About STAY
Skills for Thriving, Agency and Youth Engagement – a European cooperation project addressing early disengagement among young people.
STAY – Skills for Thriving, Agency and Youth Engagement
STAY is a European cooperation project addressing a growing challenge among young people: early disengagement from work, learning, volunteering, and community life. Often described as "quiet quitting," this phenomenon reflects deeper structural issues such as unclear expectations, limited feedback, lack of agency, burnout, and weak support during key life transitions.
Rather than treating disengagement as a lack of motivation, STAY approaches it as an early warning signal. The project supports young people and youth workers in recognising these signals early and responding constructively through communication, boundary-setting, reflection, and practical next steps.
STAY focuses on strengthening youth engagement, wellbeing, and employability through tools that are realistic, accessible, and immediately usable in everyday youth-work practice.
Understanding Quiet Quitting
Quiet quitting and early disengagement affect young people's wellbeing, confidence, and long-term employability. When left unaddressed, disengagement can limit learning opportunities, weaken participation, and increase the risk of long-term exclusion.
STAY responds to this challenge with simple, human-centred solutions that help young people stay engaged, communicate their needs, and build sustainable pathways into work and active citizenship.
Unclear expectations
Young people often disengage when roles and goals are not clearly defined.
Burnout & overload
Excessive demands without adequate support lead to disengagement.
Lack of agency
Feeling that one's voice or input doesn't matter drives withdrawal.
What We Do
STAY develops practical, non-formal and digital tools that help youth workers and organisations support young people before disengagement becomes permanent.
The project's core outputs include the STAY Handbook, a plain-language manual for youth workers, and the Engagement & Quiet-Quitting Risk Scanner, an interactive digital self-reflection tool that provides personalised guidance and concrete recommendations.
These tools are piloted through national workshops, conversation labs, and training activities across partner countries, ensuring they are grounded in real experiences and adaptable to different contexts. All outputs are multilingual, open-access, and designed according to inclusion and accessibility principles, including low-bandwidth and printable formats.
View Our Tools & Results
Why It Matters
Quiet quitting and early disengagement affect young people's wellbeing, confidence, and long-term employability. When left unaddressed, disengagement can limit learning opportunities, weaken participation, and increase the risk of long-term exclusion.
STAY responds to this challenge with simple, human-centred solutions that help young people stay engaged, communicate their needs, and build sustainable pathways into work and active citizenship.
Improved mental health and sense of purpose
Better readiness for the labour market
Stronger civic and community engagement
Sustained engagement in education and skills
Our Partnership
Three complementary organisations from across Europe, united in supporting youth engagement.
Rafíþróttasamband Íslands (RISI)
The national federation for esports in Iceland, working at the intersection of youth engagement, digital culture, and non-formal learning. RISI contributes strong outreach capacity and practical experience in supporting healthy, balanced participation of young people in digital environments.
Asociación Pilcrow
A youth NGO specialised in non-formal education, employability, and inclusive community programmes. Pilcrow leads the pedagogical development of the STAY Handbook, ensuring that methods are practical, youth-friendly, and grounded in real-life challenges.
Pannonia Consulting
An organisation with strong expertise in digital tools, curriculum development, and accessibility. Pannonia leads the technical development, accessibility standards, and evaluation framework, ensuring that STAY outputs are inclusive, usable, and scalable.
