This guide provides basic guidelines to implement and disseminate in Europe the Icehearts Europe Support Programme, which aims to prevent social exclusion, promote health and emotional well-being, improve social skills and promote resilience and life competencies of disadvantaged and at-risk children and adolescents. Icehearts Europe consists of both a mentoring intervention and group sports & recreational activities.

The main addressees of this guide are grassroots sport and social promotion Organisations in European countries that wish to implement the Icehearts Europe programme in their operational context to promote the well-being and health of children and adolescents living in particular vulnerable conditions.

The purpose of this guide is to facilitate the acquisition of useful operational tools to guide grassroots sport Organisations through the different implementation phases of Icehearts Europe.

How can a Situation Analysis and Needs Assessment (SANA) give organisations the information they need to know before trying out a new programme in their local contexts? The Icehearts Europe project partners found out as they prepare to pilot the Icehearts Finland approach in Spain, Italy, Estonia, Slovenia and Denmark. The report provides a general overview for all the countries, and if the reader wants to know more about a specific country, a country-specific overview describing the situation in Italy, Slovenia, Estonia, Spain and Denmark in more detail is provided in the annex at the end of report.