The project has been designed with the purpose to inspire and empower young people, improving their creativity, discovering their talents, and being able to think about and implement solutions to address societal needs and, in particular, the desire to live in more inclusive communities where everybody can have the same opportunities.
Background
The project has been designed with the purpose to inspire and empower young people, improving their creativity, discovering their talents, and being able to think about and implement solutions to address societal needs and, in particular, the desire to live in more inclusive communities where everybody can have the same opportunities.
The project idea comes from the identification of major challenges among the regions involve which affect young people by impacting their identity and their sense of belonging, creating difficulties in their choices for education and entrance into the labour market. Even if challenges are specific for each context, a common issue has been identified by all the partner organizations. This is the sense of loss of many young people who do not know what they want or what they can do in the future, who are not aware of their possibility of actions and who hardly find models or support within their society.
The consequence of this situation is feelings of distrust, low self-esteem, and closure towards the other. This reality has further worsened with covid pandemic as well as war and the migration crisis which, beyond the different causes, in our countries has determined the increase of youth among refugees, migrants, asylum seekers, and IDPs backgrounds. The lack of support for these youth has determined, in many cases, a phenomenon of violence and discrimination and has increased the distance between locals and newcomers who see “the others” as “diverse” and “dangerous”. It also created a gap between people of the same communities due to the impact of the lockdown on people (mental health, relations, social skills, etc.)
Objectives
- Improve the level of key competencies and skills of young people, including those with fewer opportunities;
- Strengthen the role of young people through the acquisition of skills and tools that allow them to identify challenges in their communities and act in their own realities;
- Introduce young people to the discrimination and violent attitude minimization tools;
- Strengthen values like solidarity, democracy, and friendship;
- Discover new cultures, habits, and lifestyles, as a way to connect each other beyond cultural differences.
Project phases
The project will consist of three main phases:
1) preparation phase (3 months) (June-August 2022) an APV will be done in Sweden, involving 7 leaders from the partner organizations;
2) phase of implementation from September to December 2022 with: (4 months) which consists of the first part- -a youth exchange activity that will be carried out in Ricadi (Italy) in September, involving 36 young people (and 7 group leaders) from 6 countries (Italy, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Georgia, Palestine) second part- follow up during which the participants will carry out the activities planned by them in their local context and online.
3) closing phase (2 months) January-February 2021.
Austria ended up not participating
The Youth Exchange took place in Ricadi, Italy from 8th to 14th September 2022, it involved 27 participants and 5 group leaders. The exchange activity was carried out through sessions in which the following working methods were used: 1. teambuilding activity, 2. working sessions group, 3. Open spaces 4. meeting with associations and meeting with experts 5. construction of networks, 6. sessions of feedback.
Project activities
Activity 1 – Advance Planning Visit
The APV took place in Stockholm (Sweden) in July 2022 and involved 6 participants (1 from each partner organization). The objective of this activity was to finalize the organization of the youth exchange as a tool to address modern society challenges, such as youth unemployment, lack of innovative initiative among young people, the radicalization of behaviour and opinions, and lack of motivation to participate in decision-making processes. The APV addressed both logistics and contents of the Youth Exchange. The participants shared insights into the learning models of young people and how to use them for the well-being of themselves and of the community altogether. During the APV, representatives brought with them the feedback collected by participants and the eventual contribution they were willing to give to the project. The main outcome of the meeting was the finalized programme of the exchange, based on the paradigm “Create, inspire, empower” and clear identification of the contribution to the sessions and in particular to the workshops.
Activity 2 – Youth Exchanges
During the exchange, the first day will be dedicated to“get to know each other” and team-building activities which will serve to break the ice and create a safe space. During the day there will be the presentation of the Youthpass and the key competencies and the identification of common rules. The focus of the second day will start with the analysis of the main topic, the situation concerning young people in the countries involved. Interactive sessions will allow mapping the reality of young people concerning challenges through data (i.e. unemployment) and level of participation and how these challenges influence youth. Then young people will start to reflect on key competencies, based on the new recommendations and on how they can be useful for them. The third and the fourth days day will give the possibility to young people to experience different activities. there will be several workshops given in parallel and giving the opportunity to the participants to try and get inspired. (the details can be seen in the timetable attached). During the last session of the fourth day, participants will work on the planning of local activities they will do once they are back home, activities will be presented to the local organizations the following day. The exchange will be concluded with a final evaluation. At the end of each day, the participants will meet in small groups of reflection within which they will be able to share their opinions regarding three main aspects: logistics, content and what they are learning. The intercultural evening will be an additional moment of sharing. The following methodologies and approaches will be used to achieve the objectives: -non-formal Education: the principles of which are fundamental to allow participants to develop their skills in different areas. – Experiential learning: will give participants the opportunity to compare what they have learned with the different realities. This approach can be used during practical activities, such as learning how to use technical tools for participation, or during sports activities and not just talking about it or learning theoretical notions; –The proposed methodology will be action-oriented, allowing participants to move from the idea to its practical application, through skills that they can be used in future activities.
Final Product
Young people in this activity should acquire competencies that allow them to go forward with their respective fields of interest/hobbies as well as to understand the opportunities they have in their future. We will offer inspirational workshops in the fields of 1. digital tools, 2. arts and crafts, 3. music, 4. Science, 5. sports and movement, 6. languages, that allow for young people to be engaged in topics that they feel fit for themselves. In addition, the workshop will give them the opportunity to experience intercultural. The design of these fields is a result of both our professional background but also the interest and feedback of the young people of our last youth exchange. In each field of learning, inspiration, empowerment and creation are fundamental principles that each workshop will contain. In particular, they will improve: – Communication in a foreign language; – Acquisition of digital competencies; – Development of Social and civic competencies; – Been inspired; – Learning to learn; – Combine passion with thought. -Communication in a foreign language The entire communication during the exchange will be in English. This will be an opportunity for not mother-tongue participants to improve their skills of communicating in public in a foreign language and to interact with people from other countries as a way to develop skills related to mediation and intercultural understanding. Be inspired, be empowered By taking part in the workshops, participants will get inspiration, acquire competencies and tools and will start to think about what they want to do in the future and which activity they are willing to implement in their local communities. Workshops will be dedicated to the sport, digital competencies, human rights, entrepreneurship, and handcrafts, covering different sectors of society. This will allow them to combine passion with thoughts and plans, understanding that the experience is not a theoretical exercise. Development of Social and civic competence Debates, exchanges of opinions and experiences and participation in group dynamics will allow participants for developing social and civic competencies by experiencing on a small scale how to cooperate with other people, having different backgrounds to take decisions, deal with conflicts and to reach a common objective. Learning to learn- the project will be functional for its participants in order to understand the value of Non-formal Education. During the entire period, they will be aware of their learning process and the objectives behind each activity proposed. This will be functional to identify different opportunities available to learn by gaining, processing and assimilating new knowledge and skills as well as seeking and making use of guidance.
