Abstract

Overall, YOUCOUNT targets two strands of inquiry:

1. knowledge about social inclusion and how to create social change through the involvement of young citizen scientists and
2. contributing to the scientific knowledge base for Y-CSS for increased scaling. This is reflected in the specific objectives below.

In line with the EU Youth Strategy and official EU definitions, the project includes young people from a wide age range – 15 to 29 years old – because youths face many inclusion challenges well into their 20s, as well as during their teenage years. The project will focus on youths in general but will address the circumstances of youths who are most at risk of marginalisation in terms of poverty, migration, disability, low education, unemployment and disenfranchisement; some cases will include young people from deprived or disadvantaged areas.

Thus, the project will involve a broad range of young people from local areas to avoid stigmatising particular groups by labelling them as ‘disadvantaged youths’ while stimulating social networking across groups of young people. In doing so, the project acknowledges that young people are a diverse group of citizens, and many possess important resources for local innovation and development.

The Swedish contribution, through Södertörn University and Vetenskap och Allmänhet is conducted in partnership with the Botkyrka Municipality Youth Council.