Overview:

Inside out builds on our experience of working with young offenders during their time in prison in order to help them change the trajectory of their lives. Many youth we work with in prison in Aruba are young people who have been involved with the justice system multiple times and have had more than one stay in our prison. Through our international programmes we are trying to help break the cycle of re-offending for those young people want to change the trajectory of their lives. Inside Out will be a 12 month programme where we will build partnerships with similar organisations to inspire with the activities we are currently delivering and to create international opportunities specifically for this target group. As the name suggests we are trying to create collaborative activities between NGOs with a vision for creating equity for these young people in partnership with national authorities, in order that when they come out of prison they are in a better position to engage in activities which can be transformational.

Inside Out will share how elements of the Erasmus+ and ESC programme can be utilised by this target group and consider a future KA02 partnership.

Background:

Tur Cos Ta Posibel is a small NGO based in Aruba with a big presence in the area of social inclusion. Our main activities are based around supporting young people experiencing social barriers and we make use of Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps to further these aims.

We have close collaboration with KIA – our national prison and have since 2019 delivered arts, sports and social collaboration programmes in the youth and women’s wing of KIA. In May 2024 we delivered an intense 2 week programme – AMIS – Arts and Music in inclusion settings where 10 ESC volunteers joined 18 KIA youth residents on a TEAM volunteering project. As a result of this intense activity we created a booklet, a music album and video to demonstrate the achievements. A number of the KIA youth residents have marketed the music they created through their own channels and we are currently preparing for one resident who will be released in September to go to Italy on a 2 month ESC volunteering project thanks to collaboration with our long term partners.

Following this initial success we have decided to apply for an international mobility programme for youthworkers, aimed specifically at professionals working with offenders, ex-offenders and those at risk. We are developing further activities around this niche target group and now also establishing relationships with reclassering (probation) as well as an initial residential support centre working with young people on the edges of criminal activities to develop further activities.

Our chair Clair Brown who will lead this activity has vast experience working in this setting in the UK and also has worked as a trainer for the French and Estonian National Agencies for Erasmus+ as well as co-authoring a SALTO book on the subject.

Concept:

Stage 1 – KA01 Two directional Youthworker Mobility

Early 2025 – We would like to host a seminar working with 5 partners from 5 different countries.

For this initial seminar we need from each country a delegation of 3 participants:

• A representative from an NGO who focuses on inclusion and is ready to send/host young people with a history of involvement with the criminal justice system on ESC/youth exchange etc.
• A member of prison staff (working in the youth setting) from your local/national prison with a motivation to engage in Erasmus+ or ESC
• A ‘youth probation worker’ who deals with young people on the edges of criminal justice or post release again with a commitment and interest to engaging in ESC/Erasmus+

(We will only confirm complete delegations so NGOs please only apply if you have or can create a partnership with your national/local prison which has a youth wing and also either a probation service or a service working with young people pre/post custodial sentence)

Initially all three participants can come under the OID of the NGO however during the initial seminar we would like to support all participants in registering their own institution to gain an Erasmus+ registration number themselves in order to collaborate in their own right.

The seminar will take place in Aruba in January and you will be immersed in Tur Cos Ta Posibel’s social welfare activities, and spend time in KIA and Reclassering to better understand their role in criminal justice and also their involvement in these E+/ESC activities. There will be opportunity to learn about the work Tur Cos Ta Posibel do with this target group and the innovative activities we have delivered using Erasmus+ and ESC and also those of our parent organisation Everything is Possible in the UK. Participants will be immersed in the world of criminal justice in Aruba and also have chance to share good practice from their own countries.

Stage 2:

In the same application we would like to apply for incoming partners to welcome back 3 Arubians for a week to their organisations to have a similar immersion through a job shadow. Again the NGO can be the official host for this but we would like the immersion to include significant time spent in the prison and probation service. The purpose of this will be to continue to build partnerships for future collaboration. We would ask that every partner who joins the incoming activity also commits to host a delegation of 3 for one week during the 12 months of Inside Out within the budget of E+ (daily rates)

Stage 3:

Depending on the success of Inside Out we would like to consider applying for a KA02 partnership with the strongest actors to take place in 2026.

In the next weeks – a more glamourous version of this email with pictures and links to inspire you will be available on our website. However for now we wanted to give existing partners the information as soon as possible to allow you to recruit local justice organisations.

Thanks and look forward to your future collaborations.