<< Objectives >>This particular project was designed to equip youth workers with skills that they can use first of all in their personal life, and secondly to improve their social work and engagement with youngsters, specifically those with fewer opportunities.Being part of a community, having a sense of belonging contributes to our mental health as well as it fights against discrimination and enhances inclusion and social cohesion. We believe youth work can play an important role in these matters. This project aims to support youth workers with specific training and highlight the specific contribution youth work can make in these fields.The project will focus on developing practical and theoretical knowledge and skills in working with individuals and groups in the development of key competencies combating hate and finding ways to appreciate the richness of diversity. Youth workers and NGO workers working with vulnerable youngsters and minorities are in a great need of tools and skills to handle this situation, fostering intercultural understanding and dialogue. Main objectives of the project are:- To increase employability and participation of youth workers, develop their professional skills and increase their efficiency;- To give tools of coaching and supporting the youngsters in own communities;- To give tools of emphatic communication and conflict transformation for their daily life and work;- To raise participants' awareness and understanding of other cultures, countries, and religions;- To develop awareness about personal concepts and believes one has about diversity, different cultures and religions and habitual ways to communicate and to react to the conflict;- To stimulate the self-development process of the participants;- To equip youth workers and trainers with knowledge and tools for dialogue, conflict transformation and creating connection;- To develop training skills, communication skills, and organizational skills;- To gain insight about refugees’ life and experience in working with refugees by implementing workshops for them;- To gain theoretical and practical knowledge of how to build a workshop and debrief it, how to work with migrants;- To develop creativity and international collaboration;- To get intercultural experience by meeting with the representatives of different countries, cultures, backgrounds, religions, practice tolerance and break stereotypes & prejudices;- To build partnership and future cooperation on the basis of this project under Erasmus+ and improve the quality of local and international youth work.<< Implementation >>As a youth worker, the only “tool” participants will work with on a daily basis is yo. Therefore it is important we develop and challenge ourselves to be our best version possible. The first stage in Georgia will mostly focus on youth workers’ personal development as we will use different experiential methods of personal development and coaching to strengthen youth workers’ self-knowledge, self-empathy and coaching skills. In order to be there for the other, we have to stand strong ourselves. Through developing ourselves, we also develop our organizations, the quality of youth work, and humanity as a whole. The second stage in Latvia will dive deeper into the topics of empathic communication, conflict management, peace building and inclusion, contributing to social cohesion. During the whole project cycle we will put extra focus on working with and coaching youngsters with fewer opportunities as well as inclusion of young refugees & migrants in our organizations’ activities. Intercultural understanding and cooperation among organizations will be fostered and stimulated throughout both stages. Processes started during the first stage will be continued during the second stage, therefore it is important for participants to take part in both stages.The project will bring together 29 participants from Greece, Italy, Georgia, Latvia, Armenia, Romania. We have decided to make this a two-stage project in order to offer gradual development of skills. The first training course will take place in Bakuriani, Georgia, between 20-28 September, 2022, while the second stage will take place in Plavnas, Drustu Pagasts,Latvia between 20 - 28 November, 2022.The general profile of the participants is following: - Resident in the country of their sending/receiving organization; - Age 20+;- Balanced gender;- Having at the least basic level of English language;- Those, who are working directly with youngsters and are motivated to support their mental wellbeing and personal development;- Those working with or willing to involve in their activities youngsters with different cultural backgrounds;- Priority will be given to participants that experience challenges regarding the topic (e.g. communication, coaching, conflict resolution) and those with follow-up ideas;- Readiness and availability to involve in the project actively and dedicate time and effort to it;- Newcomers in Erasmus+ programme are highly welcomed.<< Results >>- On participants’ professional and personal development: The training will improve the participants’ professional skills as trainers, youth workers, youth leaders in empathic communication, conflict management, coaching, inclusion, inter-cultural dialogue and diversity. In addition, the project will foster personal development to strengthen participants as individuals but also as more conscious citizens of Europe, and enhance their knowledge of other European countries and cultures. They will also be skilled to support youngsters in their communities, thus having a bigger impact in their job which will also add to their self-esteem and quality of the work they are doing.- On participants’ organizations: The participants will bring back newly gained experience and skills from the training courses. This will directly improve the quality of the projects the respective organization is implementing and consequently contributing to an impact on the organizational level. The project also focuses on the inclusion of refugees and migrants in youth work, which will enrich the participating organizations and foster inclusion on local and international levels. The organizations will also benefit from the development of their youth workers in coaching as they will be able to adequately coach and support the youngsters in their society, coping with the aftermath of the pandemic.- On participants’ home communities: Each participant will bring the multiplying effect not only to their organization but also to their social circle – family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and local media. In this way, the main objectives and results of the TC will further spread. In addition, more people will be encouraged to become socially engaged and informed about youth and youth activities and how EU can support these projects. We will encourage participants to hold public events after their return and inform the interested public about the project and the lessons learned from the TC. During the project, special sessions will be provided for brainstorming and creating follow-up activities on local and international level.- On youth work in general: As regards to following up, the project provides a framework in which the participants will have a chance to meet people with similar interests and organizations with similar agenda and missions, which means that future partnerships are very likely to be established. In addition, we strongly believe in the great benefits of a network based on personal connections and with the guiding principles of tolerance, friendship, and understanding. In order to give the envisaged network a good start, sessions on project planning are part of the training course.

Las cuestiones relacionadas con el género desafían el diálogo intercultural de muchas maneras diferentes, a nivel nacional e internacional. La representación y las prácticas en torno al género se originan en las relaciones sociales que incluyen las de clase, religión y origen étnico. Los roles de género deben construirse no como una barrera sino todo lo contrario, deben reconocerse como una categoría que conecta a diferentes miembros de la sociedad, con construcciones, ideas y creencias físicas y mentales específicas. La educación debe trabajar para la comprensión intercultural, abordando los estereotipos tradicionales sobre los roles de hombres y mujeres, y todas las fuentes de prejuicios y discriminación. Obtener la igualdad de género significa obtener un logro completo del potencial de cada individuo y debe ser una parte integral de las sociedades modernas, democráticas e inclusivas.En la Europa actual, el trabajo con los jóvenes enfrenta nuevos desafíos debido a los importantes flujos migratorios: primero, la integración de personas con diferentes antecedentes culturales en la sociedad y, por lo tanto, el fomento de tal integración a través de un proceso capaz de compartir e incluir los valores europeos en las nuevas generaciones. Los temas relacionados con el género a menudo son un tema delicado que se debe enfrentar cuando se trabaja con migrantes, refugiados o personas con diferentes antecedentes culturales. El proyecto “Identit[ies]” tuvo como objetivo desarrollar el entendimiento de los trabajadores / formadores juveniles de la interseccionalidad de las identidades y las relaciones entre género y cultura para incluir y abordar las cuestiones de género de manera eficiente cuando se trabaja con jóvenes en contextos con una dimensión intercultural. Para comprender completamente la identidad de uno, debemos acercarnos a cada elemento de una persona como algo inextricablemente vinculado con los demás. La superposición o intersección de las identidades sociales y personales está fuertemente influenciada por aspectos culturales, y la tradición a veces puede reproducir formas de opresión o discriminación.Durante la cooperación técnica, exploramos junto con los participantes el papel de la cultura en cuestiones relacionadas con el género y el papel de estas en el aprendizaje intercultural. Uno de los propósitos principales de este Curso de Formación fue descubrir cómo las percepciones y roles de género están interrelacionados con nuestra identidad cultural y fomentar su mejor comprensión, así como desarrollar las competencias de los trabajadores juveniles para abordar tales asuntos cuando se trabaja con jóvenes en el marco de la Educación y promoción de los Derechos Humanos. Los Derechos Humanos están en el centro de los valores europeos, la paz y la democracia, y la EDH con los jóvenes tiene un potencial increíble para contribuir al desarrollo de una ciudadanía europea basada en el respeto y la tolerancia, evitando la radicalización y la polarización de los jóvenes con antecedentes multiculturales. Las actividades implementadas dentro del proyecto “Identit[ies]” apuntaron a satisfacer las necesidades de los trabajadores juveniles en cuanto a enfoques, competencias y habilidades para abordar cuestiones de género en situaciones multiculturales y con jóvenes con diferentes antecedentes culturales, para promover una cultura basada en la igualdad y el respeto a la diversidad.

NOBODY (NO Borders Divide Youth) is the name of the collective project created by the teams and all the components of three services of the Municipality of Cremona: the Local Youth Plan, with coordination and support function, the Projects and Resources Office and the Comic Center Andrea Pazienza headquarters of the activities, three sending organizations from Armenia, Egypt and Lithuania and the three volunteers from the countries indicated. The project, which lasted 12 months, was hosted in the city of Cremona, and had as its main objectives: the development and support of youth participation and inclusion activities, active citizenship, integration and recognition of rights fundamentals of peoples, the realization of public events and manifestations, the realization of the artistic expressive paths of comics and the communication and information on the main European programs for young people with particular attention to the dimension of international mobility as a useful experience for learning and enrichment of knowledge, skills and even professional skills.The project used non-formal learning methods and tools and was carried out in working groups where it was possible to experience the dimension of coworking with professionals with different skills and experiences (communication, design, expressiveness, training, orientation and counseling, foreign languages , peer to peer work etc.) and with other young people in service at all locations (volunteers of the National Civil Service, Youth Guarantee, Civic Lever and new Universal Civil Service).The volunteers also had the objective of making known and deepening customs and specific traits of their countries of origin to encourage integration and promote the development of citizenship and the European and Extra-European dimension. The target audience of the project were the city's youth population (young people aged 6 to 29), services, offices, educational agencies, formal and non-formal associations that are part of the network of the Municipality of Cremona and with which the same operates continuously in the sector of projects and concrete activities for young people and their adult world of reference (schools, private social, families). During all the acitivities were contacted and involved more than 800 youth (including migrants and asylum seekers), 200 adults, 8 schools, 12 teachers, 10 associations and 15 youth workers.

"The Montessorischool Würzburg and the Kindergarten Elisabethenheim , that were involved in the EVS since years until now, ,went on with the ESC through the cooperation with IN VIA , as the coordinating organisation. They hosted again volunteers and applied the project : ""Volunteering goes on with ESC"". The volunteers came from Armenia, Estonia, Turkey and Luxembourg. The planed volunteer from spain cancelled before the pproject started and we did not restock the placement. The partner ship with the sending organisations from Turkey and Estonia were new, iwith Armenia and Luxemburg the partnership existes already. The project activities started in September with the beginn of the new school year in Bawaria and took 11 or 12 month. The aim of the project was to involve young people from other countries in kindergarden- the school everyday live and to open everybody in an intercultural opening prozess for the countries, cultures of the hosted volunteers and the host country. Through this ""opening prozesses"", everybody benefited, Through the complementary activities, radical and fundalism attitudes were prevented. , and the discussion about the increasing racism in Germany and Europe was encouraged . In both organisations the volunteers will experience an inclusive projection, that is not only focusing disabled people but can be realised along all ""diversity concious"" attitudes. The volunteers had the possibilitiy to support projects in the ""Freispiel"", ""Freiarbeit "" in the lessons or to offer own ( small) projects. Although there they can brought in their abilities and interrests. The volunteers were part of the staff and experience a kindergarden and a reformpaedagogical school with another paedagogic where the pupils are involved in all important decisions through class conferences, panel work or the ""4 column modell"". Regular meetings with the volunteers supporting team was a fixed part of the project and give the chance to reflect the leraning process in regard to a occupational career through the EVS."

"<< Objectives >>„We don’t need no Education” is an opportunity for young people to come to Poland and to get involved in the discussion about education, at the same time developing their sense of criticism and entrepreneurship. More so we want youth to have their own voice and their opinion heard on the matter, something that we believe still doesn’t happen so often. Education is a topic that touches young people’s lives and for such it is important to hear their saying on that.Why is it important to speak about Education? Do we need it?We are seeing radical ideologies coming to the forefront again, youngsters being influenced by hate speeches and following them, other ones dropping out of school for some reason or being denied access to school at all, which still happens to more than 200 million children and teenagers around the world.The workshops and activities planned aim at this: to discuss the topic, have young people’s own say and challenge them on their sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, their sense of critic and own opinion, while spreading awareness on subjects that, direct or indirectly, are entwined with education in society: inclusion, poverty, discrimination, policies making, among others.The participants are invited to be creative, share their thoughts on the activities and engage in constructive discussions with other youngsters who might come from different backgrounds, such religious or economic ones other than the cultural.Here are some of the objectives of the project:•Engaging youngsters in the discussion and encourage them into being part of decisions making.•Empower young people through self-esteem and critical thinking; •Promote an inclusive education, regardless of the background of the youngster.•Challenge participants into creating public campaigns and exhibitions about education at the same time promoting teamwork and organizational skills.•Share and exchange cultural treats and learn more about people across Europe.•Increase the motivation of young people to be part of future projects of formal/non formal education.All of this while having the chance of knowing Bystrzyca Kłodzka, a town of about 10000 inhabitants located in a rural area in the South-West of Poland just few kilometres away from Czech Republic. The region is famous for its mountains, such the black mountains and the Table Mountains, and for its beautiful nature and surprising History.<< Activities >>The youth exchange project ""We don't need no Education"" will take place from 13 to 18 of October 2019 in Bystrzyca Kłodzka and will involve young people, 15 to 18 years old, coming from Poland, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Greece, Kosovo, Armenia and Georgia, with groups formed by 4 participants plus 1 leader, making a total of 40 people. Our project defends equal opportunities for youngsters, thus no young person will be deferred due to gender, origin, religious beliefs, economic situation, sexual orientation or education level.During the project youngsters will be involved in activities, such as:- Integration games and energizers, which have the purpose to create the team spirit with the group and bringing them together.- Debate, to develop critical thinking of the youngsters and their sense of argumentation as at the same time, improving their public speaking.- Street campaign and exhibition, as to develop creativity thinking and sense of initiative and entrepreneurship.- Activities of role play, which will allow youngsters to have a different perspective of the world, by putting themselves in ""another's shoes"".- Writing of a manifest, empowering youngsters by giving them the opportunity to be heard about matters that are important to them.Besides this, the youngsters will also take part in intercultural evenings which also have the aim of promoting cultural awareness and breaking barriers of prejudice or stereotypes. All the activities in our project are linked to the objective of promoting education, as a tool for social inclusion and tolerance. At the same time, these activities will be promoting the values of Erasmus plus - during the activities connected to the program or the youthpass- and the values of Europe.<< Impact >>By taking part on ""We don’t need no Education”, the involved people of 8 countries will gain and improve knowledge and important skills, not only for them as individuals, but also to the organizations and - through them- other youngsters and the society.These are the results we want to accomplish:- Cultural awareness, through the contact with youngsters from across Europe and participating in cultural evenings.- Team work, by taking part in the workshops and group activities;- Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship,- Sense of inclusion and empathy, by working together with people from different backgrounds, but also by taking part in activities from which they can see different realities around the world.- Sense of creativity;- Public speech and sharing opinion. Every activity planned involve some discussion and exchanging of ideas, which will make that at every point of the activities, since their built, participants will be encouraged to give their opinion and speak in front of the group.- Sense of criticism by learning how to listen and respect each other’s opinions while at the same time standing by their own and learning how to argument;- Improved communication skills and language skills among the 40 participants, not only in english, but also on the languages of the 8 participating countries;- Open perspectives and opportunities in terms of different educational paths for 40 youngsters participating in the project.“We don’t need no Education!” was thoroughly planned to not only give youngsters some tools and skills which can be important for the future but at the same time to raise awareness to human and social behaviours, as Education is much more than the formal knowledge acquired.Plus, the project will also have impact on the broader knowledge about the programme Erasmus +, Youthpass and its 8 key competences and most of all, the values of EU."