"<< Objectives >>Young people are now seen as active players in organisations or in community life. They should have the opportunity to express their needs and to find ways of satisfying them. Although it is undoubtedly a problem that young people are increasingly failing to vote in elections, there are some studies which indicate that participation in different forms may actually be on the increase, for example, pressure groups, civic initiatives, consultative organs, and so on. These forms of participation are just as important to the effective functioning of democracy as voter turnout at elections, if not more so. That’s why we see CIVIC MONITORING as a tool for active participation. Civic monitoring is monitoring led by citizens and civil society actors; process of public scrutiny of public interest issues and political and economic power center. Main aim of this project is to empower youth workers to use Civic Monitoring as a tool in order to support and motivate young people for active involvement through the following specific objectives: *to raise awareness of importance of active involvement*to understand the relation between lack of information and low level of participation among young people*to explore broader understanding of citizenship. To be able to provide young people these forms of participation, youth work is an essential part of it. Youth workers need to be educated and skilled to be able to monitor and educate young people on different forms of participation.<< Implementation >>Through the project we will carry out the activity of Mobility of Youth Workers) for 27 participants from a total of 9 countries: Croatia, Latvia, Georgia, Ukraine, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and Portugal. There will also be 2 trainers and 1 facilitator from the applicant organisation. The training will be held in the municipality of Žumberak (a member of LAG Vallis Colapis) from September 16-23 2022. under the assumption that the epidemiological situation allows it. During the activity, different methods of non-formal education will be used. Participants in the training course will be youth workers from partner organizations as their employees, members, volunteers or associates. There will be 3 participants from each country, who are already working with young people in local communities and who need more knowledge, skills and support in the field of active citizenship and also who need new tools for their everyday work. Participants will need to be of legal age (with no upper age limit) but in the case, we will have a 17-year-old motivated participant, we will accept him with the obligatory parental consent.People with fewer opportunities (with geographical and economic obstacles) will also participate in the activity. By participating in this project they will get the experience that they will be able to present to potential employers in the field of youth (civil society organisations), and will also be able to consider self-employment. After the training course is finished, participants will continue to cooperate with partner organisations in the field of CIVIC monitoring which will contribute to the sustainability of project results and strengthening of organisations in work with youth people.<< Results >>As the main result, we will present the CIVIC monitoring tool for youth workers and young people that they will be able to use in their daily work. Non-formal methods in the field of active participation for youth workers and young people, which we will present with the aim of strengthening the knowledge, skills and opportunities of young people’s participation. The result will also be the fact that through this project 27 youth workers will be trained and a total of 9 organizations that improved and strengthened their capacities in the CIVIC monitoring field.The impact of the project will not only remain on the participants, but the participants will use their acquired knowledge through exchange of experiences, tools, knowledge with other youth workers, and will also transfer what has been learned to young people, but also within their private relationships - partner, family, friends - to other people with whom they are in daily contact. Participants will be able to strengthen and increase the quality of learned tools and methods and improved competencies, the life of their own local community through:-transfer of acquired knowledge to other youth workers and young people - participants will hold a presentation of the project in their local community after the training, including the values that the project promotes. - practical use of the tool: measuring participation of young peopleAt the local level and regional level, the follow-up foresees the realization of local workshops and activities to empower youth workers in working with local youth. Competences gained and shared during the training course and after it, will support young people in their quest of active involvement or on becoming more self - aware of their strengths, capacities, and goals. The participants could decide to adopt the methods and tools to the local needs or they could create new tools taking inspiration from them.The project is also a great opportunity for many more stakeholders who can be involved in the project (other associations, individuals, joint activities, etc.). It should bring new energy for the community, i.e. new content in the community and it raises the possibility to start some new initiatives after this project on the principle (""this is a great idea, we can do that as well"").The desired effect at the national level is a greater influence on decision-making bodies, a membership in networks / associations dealing with inclusion, implementation of initiatives at the national level in accordance with the theme and tools of the project, participation in the development of strategies At the European level it will contribute to a greater opportunity to apply for new projects to the EU program and funds, to inclusion in international networks. It will raise the visibility of the project by publishing on the Erasmus + dissemination platform, the desired effect is that as many organizations as possible see our project and get acquainted with activities as well as to be their inspiration for further work.Besides the competences of participants, the project strives to strengthen capacities of every partner organisation and increase the visibility of partner organisation's work, which adds to the visibility of the whole civil society work. International projects are a window to the world (especially for the applicant organisation), while for partner local communities impact is expected through dissemination, promotion and local activities. Moreover, considering the profile and the experience obtained from the project’ fields by the vast majority of the partner organizations, the follow-up phase will be of extreme importance in our case because of the implementation of a new tool, Civic monitoring. This training course will improve the partnership between each partner and applicant organization, as well as among each other in order to create a stable partnership platform for implementing projects within the field of work of each organisation. As well as on the local level, it brings the opportunity for regional level stakeholders to be involved in the project."

At the Youth Exchange Manage your vote, which will take place in ?rnomelj (Slovenia) will participate 42 participants and group leaders from Slovenia, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia and Poland. The exchange will take place between 01 and 09 July 2015.Main theme of the project is the active citizenship and youth participation in the society. The aim of the project is to show to the youth, that their voice counts not only in the election time but also otherwise. They will get acquainted with the different practices in different environments and states and think about their applications in their own environment. They will produce video with the questions for the EU MPs and make seven local internet-Facebook campaigns for finding and promotion a certain random problematic issue in their own home environment.Project participants will be young people, which are aware of the meaning of the active citizenship and want to change their own environments for the better. Through the project they will get acquainted with the thinking of those people who were elected to decide in their name. The final goal of the project is to motivate the participants to act actively and promote active citizenship in their own home environment.

Awesome People, ideell ungdomsorganisation i Örebro, har ansökt för projektet ”PROJECTion:Boosting Competences of Youth Leaders” - en tvådelad utbildning för ungdomsledare där en utbildningsvecka äger rum i Sverige och en i Estland. Projektet syftar till att förbättra kvaliteten på unga ungdomsledares projektansökningar till Erasmus + genom att erbjuda ett utbildningsprogram för ungdomsledare att utveckla kompetenser och skapa ett starkt internationellt samarbete. Projektet kommer att samla 28 unga ungdomsledare från Sverige, Danmark, Spanien, Estland, Norge, Kroatien, Rumänien och Turkiet och kommer att ge deltagarna stöd i att gå från start till mål när det gäller att söka projekt och implementera dem. Målet är att skapa unga, kompetenta projektledare av ungdomsledare som tidigare inte har praktisk erfarenhet av att skriva projektansökningar eller leda projekt. Första delutbildningen handlar om att skriva projektansökan och skapa samarbete medan andra delutbildningen handlar om att slutföra ansökan och planera projektets genomförande.

"<< Objectives >>The idea for the project BOSS 2 came from everyday work with young people, but the implementation of the first such project in the Municipality of Draganić and Elementary School Draganić played a key role in developing this project idea. After the dissemination activities in which representatives and students of Karlovac and Zagreb County elementary schools, decision-makers from the County, Municipality and local associations and representatives of the County Youth Council participated, LAG Vallis Colapis recognized the need for such activities in their entire area.Although you can often read in the media or hear in the community that young people are apathetic and disinterested, our experience shows that young people want a stronger connection with the community and have a strong desire to act, but in a venue that is only theirs (school) and under conditions that they themselves choose, as well as carry out activities that have an immediate effect in the community.Inadequate implementation of civic education and non-inclusion of young people in the decision-making process are aggravating circumstances. Young people do not have relevant information and do not know in what ways they can get involved which leads to the fact that they are seen as generally uninterested. On top of all that, local governments do not implement participatory budgeting and thereby contribute to even greater alienation of youth from the local community, political participation and contribute to even greater passivity of youth.LAG Vallis Colapis recognizes its important role in involving young people in the decision-making process as early as elementary school, so that when they reach high school, they are more aware and strengthened to advocate their own ideas and understand democratic processes. Since young people want to be actively involved, but before that they need empowerment and ""coming to their territory"", we believe that the answer to the situation described above is the cooperation of educational institutions, local governments and the civil sector. In our case, these are Ozalj and Duga Resa, with whom we have long-term cooperation in working with young people, as well as primary schools from the aforementioned cities.In Duga Resa, Erasmus+ projects are implemented mainly by NGOs, but the elementary school ""Vladimir Nazor"" also has considerable experience in implementing KA1 and KA2 projects in the field of education.On the other hand, the City of Ozalj has never independently applied for or implemented Erasmus+ projects, but is regularly involved in LAG Vallis Colapis projects. Elementary school ""Slava Raškaj"" has no experience in independently implementing Erasmus+ projects, and here we can see an excellent opportunity for knowledge transfer between partners, but also with the municipality and elementary school from Draganić, which have already realized numerous ideas of students through a similar project.The implementation of participatory budgeting within the school will serve as an example of good practice at the micro level which can then be used at the macro level. In this way, the method of participatory budgeting, which is generally accepted in some cities, will gradually be introduced in smaller and rural towns. Young people will learn what it means to participate in decision-making, allocation of funds, implementation of ideas and responsibility on the model of participatory budgeting.Through the project, we will conduct workshops on Erasmus, Youthpass and key competencies for lifelong learning, budget analysis from the perspective of young people, implementation of participatory budgeting, simulations of the work of local government with reference to the EU level, workshops on communication and presentation skills, and miniproject management. Young people will thus acquire knowledge about the functioning of local government and the EU level, skills important for financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills through the development of ideas/mini projects.The goal of the project is to empower young people to actively participate in decision-making processes in the local community and encourage dialogue between young people and decision-makers through an innovative method of developing projects in schools that will improve democracy among students and strengthen the sense of responsibility and ownership of the mentioned projects.We will achieve the main goal through several specific goals:- Strengthening democratic skills among young people- Empowering young people to assess needs in micro-locations (in schools)- Strengthening financial, project, entrepreneurial, communication and presentation skills- Informing young people about the functioning of local governments and EU institutions<< Implementation >>We expect that 70 young people altogether, 6 decision makers and 5 local stakeholders will be directly involved in all activities.Workshops for students: Workshop on Erasmus+, Youthpass and active participation of young people, Simulation of the work of local government + EU level, Communication and presentation skills, Participatory budgeting (participation in budgeting), Mini project management. Workshops for students are conducted by youth workers from LAG Vallis Colapis. Workshops can be conducted physically or online. The workshops will be held in Ozalj and Duga Resa, and informal methods will be used (role playing, brainstorming, discussion, group work, presentation, simulation). The aim of the workshops is to improve the skills of young people in the area of ​​knowledge of the work of local government, EU institutions, responsibility and participation in decision-making, and to inform them about the opportunities offered by the Erasmus+ program and how young people can actively participate in society.Meetings with decision makers (meeting in the municipality, for example, participation in the city council, meetings with local stakeholders).The place of implementation is Ozalj and Duga Resa, and the implementation can be online or physically. The goal is to improve knowledge about the possibilities of youth participation in decision-making and local community development, and to connect youth and decision-makers.Development of students' ideas for which students seek funding with the mentorship of a mentor/youth worker. The place of implementation is Ozalj and Duga Resa. The goal is to improve project management skills, responsibility and civic competence. In this part, students will have the support of mentors-youth workers from LAG Vallis Colapis as external objective persons who will help them develop ideas. Given that these are young people from a very rural community who have never done anything similar, the support of a mentor is needed. Also, we expect a minimum of 10 student ideas, for which a certain amount of time is needed to develop the ideas according to the instructions.Selection and implementation of the best student idea chosen by the Student Jury. The goal is to raise awareness of the importance of student participation in decision-making.A study visit to Osijek and Ilok as examples of good practice in the implementation of civic education and active involvement of students in decision-making processes. The place of implementation is Osijek and Ilok, which were chosen because Osijek is an example of good practice in Croatia when it comes to public-civic partnership, and the primary school in Ilok has its own active volunteer club through which it regularly actively involves students in decision-making processes. The goal is to exchange examples of good practice, knowledge and skills through peer learning.Final conference on the possibilities of youth participation in rural areas. The place of implementation is Duga Resa. The goal is to expand the results of the project, gather important stakeholders in one place and establish the foundations for further work and development.Evaluation, reflection and dissemination. The evaluation will be carried out throughout the duration of the project. Reflection will be carried out every week, considering that learning outcomes are very important to us. At the beginning of the project, young people will create a learning map as well as a targeted personal action plan to which they will return in the last week of the project and see if they have met all their expectations. After each one individual activities will be evaluated and reflected on what has been learned in order to ensure learning progress and monitor learning outcomes.<< Results >>As a result, we will have selected the three best ideas per school that will be implemented, and at least two more per school that will be on the reserve list. The mentioned ideas will be published on the website of the project team and will be promoted at the conference.We expect the following effect:The effect on young people involved in the implementation of the project will be as follows:they will be better able to search for information that interests them about the work of the municipality, county and schoolthey will be more able to ask for what they want, that is, to report a problem they see in their communitythey will be more aware of democratic processes at the local, national and European level, which creates a prerequisite for active citizens one day and their active participation in democratic processesthey will be more familiar with informal learning methods, which will allow them easier access to democratic processesthey will get to know the work of different stakeholders and decision-makers, which after the end of the project will be useful for helping and supporting similar initiatives and activities.thanks to strengthened social, civic and personal competences, they will be able to work more easily to become active European citizens"

"<< Objectives >>According to a survey conducted in October 2016 by the Institute for Social Research on 1050 high school students, a significant number of students could be said to have prejudice, emotionally colored negative attitudes towards migrants. According to a survey of 10,000 young people in Croatia conducted in 2018/2019, (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation), 40% are concerned about social injustice, 61% are concerned about the number of immigrants/refugees. In terms of value, only every third respondent emphasizes the importance of human rights, and very few emphasize the importance of democracy, equality and the rule of law. Also, only 25% consider participation in civic activities/initiatives important. The above data suggest that young people will need to be prepared and trained for a productive and tolerant coexistence with other people.Needs assessment conducted in 2019 in the area of LAG Vallis Colapis and evaluation of project activities (especially within the Erasmus + program), youth and youth workers highlight the importance and need to educate youth workers in the field of inclusion (youth work, dealing with inclusion issues, applying inclusive project proposals, understanding the concept of inclusion), while young people state non-formal education as an important segment of learning about others and increasing tolerance and solidarity. They also state non-formal education as the only opportunity to meet people from different cultures. This is very important in the context of people with fewer opportunities (participants from rural areas and with economic difficulties). That's why we want to introduce an innovative tool for working with young people, John Rawls's Veil of Ignorance through which a person can very easily learn about the position of others and put themselves in ""their shoes."" The aim of the project team is to increase the knowledge for youth work with as many interactive and interesting tools as possible which young people find interesting and educational. Young people are the ones to work with through formal and non-formal learning in order to ensure a just society.The aim of the project is to increase the competences of youth workers in the field of social inclusion through the introduction of a new tool. The specific objectives of the project, which are in line with the objectives of the Erasmus+ program, are:- raise awareness of the problems of social inclusion that occur when working with young people- exchange experiences and realities of the participating countries- develop the knowledge, skills and abilities of young people needed to promote learning about social inclusion through the introduction of a new tool for youth work (professionalisation of youth work)- understand how to encourage and support young people to be more inclusive- raise the quality of youth work in the local / national and European context<< Activities >>Through the project we will carry out an activity of mobility of youth workers (training) which will be attended by participants from a total of 9 countries: Croatia, Armenia, Turkey, Latvia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Ukraine, Greece and Portugal. There will be 29 participants in total, of which 2 facilitators and 27 participants. The training will be held in the city of Duga Resa (member of LAG Vallis Colapis) from 2.11. to 8.11.2020. Participants in the training will be people who work with young people in partner organizations as their employees, members, volunteers or associates. Participants will need to be of legal age, and in case of an ambitious and motivated person who is 17 years old with a proven record of working with young people, we will accept him with providing a mandatory parental consent.People with fewer opportunities (with geographical and economic barriers), 15 of them, will also participate in the training. The goal of the training is to present a new tool for working with young people in the field of inclusion, John Rawls's ""Veil of Ignorance,""After the training we will conduct a dissemination where we will present the main results: a new tool and at least 3 developed project ideas.<< Impact >>The results of the training will be a new tool for working with young people in the field of inclusion ""Veil of ignorance"", at least 3 new project ideas developed, 27 youth wrokers trained and 9 organizations involved in the project through which they were strengthened.We expect the following impact:Organizations involved in the project:- Increased ability to work at EU / international level: improved management skills- enhanced cooperation with partners from other countries;- better quality of preparation,- an innovative and better way of working towards target groups- raising the qualifications of their members, volunteers and employees who participated in the project in project management- more effective action for the benefit of local communities- Better methods and practices for working with young people in order to actively involve young people and / or reach disadvantaged groups, etc.- Willingness to incorporate new methods into daily activitiesParticipants:- greater competences regarding their professional profile (teaching, training, youth work, etc.);- a better understanding of the practices, policies and systems in the education, training or work of young people in different countries;- Increased ability to initiate change- better quality of their work and activities for the benefit of young people and volunteers;- better understanding and responding to social, linguistic and cultural diversity;- increased ability to solve problems of disadvantaged persons;- increased support for and promotion of youth mobility activities- more opportunities for professional development and career advancement;- greater motivation and satisfaction in daily work.Other target groups, associations, youth workers:- greater awareness of the European project and the values ​​of the EU;- greater motivation to participate in future (formal / non-formal) education or training after a period of mobility abroad.- more active participation in society- a better understanding of inclusion issues"