Spice up your life - Lapua, Finland, 11th - 18th October 2014Spice up your life is a weeklong health-/art-/media-themed youth exchange which takes place in the centre of Lapua, a small city in western Finland.24 youngsters between 15 and 18 years and 6 group leaders from Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Italy , Czech Republic and Spain will participate in the project. The prorgamme will be composed of workshops, activities, games and study trips through which the participants will learn about aspects of a healthy lifestye, like food and sports, about art and media. Therefore methods such as non-formal learning and learning by doing are used. Examples are the creation of a wallpainting in the youth house of Lapua, a visit in the cultural centre of Seinäjoki which is a neighbouring city of Lapua, a lesson in writing and photography provided by a journalist, trying out sports from different countries and preparing a healthy dinner together. Through cooperation during the workshops, playing together and particularly through international evenings taking place in the end of each day, the participants will learn about each others' cultures. By publishing the outcomes of the youth exchange and by organising a flashmob in the centre of Lapua the youngsters will get in touch with the local people and make the project visible to everybody. The long-term goal of the youth exchange ist to motivate the participants as well as the youngsters of their hometowns to lead a healthier lifestyle, to become more active citizens and to be more open for multiculturalism.

"<< Objectives >>Our project Culturally (y)ours, is aimed at developing and improving the intercultural competences of youth workers, youth leaders in order to become able to prepare, run and evaluate high quality youth work activities according to the principles of intercultural education. We live in multicultural, cross-cultural and intercultural societies. Our local communities are not homogeneous anymore thanks to the free European mobility, the open borders and markets for European citizens, and hosting refugees and migrants from other parts of the world. It is not all the time easy to handle intercultural challenges, to understand the communication codes of different culturality young people, to treat appropriately diverse values, norms and schemes on intercultural behaviours, to face with stereotypes and prejudices coming from young people towards each other without really knowing what they are afraid of and why they become more and more xenophobic. Feeling in our skins, we need to improve our youth work competences through intercultural education in order to be able offering such types of youth work activities locally and European level where young people with different cultural background can cooperate together and handle their cultural diversity as added value of their common activities. General objectives of the project is to train youth workers, youth leaders to be able to work with different culturality young people, e.g. refugees, migrants, foreign kids or young people coming home from other countries and build up a successful intercultural team locally and European level. To recognise stereotypes, prejudices and prevent or stop social stigmatization of young people with different cultural background. By using appropriate intercultural communication, being able to understand the communication and behavioral norms, schemes and forms of young people with different cultural background.<< Activities >>We will host 33 Youth workers. They come from 14 organizations that work with youngs, from 14 EU countries. ""H2O""-Associação de Jovens de Arrouquelas – Portugal; Stowarzyszenie Inicjatyw Regionalnych – Polónia; SEIKLEJATE VENNASKOND – Estónia; Unique projects – Lituânia;STUDIO PROGETTO SOCIETA COOPERATIVASOCIALE – Itália; Comité de Liaison Diagonal France – França; Active Youth – Malta; JUGEND, BILDUNG UND KULTUR EV – Alemanha; YOPA - FIATALOK AZ ÁLLAMPOLGÁRI RÉSZVÉTELÉRT KÖZHASZNÚ EGYESÜLET – Hungria; Udrugagluhih i nagluhih Nova Gradiska – Croácia; Dare to take your chance – Roménia; Rock Solid Foundation for International youth work – Holanda; ANAZITITES THEATROU – Grécia; MOMENTUM WORLD CIC - Reino Unido.Youth leaders who directly work with young people with different cultural backgrounds e.g. refugees, migrants, foreign kids, young people coming home from other countries, minorities, Roma young people, etc. and who have already run at least one international youth project experience, preferably youth exchange, or were already group leaders in youth exchange. We apply for one activity entitled “Cultirally (y)ours” – training course on intercultural competence development of youth workers, youth leaders in order to run local youth work activities and youth exchanges with involvement of refugees, migrants and foreign young people at 3 - 10 Abril 2020, Rio Major, Portugal. The course is strongly based on experiential learning (learning by doing), with adequate time allocated for debriefing and reflection throughout the whole program as the process will be highly personal and aim for attitudinal changes therefore the reflection is very important part of the process (as the educational team is well aware of). Generally, the working methods will be rather non-formal and participative. Methods planned to use e.g. individual work, pair work, organisational work, mixed group work, field activity, light theatre method, theatre of oppressed, Dixit card exercise, montages, interviews, statutes, debate, aquarium discussion.<< Impact >>Suggestions how cooperative learning techniques can be used within youth work context in order to foster tolerance, empathy, acceptance, teamwork, emotional intelligence and language skills, etc. within youth work activities among local young people and refugees, migrants, foreign kids and young people coming home from other countries and support them becoming team members and benefitting from their differences for the sake of themselves and for the team. Roles and responsibilities of youth workers regarding to adapting intercultural education in daily youth work activities based on different target groups e.g. local young people and refugees or migrants or foreign kids or young people coming home from other countries. Montages and lists of possible cultural challenges of working in culturally different teams and its’ prevention strategies. List of possible intercultural challenges in intercultural teamwork among young people and how to prevent or handle these by youth work context. The list of intercultural competences of youth workers and explanation of knowledge, skills and attitude what can be developed or improved. Tips and hints on techniques and methods how as youth workers we can support group dynamic process of intercultural teams locally and European level."

<< Objectives >>The project will explore how to use Music, Dance, Reciprocal Maieutic Approach and New Media within youth work context by youth workers to foster young artists from hard to reach disadvantaged backgrounds self-confidence, self-esteem and enrich their competences, making them more competitive in the labour market. It aims to improve youth work methods and competences of youth workers in order to help young people with fewer opportunities to scale up their potential and improve their employability as artists, musicians, dancers, etc. For this reason, it includes various methods and practical hands on activities to take action using music and dance in new and innovative ways and employing new media into diffusing their creations in youth work context. The project also intends to empower youth workers on behalf of civil and youth organisations, developing new working methods, tools and materials based on non-formal education and experimenting music and dance as educational pedagogical tools.The project aims to promote transnational creative collaboration between the different countries, targeting young artists with fewer opportunities, so as to increase their competences and participation in society. It aims particularly to improve young artists’ self-esteem and sense of belonging to society, increasing their confidence promoting music and dance as an attractive asset and transforming their interest in music and dance into employability skills. The project will also enhance young artists competence to work on a transnational level by providing them with opportunities to engage in international exchanges and transnational creative collaborations. By showcasing their work through short movie in social media the project will facilitate their access to international artistic markets.Objectives of the project:•training 43 participants in intercultural learning and enhancing their employability skills through music and dance with RMA as non-formal learning educational tools within youth work context;•developing 600 young people’ competences through intercultural dialogue and enhancing their employability skills using music and dance with RMA via local musical stories youth events;•exploring the opportunities and challenges of creative industries in the 10 participating countries and building cross sectorial cooperation between youth sector and creative industry;•increasing the employability of 60 young people with cultural difference as artists in local and international level via recording and online promotion through musical stories;•creating 10 musical stories in local level per partner by The Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA) based on the mixture of traditional and modern music and to be showcased at local youth events, local workshops and upload to the social media recorded for wider audience;•editing Educational Manual on the Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA) in arts like music within youth work activities for youth workers, youth leaders, cultural and art educators working with disadvantage young people in daily basis;•Inventing 12 project ideas according to Erasmus+ programme on promote intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity and enhancing employability of young people through music and dance with RMA; •strengthening partnerships among 10 organisations and associated partners from Romania, Hungary, , UK, Turkey, Estonia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta, LithuaniaBased on the results of the local researches, as consortium we had defined our common objectives and possible solutions for it through this project proposal such as-Raising young people’ competitiveness and fostering their intercultural exchanges through learning and applying ICT and new media skills to music in our youth work;-Boosting young people employability and self-confidence through using their music traditions to discover their roots as a starting point for their personal and professional development and active participation in society. << Activities >>We apply for one activity entitled “Find you(th)r creativity!” – training course on music, RMA and social media as non-formal educational tools and approaches in order to improve self-confidence and self – esteem of young people with cultural differences and supporting their employability will be held at 6 -13 September 2019 in Zalau, Romania. Themes of the training course will be such as exploring how to use Music, Reciprocal Maieutic Approach and New Media as educational tools and methods of youth work to foster self-confidence and self-esteem of young people with cultural differences and enrich their competences in order to make them more competitive in the labour market. The overall aim of the project is to train youth workers, youth leaders for supporting young people with cultural differences scaling up their potential and employability through the Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA). For this reason, sharing and exploring various methods and practical activities to take action using music in new and innovative ways and employing new media as ICT into diffusing their creations. Being able to support self-confidence and self – esteem of young people with cultural differences through music and RMA in order to enter into the labour market such as creative industry. Learning objectives of the training course are:-To share and explore youth work methods that aims particularly at growing young people with cultural differences’ self-esteem and feeling of belonging to society, increasing the confidence promoting music as an attractive asset and transforming their interest in music into employability skills;-To empower youth workers, youth leaders and youth work organisations developing new working methods, tools and materials based on non-formal education and experimenting music as an educational pedagogical tool.-To being capable for boosting young people with cultural differences’ employability and self – confidence by using their own music traditions to discover their roots as a starting point for their professional and personal development and active participation in their societies;-To initiate local and European youth projects through music and RMA according to the proposals of Erasmus+ programme;-To establish a European platform for cooperation among youth organisations in order to promote cultural heritage through music and boosting employment opportunities of young people with cultural differences in the creative sector. The project targets 43 youth workers, youth leaders above 18 years old and there will be not upper age limit. Youth workers, youth leaders who can benefit more from this project and above all can act as real multipliers of the knowledge and competences they will gain. Their target groups are young people with cultural differences e.g. minorities, Roma, refugees, migrants, unemployed, rural youth, all mixture of these. Our participants have to work with young people in daily basis, having organisations support, priorities will be given to the staff and volunteers of our partners, and willing to use music as non-formal learning tools with Reciprocal Maieutic Approach. << Impact >>They strengthen the partnership among participants and between partner organisations as establishing a European multipliers’ Network on cultural diversity through music as non-formal learning tool with RMA for the next 3 years with 10 partner organisations. They will support and run at least 10 musical stories in local level per partner by The Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA) based on the mixture of traditional and modern music and to be showcased at local youth events, local workshops and upload to the social media recorded for wider audience. It will reach approx. 2000 – 3000 young people/partners. They will develop at least 600 young people’ competences through intercultural dialogue and enhancing their employability skills using music and dance with RMA via local musical stories youth events and increasing the employability of 60 young people with cultural difference as artists in local and international level via recording and online promotion through musical stories.They will build cross sectorial cooperation between youth sector and creative industry such as music schools, D.J. studios, festival organisers, etc. They will initiate and invent at least 12 youth exchanges on promoting intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity and enhancing employability of young people through music and dance with RMA supported by Erasmus+ programme in the next 3 years as outcomes of this project. Approx. 6000 young people will be reached by these projects in European level. Specifically:Asociatia Consiliul Consultativ al Tinerilor din Salaj, RO will be able to use traditional and modern music as non-formal learning tools and practice the Maieutic Circle. Területfejlesztők a Vidékért Egyesület - Hungary: will put the meaning of Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA) into their youth work practiceBeat Bazaar Projects Limited – UK will use musical methodologies related to Reciprocal Maieutic Approach based on the needs of their target group as culturally different young people. Gençlik ve Değişim Derneği GEDED – Turkey will create musical stories with for and by culturally different young people in order to express feelings, thoughts, opinions on hot issues.Avatud Ühiskond MTÜ – Estonia will empower active participation of their young people through music as non-formal educational tool with RMA.Ticket2Europe – Spain will promote cultural diversity in the local community through music as non-formal educational tool with RMA.Hellenic Youth Participation (HYP) – Greece will practice music as non-formal learning tool with RMA on enhancing intercultural learning among local young people. STUDIO PROGETTO Soc. Coop. Soc. – Italy will record music with basic equipment but having it as good quality and spread it via social media as employability tool for young people with musical talents.Active Youth – Malta will support employability of young people through musical stories techniques. Innovation Office – Lithuania will suggest several examples for Employability Action Plan through musical talents of young people.Educational Manual on the Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA) in arts like music within youth work activities for youth workers, youth leaders, cultural and art educators working with disadvantage young people in daily basis will aim at raising awareness about the topic and to help youth workers, youth leaders and their target groups such as young people all over Europe to have a proactive role towards culturally diverse young people and it will support to promote their cultures, celebrating cultural diversity, supporting intercultural dialogue and fostering their employability through improving their transversal skills. The Educational Manual will be available for all civil society actors in Europe to utilize and or build further on. This will be uploaded into SALTO Training Tools and reach approx. 10.000 youth workers, youth leaders, teachers, social workers, etc. Furthermore, all partners will spread it into their webpages, facebook pages, social networks, etc. and will reach approx. 100 – 200 youth workers, youth leaders teachers, social workers, etc. locally and European level.The musical stories will be created during the training will be recorded and as a short movie, it will be uploaded to youtube and spread via facebook, vimeo, instagramm and pinterest as a good example how music as non-formal learning tool with RMA can be adapted into youth work practice. This will reach youth workers, youth leaders and cultural and art educators all over Europe and young people who is interested in music. It will be offered to members of creative industry as well who is looking for talented young people. This will be measured by the numbers and statistics of downloading and visitors.

"In adolescence some experimentating behaviors can be considered as normal and the need to test their own limits. These considerations are amplified by the complex contemporary social settings in which adult reference points don't appear to emerge as solid and relations in formal contexts are mostly seen as competitions rather than an opportunity for growth. This mean a high social pressure, characterized by fears of judgment, inadequacy and identity difficulties, linked to a will to seek immediate fulfillment of needs. In this context, substances and behaviors that develop dependencies (legal and non legal) provide an easy and immediate opportunity to solve relational difficulties and poor consideration and constitute one of the major obstacles to a person's harmonious growth, Especially at a young age. For these reasons, Studio Progetto Social Cooperative, as a territorial entity dealing with services for youth population, in connection with the ""European Drugs Report 2016"", proposed to its European network of partners to promote a youth exchange that encourage a debate centered on the issue of dependencies. The partners of this proposal have therefore built up a network around the topic, since they believe that the analysis of the reasons of abusive attitudes can hold important elements of positivity and potential, particularly if valued in their evolutionary characteristics. The ""killing"" of false identity and the understanding of personal weakness have been recognized by all organizations as key actions in the path to prevention of abuses, especially if cultivated in constructive experimentation and encounter with other people, that is the context of the Youth Exchange Addicted. The project activities will involve young people from seven European countries: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland. There will be a total of 37 participants who will investigate alternative and constructive measures to counter the spread of dependencies."

<< Objectives >>READY, STEADY, GO! TIME TO PLAY is a Youth Exchange within the frame of Erasmus + related to cooperation, social skills and conflict resolutions through games. This project wants to promote the values of “Fair Play”, cooperation, trust and healthy habits, in a close, experiential, motivational and personal way.During 9 days young people from 5 European countries will work together to develop different social skills through cooperative learning. Usually, competitions throws games hide all the benefits that it has, like communication skills, cooperative work…That is why we want to practice tools that increase our critical awareness in this regard and promote positive values that do so. Use the games as an ally and not as an enemy. All along the project we will use different table and traditional games outdoor and indoor, activities with the population planned by the participants. We also will talk about how to prevent addictive behaviours and develop the critical thinking about games. Through these activities we will give a healthy approach about the topic and we will learn the evolution of games and how important games were, are and they will be. During cooperative learning, you can experience and recognise how good to be a member of a diverse group, taking responsibility for each others, supporting each others, enjoying a group work, developing communication skills, to be committed, creative, motivated, etc. These skills are necessary nowadays to enter to the labour market and even to be happy and successful in our work and family lives.Indirectly we will work on other skills such as English technical communication in different games languages, the sense of initiative, the entrepreneurship, the civic skills, the creativity and many additional social skills.It´s also worth of mention the dynamization activities in the rural neighbourhoods led by the participants, in English or in their native languages.Among the expected results of the project we want to announce different ways and all its benefits, creating a small kit in different games with publicity and assessments that put into value the team qualities in terms of collaboration, because we really believe in the power of people to transform themselves and the world around them while they grow personally and professionally.Objectives:- To encourage the reflection and to stimulate the critical thinking about the most popular games.- To understand the meaning of Cooperative Learning- To share different ways of motivation of young people with fewer opportunities- To learn all the necessary tools for developing training activity programs that will improve the personal and the social skills of the participants. - To raise the awareness of healthy habits on games among young people in rural areas while broadening their knowledge of other games offer. The objectives of our project are in accordance with the objectives of Erasmus + and the Key Action 1(KA1). They intend to contribute to the improvement of the skills and competences of young people, to include those with less opportunities and special needs, to fully believe in the creativity of young people and their talent to change the world, to promote the impact of this project far beyond the participants´ profiles and to influence the rest of the society. All this while offering support in the exchange of good practice and friendly relationship between the organizations involved in this project.<< Activities >>The activities.With this project, we will practice a lot of ludic activities though active methodologies and from the non formal education. Games, where the participants could learn about cooperative learning, team work, respect, communication...Indirectly, we will work the coexistence with people from different cultures, the sense of initiative, the entrepreneurship, the civic skills, the creativity and many additional social skills.It´s also worth of mention the dynamization activities in the area led by the participants, in English. The profile of participants will be: young people interested in work with youth, in the future or present, using non formal education methodologies, or people who would like to learn new ways to teach and learn or share their experiences with youngsters of other nationalities. Each country will be represented by 4 young people (18 to 25 years old) and one leader (over 18 years old).Offer this opportunity to young people from rural areas is one of our priorities because we want to spread the knowledge and increase their opportunities for self-development.The ability to adapt to non-comfortable and shared space with more people will also be taken into consideration.Besides, to reach our goal in all aspects, we will ask our partner organization to pay attention to the gender balance in the selection of the group as well as the competences of the group leader. << Impact >>As a result of the project, we intend to create a dossier that serves as a summary and dissemination tool for the project and all the lessons learned in it. As well as a video as a visual resource of it. Also we will share the results created by the associated participants:-->Italy: They should create a video where the participant tell their experience-->Romania: They have to write a post for the social networks explaining the learning of the project-->Greece: they have to make an activity in their sending association to disseminate the learning of the project-->Hungary: they have to disseminate daily the activitie done. We intend to have a remarkable impact on the locality in particular with young people, so this project serves a means of dissmenating Erasmus + progrmas, and manages to mobilize the rural youth population. Also, with the participant themselves, we want to achieve (besides the skills and objetives of the project), the development of their communication skills, knowledge of other cultures and increase their critical spirit and entrepreneurial capacity.