<< Objectives >>We want to give young people with fewer opportunities the opportunity to organize their youth exchanges with their social workers according to their ideas and interests. They will be supported in experiencing a democratic process while preparing and realizing the exchanges and organizing the follow-up of the projects. We want the participants to develop the idea of ​​an European society characterized by social participation and intercultural cooperation.We want to give the social workers the opportunity to acquire skills for implementing the Erasmus + program and to apply them in the context of open child and youth work.European youth work is to be established as a method in open youth work where we have already successfully implemented projects and it should be brought into open youth work where it has not yet been implemented - especially in urban areas with development needs and places in rural areas. The Erasmus + program is to be anchored in the community and made usable in the sense of child and youth welfare, as it e.g. is intended in the model project EuropaLokal.<< Activities >>With this project we would like to build on our previous projects and carry out 12 youth exchanges with 20 / 24 participants and 6 group leaders. In addition to that, we want to carry out a youth worker exchange of 10 participants. To this end, we cooperate with open youth clubs and initiatives, with whose specialists and young visitors we design the projects. The design of the youth exchanges is based on the interests of the young people (sports & outdoor / film production / music / sustainable life). We mainly work with low-threshold methods of international youth work and playful forms of intercultural learning. Before, during and after all exchanges, the participants deal with the participation, commitment and democratic decision-making processes that their project in particular and society in general require. The aim is to promote the ability to participate in decisions within the living environment of young people. We primarily address marginalized young people of various types who have not yet had any intercultural experience and, with the help of social workers, reach a target group that would otherwise not participate in Erasmus + projects.It is therefore important to involve social workers. With the exchange of specialists, we want to provide them with further training to acquire international youth work methods and skills for conducting international projects and to plan those with their colleagues from other European countries. They get an insight into the youth work of other countries and benefit from the approaches of their colleagues. Here, we specifically target specialists who have little or no experience in the implementation of international youth work.<< Impact >>We want to bring international youth work into open child and youth work and make it permanent there so that it becomes an integral part of our partner institutions. The Erasmus + program finds its way into the community through youth exchanges and the exchange of specialists. The actors of youth work are brought together across borders and empowered to acquire and develop methods and skills of international youth work. Our aim is to make its impact more visible and recognized in society.The planning, implementation and follow-up of the youth encounters give young people a space in which they can pursue their interests in an intercultural context. Through process-accompanying support from their social workers and our European office, they are enabled to experience democratic education and participation based on the design of their own project. The experience of getting to know young people from another country for the first time as part of a joint project brings them valuable personal experiences and promote their intercultural dialogue.

"""SVE: COMPROMISSO COM AMARANTE"" is a Group EVS project with 1 Coordinating Organisation (AMC from Portugal), other 5 hosting organizations and 7 volunteers (1 per country) from EU Program Countries (Slovenia, Finland, Greece, Romania, Italy, Macedonia and Spain) during 12 months, from 2nd February 2017 until 1st February 2018. The EVS project´s main themes are social inclusion (children and Intergenerational activities) but also youth (mobility and participation, opportunities, healthy lifestyles, culture and free time activities) with the aim of supporting AMC and its local partner institutions. The venue and all EVS Activity will take place in Amarante where volunteers will be involved in different tasks that will be developed in the 5 different Host Organisations (Youth Centre managed by AMC and in 4 other local institutions: Cooperativa Cercimarante, Associação A Terra dos Homens, União Freguesias Amarante and Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Amarante). The main activities will be the support to technicians and teachers on education, training and free time activities for children, elderly and disable people as well as support local organic farmers, local fair trade and our local Youth Center (Casa da Juventude de Amarante). In this last option they will be involved in the elaboration and implementation of activity program for young people (as for ex.: cultural agenda of the youth centre), strongly involved in mobility and participation projects under Erasmus+ YA Program. The working methods will be based on Non Formal Education (NFE), active participation and learning by doing. The EVS volunteers will learn by their own experiences in direct contact with other youngsters and target-groups from each Hosting Organisation. The volunteers will use several methods of NFE during their tasks: brainstorming, round tables, work in small groups and plenary presentation, production of multimedia material (photo and video), exhibitions, energisers, role-plays, simulations, activities from COMPASS (Manual for Human Rights Education with young people), sports and outdoor activities, guided visits, etc.. This will be a very important moment of learning, personal growth and an opportunity to open their horizons and enrich their knowledge. Volunteers will also have the opportunity to develop their autonomy, communication skills and social interaction. This EVS project intends to create a great impact both to volunteers and host organizations, and by that, to the entire community. The regular presence of foreign volunteers in those institutions, valorize the role of young people in society, reinforce the values of solidarity, also at intergenerational dimension, and place youth organizations such as AMC as local coordinators and ""ambassadors"" of Europe and its opportunities."

"Challenge 2 Change is a youth exchange focused on the topic ""The Challenges of EU"" and the role of the young people is to discuss the topic, analyze the challenges and present them through media products: press, radio and video. 42 young people from Bulgaria, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Romania will take part in the project with an interest in the project and its activities. Some of them are exploring the EU's challenges, and in particular the events that have taken place in recent years with their positives and negatives for society and the EU as a whole. In the implementation of the main activities are provided workshops, in which the young people get acquainted with the term ""media literacy"", media types. They will discuss the challenges of the EU, meet with PR and radio host to discuss how to produce a successful media product. An open exhibition with photos of the participants prepared before the main project activities will be prepared and will reflect their personal views on the EU's challenges. The objectives of the planned activities are: intercultural dialogue in a safe environment, exploring new cultures, enhancing media literacy and activating active European citizenship, enhancing personal competencies. By fulfilling the objectives of the planned activities, we believe that we will achieve the objectives of the project, namely: youth to discuss topical issues of European citizenship, to realize that, despite cultural differences, they have the same values, become more tolerant to the different, with the manifestations of racism, discrimination and xenophobia, to be active Europeans involved in building civil society, but in a way more accessible to them, namely through the media. Methods that will be used in the project are energy jets, ice brewing games, role plays, discussions, application of theatrical techniques, etc."

The project is a 17-month initiative, carried out jointly and coordinated by 5 youth non-profit and non-governmental entities from 5 countries of the European Union (Greece, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, and Spain) with a long history in working with young people at international level and with an outstanding level of experience and knowledge in the use of non-regulated and participatory methodologies. The main aim of this project is to improve media literacy and thinking competences among youth workers and NGO leaders, to enable them and their peers and colleagues to promote, organize and implement new educational (social, cultural) activities to disseminate both competences, using new settings and formats and by the means of NFL and ICL methodology. To be capable to read and interpret the different media and to communicate in a positive, constructive and non-violent way (out of fear, hate, and discrimination), we need to understand not only the meaning, relevance and benefits of critical thinking but also the different types of thinking (lateral, logic, systematic, negative, positive), not only because they are used by the media, but also because thinking, reflection, and feedback are a basic element of any non-formal and intercultural learning process. General project objectives are:1. To develop a more holistic understanding of media literacy and thinking competences and its connection, as driving forces to build more inclusive, participatory, and peaceful societies, as part of the culture of peace and nonviolence and as a relevant source of lifelong learning.2. To promote non-formal and intercultural learning as a valid methodology for the recognition, development, and validation of both competences.3. To build the competences of the teams of each organization, including youth workers (managers, educators, journalists, volunteer leaders, multipliers), so that they can improve their work through their development, as a way to empower other young people, including young leaders, professionals, and individuals with fewer opportunities, who are victims of discrimination, hate speech and other forms of violence, taking place both online and offline. The project will have a positive impact on the 21 youth workers who will participate in international mobility activities (two meetings and one course), including the 5 national coordinators and members of the national teams responsible for carrying out the local activities. Throughout the project, each entity will interact with other entities (at least 4), with which it will meet, plan, and carry out joint activities (such as the preparation of multiplier events or follow-up actions). The project has positive impacts on the people who participate in the various activities (minimum 10 activities with the participation of at least 80 young individuals in total), inside of the promoter entities (35 in total), in a number of youth workers in the different cities and countries and in a significant number of public and private entities in each country participating in the 5 multiplier events (100 people at least in total).It will empower young people to be more respectful and empathetic when expressing themselves and their views, opinions, thoughts, and life experiences.

<< Objectives >>The project was created with the aim of promoting an approach to digitization capable of placing the issues of media literacy and emotional literacy on parallel tracks, in order to reduce the extent of phenomena such as cyberbullying and antisocial and discriminatory behaviour.The basic idea is to bring themes such as empathy and solidarity back to the center of the youth debate, encouraging paths and spaces of awareness that can help young people acquire a broader vision of the responsibilities connected to their virtual conduct, reversing the tendency towards de-responsibility associated with the use of social networks and digital media.Through non-formal education methodologies and peer-to-peer learning, we aim to create a safe and stimulating space that gives young people who have experienced cyberbullying and discriminatory experiences first-hand the opportunity to open up and start a constructive dialogue with their peers aimed at search for solutions and strategies useful for recognizing and preventing the appearance of given phenomena and degeneration.In view of the general purpose, the project sets the following objectives:- To promote the social and relational skills of the participants- Enabling young people to develop prosocial activities and behaviours- Develop the knowledge of young people on the topic of cyberbullying and discrimination- Create an environment capable of promoting non-formal learning and protected spaces that allow participants to express their point of view freely- Establish a dialogue capable of bringing out possible solutions and methods of prevention for the phenomena of discrimination and isolation- Increase the levels of awareness of young people on the correct use of digital devices, social networks, in order to prevent degenerative behaviors and addictions- Create a network formed by the participants that can develop over time by continuing to collect testimonials and ideas- Develop the participants' empathy through simulation and theatrical activities capable of broadening their vision and emotional perception- Produce sensitive changes in the communities of reference of the participants, bringing the themes and ideas addressed during the project and making them public and available.- Promote a path of self-determination of young people.- Identify behaviors that endorse bullying and cyberbullying, acquiring greater awareness of the effects of one's actions.<< Implementation >>The activity we have planned to implement is a youth exchange, which will be held in Leporano (TA) Italy, from 05/09/2023 to 14/09/2023.The young people who will participate are 42 and come from 7 European countries (Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Spain and Portugal), each national team is made up of 5 participants aged between 18 and 28 and a group leader which has no age limit.The participants have different profiles and do not have specific requirements, we have however privileged those who have suffered acts of discrimination and cyberbullying, valuing the questions of those who have expressed keen interest in the topic of the project.We will guarantee the participation of people experiencing situations of fewer opportunities linked to economic conditions, educational difficulties and belonging to discriminated cultural groups.<< Results >>The main impact will be on the participants, helping them understand and recognize the phenomenon of cyberbullying and acquire skills related to emotional education and virtual awareness that will allow them to actively oppose acts that can encourage discriminatory phenomena.In addition, participants will improve skills related to empathic listening and supportive collaboration.As regards the impact on the territories, the project will bring the issue of the fight against cyberbullying to the attention of political decision-makers, educational institutions and associations that will collaborate in the implementation of the project.This will make it possible to increase awareness-raising initiatives on the subject and induce political decision-makers to activate new measures and resources in order to make this submerged phenomenon emerge more fully, also initiating dialogue with families and structuring more far-sighted and organic actions.The organizations that form the partnership will acquire greater know-how on the topic of emotional intelligence and will obtain great visibility from the multiplier events and dissemination initiatives of the results obtained.