"PiFbase Youth Exchange was organised in Örebro, Sweden during the period of 2.08.15 - 09.08.15 (6 working days, 2 travel days) following the guidelines for 2014 of Key Action 1 - Learning Mobility of Individuals, Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission. Supported by the host organization, this project included 22 young participants and youth leaders from 3 countries including Sweden, Croatia and Romania. For most of the participants it was their first Youth Exchange and more than half of the participants had fewer opportunities mostly related to geographical difficulities, living in more rural and remote areas. To ensure a high quality project before, during and after the youth exchange the project started with an advance preparatory meeting where one representative from each organization met up to set up the project.The non-profit-organisation Awesome People (former Wouda Non Profit) had tried out a new method to teach young people social entrepreneurship called Pay it Forward Be A Social Entrepreneur (PiFbase). With this method they work proactively to increase young people's active citizenship and employability in the labour market by letting young people fulfil someone else's dream and learn social entrepreneurship during that process.The main aim of the project was to improve the quality of this innovative method to promote social entrepreneurship among young people by providing space for young people to exchange experiences, develop their competences and skills and build international contacts. This was achieved by using non-formal learning activities and support was given to young people to have an active role throughout the project. The participants got to learn about the method hands on working with fulfilling dreams, digital storytelling and improve the method from an individual perspective, national perspective and an international perspective. During the youth exchange participants were provided with assistance and help to develop their competences by reflection quizz, reflection sessions, Youthpass and information about non-formal education. They also had the opportunity to become more active European citizens locally and internationally by creating project proposals on how to work with the PiFbase method internationally, learning about transnational youth initiatives and build international contacts. Based on the evaluations and the participant reports, the project was successful! The activities were appreciated by the participants and the project made a great impact on the participants with desirable results such as highly developed key competences and other skills and attitudes plus professional and personal development. The project aim and objectives were all met and all of the participants wanted to continue to learn more and work with the PiFbase method in a strategic partnership.""In my opinion, a positive aspect of the youth exchange was the fact thatit increased participants' self-confidence. Also, participants wereconstantly encouraged to develop their sense of initiative, to thinkcreatively, to find solutions for real life problems, through theproposed activities. A long-term effect of the youth exchange wasparticipants' willingness to apply the things they learnt by gettinginvolved in projects within their community."" (Leader, Romania)The Youth exchange initiated young people to improve youth work and in the long-term they have the power to make a real change in society."

"<< Objectives >>Project “Digital Skills for youth NGOs” is a mobility of youth workers, training course type of project organised by organisation ""Einzigartige Projekte"" together with partners from 7 Europe countries. Project will take place from January, 2023 till June, 2024 Mobility of youth workers is planned to take place from 8th till 13th of November (+ 2 travel days), 2023 in Potsdam, Germany.Digital literacy refers to an individual's ability to find, evaluate, and communicate information through typing and other media on various digital platforms. It is evaluated by an individual's grammar, composition, typing skills and ability to produce text, images, audio and designs using technology. Digital society offers a lot of possibilities and to be able to take advantage of them digital skills are needed (Digital Economy and Society Index 2022 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/digital-economy-and-society-index-desi-2022).Digital literacy has essential importance in society nowadays and digital skills are crucial both for youngsters and for youth workers who you working with youngsters. Digital skills help to complete tasks faster and in most efficient way which saves a lot of valuable time. Digitalizing work processes leads to reducing time-consuming tasks and improvement of digital skills leads to their fluent implementation.Project’s idea arrised together with our organisation's first activities, workshops and organisational tasks. As our members are based in different cities and also travel a lot, we realised, that nowadays teamwork is possible only with digital tools. Daily operations of organisation takes place digitally and all preparation of activities and projects, especially if together with foreign partners, also takes place remotely. Without digital tools big part of activities would simply stop existing. And there is no way back to whose pre-pandemic times than different NGOs had only alive meetings and alive team-work. We realised that in order to improve our activities, our work and all processes and do it in well time-managed and little time-consuming manner, appropriate digital skills are necessary and selecting appropriate digital tools and digitalizing even more processes are inevitable. After starting to work and initiate some activities under Erasmus+ programme we also saw how already advanced this system is and how many systems actually are alredy here, which we have to learn to work with. Only few members of organisation are familiar with the systems (Beneficiary Module, Salto Toolbox, Application system, Youthpass system, etc.) and the functionality which should be known to any youth worker who wants to be a significant part of those project management processes. Our partner organisations confirmed, that improvement of digital skills is necessary, especially for new NGO members and volunteers who want to actively and efficiently involve into organisation's activities. Such training is needed not to get advanced, but to not be left behind.As a result, we made more detailed analysis on topic of digital literacy in partner organisation countries – according to Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2022, Greece, Bulgaria, Slovakia have the lowest scores on the DESI (compared to other EU-28 countries) together with Italy and Croatia, who are a bit higher, but still below average (Germany and Lithuania stands around the average, but it's still only bit more than 50%). (https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/desi) it shows the importance, relevance and actuality of this problem and youth workers and members of partner organisations are willing to participate and eagerly looking forward to this training course.Topic of the Project is digital skills.Project‘s aim is:Empower 32 youth workers and NGOs members to use digital possibilities effectively by increasing their digital skills by organizing mobility of youth workers, training course project from 8th to 13th of November, 2023 in Potsdam, Germany.Project’s goals:To analyse problems which are caused by lack of digital literacy skills in NGOs.To improve digital literacy and critical thinking skills of project‘s participants.To raise awareness about importance of digital literacy and provide simple ways how to increase it for participants and their local communities.Project’s topic and goals are related to Erasmus+ and follow its priorities as they are enhancing digital literacy, follows it's priority of digitalization, digital youth work, digital skills and competences.<< Implementation >>Mobility of youth workers - Professional development activities, third countries not associated, training course.Place: Potsdam, GermanyDates: project will last from January 2023, till June 2024. Training will take place from 8th till 13th of November (+ 2 travel days), 2023 Participating countries: Germany, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia. Number of participants: 32 (4 participants per country) + 1 trainerActivities included in the programme are continuous and developing step by step: starting with introduction to project’s topic, objectives, context: 0 - arrival day - Ice-breaking, getting to know. 1st day – team-building, Erasmus+, Youthpass presentation, analysing the topic (mind-mapping), sharing experiences, fishbowl discussion – analysing digital tools to work in virtual teams. Continuing with topic related activities: 2nd day – presenting, learning and practically trying to use different digital tools (prepared by participant groups), preparing questions and implementing survey with locals about digital literacy level and common problems.3rd day – training on digital literacy skills: main virtual team work and project management tools for organisation's activities, basics of photo editing and visual layout for daily activities. simulation – working in virtual teams, reflections. 4th day - training on digital literacy skills: Office (Text) formatting, Calculating and budgeting; file storage; 5th day – Erasmus+ visual identity: meeting with representatives of NA, importance of programme’s visibility, appropriate use of Erasmus+ logo, how to put Erasmus+ logo on photos, videos. Data and information management (import, export). Uploading files and information in programme related sites: Youthpass, Mobility tool etc. (how to prepare appropriate .xls or .csv file for data import). Practical game with tasks which require using digital tools.Finishing with close-up activities: 6th day - creative workshop, dissemination plan, sum up of project’s learnings, project’s evaluation, Youthpass certification. 7th day - departure *mind-mapping session about digital literacy - participants will get deeper into project’s topic. * practical game with tasks which require using digital tools will improve problem solving skills, analytical thinking. * survey with local people participants will analyse the topic empirically * training parts on various questions / digital tools aims to introduce participants directly, theorically and pratically to various digital tools to use in everyday work. * fishbowl discussion will help to analyse various digital tools, their pros and coins used for work in virtual teams. * simulation of working in virtual teams will help to practically apply learnt digital tools and discuss which of them is more effective and appropriate for each team, to find the best way to work inside organisations. * creative workshop will help to create some tangible results and tools, which would help to increase digital literacy in organisations of participants and related NGOs. Participants of youth workers training are going to be youth workers / leaders, older than 19 years. At this age youth workers are mature enough to work with youngsters, to have impact to them, to help them learn and improve, as well as to create necessary effect while using digital tools and other communication channels. Number of participants: 32 (4 participants per country) + 1 trainer. Each partner will select 4 youth workers / organisation’s members/volunteers aged 19+. At least 1 participant per country will be facing fewer opportunities (economic, social, geographical barriers). In project will participate minimum 8 participants with fewer opportunities.Our project is addressed to any person who meets the basic eligibility criteria set out in the Erasmus+ Program Guide and the selection process is based on non-discrimination principles. Overall group composition will be based on the following criteria: – equal number of participants from each country; – no less than 19 years (might be exception for 18years if candidate has strong motivation and reasoning); - no gender related discrimination (the groups will be balanced in terms of gender as much as possible).<< Results >>By the end of the project participants will: 1) be aware of the significance of digital literacy and its effects on youth work quality.2) have been familiar with a variety of digital tools and used them in practice3) Improve youth work while learning how to collaborate more effectively in virtual teams.4) Have the ability to work with others from different cultures.5) enhance competencies related to their professional profiles (youth work), particularly digital literacy and methods for fostering this skill among youngsters.6) improve analytical skills 7) improve presentation skills 8) improve social and civic competence 9) be able to implement and evaluate dissemination activities 10) be able to present the main features and objectives of Erasmus+ programme 11) be able to plan and reflect on their individual learning process 12) be able to complete and use in practice their Youthpass certificate 13) Greater understanding to social diversity14) Broader understanding of practises in training and youth across countries as they will have opportunity to apply the methods they will learn in international youth exchange. 15) increased motivation and satisfaction in their daily work as they will learn new interesting methods and will have opportunity to bring it to practise. 16) be more aware about importance and appropriate usage of Erasmus+ visual identityExchange results:1) At least 4 project’s methodical tools / presentations about digital tools and tips for digital literacy: “Importance of digital skills in these days"" (incl. youth work), “10 easy steps to become improve digital skills“; “10 tools which can make work in virtual teams more productive: pros and cons”; “Essential digital applications and tools that each youth worker should know in the frames of Erasmus+ youth work”2) Improved knowledge and skills of youth workers in the field of digital tools (prepared workshops)3) Raised awareness about importance of digital literacy and appropriate usage of digital tools4) Directly improved youth work of participants and participating organisations – adopted digital tools in daily activities would result in higher quality and efficiency of their activitities.Dissemination results:1.16 Facebook posts before-during-after the mobility (post reach – minimum 800)2. 8 dissemination / result sharing sessions / digital literacy workshops / presentations organised by youth workers3. 4-8 press releases4. Photo gallery (minimum 800 views)5. Newsletter with summed up methods and results sent to 16 NGOs from participating countries.The project will have impact at national level which would be visible in long term. The project will result in increased digital awareness of society and will contribute to increasing digital literacy. While participants will develop their competences about usage of digital tools and will learn how to work in international context, youth workers (participants) will be more enabled to influence and encourage young people, to address and deal with the challenges people face in everyday life."

"<< Objectives >>Due to widespread consumption of digital media with which young people live, communicate, learn, work, socialize with each other etc. it is wrongly assumed they use digital media in a critical way. COVID-19 pandemic is the latest example of how important media literacy (involving critical thinking) is. BBC indicates that some 649 posts were reported to Facebook and Twitter, including false cures, anti-vaccination propaganda and conspiracy theories around 5G. But, 90%remained visible online afterwards without any warnings attached, the report suggests. Media literate persons should be able to recognize which values are loaded into particular media content, or what are the goals and intentions of the communicator, or creator of media content. In other words, a person needs to have developed critical thinking in order to recognize the content behind the news. Young people all around Europe spend a lot of time on media consumption every day, however, generally, they are not prepared for conscious media consumption, since no one has taught them how to handle media smog, how to select valuable content and how to decode messages.The main objective of the project was to enable youth workers/youth leaders to teach young people to be more conscious media consumers by critically analysing the information they receive. We created conditions (tools and methods) for the establishment of an “equal partnership'' between the youth worker and young people where the youth worker is the one who assists, helps and guides the young person.Specific objectives of the project, in line with the Erasmus+ objectives, were:to raise awareness of problems in the area of media literacy and critical thinking in youth workto exchange practices and realities of involved partners/countriesto develop capacity, professionalism, ability and self-confidence of youth worker’s to work with young people in the field of “Media literacy education”to understand how to encourage young people to critically analyse media contentto raise quality in youth work in local, national and European context<< Implementation >>Through the project we implemented Mobility of youth workers for participants from a total of 9 countries: Croatia, Armenia, Turkey, Latvia, Republic of North Macedonia, Georgia, Ukraine, Greece and Portugal. There were 27 participants 2 trainers and 1 facilitator. The activity was held in Karlovac from May 11-19 2022 Participants of the training course were youth workers from partner organizations as their employees, members, volunteers or associates. All participants were 18+. People with fewer opportunities (with geographical, economic obstacles, special needs and refugees) also participated in the activity.The main objective of the project was to enable the participating youth workers/youth leaders to teach young people to be more conscious media consumers by critically analysing the information they receive. We created conditions (tools and methods) for the establishment of an “equal partnership'' between the youth worker and young people where the youth worker is the one who assists, helps and guides the young person.<< Results >>The results are the following: - tools and methods on how to achieve an “equal partnership” relationship between youth workers and young people. Non-formal methods in the field of media literacy for youth workers and young people, - 27 youth workers trained and a total of 9 organizations improved and strengthened their capacities in media literacy non-formal education.- evaluation report on youth workers skills according to direct feedback from participantsThe impact of the project will not only remain on the participants, but the participants will use their acquired knowledge through exchange of experiences, tools, knowledge with other youth workers, and will also transfer what has been learned to young people, but also within their private relationships - partner, family, friends - to other people with whom they are in daily contact.Participants are now more able to strengthen and increase the quality of learned tools and methods and improved competencies, the life of their own local community through:-transfer of acquired knowledge to other youth workers and young people - participants held a presentation of the project in their local community after the training, including the values that the project promotes: critical thinking in media literacyLocal-level:- International projects are a window to the world (especially for the organization of applicant), while for partner localcommunities impact is expected through dissemination, promotion and local activities- opportunity for many more stakeholders who can be involved in the project (other associations, individuals, joint activities,etc.)- new energy for the community, ie new content in the community- the possibility to start some new initiatives after this project on the principle (""this is a great idea, we can do that as well"").Regional level:- International projects are a window to the world (especially for the organization of applicant), while for partner localcommunities impact is expected through dissemination, promotion and local activities- opportunity for many more stakeholders who can be involved in the project (other associations, individuals, joint activities,etc.)- new energy for the community, ie new content in the community- the possibility to start some new initiatives after this project on the principle (""this is a great idea, we can do that as well"")."

<< Objectives >>The project- “Privacy4youth” addressed the importance of increasing the level of media literacy of young people by informing them about a healthy way of using digital media and to reach out to the young people with means of digital youth work. The online world is developing very fast and with this project, we equipped youth workers and trainers with a set of useful methods to work with their target group. This Training Course was for youth workers and trainers who want to learn useful methods of digital youth work for their target group (especially young people with fewer opportunities) or are working already with these kinds of methods and want to share their methods, get inspired and complement their toolbox. This project contains a Training Course and a monitored follow-up phase.​​The objectives are the following:-Raising awareness about the own online behavior; online threats for youngsters; digital and data security and privacy rights;-Increasing the level of Media Literacy of the participants and their target group;-Sharing methods for digital youth work and providing a toolbox for youth workers and trainers;-Developing new methods for digital youth work;-Empowering youngsters to use digital tools for their personal and professional development; -Setting up an Action Plan on how to implement the methods in the home communities -Networking between youth workers and trainers from different European organizations -promoting Erasmus+, Media Literacy, and healthy online lifestyle.This project met the priorities by addressing media literacy and the professional development of youth workers for using tools of digital youth work. Their target group – youngsters in different countries – will benefit from this by raising their employability, developing their key competencies, and critical thinking which will make them less prone to fake news,populism, and radicalization.The project invited 26 youth workers for a training course that equipped them with tools, methodologies, attitudes, and readiness to reach out to young people who are in need of digital youth work.<< Implementation >>The Youth Workers Mobility was carried out in Bakuriani, Georgia. The non-formal working and learning methods were applied in all activities of the project, including presentations, discussions, workshops, simulations, and expert talks. Participants presented and discussed the situation of media literacy and digital youth work in each participating country and the work and activities of each organization involved in the project. Through workshops led by participants, they shared best practices of methods and activities when working with their target group.We started this activity with a getting-to-know- session including different name games, pair interviews, and icebreakers. Now when the participants have learned their names and their individual background, we continued with several team-building activities to make our group stronger and create a pleasant and trustful atmosphere. We shared some practicalities about the venue, accommodation, the surrounding, travel cost reimbursement, etc. Afterward, we presented the final program and the participants expressed their opinionand suggestions. The next session was be dedicated to identifying expectations, challenges, and own contributions towards the activity. We used an already well-experienced method called: Backpack of Expectations. Based on that and further input of the whole group we created our Learning Agreement, wrote it down and placed it on the wall in our seminar room. The following days we had different non-formal learning activities such as presentations, discussion, workshops, input, and group work.Presentations: Several sessions were dedicated to presentations for and by the participants. The Youth Pass Session at the beginning of the Activity was introduce the concept, background, and creation of Youth Pass as described already above. We asked the participants to present their sending organization, we gave them time and space to finalize it. This was done in national teams and included Powerpoint Presentations, Presentation of their website/social media channels, showing an Info Movie about the Organisation or their last activities, handing out promotional materials (flyers, business cards, leaflets, etc.).The special focus was on the activities regarding digital youth work. The participants presented their findings from the group work on examples of Fake News in their community/country. This was done on Flip Charts and with a Powerpoint Presentation. Input: The facilitators gave multimedia input on the background of and reasons for Digital Youth Work and it made the group more aware of the project topic. The following questions were raised and answered: How did Digital Youth Work develop? Why is it relevant to include digital methods in Youth Work? What kind of threats for youngsters can be expected online? How can we address them? Workshops: The facilitators and trainers conducted workshops and presented different tools that can be applied when working with youngsters of different age groups targeting their media literacy and their awareness about online behavior. Topics and Methods included: Identity Quiz; Safety in Social Networks; Private Data or Public Data?; What is Privacy?; What Is Cyber-Bullying and how to react?; etc. Fake News, Populism, and Misinformation: the facilitators and trainers gave input about Fake News, Misinformation, and why it is dangerous for society. They asked the participants to prepare a presentation about fake news in their community/ country in national teams, gave a task for group work, and presented strategies and online tools on how to detect and identify Fake News and how to counter and debunk them. During the activity, they learned a whole set of different methods for Digital Youth Work and will now plan the implementation according to the needs in their community. We ask for setting up a detailed Action Plan with Timetable. Afterward, this will be presented to the whole group.The participants of this project were youth workers and trainers from organizations from Program- and Partner Countries. The total number of participants was 26 people. The participants were youth workers, actively working with young people. Some of them had a knowledge of digital youth work methods and shared it with the rest and gained new skills and some of the participants did not have much knowledge about it, but they gained the knowledge and now will include the methods learned here during the project in their future work. The minimum age was 21 (to make sure that there is some experience in youth work already) and there was no upper age limit. The working language was English, so we expected the participants to have at least intermediate English skills to participate fully in the program and to exchange with their peers. They were highly motivated to contribute fully to the program and the implementation by sharing their knowledge by conducting workshops and by setting up a detailed Action Plan for the time after their return to their sending organizations.<< Results >>The results and impacts of the project on participantsThe participants acquired new skills and learned new methods that can be implemented in their work with young people. This comprises tools for digital youth work, debunking fake news, and ways to protect their own data and privacy online. They ameliorated their English skills, as the working language was English. They were inspired to use new methods by getting to know new techniques and the work of other organizations and the exchange with their peers. We expected them to be motivated to approach their target group in a new way with the newly developed Action Plan. In general, contributed to their professional development and raised their employability. By networking with the other group members and by planning follow-up projects they will broaden their European and personal future perspectives.The results and impacts of the project on organizationsThe project had a positive impact on the participating organizations: the organizations have new methods and activities to offer to their members and target group. They can approach also other educational institutions such as schools, universities, or other youth clubs and implement the activities there, which will sharpen their profile and broaden the range of activities that they can offer to young people. Besides, the organizations have deepened their cooperation with other European organizations or built up new ones, which will have a positive impact on common projects in the future.The results and impacts of the project on target GroupThe target group of organizations is young people. They have been benefit after the project activity when the youth workers implemented the new methods with them. They have increased their media literacy, got prone to Fake News and Misinformation, know how to handle and react to Cyber- Bullying, learned about their Privacy Rights, and how to protect themselves online from different threats. All of this will serve their personal and professional development. Furthermore, they will learn also about Erasmus+ opportunities and might get inspired to get active in their community by sharing their knowledge and also to participate in future Erasmus+ exchange projects.

"Obesity nowadays is a ""silent"" killer that threatens more and more people, regardless of age. The paradox is that while half the planet is constantly on a diet, the other half is in poverty. During the project we have dealt with eating disorders that occur at a young age, with an emphasis on obesity. We decided to tackle this issue, as we realized that it concerns a very large number of people, especially teenagers and children, in the western world that it would not be an exaggeration to say that it has reached epidemic proportions.Young people follow a bad diet, a bad lifestyle with abuse and even if they want to change their habits they do not have the right motivation and support. In this program, we help these young people to realize the dangers of poor nutrition and to develop healthy habits that will stand the test of time, based on their personal choices. We must point out that this process is extremely difficult and painful for the person who needs to be armed with perseverance and patience to achieve his goal. At this point, we offer our help to make this process a little easier.The program ""Eat to live, Not live to eat"" was an international youth exchange, which was attended by 50 young people from 7 European countries (Greece, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovakia, Denmark, Turkey) who addressed the issue of eating disorders and related diseases. The exchange took place in Spilaio, Grevena, an isolated village with a rich history. Continuing, we gave opportunity of participation to 22 people with fewer opportunities who come from single-parent families, face geographical, economic and social barriers and learning difficulties. Often because they did not have the required control, they found themselves in bad company and abused, harmful to their health. This program brought about positive changes in their way of life, as they gained self-confidence, self-knowledge and realized their potential,From the goals we had set we managed to achieve the following.1. Targeting young people with poor eating habits,2. Recognition of the consequences of obesity3. Raising awareness to the participants about the thematic and lifestyle adjustments4. Development of non-formal learning strategies and methods and strengthening the competence “learning to learn”5. Promotion of exercise and sport,6. Prevention instead of treatment,7. Promoting the active participation of young people and socialization.8. Promoting the values of the European Union and promoting a single European culture, Democracy and Equality.9. Creating cohesive bonds between the participants (it is reported that the participants had acquired close ties so that they met in Italy after 2 months to celebrate Christmas holidays).In addition to the above, we tried to take a holistic approach to obesity and disseminate our results to local communities, so that they can benefit from the knowledge we have gained. Nutritionists also participated in the program, for a better understanding of the subject."