigsaw of these considerations, AYCH partners formed a number of regular action-oriented subcommittees beneath the AYCH Steering Committee. These meetings with representatives from all partners proved effective. Associated with this approach, meeting agendas were distributed in advance, partners were encouraged to contribute before and during meetings, and action notes were taken and distributed. Alongside this, the Subcommittee Chairs and Work Package Leads group was established as a cross-themed group to ensure that the approach was joined-up, comprehensive, and benefited from our strong collective intelligence. Working groups were formed and meetings convened when required; for example, the Transnational Creative Jam Working Group, and the Youth Summit Working Group. Bi-lateral meetings were also used to help plan activities between partners for AYCH residencies and internships. We always aimed to maximise our collective intelligence, plan thoroughly, monitor progress, and be ready to re-evaluate and adapt when needed. In addition to these challenges, a number of significant political and environmental events added massive complexities to the project: the UK’s relationship with the EU changed as a result of a contested British exit from the European Union (BREXIT); a climate emergency was declared; and a global pandemic, COVID-19, swept through the world changing everyone's lives. These factors caused considerable uncertainty and complexity to our planning and operations. As a partnership we worked proactively to try to predict, plan, and implement changes that would reduce risks to AYCH and maximise our contribution to tackling the Climate Emergency and the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2020, we moved online and developed an effective way of collaborative working using Miro, Zoom, and the shared Google Drive. This strong structure and close team working enabled us to 'weather storms' created by BREXIT and COVID-19. Trusting relationships, collaborative approaches and shared collective intelligence enabled us to effectively support new AYCH colleagues who joined the project late and who we were unable to meet in person, some of whom undertook responsibility for sub-committees, work packages, and significant transnational events.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP1 AGREED PRIORITIES The Project Approval Form (PAF) sets out the agreed details of the project between the Partners and AA Interreg. The agreed Implementation Summary for WP1: Project Coordination is outlined below: "Given the nature of the project and its dispersed, transnational partnership robust management and coordination, as well as governance, is incredibly important and the lead partner, as well as all partners in the project will commit the relevant level of staffing and resources to reflect this. The Lead Partner will assume the role of overall project management, liaising on a day-to-day basis with other partners' local project managers/coordinators, administrators and executives. The implementation of the project will be overseen by a number of steering committees management, finance, communication and marketing as well as technical steering committee. These committees will be staffed by representatives of all project partners and will examine key aspects of the project to ensure compliance and delivery, as per the application form and eventual contract agreement. Performance will be monitored through these structures and any corrective measures necessary will be implemented by partners, through discussion at these different meetings. These steering groups will also draw on external expertise, where necessary, in order to mirror the co-design and co- production aspects of the project, bringing in the voice of industry and experts to help shape actions and share outputs and results. The project will rely on open-source project management software to share documents and to communicate with each other, to improve communication and transparency, supporting joint-implementation of the project. Risk and quality management will be a standing item on the agenda of the management, finance and technical committees as they work proactively to anticipate any risks to the project and its partners, mitigating them in time to avoid significant issues with compliance and the quality of delivery. Each partner will recruit an external FLC for the project and will report on a 12 monthly basis to the lead partner any activities and financial expenditure incurred during that time, the frequency of reporting is dependent upon the provision of a reliable platform, which to-date has not been available. All partners update the AYCH Deliverables Tracker at least monthly."

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP1-TARGETS AND DELIVERABLES WP1: Coordination was primarily concerned with the overall project management of AYCH, the coordination of all the facets of the complex project and the diverse and dispersed partners, the internal committees and relationships of the partners, and the financial and progress reporting of the project. As Lead Partner, Devon County Council was responsible for WP1: Coordination.

Number of Kick-off Meetings

100%

The AYCH Kick-off meeting was hosted by the Lead Partner, Devon County Council, in Exeter in October 2017. This event brought together all partners who were represented in person (apart from Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso who were thwarted by travel problems). The kick-off meeting marked the formal start of the project and was important in establishing strong and trusting working relationships. A target of 1 kick-off meeting was set and 100% achieved.

Number of Final Technical Meetings

100%

The AYCH Final Technical Meeting (AYCH Forward) was hosted online by the Lead Partner, Devon County Council, on 28 and 29 April 2021. All partners were represented at this meeting which was to reflect upon the experience and impact of AYCH, to launch the legacy phase of the project, and to celebrate a positive collaborative endeavour. A target of 1 Final Technical Meeting was set and 100% achieved.

Number of Management Meetings

164%

The Management & Finance Subcommittee chair, Devon County Council,convened inperson/online Management Meetings at least four times per annum. These were held either in preparation for or within AYCH Steering Committee meetings. A target of fourteen meetings were set but during the course of the project additional meetings were called for partners to discuss and address specific challenges such as Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. A target of 14 Management meetings was set and 164% achieved.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

180%

Number of Finance Meetings

The Management & Finance Subcommittee chair, Devon County Council, convened inperson/online Finance Meetings at least four times per annum. These were held either in preparation for or within AYCH Steering Committee meetings.. As the project progressed increasing attention was given to reallocating budgets and the associated modifications necessary to validate the new budgets. A target of 10 Finance meetings was set and 180% achieved.

Number of Communications and Marketing Meetings

100%

The Communications & Marketing Subcommittee chair, Vida Lactea, convened inperson/online Communications & Marketing Meetings regularly. These were held either in preparation for or within AYCH Steering Committee meetings. These meetings were part of a more comprehensive day-to-day routine approach of leading the vital external and internal communications of the project. A target of 10 Communications meetings was set and 100% achieved.

Number of Operational and Technical Meetings

200%

The Operational & Technical Subcommittee chair, Plymouth College of Art, convened inperson/online Operational & Technical Meetings at least four times per annum. These were held either in preparation for or within AYCH Steering Committee meetings. This subcommittee covered delivery, design and performance of the project and used the Deliverables Tracker as basis for discussion and operational planning. A target of 10 Operations and Technical meetings was set and 200% achieved.

Number of Partner reports to the Lead Partner

100%

Partners suffered significant delays in access and difficulties reporting in both versions of the reporting system SIGI and the interim contingency version. In addition, delays to the modifications process created further complexities in the recovery of funding. Despite this, all Partner Reports will be completed within the contract timeframe. A target of 49 Partner Reports was set and 100% will be achieved at the end of the reporting period.

"The organization of a project of this size is complex!" AYCH partner

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP 2

WP2 - COMMUNICATION VIDA LACTEA When we started the AYCH project, it was apparent that communication was going to be a substantial undertaking. The number of partners was considerable. Furthermore, some organisations such as public administrations had their own communications guidelines. These needed to be united within the reality of the project; this was a complex task. For this reason, face-to-face visits were undertaken with all of the partners with the purpose of focusing on the communication approach for the project. Through these preparatory meetings an order of priority within communication was established: 1. The priorities of AA Interreg. 2. The priorities of AYCH's 'brand'. 3. The adaptability of all partners to this. When all the partners understood the importance of AYCH Communications, as opposed to prioritising only individual partner communications, the role of the Communications lead partner became easier and more effective.

One of the problems that governments have is communicating with their young people, our challenge was to reach them

GUNES OKCELIK AYCH Communication Team

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

While the priorities were agreed, partners were required to communicate these at different levels: local, regional, national, and international. As Communications lead we also had to ensure that partner’s communications targeted the places where young people prefer to communicate rather than traditional spaces like local newspapers. With the arrival of COVID-19, new challenges to communication were posed while simultaneously communication became even more fundamental to the success of the project. At this time, for practical purposes both internal and external communication moved to the internet and communication took an enhanced role in the main coordination of the project. The Creative Jam of Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso, was an event of particular note that distinguished itself from previous events in the communication elements of the project; the scale, interactivity, and complexity of the event, which started as an in-person event before being redesigned as a hybrid event, elevated the importance of both internal and external communication. Regarding internal communication, the partners have collaborated in the sharing of information and management of events through various platforms. This has allowed fluid and stable communication, which has led to continuous development at the project level, even during the lockdown resulting from COVID-19. In our external communications, we adopted more tools to appeal to young people, to communicate among partners, and to spread the word. An important job has been done by the whole partnership, presenting at local, regional, national and international level; promoting awareness of the AYCH project internationally, including outside of the Atlantic Area. Project dissemination was very important. Reflecting this importance, WP2: Communication and WP3: Capitalisation worked very closely together to clearly communicate the positive difference the project made and the possibilities for other organisations to benefit from its good practice, even outside the Atlantic Area territory. The different activities carried out in the external communication section helped to secure substantial publicity for the project through very close collaboration with AA Interreg Communications. These included content creation, management of social networks and web pages, and creation of merchandise. Thus, this Work Package has proved to be of great importance for the dissemination and promotion of the project.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP2 - AGREED PRIORITIES The Project Approval Form (PAF) sets out the agreed details of the project between the Partners and AA Interreg. The agreed Implementation Summary for Work Package 2: Communication is outlined below: "Communication and dissemination actions are regarded as important as the operational activities being implemented in the AYCH project. If beneficiaries and other stakeholders are unaware of the project, its aims and objectives, as well as key outputs and results then the project will have failed. For this reason a targeted, segmented and robust communications action plan, steered by Atlantic Cities and the communications steering group, will be developed and implemented in order to support the impact and desired change the AYCH project team wishes to see across the Atlantic regions, for both internal project partners and external stakeholders and audiences. The communication action plan will ensure the deployment and use of a range of approaches, tools and platforms in order to reach the necessary and relevant target groups, customers and stakeholders - young people aged 16-30 seeking progression to further/ higher education, training, employment or self-employment; youth service providers; business support agencies; local authorities; NGOs/charities, employers - using social media platforms, print media and a wide range of accessible digital, multimedia content. The project will tap into key events, networks, communities and stakeholder groups, across the programme area and beyond, to share and disseminate results, outputs and data from the project. Among those already identified are Eurocities, Atlantic Cities, International Creative Hubs network and GenY City network. After the first year of the project, Vida Lactea directs the communication work due to its proximity to young people, a work synergy is also created with Atlantic Cities that mobilises the project at international levels, and with L’École de design Nantes Atlantique as representative of the capitalisation team."

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP2-TARGETS AND DELIVERABLES AYCH Communication was both internally and externally focused. As such it was key to the effective operation of the AYCH partnership and to the essential engagement with young people, stakeholders, and the wider world. Communication necessarily was a cross-cutting theme across all work packages. The safety measures introduced by nations and organisations to contain and control COVID-19 curtailed opportunities to attend local, regional, national, and international events. As a consequence of this it was necessary to adapt the project to the virtual world in its later stages.

Communication Strategy

100%

A detailed Communication Plan was made that covered both external and internal issues. The Communication Plan had a complete brand for the project, as well as adaptations of the AYCH brand for each partner; each partner has a corporate colour, which was applied to the signage and other elements. Partners were informed of AA Interreg's brand requirements and were supported in the creation of materials and marketing campaigns for events, training and activities. Hashtags were established for use in social media and work began on the development of new social networks for the project: Instagram, Behance, LinkedIn and YouTube; as well as a new series of web pages. A target of 1 Communications Strategy was set and 100% achieved.

High quality film content

758%

One of the communication pillars of the AYCH project has been based on the use of varied content and the inclusion of the entire partnership. This includes the dissemination of the activities of all the partners and engagement via all the project partners’ languages; although English is the main language of the project, at a communication level the use of all languages was considered vital. Therefore, all partners were required to provide the Chair of Communication, Vida Láctea, with videos in High Definition (HD) format for use on social networks. These videos ranged from interviews, to formations, to teasers of local events. This material was uploaded to the project's channel on YouTube and has been used assiduously in social networks and even incubation processes of the project. In total ninety-one videos were delivered. A target of 12 high quality video films was set and 758% achieved.

Official Newsletter

358%

The use of newsletters as a communication and dissemination tool has been very useful for the AYCH project. As well as conveying the objectives and results obtained by the project to young people, programmes, administrations and stakeholders, newsletters have been a showcase for the different events, projects, prototypes, products and jobs created. A target of 12 official Newsletters was set and 358% achieved.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Social media platforms set up

2700%

Originally, this objective proposed the creation of a single platform for project communication. With the passage of time it was seen that it was necessary to have multiple profiles across several platforms. The activity in this area can be divided into AYCH websites and webpages hosted on other sites, social media platforms that were fully public, and membership based social networks. Different social network platforms have different audiences and so engagement with a suite of platforms enabled us to maximise our exposure. Key public facing platforms that were utilised include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube. Other membership based platforms included Behance, Hubs Mozilla, Discord. We also found it was useful to have individual webpages for specific events in addition to our main webpage. Across each of the key platforms we hosted multiple profiles and networks so that the partners had profiles at the local level. The use of English as a lingua franca could be extremely counterproductive when recruiting young people in non-English-speaking countries, so it was decided to have social networks of each partner that reported on local, regional, and projectlevel events in the language of each region. The brand was adapted so that each social network followed the communication regulations of the project and at the same time had flexibility for the creation of content tailored to each country and region of the project. A target of 1 social media platform was set and when measured against our multiple profiles was 2700% achieved.

Social media content

6170%

The use of a varied number of communication media, as well as the creation of a publication calendar to strengthen the audience, contributed to an enormous diffusion. The use of hashtags, the use of emojis, the collaboration of partners and associates, as well as the young Ambassadors, was a key element for the different publications to reach thousands of young people in the Atlantic area. Across the project’s varied social networks, social media posts numbered 7404; these achieved 1,271,066 impressions and engagements. A target of 120 social media content (posts) was set and 6170% achieved. A target of 2000 people reached via social media posts was set, social media impressions achieved 63553%* of this target number. *It is not possible to know the number of individuals reached and unique views that make up this number of impressions and engagements. However, the scale of the figures achieved indicate a very strong performance in this area and suggests that the ‘people reached’ target is highly likely to have been exceeded to a significant extent.

"It is indisputable that young people have their space and are on social networks" AYCH Communication team

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Presence at local event

157%

In order to disseminate the project and its results, each partner was set a goal to present at least three local events. This participation not only allowed partners to publicise the AYCH project and AA Interreg, but it was also extremely useful to contact stakeholders and local experts, as well as to enable local young people to be aware of the possibilities that the project offered them. A target of 37 presentations at local events was set and 157% achieved.

Presence at regional event

183%

In the case of regional events, each member had the set objective of presenting at least one event. The main objective of these events was to strengthen the access of young people in the region to the AYCH project and to create synergies with experts and stakeholders who could actively collaborate with the project. The target was exceeded as some partners had the opportunity of attending additional events after being invited by regional organisations such as City or County Councils. A target of 12 presentations at regional events was set and 183% achieved.

Presence at national event

108%

The main objective of the national events was to create important collaborative synergies with other projects and programmes at the national level. The AYCH members focused on the dissemination of the project results, as well as exposing the key points of the non-formal methodology used in the incubation process. On occasion these national events were of such interest that members from countries bordering the host of the event attended and this created links with international partners. A target of 13 presentations at national events was set and 108% achieved.

Presence at EU event

292%

In the international events the partners focused on exposing the importance of the AYCH methodology for young people, as well as looking for possible collaborations with other projects, programs, and partners. In one case, this resulted in a request from other organisations for AYCH partners to deliver training on the subject of how to work with young people using the AYCH methodology. In this instance IN SITU project partnership, learned about the AYCH project at an international event in Vienna, following which they benefited from a Training the Trainer session delivered by members of Plymouth College of Art, Space*, and Vida Láctea. The presence of the project in international events inside and outside the Atlantic Area has been extremely fruitful, enabling the project to have its own stand, as well as a workshop and a presentation at the 2020 European Week of Cities and Regions. A target of 13 presentations at EU events was set and 292% achieved.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP 3

WP3 - CAPITALISATION GRAND ANGOULÊME

WITH L'ÉCOLE DE DESIGN NANTES-ATLANTIC & ATLANTIC CITIES

The Capitalisation work package was led by Grand Angoulême in close collaboration with L'Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique and Atlantic Cities. This work package consisted of three main components: 1) Researching existing available and recognised best practice from other projects to incorporate into AYCH. 2) Recognising, documenting and implementing good practice within AYCH. 3) Actively sharing AYCH good practice with other organisations, towns and regions. This Work Package was closely intertwined with WP2: Communications and with WP7: Consolidation. To avoid double counting, cross-cutting activities and achievements in these three work packages were recorded only once within the Deliverables Tracker’s targets and achievements. In addition to the targets within the contract, we introduced our own intermediary ‘stepping stone’ targets within WP 3 to assist with the delivery of components 1 and 2 (see above).

Equal opportunities has been very present in Aych

NICOLÁS TRAVAILLÉ AYCH Grand Angoulême

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Building on the Communications Strategy and the important work of the project partners connected to European stakeholders the AYCH partnership will not only capitalise on previous projects in the AA programme (Imagina Atlantica, Know Cities) but other initiatives within the EU, and beyond, incorporating best practice and existing results. Outside of the AA programme, we will work alongside key actors in the Creative and Cultural Industries Nesta, British Council, Gijon Creative Platform, JA Europe, DG Regio, DG Education and Culture, URBACT, CAAC Atlantic Cities, and other "multiplier" organisations. These people and networks will be pivotal to the uptake of the project outputs and the model being developed. The project has been established and designed with this in mind, from the start, in order for the model to be transferred to different settings, cities and wider European regions as they all face the common challenge of youth unemployment, untapped talent and empty/under-utilised space as well as people at the risk of exclusion. In the lead up and the first 6 months of the project all partners will draw from a wide range of sources, initiatives and projects to gather best practice and include results and policies from across different Member States in the AA programme and beyond to AYCH project outputs and resources. This will involve all partners led by Grand Angouleme. Stakeholder Capitalisation will target individual Member States, key policy makers and decision makers within youth policy and business/entrepreneurship support across the AA programme area, in local authorities, NGOs, charities and other stakeholders.

WP3 - AGREED PRIORITIES The Project Approval Form (PAF) sets out the agreed details of the project between the Partners and AA Interreg. The agreed Implementation Summary for Work Package 3: Capitalisation is outlined below: "Building on the Communications Strategy and the important work of the project partners connected to European stakeholders the AYCH partnership will not only capitalise on previous projects in the AA programme (Imagina Atlantica, Know Cities) but other initiatives within the EU, and beyond, incorporating best practice and existing results. Outside of the AA programme, we will work alongside key actors in the Creative and Cultural Industries Nesta, British Council, Gijón Creative Platform, JA Europe, DG Regio, DG Education and Culture, URBACT, CAAC Atlantic Cities, and other "multiplier" organisations. These people and networks will be pivotal to the uptake of the project outputs and the model being developed. The project has been established and designed with this in mind, from the start, in order for the model to be transferred to different settings, cities and wider European regions as they all face the common challenge of youth unemployment, untapped talent and empty/ under-utilised space as well as people at the risk of exclusion. In the lead up and the first 6 months of the project all partners will draw from a wide range of sources, initiatives and projects to gather best practice and include results and policies from across different Member States in the AA programme and beyond to AYCH project outputs and resources. This will involve all partners led by Grand Angoulême. Stakeholder Capitalisation will target individual Member States, key policy makers and decision makers within youth policy and business/entrepreneurship support across the AA programme area, in local authorities, NGOs, charities and other stakeholders.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

All partners will speak/showcase the project at a minimum of five local, regional, national and European events each to inform, disseminate and advocate for AYCH and actively target and support at least three other cities/regions and/or services with which to transfer the model to, who will adopt it in the long term. Partners will actively support this process themselves alongside the policy model implementation toolkit designed to facilitate the adoption of the model produced. In the lead up and the first six months of the project all partners will draw from a wide range of sources, initiatives and projects to gather best practice and include results and policies from across different Member States in the AA programme and beyond to AYCH project outputs and resources. This will involve all partners led by Grand Angoulême. Stakeholder Capitalisation will target individual Member States, key policy makers and decision makers within youth policy and business/entrepreneurship support across the AA programme area, in local authorities, NGOs, charities and other stakeholders. All partners will speak/showcase the project at a minimum of five local, regional, national and European events each to inform, disseminate and advocate for AYCH and actively target and support at least three other cities/regions and/or services with which to transfer the model to, who will adopt it in the long term."

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP3-TARGETS AND DELIVERABLES Capitalisation Action Plan The Capitalisation Action Plan was designed to deliver the first of the three components of AYCH Capitalisation outlined earlier in this section: 1) researching existing available and recognised best practice from other projects to incorporate into AYCH. This was important to ensure that the project integrated best practice from the start, did not duplicate other initiatives, and thus provided effective and added-value support to young people. Firstly, the Capitalisation Action Plan set out the methodology for capturing good practice using the specially developed tools. The tools were shared documents where partners recorded identified good practice from other projects, saved contact information and links, and commented on possibilities for implementation in AYCH. Secondly, it planned for the integration of the research findings into AYCH planning and implementation during the early stages of the project through the relevant subcommittees.

Capitalisation Action Plan

100%

The AYCH Capitalisation Action Plan gathered best practice, research and results already realised by other projects and initiatives in the youth service, creative sector and beyond. The purpose of this was to enable their integration into the model and activities being developed by the AYCH project. The plan set out the methodology, responsibilities, and timing of this phase of the capitalisation work and was used by the work ackage leaders to guide their activity with partners. A target of 1 Capitalisation Action plan was set and 100% achieved.

Capitalisation Action Plan in days

128%

The Capitalisation Action Plan task was led by Grand Angoulême in close collaboration with L'Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique and Atlantic Cities, and Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso also notably invested significant time and effort. All active partners contributed to the Capitalisation Action Plan. The reported number provides a conservative representation of time spent. A target of 64 days spent developing the Capitalisation Action plan was set and 128% achieved.

People consulted as part of the Capitalisation Action Plan

107%

Partners consulted with a range of stakeholders which best reflected their own geographies, ecosystems, interests, and relationships. Stakeholders ranged from individuals, through to local and national organisations of all types. The diversity of this engagement strengthened the Capitalisation Action Plan and the subsequent approaches and outcomes. A target of 92 people consulted with the Capitalisation Action plan was set and 107% achieved. AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Stakeholder Capitalisation Action Plan The Stakeholder Capitalisation Action Plan was designed to deliver the second and third of the three identified components of AYCH Capitalisation. Component 2, ‘recognising, documenting and implementing good practice within AYCH activities’ was achieved by using specially designed tools; these were shared documents for the partners to record and reflect upon our own good practice. Each partner was targeted to complete eight examples from their AYCH activity which analysed the learning points from events and activities they had run in order to inform other partners and stakeholders. Some of these examples would be discussed in subcommittee meetings, included in the AYCH Policy Tool (our book Learning Through Entrepreneurship: A Creative Approach) and others included in the AYCH Policy Tool Kit (AYCH Wiki) Component 3, ‘actively sharing AYCH good practice with other organisations, towns and regions’, enabled effective and added-value support to young people during the project and further enabled other cities/organisations and services to continue support in the following years. To facilitate this work, each partner completed an Ecosystem Mapping to help identify their stakeholders for the purposes of dissemination.

Stakeholder Capitalisation Action Plan

100%

The purpose of the Stakeholder Capitalisation Action Plan was to enable stakeholders and target groups - decision makers, city planners, NGOs, youth service providers - to implement the AYCH model, in their own locality. The plan helped leaders from WP2, WP3, and WP7 to determine the content of AYCH Policy Toolkit (Wiki), AYCH Experiences Tour (podcast series), AYCH Policy Tool (publication, Learning Through Entrepreneurship: A Creative Approach), presentations at events, and so on. A target of 1 Stakeholder Capitalisation Action Plan was set and 100% achieved.

Stakeholder Capitalisation Action Plan in days

126%

The PAF targeted AYCH to spend 102 days on related Stakeholder Capitalisation Action Plan activity. As a partnership this target was easier to measure where dedicated WP3 sessions were scheduled and attended by partners; it was more difficult to capture in routine practice, for example in meetings that covered multiple areas of work. Therefore, this target provides a conservative figure and time spent would have exceeded this number of days. A target of 102 days spent developing the Stakeholder Capitalisation Action plan was set and 126% achieved.

Number of people listed in the Stakeholder Capitalisation Action Plan

98%

The Ecosystem Mappings completed by all active partners identified the individuals and organisations to which the Stakeholder Capitalisation Action Plan would be of interest. Plymouth College of Art and Pacificstream Enterprise Solutions CIC recorded significantly more than their individual targets. In addition to this, partners report that arising from informal conversations and communications further organisations and bodies expressed interest in this work; as these are informal communications they are not included in the final figures. AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

A target of 460 people/organisations listed in the Stakeholder Capitalisation Action plan was set and 98% achieved. AYCH Policy Toolkit: The purpose of the AYCH Policy Tool Kit was to capture and provide open-source practical guides and advice principally about the cornerstone activities of AYCH so that models could be effectively implemented by other organisations. These activities included creative jams and hackathons, idea and product incubation, residencies, internships and work experiences, and the AYCH Ambassador Programme.

AYCH Policy Toolkit

100%

To meet the target of developing an AYCH Policy Toolkit the partnership decided to develop an AYCH Wiki; an online resource (wiki-aych.lecolededesign.com). It was agreed that an online, interactive, attractive tool kit which could be updated would be the most effective approach and was appropriate to the creative and tech orientation of the AYCH project. The AYCH Wiki was developed as an open-source tool kit. It is a lasting legacy of the project and a significant part of the outlined third component ‘actively sharing AYCH good practice’ of AYCH Capitalisation. A target of 1 toolkit was set and 100% achieved.

Development of the AYCH Policy Toolkit (Wiki) in days

120%

The AYCH Policy Toolkit (Wiki) was led by L'Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique. All active partners contributed to the content and review process; in particular, Vida Lactea our communications lead made a very significant contribution. Using our AYCH Way of collaborative work and iterative design, continuing work is being undertaken to improve the design, functionality and usability of AYCH Wiki. This will include translating key case studies and content translated into the AYCH languages. A target of 105 days spent developing the AYCH Policy Toolkit (AYCH Wiki) was set and 120% achieved.

Dissemination of the AYCH Policy Toolkit (Wiki) in days

61%

The dissemination of the AYCH Policy Toolkit (Wiki) is ongoing and partners will continue to contribute to and disseminate it. However, this target's method of measurement in days does not provide an accurate unit by which to measure the scope of dissemination. In addition to direct dissemination of the AYCH Wiki by partners, the AYCH Wiki is also referenced in other forums and formats which cannot be measured in this unit. Specifically, the AYCH Wiki has been referenced in: our widely distributed publication (printed and e-book versions) Learning Through Entrepreneurship: A Creative Approach; the Youth Summit platform AYCH2030.eu; the project AYCH website aych.eu; the AYCH Legacy Resource Bank on-line poster which collates and summarises all significant AYCH publications in one place; AYCH and partner social media accounts and more. These sources continue to promote the AYCH Wiki beyond the end of the project.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

A target of fifty days spent disseminating the AYCH Policy Toolkit (AYCH Wiki) was set and 61% achieved but this does not include the additional days devoted to the ‘Virtual Tour’ Podcast series developed to complement the AYCH Wiki.

Number of cities, regions or services adopting the model

170%

As a partnership, we surpassed this target despite the COVID-19 pandemic which impacted our ability to travel further afield. Some partners were more successful than others; notably, Vida Lactea and Plymouth College of Art made significant contributions to this target. A target of 23 Regions, Cities, or Services adopting the AYCH model was set and 170% achieved.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP 4

WP4 - CONNECTION OF THE ATLANTIC HUBS VIDA LACTEA This Work Package has proved to be of great importance for the improvement of the skills, knowledge and personal experiences of young people. Producing large scale creative jam events, especially international events, is challenging. However, these events are innovative and the positive results obtained through them are unquestionable. We have brought together hundreds of young people in transnational and multidisciplinary environments and this has contributed enormously to the development of collaborative initiatives among young people. These initiatives have been supported by the network of experts and reference agents established through the project. Situations such as COVID-19 or BREXIT did not reduce the project's activity in these fields, they simply forced us to adapt the methodology to other formats, such as the transnational online jam; these new ways of working being different experiences but equally fruitful.

We have tried to make young people the protagonists of the actions, but at the same time they had to help us spread our model. Thank you young ambassadors!

XOSÉ L. GARZA Chair of Communication

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP4 - AGREED PRIORITIES The Project Approval Form (PAF) sets out the agreed details of the project between the Partners and AA Interreg. The agreed Implementation Summary for Work Package 4: Connection of the Atlantic Horizon Hubs is outlined below: "This activity will ensure that the network of youth creative hubs “Horizon Hubs” is established in each partner location, across the different Member States. There will be a minimum of 13 horizon hubs across the partnership area, linked through digital technologies and coordinators. The work package will focus on stimulating connections not only digitally, through a specification of equipment, software and digital communication tools to ensure standardisation and compatibility, so that maximum transnational value, as well as environmental and financial sustainability is gained, but also through a series of creative jams examining youth service across the AA programme, from a young person's perspective, to suggest possible improvements to achieve the results and impact required, in terms of progression to education or employment. To support the connections and transnational collaboration, a network of organisations, skills and expertise that will contribute to the Horizon Hubs - social enterprise experts, digital media experts, design experts, artists, technologists, business advisers, social policy researchers, third sector professionals who will support the project, through seminars, workshops and facilitation. Each partner will create their own pool of talent and expert resources that they will draw on and open up to the wider partnership, also. For maximum uptake of the project among young people 130 youth ambassadors will be advocates and recruiters among their peers." *NB: in the PAF the term ‘Horizon Hubs’ is used to describe the various locations from which each partner worked with young people. Most partners had one hub for their activity with young people although two partners had multiple hubs. The term ‘Horizon’ was not used by partners or participants on a consistent basis outside of the PAF and so throughout this document Horizon Hubs are referred to as partner hubs and creative hubs.

"Transnational networking allowed us to have a significant number of experts at the service of young people." AYCH Referal Agent

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP4 - TARGETS AND DELIVERABLES Work Package 4 was concerned with delivery of transnational creative jams and targets the development of effective networks of stakeholders to enable successful events to happen. Creative jams were two or three day intensive, thematic, experiential, creative events where young people experience a three stage process: Discover, Learn & Explore, and Solve & Create. Through this process, young people were offered the opportunity to learn and use Key Enabling Technologies, to work with mentors and experts, to collaboratively think about and solve a thematic challenge, and to pitch their solution to their peers and an expert panel. The transnational creative jams were a cornerstone activity of AYCH which many young people and stakeholders alike reported as being their most informative and transformational experience.

Deliver transnational creative jams

100%

Transnational creative jams are a basic pillar in AYCH's transnational methodology. In these events lasting between two and three days, young people from the four member countries of AYCH come together to develop common projects in a heterogeneous and transnational environment. This deliverable has been fully completed, having carried out the expected number of transnational events, the last of which was carried out online due to COVID-19. A target of 3 transnational creative jams was set and 100% achieved.

Number of young people taken to transnational creative jams

125%

The main objective of the transnational creative jams was for young people to share experiences, cultures and points of view in a transnational environment. It is necessary to stipulate a minimum number of young people to attend each event in order that the group is as heterogeneous as possible; this was achieved and exceeded. Issues such as COVID-19 or BREXIT were a challenge but not an impediment for achieving this deliverable. A target of 178 young people participating in transnational creative jams was set and 125% achieved.

Number of experts/stakeholders/partners at transnational creative jams

72%

It is necessary to have an interesting group of stakeholders and experts for the development of creative jam events. There was an ambitious objective for us to achieve in this area and we encountered difficulties in achieving it. These included: it was sometimes a challenge to find experts/stakeholders that were available to take part in scheduled events because of timing and business commitments; difficulty finding experts with knowledge in the specialist methodologies at the heart of AYCH; and language barriers. These were all exacerbated during COVID-19 by the necessity to reschedule and redesign more than once. Despite these challenges we achieved the majority of the target. A target of 285 experts, stakeholders, and partners participating in transnational creative jams was set and 72% achieved.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Youth Ambassador Scheme

105%

Ambassadors were young people who had first-hand experience of a wide variety of AYCH activities and events over an extended period. The main role of the AYCH Ambassadors was to encourage other young people to join by sharing their own positive experiences and to help co-design and run activities so that partners ensured that they were always young-personcentric. Many AYCH Ambassadors became more embedded in the programme by helping to co-design and implement activities as well as advocate for the project. A target of 118 Youth Ambassadors was set and 105% achieved.

Network of referral agents

277%

In order to promote entrepreneurship among young people, it was necessary to establish a solid base of external referral agents, who would signpost and support the young entrepreneurs in any aspect of their path towards the creation of a business. Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso, Space*, Vida Láctea, and Plymouth College of Art made notable contributions to achieving and surpassing the target. A target of 160 Referral Agents was set and 277% achieved.

Network of external experts

168%

Young people needed a dynamic and multidisciplinary group of experts in order to improve their skills and learn new ways for improving their projects. The continued work done by partners such as Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso, Space*, Vida Láctea, and Plymouth College of Art allowed the project to exceed the target in this area. A target of 120 External Experts was set and 168% achieved.

Number of jobs created

94%

Creating jobs has been very challenging during COVID-19 and the current economic climate. However, with one exception, all partners reported creating jobs via self-employment, business start-ups, and where participants identified their involvement with AYCH as contributing to their success in securing employment in existing companies. Plymouth College of Art and Vida Lactea have exceeded the individual targets that we set for each partner and so made a notable contribution to the overall success in this area. A target of 185 Jobs Created was set and 94% achieved.

"The involvement of companies and youth workers and other entities has been very important." AYCH Ambassador

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP 5

WP5 - INCREASING THE CREATIVE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL CONFIDENCE OF ATLANTIC YOUTH

VIDA LACTEA

This work package has proved to be of great importance for the development of entrepreneurial skills among young people. The combination of Key Enabling Technologies (KET) and Enterprise Workshops, as well as the constant exchange of training between hubs, and access to High Definition (HD) recordings of workshops from different partners, has been a key element for the full development of the young people who have been involved in AYCH. In the same way, the collaboration between companies and the project has ensured that the knowledge accessed by young people is up to date, relevant, and of value to them as they develop their own entrepreneurial vision. The search for a more inclusive and participatory European educational model was our mission throughout the project. During the course of AYCH, we engaged with many young people who identified their need for better training in preparation for working life. WP5 activities and experiences enabled young people to supplement the gaps left in their formal education with new essential technical, entrepreneurial and transferables skills.

Europe has to look for new training models and not close doors, it is more interesting to always have open arms.

SAÚL VÉREZ AYCH Expert

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP5 - AGREED PRIORITIES The Project Approval Form (PAF) sets out the agreed details of the project between the Partners and AA Interreg. The agreed Implementation Summary for Work Package 5: Increasing the Creative and Entrepreneurial Confidence of Atlantic Youth is outlined below: "This work package will focus on equipping young people with skills in Key Enabling Technologies and other emerging creative/technological fields, as well as entrepreneurship and social enterprise skills. A transnational mix of skills and expertise will be shared across the partnership in areas such as Virtual Reality, Rapid Prototyping, App Design, Internet of Things, Gamification and business model canvas, social enterprise, design thinking and aspects of the circular economy. Approx. 800 young people will be involved in these workshops/seminars and they will also be captured digitally and broadcasted to other Horizon Hubs so that more young people can benefit from this knowledge. As a lasting legacy of the project, the project will upload the best workshops to our communication platforms to share with people across the AA programme and beyond. This process will enable the young people to move into the co-creation and incubation phase in WP6: Co-creation of new products and services by Atlantic Youth, with more in-depth knowledge of how to generate an idea, develop and prototype it and then commercialise it. All partners have expertise in the workshop areas outlined but will learn from each other, too, to boost their knowledge and improve their provision, working with external experts to plug any gaps they may have. This work package will enable businesses and other employers, delivering content to the workshops and seminars to connect with the hubs and the young people to help develop talent and possible recruitment."

WP5 - TARGETS AND DELIVERABLES Key Enabling Technologies (KET) and Creative workshops Key Enabling Technologies (KET) are technologies that enable process, goods and service innovation. Within AYCH we include additive manufacturing (3D printing); subtractive manufacturing (milling, laser cutting, vinyl cutting): coding and programming; immersive technologies (virtual reality and augmented reality). By ‘creative workshops’ we mean workshops including sound, music, design, video, photography, illustration, animation and so on. Workshops were offered as part of local and transnational creative jams and within incubation programmes in partner hubs.

Deliver or host physical/virtual KET & creative workshops

276%

Formation of KET is one of the cornerstones of the project, allowing our young people to be more innovative. Thanks to the strong effort of partners such as Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth City Council, Brest Métropole, Vida Láctea and Grand Angoulême, this deliverable has been exceeded and this has contributed to the development of young peoples’ skills. A target of 100 deliver or host physical/virtual KET and Creative workshops was set and 276% achieved.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

122%

Deliver or host physical/virtual KET & creative workshops at an international partners setting

One of the most interesting facets of AYCH transnational events is access to the field of expertise available from the other hubs, allowing young people to receive training from experts for other countries. Issues such as COVID-19 or BREXIT were not an impediment for achieving this deliverable because we adopted innovative virtual workshop formats. A target of 49 deliver or host physical/virtual KET and creative workshops at a transnational partner setting was set and 122% achieved.

Capture and BROADCAST KET workshops - 50% must be translated in to 4 languages

560%

With free access to quality training as one of its main hallmarks, the AYCH project has contributed more than fifty videos published on its YouTube channel for this purpose. Our delivery in this area means that the project has enabled young people in different countries to benefit from the project. A target of 10 captured and broadcast KET workshops was set and 560% achieved.

Upload and share KET workshop session plans, speakers notes and resources etc. for future tool kit

120%

It is very interesting for young people in the incubation process to have access to experts and training from other hubs. This exchange of knowledge between partners contributes to improving the point of view of young people in each of the project hubs. Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso, L’Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique, Vida Láctea and Space* made significant contributions in this area. A target of 45 shared KET workshops lesson plans was set and 120% achieved. Enterprise and Industry workshops Enterprise and Industry workshops were offered as part of local and transnational creative jams and within incubation programmes in partner hubs. These workshops included Social Impact and Theory of Change, Digital Marketing, Intellectual Property, Legal Structures and Governance, Business Planning, Financial Management, Pitching and Presenting etc.

Deliver or host physical/virtual enterprise & industry related workshops

144%

Enterprise and industry workshops were cornerstone activities of AYCH. These were delivered to introduce young people to the essentials of setting-up and running a business and they complemented the KET and creative workshops. A target of 103 deliver or host physical/virtual enterprise and industry workshops was set and 144% achieved.

"The Covid made us essential for the training of young people at a distance. We were ready!" AYCH Ambassador AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Deliver or host physical/virtual enterprise & industry related workshops

91%

AYCH transnational events gave young people the opportunity to work with young people and experts from other hubs and thereby to learn in a multicultural setting and receive training from experts from a range of countries or industries. A target of 45 delivering or hosting enterprise and industry workshops at a transnational partner setting was set and 91% achieved as part of the previous target.

Capture and broadcast enterprise workshops 50% must be translated in to 4 languages

430%

As with the KET workshops the production and sharing of free enterprise workshops has given young people within and beyond the programme area the opportunity to access free quality training. Partners such as Plymouth College of Art, Space*, and Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso have greatly contributed to this target being exceeded. A target of 10 captured and broadcast Enterprise/Industry workshops was set and 430% achieved.

Upload and share enterprise workshop session plans, speakers notes and resources etc.

116%

By sharing enterprise workshop session plans, speakers notes, and resources AYCH partners have simplified the process for partner hubs and other organisations to provide similar valuable workshops. Plymouth College of Art, L’Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique, Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso, and Vida Lactea made significant contributions to achieving our target. A target of 50 shared Enterprise/Industry workshops lesson plans was set and 116% achieved.

Total of young people in attendance at physical/virtual workshops

496%

Sometimes it is a challenge to encourage young people to attend training sessions, despite the potential benefits training may have for their future. However, the ambitious objectives set from the beginning have been fully achieved. Plymouth College of Art, Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso, Space*, Plymouth City Council and Vida Lactea exceeded the AYCH targets we set per partner organisation. A target of 880 young people attending workshops was set and 496% achieved.

Enterprises offering physical/virtual workshops

156%

So that young people could receive current and expert enterprise workshops, AYCH used experts from practicing businesses and enterprises for their delivery. During these workshops young people had the opportunity to learn new skills and to engage with experts more informally. A target of 70 enterprises offering workshops was set and 156% achieved. AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP 6

WP6 - CO-CREATION OF NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BY ATLANTIC YOUTH

PLYMOUTH COLLEGE OF ART This work package has proved to be one of the most challenging aspects of the AYCH project. For partners representing local authorities and for those who have experienced capacity difficulties due to financial and/or human resources constraints, the most challenging aspect of WP6 delivery has been participant recruitment for activities and events as well as continuous engagement with them. As the project was hit by the COVID-19 global pandemic, this work package, designed around hands-on, collaborative face-to-face and transnational activities, posed many delivery and implementation challenges for the majority of the partners. Nevertheless, despite the challenging targets and circumstances for many, the AYCH partnership continued delivering local creative jams, incubation programmes, residencies and internships until the last delivery month of the project. This was achieved amid the global pandemic and partners implemented innovative solutions to their execution including virtual and regional residencies, virtual incubation programmes, smaller-scope creative jams and virtual internships. As a result of this, we developed a fit-for-purpose structure that provided a foundation for effective and efficient risk management. As a result of this, the numbers of AYCH participants involved in WP6 activities and new-to-the-market and new-to-the-firm products kept on steadily growing throughout the life-time of the project, proving strength and resilience in the AYCH operating model.

"We are so proud of this project... Seeing young people recognising the importance that digital and enterprise skills have in helping them to shift their societal roles from passive consumers, to active makers and agents of change, has been a real privilege."

PLYMOUTH COLLEGE OF ART AYCH Partner AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP6 - AGREED PRIORITIES The Project Approval Form (PAF) sets out the agreed details of the project between the Partners and AA Interreg. The agreed Implementation Summary for Work Package 6: Cocreation of new products and services by Atlantic Youth is outlined below: "This WP will represent the largest activity of the project, moving on from the skills workshops to focusing on product and service development in creative industries and supporting 35-50% of hub users into creative business start ups, further training, education and employment. Firstly, all partners will co-develop a series of business challenges that address common issues across the AA programme area. These will be themes that are shared by all Member States and we will invite young people to use the skills they have developed thus far in the project, to create ideas for products or services. As part of this, all partners will run an incubation programme to support ideas that have commercial promise and the young people will be invited to pitch their ideas to receive the support. The incubation programme will be run on a cycle basis of 1 year - 3 months of more intensive support, through workshops on idea generation, design, prototyping and commercialisation and then a further 9 months of support through regular catch ups and specific interventions and referral to other services, if necessary. The incubation programme will support over 400 young people (20 per year, per partner) also matching transnational teams working on similar issues with over 100 young people undertaking week-long residencies in other incubators. Another vital part to this work package is the link to employers for the opportunity to take up internships to support employability skills."

WP6 - TARGETS AND DELIVERABLES This work package was typified by a number of practical, hands-on, real-world activities and experiences some of which were in transnational settings. Young people were given the opportunity to undertake internships, residencies or follow an incubation programme specifically to support the development of their products/ideas and/or to build their work ambitions.

Define business challenges

115%

A total of thirty-eight environmental, ethical and societal business challenges have defined AYCH project activities' themes and sub-themes across the partnership hubs as well as the themes of prototypes, products and services developed by young people across the Atlantic Area. Key examples of recurring challenges that were identified include reducing plastics, developing sustainable cities, and circular economies; the full list of challenges was recorded by partners on the Deliverables Tracker. Identifying common challenges across the Atlantic Area allowed AYCH partners to develop activities and events that are relevant to the young people with whom they worked. This approach also ensured that the themes were relevant to young people across the partner hubs that collaborate with each other during transnational events (e.g. transnational creative jams) where they address and develop solutions to these challenges This common challenge concept has proved to be effective in choosing themes and sub-themes for our activities and events, and also in guiding young people towards developing ideas, prototypes, products, and services that address them. All partners contributed to defining these challenges. A target of 33 defining business challenges was set and 115% achieved. AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Number of local creative jams

93%

AYCH creative jams are our flagship events where young people, experts and mentors immerse themselves in a very intense creative process, usually lasting for two or three full days. During the event they collaborate and support each other in prototyping solutions for societal and environmental challenges shared across the Atlantic Area countries (also known as AYCH Creative Business Challenges). Creative jams are time, resource and cost-demanding, requiring extensive collaboration between different parties and, most importantly, requiring the recruitment of young people; some partners did not prove to have capacity for this. Two partners, Plymouth College of Art and Vida Lactea exceeded this target, five partners achieved their individual target, while three other partners struggled to hit their targets. Grand Angoulême had one additional creative jam planned in November as part of their incubation programme which had to be cancelled once the global pandemic situation intensified. A target of 30 local creative jams was set and 93% achieved.

Young people in incubation

130%

All project delivery partners, apart from AYCH lead partner Devon County Council and AYCH partner Atlantic Cities, implemented incubation processes to support young potential entrepreneurs to contribute to the solution of shared social issues and opportunities in the Atlantic area. This has taken different shape and form in different partner locations - from incubation programme embedded within academic curriculum (L’Ecole de design Nantes Atlantique) to (semi)virtual incubation during the last phase of the project delivery (Vida Lactea and Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso). Plymouth College of Art, Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso, and (in particular) Vida Lactea engaged with more incubatees than expected on the per partner allocation. Other partners, mainly those who struggled with young people recruitment and engagement in other areas too, found it more difficult to meet their individual targets. However,collectively we performed very well in this area . A target of 362 young people in business/ideas incubation was set and 130% achieved.

Number of young people undertaking residencies

89%

The aim of the AYCH residencies has been to give young people the opportunity to explore new locations, experiment with different tools and materials, and benefit from the expertise outside of their hubs. Initially, the partnership had taken a transnational approach to this type of activity; due to the intensified global pandemic situation this has been delivered regionally (L’École de design Nantes Atlantique, Grand Angoulême, Vida Lactea, Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso) or completely virtually in other partner locations (Plymouth College of Art, Space*, Brest Métropole). As with local creative jams, this type of activity, designed for physical, face-to-face, hands-on delivery, made it challenging for some partners to adapt it to a virtual delivery model while still making it attractive for young people. Other physically planned residencies had to be cancelled when international travel was suspended - specifically, Grand Angoulême, Vida Lactea, Plymouth College of Art and L’École de design Nantes Atlantique had plans to send young people to each other's hubs which would have allowed the partnership to provide this opportunity to more people. A target of 82 young people completing residencies was set and 89% achieved.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Work experience in weeks

219%

The opportunity to experience a work environment with a long internship can give a young person with limited career experience a better idea of what they want when they're ready to search for a full-time job and significantly enhance their resume. On the other hand, shorter work experiences do have their own benefits - shorter duration internships might be appropriate when budget concerns or scheduling conflicts come into play. AYCH partners Atlantic Cities, Vida Lactea and L’École de design Nantes Atlantique have performed highly in this area, with many young people securing full-time/permanent job positions elsewhere as a result. A target of work experience equivalent to 400 weeks was set and 219% achieved.

Number of enterprises supported to introduce new 222% to market products This has been a very successful aspect of this work package, exceeding expectations and targets set at the beginning of the project. The partnership recognised that it can be difficult to take a product to market for young start-ups and especially for those who may be coming to this with little knowledge and experience. Nevertheless, strong networks of expertise and the facilities to deliver, together with well-established incubation programme pilots, allowed the majority of the hubs to produce socially focused, young entrepreneurs that are able to address issues and opportunities that affect the Atlantic area. It also resulted in a total of eighty new-tothe-market products coming to life. Plymouth College of Art, Vida Lactea and Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso were the partners who recruited the most incubatees and supported the most new-to-the-market products across the partnership. A target of 36 new products to market was set and 222% achieved

Number of enterprises supported to introduce new to the firm products

111%

This has also been a very successful aspect of this work package, given that new-to-the-firm products and services are usually developed by existing businesses scaling up in terms of repositioning, improving or extending their services, products or product lines. As we worked with existing and new enterprises, we saw innovative products and services designed by AYCH participants that were not only designed by applying existing ideas to their enterprises but also implemented or designed to be implemented by other organisations. Plymouth College of Art, Vida Lactea and L’École de design Nantes Atlantique made notable contributions to this deliverable target. A target of 36 new products to firm was set and 111% achieved

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP 7

WP7 - CONSOLIDATION L'ÉCOLE DE DESIGN NANTESATLANTIQUE When L’Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique assumed responsibility to lead this work package in September 2019 we clarified and interpreted WP7: Consolidation as, ‘AYCH Legacy- How to run a creative hub’. This work package is complementary to WP3: Capitalisation and works closely with WP2: Communication. WP7: Consolidation, included some significant tools within the deliverables that will help to spread the AYCH model: AYCH2030.eu an online platform covering the main project topics developed for the Youth Summit and as a legacy to the project. Our policy document, the publication Learning through Entrepreneurship, a Creative Approach which relates and links the AYCH cornerstones and the story. Our toolkit, the AYCH Wiki site, which is open source (see also WP3: Capitalisation reporting).

The results of the AYCH process are reflected through an innovative pedagogy made for the youth of Europe

FLORENT ORSONI L'École de Design Nantes Atlantique

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Progression Support Desks (transnational and local) which will continue AYCH provision for following the project end date for a five to ten year period Necessarily, legacy activity was held towards the end of the project and therefore at the time of reporting the work is still in progress and will continue after the project ends; this continuation being a marker of the success of the project. Therefore, some of the indicators contained within this document show the position at the time of reporting but with the caveat that activity continues and will exceed the results evidenced in this report. However, AYCH Legacy isn’t only a ‘what works’ story and it is more than the tools we produced; AYCH Legacy delivers an experience that we have come to call the ‘AYCH Way'. AYCH has an emphasis on the value of collaborative design and collective intelligence; a message that is embedded in our own way of working. We had to interpret the PAF and design AYCH to succeed, to adapt ourselves, our vision, and our vocabulary. AYCH Legacy. WP7 celebrates this approach which encourages dialogue, diversity, and flexibility. Design thinking has been the way to transform AYCH into a meaningful, informal, education pathway that builds self-confidence, trust, and openness. Most of all, AYCH legacy is nourished by European values: a way to collaborate, and to build something resilient that can weather crises like BREXIT and COVID-19. This resilience prospered because we were tenacious and driven by values; and so we accelerated our process and determination during the crises. We have no doubt that the diffusion of the model will go on and that it will be more important than ever given the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. AYCH leaves us with a method, an approach, a way to bring new ideas into life, through a path of cooperation, knowledge sharing, ideas spreading, oriented towards the younger generations and where everything is possible.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

WP7 - AGREED PRIORITIES The Project Approval Form (PAF) sets out the agreed details of the project between the Partners and AA Interreg. The agreed Implementation Summary for Work Package 7: Consolidation is outlined below: "This WP will consolidate best practices, research and experiences to share with stakeholders across the AA programme and beyond to continue to shape and define youth service provision so that it can better support young people into (self)employment, education or training, through creative means. A final Atlantic Youth Creative Summit will bring 150- 200 young people together, with project partners, experts, and decision makers to put forward their re%ections on the project and the type of service that they would like to see going forward. It will also represent the opportunity to publicly launch the Atlantic Horizon Hub Policy tool being developed. The policy tool will outline the framework conditions for this innovation to thrive and describe the processes through which the partnership will have achieved the results and impact on the ground, breathing new life into youth service provision and empowering young people to pursue pathways in creative (self)employment, education or training. All partners will contribute to the development of the model and the report that will accompany it, with academic partners taking the lead helping to mainstream the research to ensure maximum uptake by cities and regions across the AA programme. As a positive legacy to ensure Horizon Hubs continue to help young people a series of support desks in each hub will be established to signpost users to other services/organisations to support their onward journeys."

WP7 - TARGETS AND DELIVERABLES Policy Tool The AYCH Policy Tool is our research publication, Learning through Entrepreneurship, a Creative Approach. The publication was led by L’École de design Nantes Atlantique and codesigned with partners via thirteen co-design meetings. The draft publication was reviewed by an independent academic with expertise in the area; the final publication was endorsed by eight diverse individuals including professionals, specialists, and AYCH Ambassadors.

Create a Policy Tool

100%

The Learning through Entrepreneurship, a Creative Approach publication aimed to illustrate the AYCH model based on the partners’ most significant case studies. We made a decision to create a print and an online version of the publication; this was to increase dissemination and maximise the potential impact of the publication. A target of 1 AYCH Policy Tool was set and 100% achieved.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Days to develop the AYCH Policy Tool

119%

Learning Through Entrepreneurship: A Creative Approach is a collaborative publication. L’École de design Nantes Atlantique worked closely with the whole partnership to collectively define the plan of the book and they worked on an open document throughout the writing process where every partner was invited to contribute. Each partner wrote their own significant example of their AYCH actions. Overall, It took more time than expected: in total, more than 118 days were necessary to complete the book. This included fifty-two days for L’École de design Nantes Atlantique to write and approximately twenty days for editing, working with the printer, and preparing the online version. This time was essential in order to produce the quality of publication which we wished to share our values, thinking and stories. A target of 100 days to develop the AYCH Policy Tool was set and 119% achieved.

Stakeholders to receive Policy Tool

82%+

The goal was to disseminate the AYCH learning to our stakeholder ecosystem and to an even broader audience. The book was printed in mid-January and sent to each Hub in the following weeks. All partners have started to spread the publication among their stakeholders’ network by sending print copies or sharing the online version. At the time of this report, 332 stakeholders have been reached by the book. We encountered some challenges in the printing and dissemination of the publication. Regrettably, due to BREXIT and new import/export regulations, shipping to the UK was very time consuming for UK partners and L’École de design Nantes Atlantique, and as well for the printer. Furthermore, because of COVID-19, hard copy dissemination was also much more difficult. Partners responded by inventing new ways of dissemination. For instance, Vida Lactea organised a successful innovative online launching event gathering more than fifty people (among them European representatives), and L’École de design Nantes Atlantique has created a high-quality video presenting the book to target people on social media (for now, the post has more than 650 views). This dissemination work is still going on in each hub as it forms part of the Progression Support Desks (detailed later in this section) and so the numbers reported are not final. Furthermore, it has not been possible to capture information on the numbers that have accessed the book through these methods or through receiving electronic copies by way of forwards; these are not represented in the reported number. A target of 462 stakeholders to receive the AYCH Policy Tool was set and we achieved 82% of this by hard copy distribution alone. Final Transnational Youth Summit The Final Transnational Youth Summit brought the AYCH project to a close, launched the post-project phase, and created a ‘plan for the future’ co-designed by young people. The event was originally planned as three days in Brest. However, as COVID-19 measures became more protracted and more restrictive the format changed to five days of early evening virtual events based around three challenges that have been at the core of AYCH’s actions: Social Entrepreneurship, Creative Education, and Workforce of Tomorrow. International speakers were invited to debate our three challenges and to create an Agenda 2030: 30 Recommendations for a Future Creative Europe.This agenda was agreed and signed as the AYCH Declaration of Brest. Importantly, we wanted to celebrate the amazing work produced by young people involved in AYCH, their products, accomplishments and hopes and dreams and this was done through an immersive exhibition space on the aych2030.eu event platform. AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Host an Transnational Youth Summit

100%

Due to COVID-19 and the uncertain situation, the format of the Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs Summit changed three times: from an original face-to-face version, to a hybrid event, to a fully online version. We had to rethink our approach regarding an event dedicated to young people. Taking into account the lockdown situation and the widespread use of remote working, we were conscious of the variety of situations that people were operating within. We decided on short and dynamic evening round-tables placing young people as experts on three thematic challenges for the future. We complemented the event with a website to bring together all the resources, links, recordings, and hubs’ contacts. A target of 1 Transnational Youth Summit was set and 100% was achieved

Days to plan, attend and evaluate Transnational Youth Summit

149%

Reinventing the format was really exciting but also time consuming for partners. Brest Métropole and L’École de design Nantes Atlantique led the actions, but all partners were really involved in the preparation. Following the event, participants were asked to evaluate the design, experience of and value of the Youth Summit.The evaluation was extremely positive. In total, more than 164 days were necessary to plan, attend and evaluate the Transnational Youth Summit. A target of 110.5 days to plan, attend and evaluate the Transnational Youth Summit was set and 149% achieved.

People attending the Transnational Youth Summit

104%

The online Youth Summit format was a real success and was attended by 192 people across four days. It truly opened-up reflections on important future challenges. Partners have stated their intention to continue using this format in their future work. A target of 185 young people to attend was set and 104% achieved.

Stories added to the Evidence Library

117%

AYCH Partners collected a total of 116 young people’s significant stories about their experiences with AYCH and the impacts that it had. Young people were encouraged to share their experiences authentically and we encouraged them to identify both our successes and areas that we could improve; the stories were overwhelmingly positive. These were collected in the form of text, video, and audio recordings. These qualitative stories were collected in the Evidence Library which is a spreadsheet/database of outcomes mapped against participant, partner and long term impacts. The collecting and analyses process was led by our partner Space* and we worked collectively during a one day workshop in July 2020. This process helped identify 285 different positive impacts on young people’s journey within AYCH. Partners have suggested that they will adopt this mechanism for their other work. A stepping-stone target of 99 significant stories added to the Evidence Library of qualitative data was set and 117% achieved.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Evaluation: Days to complete the evaluation reporting

106%+

The evaluation of AYCH was multifaceted as described at the beginning of this report. Significantly, we felt that we wanted to evaluate not only the many outputs described at the beginning of this report but also the impact of the project. Therefore, on behalf of the partnership, Devon County Council commissioned an independent evaluation to measure the impact of AYCH on young people, communities and at a European level. Following a competitive tendering process Jo Wright was appointed and he carried out research between September 2019 and March 2021. All partners have contributed to the independent evaluation, through interviews, by collecting and submitting stories to the Evidence Library, by sharing the stakeholders’ survey, and answering the partners’ survey. Jo presented his findings at the AYCH Final Results Conference on March, 26th 2021; institutional representatives and stakeholders attended. We expect more time to be spent in the coming weeks as we complete and disseminate the current report; these days are not recorded in this figure. A target of 181 days to complete the evaluation reporting was set and 106% achieved.

Progression Support Desks Progression Support Desks are a legacy focused deliverable via a suite of activities identified by each of the partners through which they are committed to continue to support AYCH participants beyond the project end date. Devon County Council, Plymouth College of Art, and L’École de design Nantes Atlantique worked together to define two levels of Progression Support Desks; the first at a transnational level, complemented by a second level of Progression Support Desks that are particular to each partner. Due to the diversity and varied capacity of the partners the offering from each organisation is unique. Actions identified within the support desks include: the direct provision of opportunities; guiding young people towards external opportunities in entrepreneurship, employment, education and/or training; providing links to help access other AYCH partners; developing relationships with other organisations in local areas and the AA Interreg programme area and assisting young people to benefit from these. Over a series of facilitated and collaborative meetings the partnership developed an operational instrument - this was a graphical representation (made in Miro) that maps and details sustainability actions for the two levels. Progression Support Desks (transnational and local) will continue AYCH provision for following the project end date for a five to ten year period

Days for development of the Partner Progression Support Desks

66%+

All partners have drawn their own Progression Support Desk on a Miro document that reflects the resources available to each partner. This was developed through workshops and sharing meetings held by L’École de design Nantes Atlantique. A target of 55 days for developing the Partner Progression Support Desks was set and 66% achieved although this activity is ongoing.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Days for development of the Transnational Progression Support Desk

75%

All partners, supported by L’École de design Nantes Atlantique have defined the Transnational Progression Support Desk, available on the shared Miro board. A target of 43 days for developing the Transnational Progression Support Desks was set and 75% achieved

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

CONCLUSION

DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL Our ongoing monitoring and evaluation at partner and project level has revealed the strength in our diversity in responding to local, regional and national needs. An exact ‘one size fits all’ delivery model would have been to deny our organisational and cultural demands, and our diversity of expertise and delivery capacity and capability. Our values-driven approach, collaborative and active partnership working, solution seeking around common challenges, free access to experts and technology, have all been noted and commended by stakeholders, the independent evaluator, those that endorsed our book and most of all the young participants. We are delighted that the ‘AYCH Way’ has enabled the project to succeed and our partners and participants to think differently about other aspects of the work and lives. In this way we have created a living legacy. There are of course lessons to be learned from our experience on this project. Clear terminology and targets aid common understanding and facilitate delivery especially in a transnational diverse partnership in an ever-rapidly changing world. The multi-lingual partnership used English as our business language. However, sometimes terminology established at the outset of the partnership did not communicate the same meaning across partners. Other technical terms became jargon that obscured their meaning, this was especially challenging for new individuals as they entered the project. Overall our partnership was characterised by collegiality and flexibility within the delivery. However, underpinning all of this was the fixed targets and outputs that were detailed in the PAF. Therefore, in the light of our experiences and for future projects we would imbed impact targets, reduce the number of output targets and think very carefully about the units set for measurement in proposals of Project Approval Forms. In doing so we would improve the ability for us to pivot, flex, and react to our emergent knowledge and skills as they developed. This is of particular importance as this approach is at the heart of the AYCH way and the model that we were sharing with young people.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

Throughout this project we have sought to understand, record, evidence and evaluate our performance against targets set in the PAF. As the project progressed we have, on occasions, needed to formally redefine or re-assign targets through the AA Interreg modifications process. However, underpinning our focus on outputs, has been our mission to deliver for and with our young people and to make and document the positive and lasting differences to their lives. Therefore, in tandem with performance outputs we have been driven by impacts knowing that numbers of meetings, numbers of participants, and similar outputs are only worthwhile when they bring about positive activity and impact. Thus, in addition to the formal targets, we identified and integrated valuable but non-targeted outputs and impacts resulting from our work. At the end of the delivery phase of AYCH the evidence of these positive impacts were stored as Significant Stories in our Evidence Library. These stories remind us all of the privilege of participating in AYCH and of the necessity to continue into the future.

AYCH PERFORMANCE | FINAL REPORT | 2021

AYCH COMMUNICATION

CONTACT Xosé L. Garza FABLAB LUG OPEN FACTORY

aych.eu lugopenfactory.com

Rúa Pintor Corredoira, 4 - 27002 - Lugo (Spain)

benvida@lugopenfactory.com