We have found that young people with social, geographical and economic difficulties have fewer opportunities compared to their peers. The Be the Difference project aims to be an opportunity for 3 of these young people to have an volunteer experience in a country and culture different from their own, experiencing European mobility and its values. This project has become an added value to put them in the right way, diverting them from disruptive behaviors. We intend to promote the dissemination and integration of European values into a multicultural, inclusive, tolerant and non-discriminatory society. The idea appears from the need to motivate interculturality in the community of Ermesinde (and the partner entities), for the collaboration of young people in the 4 main areas of the project: Sport and Youth, Environment, Multimedia and Culture.It was intended: - Promote the knowledge of other cultures, foment the dialogue, intercultural and intergenerational learning, as well as dealing with difference; - To increase the skills, knowledge, attitudes and methods for the social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities (including refugees, asylum seekers or migrants) by improvement their personal development, involvement as a citizens active in society and employability in the European labor market; - Stimulating young people's critical thinking and initiative; - Aware the young people of the importance of volunteering; - Support the professional development of workers in training and youth sector by innovating and improving the quality training and youth work throughout Europe through non-formal and informal learning methods; - The promotion of Sport, Environment and Multimedia as educational and inclusion tools; - Foment the creativity with new methods and actions aimed at promoting good environmental practice; - Endow the young with new personal and professional abilities for the organization/participation in cultural events; - Encouraging the participation of young people in the democratic life of Europe; - Promote the mutual agreement of the young Europeans, contributing for the establishment of communication networks and partnerships. We have 3 young people motivated and versatile, with a taste for teamwork and some capacity for autonomy and communication. We had 3 girls: Beatriz (22 years old), Federica (24) and Sotiria (23). At the end of the project Emmanouil (30) arrived to replace Sotiria. All young people were interested in working with children and young people, sports, multimedia and environmental protection. Interested parties sent the updated CV and a letter of motivation. They are young people with fewer opportunities, with Beatriz having economic difficulties, Federica having geographical difficulties to live on an Island, Sotiria has social difficulties in terms of integration and socialization with her peers and Emmanouil has social difficulties because he is homosexual.The young people developed activities such as: - Summer Holiday Camps for children between 6 and 12 years old, giving know about the culture of the country of origin (Spain, Greece and Italy)- Promoting informal talks on European mobility and the experience of participating in Erasmus +; - Collaborate in the organization of the cultural activities that were part of JFE's annual activity plan to celebrate theme days (Senior Ride, Minis Concentration, Christmas Village, Carnival and Women's Day); - Collaborate with the coordinators of the environmental area in the environmental monitoring and management of the city; - Promote and collaborate in the organization of awareness campaigns, conferences and lectures on environmental conservation; - Develop sports activities in the community (Ermesinde Step by Step, Solidarity Walk and São Silvestre Race); - Produce graphic material (PWP, Videos, News) for local, national and European impact through its publication in social networks and other media within reach of the 4 organizations. We managed to get all those who related to the volunteers and who had no opportunity to leave the country, had direct contact to have access to some nuances of different cultures. We want to be (both organizations), at local level, the entity of reference in Erasmus +, able to answer to the requests of young people that want to experience one of these experiences, by promoting new opportunities for European mobility.The whole community (of the 4 organizations) was able to benefit from the service of young people, either through direct contact with them and through their contribution to the tasks to be done to improve the city and its inhabitants. With motivational video, we guarantee the possibility of reaching a large number of young people at national, European and international level, creating a global impact with the project, reaching a dimension capable of raising other similar projects, creating new partnerships and bringing new organizations closer together.

As a result of a previous Youth Exchange the participants identified a series of problem they are experiencing as youth. They identified that as youth they don’t have much say in what is happening in policy and especially those from small countries who feel that as a country they have no say in the policies of the EU. Not only do young people of these countries feel powerless when it comes to how their lives are affected by different policies but the crisis in the EU has affected their employment options and again they feel there is no solution for the problems, at least not from their hands. The project identified specific problems related to youth in the partner countries and looked at methods to overcome these problems in a uniform way that can be used across the EU. We looked at different solutions for problems like youth unemployment, education and methods to enhance skills and help young people become more employable and at the same time allow young people to be more active in their community and in the EU. We explored the true meaning of a unified EU and how important it is for each member and each citizen to work together for a stronger more unified EU.Each partner in the project identified problems specific to their country and also worked on solutions in helping young people and also in finding methods to bring the EU closer together to work together to be more unified to build a stronger more unified EU. We have also included Turkey in the project to give us an added element to the project as a candidate country to the EU allowing us to see the perspectives of young people outside of the EU and perhaps learning from their methods and also promoting the EU model to them. Once all the information was collected the groups of young people got together for the project activity to discuss all the issues in detail and work on solutions for these problems allowing for sharing of knowledge and cultural exchanges.There is a global crisis going on and the EU is equally affected by this crisis. Sadly, though many young people from different countries are feeling the effects of the crisis and many are beginning to lose hope in the EU system because they feel that they are excluded from the EU support system. Young people are unable to find employment, and mobility options are growing less and less and young people are losing hope in a unified Europe. This project gave hope to the young participants and more so to those who have learned from the outcomes of the project and have learned about amazing EU tools available to youth and also how the EU should work and how important their roles are in the EU.Our project looked at the crisis and the problems that young people are experiencing, we looked at the various tools the EU offers youth to overcome these difficult times. We asked the question of how the common currency benefitted us or has it caused problems? Is it really the right choice for all of us? How can we work together as youth of EU countries to make our EU work for us and help us achieve our goals?

Sports should be a part of every person’s life in some form or another, it forms part of a healthy lifestyle and helps people to develop many skills like cooperation, team playing, responsibility and a sense of belonging. Sadly, though sport is not always accessible to all people and even those involved in sports are so competitive that some even resort to substance abuse simply to stay on top. This youth exchange will look at sports from three perspectives; making sports accessible to everyone, keeping active to maintain a healthy lifestyle and allowing people to find employment in the field of sports. The youth exchange is made up of young people from various areas of each of the partner countries with more emphasis on young people who don’t have easy or free access to sport, and also including young people who have an interest in turning sports into a career. Young disadvantages people will also participate in this exchange to offer their insight on the subject to allow us to examine and develop new approaching to helping more young people to access sports and also for young people to follow careers in sports.The main issues to be covered in this exchange are access to sport by young people and evaluating the quality and quantity, the support offered to young people from school levels and the continued obstacles they face as they grow up. The second issue to be explored is the use of illegal substances in sports, evaluating why people feel the need to resort to such action and how we can overcome these problems. We will also look at sports or physical activities from the viewpoint of healthy lifestyles. Finally we will be looking at ways that young people can find employment in the field of sports, either by discovering gaps in the market or by creating jobs in the communities that need them.It is our hope to share good and bad practices between the partner countries and knowledge and experience and develop workable solutions to assist more young people to have equal access to sports, to allow them to incorporate at least one sporting activity into their daily lives and to be able to create jobs in the field of sports for young people. This exchange allowed us to learn about the importance of fair-play, working together and also the importance of sport as a part of our daily lives, not only as part of a healthy lifestyle, but that sport allows us to gain important skills and competences that increase our employability. We also looked at the importance of winning compared to the enjoyment of sport and saw that sometimes the drive to win overpowers the ideology of sport, this activity allowed us to now think of our actions and their impact before we do them.As a result of this project we feel that young people are now more eager to find opportunities to be involved in sport and to even go to their policy makers and stakeholders to ask for more facilities and open spaces so that we can easier access to opportunities.

The crisis in Europe has affected our youth in many different ways. Many young people are experiencing extreme difficulty finding employment and as the crisis is growing we see many young people affected in many different ways. Many young people are now leaving their home countries to go work in other EU countries, but we are now seeing that some of these larger countries are starting to close their doors. Our young people are gaining education but are lacking in a very much desired area, namely, experience and it is becoming more and more difficult to find opportunities to gain experience. We know that jobs are available as we search different databases but the problem is that most young people do not know about these, Is this a result of them not looking hard enough or because it is not easy to find them? The Erasmus+ program has given a lot of emphasis on youth unemployment, but is this enough? How can we as youth help ourselves to deal with the crisis and survive these difficult times? We hope to give our youth the needed tools to be able to deal with these problems and the ability to help them find jobs. Workshops will be designed to maintain a European dimension as all groups will be made up of at least one person from each country allowing for cultural learning during the workshops. Workshops are designed around the various subjects allowing the participants to discuss the issues and work together to solve problems and share experiences.Role playing will also be used to allow the participants to get another perspective of different problems. This has proven to be very successful as it allows for the participants to see common problems from the viewer’s point of view rather than the actor. This also allows for innovative ways showing problems.Simulations are also done during the project, allowing people to take on roles which are opposite to their real roles. During the simulations the participants will take on roles to re-enact a real situation based on events and problems in the real world. The participants will work together in their different roles to solve problems and to find solutions to these problems. Important here is that the participants take on random roles which add additional learning tools as they need to think and act as the person they are simulating. Using all the above tools and methodologies the participants learn through informal and non-formal methodologies which are real and based on past experiences. As a result we hope to give our participants and our youth the tools to increase their chances of employment and also prepare them for the education and as a result for the future. We will help them to take advantage of various EU tools to be able to maximise their learning outcomes and ultimately help youth workers to help youth find employment. In addition to learning about the problems the youth will also exchange cultures and traditions and learn about the different cultures from the different countries allowing for better understanding of each other and therefore creating a more unified EU, fighting xenophobia and also discrimination.The partner countries for this project are Cyprus, Italy, Spain and Sweden

Most people don't know the difference between the EU and Europe, especially EU citizens. Realistically speaking most young people today don't really understand the advantages of being a EU citizen, this is mainly because for most of the young people were too young when their countries joined the EU to notice any changes or differences. Those countries like the UK and Spain were members long before our youth were even born. Our Eastern European partners were part of the Soviet Union so the idea of the EU seems like an unreachable paradise. Sadly though these differences create barriers between our people. These differences and the lack of understanding of each other is what hinder cooperation between our youth in Europe. This project will include participants from the four corners of Europe and see how we cooperate as Europeans. We will discuss the differences of Europe and the EU and how we affect each other, and in which ways we influence each other. How different are we and how do we cooperate. How are youth influenced by these differences and how do these differences enhance cooperation or tension. We will see how the EU helps its European neighbours when they suffer difficult times. What do we expect from the EU and what it gives us. We will analyse what it means to be an EU citizen and what it means to be a European citizen. We will look at the different democratic systems in place and how these affect youth, their cooperation and how we as youth can bring Europe closer together. Workshops will be designed to maintain a European dimension as all groups will be made up of at least one person from each country allowing for cultural learning during the workshops. Workshops are designed around the various subjects allowing the different youth to discuss the issues and work together to solve problems and share experiences.Role playing will also be used to allow the participants to get another perspective of different problems. This has proven to be very successful as it allows for the youth to see common problems from the viewer's point of view rather than the actor. This also allows for innovative ways showing problems.