<< Objectives >>IMPROspective training course aims to develop improvisation skills in youth workers, specifically those working with diverse young groups, living and working in dynamic environment of modern Europe (and the world) with constant changes and development, having the need to respond to fast changing needs of its youth and the community, so they can function more efficiently and creatively, with more awareness, listening and acceptance.There is sound body of practices that use improvisation as functional approach in many areas from drama and art through education to health and business administration. We will focus on the application in youth work.IMPROspective is a training designed to fullfill following objectives:-to develop improvisational skills underpinning educational processes, which cannot be scripted in advance-to create inspirational, friendly, safe environment for participants to explore the topic of improvisation within youth work and to refresh their trainers skills and approaches-to introduce innovative, attractive and interactive methodologies in youth work field and to stimulate the exchange of best practices to train participants how to design, facilitate and debrief existing and novel non-formal learning sessions and opportunities-to explore the challenges and possibilities inherent within the use of improvisation in formal and non-formal practice and in work with marginalised young people and diverse groups to encourage participants-to incorporate new techniques and improvisation principles into their daily personal practice-to increase capacities of involved NGO's through development of their members, networks and future cooperations<< Implementation >>The main activity of this project is a training course happening in inspiring natural in Waldheim Selbitz - near Selbitz - in Germany between 4. and 11. Dezember 2022 and will gather 25 youth workers from seven different countries - Germany, France, Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, Italy and Greece.This training course is designed for youth workers, volunteers, mentors and teachers ( aged 18+ ) working with youngsters through various non-formal activities, especially those ones who are involved or cooperate with our partnersorganizations and can bring gained competences back to their organizations and communities and so multiply the impact of this project.<< Results >>Participants of this training course will fully explore and experience improvisation in context of youthwork offering them the possibility to develop their skills and competencies, which can be individually transformed and implemented into their professional and personal lives on many different levels as improvisation offer and cultivate various qualities and elementswhich can be utilised on daily basis.In the first part of the training course participants will go through experience of full circle of experiential learning involving activities connected with inovative techniques and approches, which will serve them as inspiration and base for designing and facilitating their own acitivities and finaly they will be guided how to transform the experience into results and outcomes such as follow-up events, educational materials, future cooperations and life time connections and friendships which will enrich their personal and professional lives together with their organizations, communities and target groups.

"<< Objectives >>Through ""Peaceful Warriors"" we want to provide participating youth workers with a solid set of knowledge and skills that will better prepare them in understanding, predicting and preventing manifestations and escalations of violence, abuse and conflict in their work with young people. Through the main activity of the project, a training course, we will invite participants to discover, know, experience and verify a holistic and integrated dimension, applied to socio-educational work. An approach where the cognitive, emotional and practical aspects complement and support each other.The objectives of the project are:• Prepare 25 professional youth workers with a coherent set of skills to perceive, discern and counter the manifestation of violent or harmful acts, developed by passive and / or aggressive behavioral patterns among their young people.• Transfer in the work of the target group a series of preventive elements towards the occurrence of violent acts and unhealthy behavior towards oneself and others;• Increase the level of skill and effectiveness of the target group regarding the application of holistic facilitation in working with young people;• To develop a transnational structure of youth workers inspired and intrigued to develop international actions that address the concept of violence among young people and the situations of psychological and emotional distress caused by the pandemic.The project aims to develop a range of skills that allow youth workers to facilitate their work with young people from different backgrounds: rural areas, ethnic and religious minorities, unemployed or in poverty, victims of bullying or violence, precarious family background. We know from experience that the contexts listed above are often intertwined and many young people fall into more than one of these disadvantaged and at-risk categories at the same time. A characteristic common to all these categories is the friction, psychological and / or emotional, generated by the discomfort of one's own context, which inevitably becomes one of the triggers of anger and violence that can find an outlet both towards others and towards oneself.The contents of the training course work on this matrix and phenomenology common to the different contexts, addressing them from a human and holistic point of view even before a sociological or political one, and therefore with a universal value. This aspect guarantees a high level of transferability of the skills learned, even in very different areas and target groups, allowing participants to use the learning outcomes in any context they will consider.<< Implementation >>The main activity of the project is an 7 days training course, which will involve 28 socio-educational operators from Italy, Slovenia, Poland, Germany, Latvia, France, Greece and Spain. The project is designed for youth workers who are members of partner organizations and / or who are actively involved in activities with young people.As a selection criterion there is their ability to understand, assimilate, transmit and disseminate the learning outcomes of TC, as well as their commitment to transfer the results into their work. Participants must be directly involved with groups of young people, or in any case have managerial and organizational tasks related to activities aimed at young people.Preferably employees, active volunteers or collaborators of the partners, it isessential that they are motivated to continue working in this field with perspective and continuity. A standard and basic selection criterion is that each participant has expressed, in the application phase, their need and interest in cultivating an understanding of the phenomena of violence and discomfort among young people and how to deal with interpersonal conflicts.By involving these participants in an eight-day training course, we can meet the needs for updating and renewing the skills of partner organizations.Once the project is approved, the TC preparation phase will include further analysis of the participants' needs, conducted in collaboration with all partner organizations through the Needs Assessment Questionnaire. The program will be tailored to the goals and professional needs of the participants, also keeping in mind the interests and plans of their organizations. The program includes regular reflection and various evaluation activities that will allow us to maintain or adjust the program to match the needs of the participants throughout the course.<< Results >>RESULTSThe main intangible results of TC are the learning outcomes, that is the skills acquired to prevent and counter the emergence of violent attitudes and acts when working with groups of young people. The main tangible result used for dissemination, enhancement and communication, is a toolbox for the use of holistic facilitation as a tool for emergence, prevention and reduction of conflicts, in and among young people. The guide will be developed by the project team based on the content of the sessions, the insights and reflections provided by the participants and the trainers' observations during the sessions. The guide will be delivered within one month of the TC. The second tangible result will be the presentation video of the Peaceful Warriors training (4 min. Approx.).We will make this presentation video with sequences from the training course, interviews with trainers and participants, and it will be uploaded to Youtube and distributed on Facebook, websites, online platforms, and of course sent to our partners for dissemination through their channels.We expect to reach at least 1000 views during the project period. The objectives of the video and its diffusion are to create interest in the project, its themes and proposals, towards E + mobilities and towards the activities of Teatro invisibile.IMPACTThe project is designed to create an impact on the participants in a multifaceted way, as the learning process is based on a varied methodology.Benefits for participants:- A better understanding of how passive, apathetic, violent behavior patterns can be observed in a group;- A deeper understanding of the diversity of non-formal education (NFL) methods and how these can be combined to create greater impact when working with mixed groups;- Greater satisfaction in youth work thanks to the acquisition of a preventive approach to violence and unhealthy behavior;- Increased interest in researching new NFL methods that could be used to deal with conflict and aggressive behavioral patterns;- Greater motivation in the development of new local and international initiatives on issues related to violence;- A greater preference for remaining active in youth work by observing the impact that could be created among the beneficiaries;- Greater involvement in increasing the quality of work with young people;- Develop an unconscious approach to incorporating a preventive approach to violence in their current work;- Transfer of attention to violent behavioral patterns even outside the role of youth worker, in interactions with other people;- Extensive network of international contacts, new conditions for the development of other international projects;- Permanent acquisition of awareness in the perception of the signs of violent acts in the gestures, words, body language of other people, etc.We will measure this impact within two months of the end of the TC through two actions:- asking participants to fill in an evaluation questionnaire that covers multiple aspects: follow-up actions, plan dissemination, evaluation of the TC experience.- in the virtual phase (collective videoconference and post on the facebook group) in which we will continue to probe the experience of the participants and to support them in the integration of all the learning outcomes."

<< Objectives >>The traning course IMPROnauts has the ambition to develop improvisation skills of youth workers, living and working in the dynamic environment of modern Europe (and the world), that is environment with constant changes and development that has to respond to fast changing of the needs of youths in order to function more efficiently and creatively, with more awareness, listening and acceptance.IMPROnauts is a training designed to answer at this objectives :- develop improvisational skills underpinning educational processes, which cannot be scripted in advance- create inspirational nice and safe environment for participants- explore the topic of improvisation within youth work - refresh the trainers skills - introduce innovative, attractive and interactive methodologies in youth work field - stimulate the exchange of best practices to train participants how to design, facilitate and debrief of non-formal learning sessions- explore the challenges and possibilities inherent within the use of improvisation in formal and non-formal practice and in work with marginalised young people and diverse groups - encourage participants to incorporate new techniques and improvisation principles into their daily personal practice- increase capacities of involved NGO's through development of their members, networks and future cooperations<< Implementation >>The main activity of this project is a training course which takes place in the inspiring nature in Chartier-Ferrière in Corrèze, at the hamlet of ages from 3 to 10 July 2023 and will bring together 25 youth workers from nine different countries - France, Republic Czech, Poland, Germany, Slovenia, Italy, Latvia, Spain and Greece.This training course is designed for youth workers, volunteers, mentors and teachers (aged 18+) working with young people through various non-formal activities, especially those who are involved in or cooperate with our organisations partners and can bring the skills acquired to their organizations and communities and thus multiply the impact of this project.<< Results >>Participants of this training course will fully explore and experience improvisation in context of youthwork offering them the possibility to develop their skills and competencies, which can be individually transformed and implemented into their professional and personal lives on many different levels as improvisation offer and cultivate various qualities and elements which can be utilised on daily basis.In the first part of the training course participants will go through experience of full circle of experiential learning involving activities connected with inovative techniques and approches, which will serve them as inspiration and base for designing and facilitating their own acitivities and finaly they will be guided how to transform the experience into results and outcomes such as follow-up events, educational materials, future cooperations and life time connections and friendships which will enrich their personal and professional lives together with their organizations, communities and target groups.

"<< Objectives >>Many of the problems of modern society are emerging because people have become increasingly isolated and disconnected from each other. The main problem identified in the youth sector that we want to address through our project is the following: limited knowledge, skills and tools, as well as lack of motivation, in working with young people with fewer opportunities and young people socially and professionally excluded. Therefore, the ""Integration map"" project aims to develop the resources and skills of youth workers, to create learning environments that are transformative and sustainable to help young people to be included in social and professional life.The specific objectives of our project are:1. Increase knowledge on the social connection and professional inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities for 22 youth workers during the project period.2. Improve skills in guiding and empowering young people with fewer opportunities on the path of professional inclusion and social connection for 22 youth workers, during the project period.3. Increase the motivation of 22 youth workers to work with disadvantaged young people for their social and professional inclusion during the project period.4. Provide 22 youth workers, during the project period, with non-formal, innovative and quality educational tools, belonging to a method that favors the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities.5. Offer opportunities for cooperation and support among peers to youth organizations and youth workers, promoting the improvement of the quality of European youth work.<< Activities >>The project consists of an activity: a training course, mobility for youth workers.The activity of the project is based on the social connection and on the professional inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities. We will use a wide variety of embodiment and nature based methodology, experiential activities and non-formal education methods, such as: team building games, theory input, discussions, debates, self-reflection, journaling, brainstorming, tutoring, deep listening and facilitation, creative movement , dance, improvisation, outdoor learning, seminars and many others.Learning activities are based on different principles: learning by doing, challenge by choice, active participation, responsibility, freedom and autonomy. We will establish the basis for peer learning, with the guidance of trainers and feedback. The project will have a great impact on the participants, both personally and professionally. This project will bring together 22 participants and 3 trainers from 8 countries. Each participant should have one of the following roles within partner organizations: youth worker, educator, youth leader, instructor, mentor, coach, volunteer coordinator, teacher.The place where the course will be held is Valpore, in the municipality of Seren del Grappa (Vi) in an isolated position surrounded by mountains, woods, rivers ...""Integration map"" is an 8-day training course for 22 participants from 8 countries.PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS:The main target group of this project are the people who have one of these roles within their organizations:Youth workers involved in working with young people and working directly with young people with fewer opportunities (youth exchange leaders, camp leaders, facilitators etc.);Mentors, guides or educational coaches (EVS) who work with disadvantaged young people;Representatives of formal education - Teachers, school support staff involved in extra-curricular activities;Representatives of social and health services involved in educational programs for young people.Participants should be involved in working with young people with fewer opportunities in organizations for at least 5-7 hours / week. We are looking for highly motivated individuals, youth workers who really feel the call to participate in our course. Their motivation should include personal and professional reasons and needs.REQUIREMENTS OF PARTICIPANTS:The project was born as a response to the current needs of many youth workers. The need was identified through the research carried out by the partners involved and includes: knowing new experiential educational activities that can support inclusion at a social and professional level; learn to develop young people's potential and support them in finding their place in society and in the workplace; find ways to be more innovative and efficient in their work; create new and sustainable international partnerships; develop a structure to support interventions and activities; create space to share ideas and good practices, reflect on work, approaches and planning for the future; get new motivations, resources and inspiration for their work; receive support and assistance to expand your potential; increase the ability to change and grow.Once the project has been approved, the CT preparation phase will include further analysis of the needs of the 22 participants, conducted in collaboration with all partner organizations through the needs assessment questionnaire. The program will be adapted to the objectives and professional needs of the participants, also bearing in mind the interests and plans of their organizations. The program includes regular reflection and various assessment activities that will allow us to maintain or adapt the program to match the needs of the participants during the course.<< Impact >>The results include tangible and non-tangible outputs, including: greater capacity to create educational activities for social and professional inclusion for young people with fewer opportunities; greater understanding and responsiveness to the challenges that disadvantaged young people face in modern society; greater motivation to work in the youth sector and greater involvement of the educational field on the issue of inclusion.The project's tangible results include: an innovative brochure ""Integration map.Good Practices for Social Connectedness and Professional Inclusion""; a video presentation of the TC; online dissemination (photos, articles) and at least 8 follow-up activities in partner organizations in Europe. Participants should have the ability to disseminate project results. We ask that they be involved in the work of partner organizations as employees or volunteers, in order to ensure the organizational impact in which they can share their knowledge and use the activities learned during training. They should have direct contact with young people, so that they can implement multiplying workshops as follow-ups. These criteria will define the profile and background of the participants to make sure that they are really connected with the youth sector and that they will really benefit from this project. The application form will be the basis on which we will identify these elements. In the longer term, we expect that the skills acquired by 22 participants will contribute to the development of the capabilities of 8 partner organizations from Europe and innovations in their business portfolio. We hope that there will be an increase in the number of beneficiaries (young people) interested in local and international youth activities, as well as an increase in the number of resources and a substantial development of social and professional inclusion between young and disadvantaged people."

"<< Objectives >>Following the restrictions to deal with the epidemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, quarantine has been adopted as a measure to reduce the risk of infection in many countries, this has an important psychological impact on the population. When isolation is a constriction, experienced as a limitation of freedom and brings profound changes in one's life (such as job loss, inability to cultivate meaningful social relationships, suspension of outdoor and sports activities and non the less loss of friends or member of the family), one finds oneself dealing with stress, discomfort, depression, disconnection from reality and loss of trust. According to the study conducted by the team of Dr. Bonati, Department of Public Health (IRCCS), the most common psychological distress is represented by rather important symptoms, such as depression: bad mood and apathy characterize the majority of the interviewees. Soon after, we find the appearance of a feeling of constant anxiety, danger and worry. These symptoms are found in 15.5% of the population.The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurifound) also analyzed the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the living conditions of European citizens, paying particular attention to young people. Finding that 20% of young Europeans surveyed said they felt lonely ""all or most of the time"", compared to 15% of older cohorts. Furthermore, young respondents are more likely to feel depressed (16%) than older groups (12%). Finally, respondents aged 18 to 34, on a scale of 1 to 10, rated their life satisfaction on average 6.2, somewhat lower than that of over 50s (6, 4). Before the crisis, the 2016 European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) found that young people had a much higher average life satisfaction of 7.4 than an overall average, which was also higher. equal to 7.1.In this context we have created ""Awaken Connection"" which aims to improve the well-being, adaptability and resilience of 24 youth workers who then will be able to create spaces for the positive development of young people, making use of mindfulness interventions through the nature-based approach. Many research studies shows that mindfulness improves mental, emotional, social and physical levels of health and well-being of young people, improves self-esteem (the ability to embrace one's strengths and individual difference), self-awareness ( the ability to know one's own needs), empathy and the ability to manage behaviors and emotions (to create / sustain social bonds and a sense of belonging). Mindfulness contributes directly to cognitive development, skills and performance (educational development skills). Contact with nature affects the central and vegetative nervous system, increasing vitality and creativity by 50%, decreasing stress, improving mental health, memory and increasing the sense of belonging.The main goals of 'Awaken Connection' are:1. Improve youth workers' knowledge and skills about mindfulness with a nature based approach and its benefits for young people by 75%2. Increase the motivation and inspiration of youth workers to work effectively with enthusiasm and empathy by 75%.3. Implement 24 follow-up action plans with young people in the countries involved.The project is relevant to the European objectives for young people, including: mental health and well-being, constructive information and dialogue, quality learning, space and participation for all.<< Activities >>'Awaken Connection' is a KA1 project which consists of an activity, A1, a learning mobility of youth workers. The project was created by a partnership of 9 European youth organizations from Italy, Lettonia, Poland, Slovenia, France, Germany, Greece, Spain. The training course will take place in Valpore, Seren del Grappa.Italy from 01-06-2021 to 10-06-2021 the participants will be 21 youth workers (from the countries mentioned).The profile of the participants:Participants must work as youth workers within partner organizations who work with young people, especially young people in difficulty and who need tools to improve their level of well-being and satisfaction. Their professional needs must be in line with the needs on which this mobility project was conceived. Participants must work in contact with young people through their organizations at least 3-5 hours per week as a rule. Motivation is an important element of the participant profile, we want to give the opportunity to participate in this course to those youth workers who really feel called to participate. Participants must show genuine interest in the themes and topics addressed in the course and therefore also found in their educational and professional path. Participants should show a good ability to use the results of the project. For this reason they should be employed by the partner organization or have a long-term volunteer contract in order to ensure impact at the organizational level, put their knowledge into practice and use the tools and practices learned during the course. They should have direct contact with young people in need, so that it is easy for them to create multiplication seminars in the follow-up phase.Activities to be carried out:The ""Awaken Connection"" course will train participants through a variety of educational activities and will include elements typical of non-formal education, for example: activities, icebreakers and team building activities, daily reflections and final assessment activities.In addition to these, the training course will contain the following elements:• learning about mindfulness• learning of nature-based methodologies• skills on how nature-based mindfulness can be incorporated into youth work and non-formal learning• learning a diverse range of innovative non-formal methods to be applied in working with young people, especially those in difficulty• ability to use holistic education in order to achieve more effective transformations in the lives of young people and to support the achievement of their full potential• development of sustainable follow-up action plans that will improve outcomes with effective impact at both local and EU level.The science of mindfulness has developed greatly over the past decade. More and more organizations (schools, youth centers) include mindfulness paths in their curriculum, finding many benefits for young people. Yet, from what we know, there are very few youth nature-based mindfulness projects as a means of reaching out to those young people who face stress and hardship as a result of Codiv-19 restrictions. The advantages of (re) connecting young people to nature are many and precious, which is why they are the basis of our project which we expect will lead to greater health (mental, emotional and physical) of young people and towards greater social integration. This makes the project very innovative. The elements and the tools provided through the training have never been used before in any area of ​​youth work! This provides participants with an advanced toolkit that addresses the lifelong learning and professional development needs of youth workers.The training course will use mindfulness through nature-based education, and will also be based on experiential, self-directed learning and non-formal education (NFE) principles. NFE incorporates a participatory and student-centered approach, which is then followed by students on a voluntary and active basis and is closely linked to their needs, aspirations and interests. The course team is made up of talented and experienced trainers in non-formal education. Trainers will provide participants with a wide range of non-formal educational tools through which mindfulness can be cultivated such as: outdoor nature-based learning, musical activities, storytelling activities, theatrical games, dance and movement exercises, group work , discussion methods, artistic works, etc. The daily program traces the activities we will carry out following the guiding thread of the cultivation of awareness.<< Impact >>The 'Awaken Connection' project will have tangible and intangible results. Intangible outcomes refer to the knowledge, skills, experience acquired and competencies developed by the 24 youthworkers involved, the greater capacities of partner organizations and the empowerment and support towards the inclusion of the target group, young people in conditions of stress and difficulty:Tangible results refer to:- a 10-day training course to improve the skills of 24 youth workers to create transformative and meaningful spaces for improving the well-being and success of young people, using nature based mindfulness;- a brochure ""Awaken Connection: nature-based mindfulness for growth"".- a video documenting the 4 minute ""Awaken Connection"" training course;Both the booklet and the video will include information about the project and the tools that use nature-based mindfulness to reach and help the development of young people. It will also include visibility materials with the funding program logo and mention how the project was created with the support of the EU Erasmus + program.Other tangible results of the project:-24 youth workers will organize and facilitate at least 24 seminars (in partner organizations' countries) which will each last at least 2 hours;-8 Knowledge transfer meetings facilitated by the participants within each partner organization to reach a minimum number of 90 youth workers;-Other ""Awaken Connection"" multiplication events in the follow-up phase supported by tutoring from trainers.The training course will have a significant impact on the participants by developing their skills to create transformative and meaningful learning spaces for the expression and development of young people using awareness through interventions in nature to improve the conditions of psycho-physical well-being, resilience and adaptation, and a sense of belonging and responsibility in young people who live with difficulties in the post Covid-19 situation. After the project, youth workers will gain a broader understanding of how nature-based mindfulness can have a significant impact on young people and will have a greater ability to apply related activities to trigger positive changes in young people's lives, their organizations and society as a whole. The quality of their work will become significantly better and they will have a greater ability to address the needs of young people today. The innovative tools learned and the sharing experience will also add more motivation in their daily work. All this translates into a group of youth workers with better skills, supported by lifelong and constantly evolving learning who will be able to better respond to the needs of young people.This will have a domino effect on their professional and personal development as youth workers, on their daily work with young people and also on their daily interactions with their families and social groups. We believe that these results and the impact of the project will bring about a turning point in working with young people, the introduction of mindfulness with a nature-based approach will initiate a series of innovations in the participating organizations, on young people in difficulty and on youth work at European level. In the long term, the project will help young people in conditions of stress and distrust for a more positive personal and professional development, a more satisfying life prospect and greater psycho-physical well-being, thus enabling them to face difficulties with confidence and resilience."