"This project was following the previous youth exchange ""Building bridges by social media"" organized at Lemi in Finland (September 2017). The objective of that exchange was to learn where hate speech is coming from and how to fight against it. In the end of the exchange participants thought that racism could be good and important sequel for the project, especially now when there is a refugee crisis in Europe. The objectives of the project ""United Against Racism"" was ""we want to know what racism feels like and how it affects person's life"" and ""understand the difference between racism and discrimination"". By understanding racism and its impacts we can unite against it. The objective was linked with tolerance, prejudices, equality, human rights, solidarity, intercultural dialogue, charity work and active citizenship. We had 25 participants between 15-20 years old and 6 group leaders. Participants were mostly youth with fewer opportunities, by living in rural areas, coming from economically challenged family, having an immigrant background or other social problems. Some of the participants have not experienced racism themselves. They however have witnessed racism in social media and some of them also more closely when racism has targeted their family members or friends. They want to learn what racism feels like, how widely it can affect person's life, how racism differentiates from discrimination and also what can they do to fight against both racism and discrimination. But in other hands we had participants who are immigrants and they suffer from the general climate towards migrants also if none of them speak about it openly. Some of them live in social housing where social conflict is quite high. Some of the participants were familiar in this topic and they have made activities using methodology of theater of the oppressed in this specific issue, taken part anti-discrimination campaigns and promoted human rights for example as Human Library. Activities were in Athen, Greece. The APV was at 17-20.5.2018 and Youth Exchange was at 25.6.-1.7.2018. We used functional and non formal methods: games, workshops, arts and crafts, study visit, role-game, forum theater, intercultural evening and discussion groups. All the workshops were planned, organized and leaded by young participants with support of group leaders. Leaders most important role were to be coach and present in evaluation process and to help the participants to reflect learning. The most impressive weapon against racism is knowledge. After this project we know the background of the racism and what it causes. We are not quiet. We dare to make it visible and not to accept it. We disseminated the project results at the local music festival in Finland and Romania, at local youth houses and schools. During the activities we produced photo shows which we showed in these places. This project gave possibilities to youngsters with fewer opportunities to become more international and make friends with foreign people, too."

The Key Action 3 of Erasmus+ Programme is not sharing the same visibility as the other Key Actions and, in general, it is not a priority for local NGOs, even if young people engagement in civil society (and decision process) is one of the two big objectives of the European Union Youth Strategy for 2010-2018. According to European Commission Interim Report for Erasmus+, in the first three years of the program, the number of structured dialogue projects represented just 2.94% of the all applied projects and just 3.59% of the approved projects. The young beneficiaries of this projects represents just 4.18% from the total amount of beneficiaries, out of which, 11,2% have been young people with fewer opportunities. One of the main causes is the lack of specialists in structured dialogue projects within the nongovernmental organizations. Project’s objectives: 1. To promote the European Union’s opportunities for young people with fewer opportunities and youth workers through Key Action 3 of Erasmus+ among minimum 1500 participants from 19 countries during the entire implementation of the project. 2. To develop the specific skills to approach the young people with fewer opportunities’ needs and challenges in structured dialogue projects and inclusive youth policies of 40 youth workers from 19 countries during a 9 months training and coaching program. 3. To include the needs and challenges of 800 young people with fewer opportunities from 20 different local communities, identified after 40 consultations, into the local youth strategies and policies through minimum 6 future structured dialogue projects. The project’s main beneficiaries were 40 youth workers from 16 countries who will get into a 8 months training and coaching programme and who will participate in October 2019 in a training course in Romania. They have a large experience regarding the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities, they are interested to improve the youth policies for them and to involve the young people with fewer opportunities into structured dialogue projects, but they lack in knowledge about Key Action 3 of Erasmus+, they have limited skills in democracy projects, they know a limited methods to engage the young people into the civic society and to involve the decision makers in youth projects, they do not know how to plan a structured dialogue project or how to phrase youth strategies and policies.The project’s main activity was a mobility of youth workers from Partner countries, a training course held in Slanic Moldova, Romania, between 18th and 31st of October 2019, with the participation of 40 youth workers and 2 trainers from Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine.During the training course we have organized: teambuilding sessions, training sessions, debates, simulations, exercises, an intercultural visit, creative workshops, practice laboratories, a World Café with young people and decision makers from Bacau county, planning sessions, sharing and networking sessions, reflection and evaluation sessions, but also a best sharing event where structured dialogue projects funded by Erasmus+ Programme and implemented by different Romanian organizations will be presented. Before the mobility, the youth workers analysed the local, national and European policies addressing the young people with fewer opportunities and they will organize a consultation in their local community to identify the young people with fewer opportunities challenges. After the mobility, they organized different follow up and dissemination activities aimed to reach the decision making process. The main results:18 initiatives to change the local and national policies addressing the young people with fewer opportunities 1 best practice guide (in English) for nongovernmental organization willing to implement structured dialogue projects5 structured dialogue projects who were submited for funding under KA3 of Erasmus+ and other 2 initiative in Moldova and Armenia. Through this project we develop experts in the field of social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities. The youth workers will enhance the active participation of young people with fewer opportunities within the structured dialogue with the decision makers contributing to the strategic development of the youth sector. On long term, we wish to BUILD an active, responsible and inclusive society and a sustainable partnership between the young people with fewer opportunities, youth workers, decision makers and different other stakeholders from the youth field.

"<< Objectives >>With ""From Anothe Point of view"" an attempt has been made to stimulate the young population of Bargas and Olías del rey to take part in the active life of their locality and become direct actors and actresses of the change that may arise, creating a more participatory society , with stronger European values ​​and a commitment to improving the area where they live. The personal development of these young people has also been sought, in particular, and the development of the people connected to the project such as the council, the associations that have participated in the project (schools, sports clubs, women ...) to thus improving the quality of the project.Other objectives achieved were the visibility of young people in the locality where the exchange took place, as well as the involvement of many parts of society in it, the interculturality obtained by the group and the discovery of the similarities and differences with our colleagues from Finland. As well as the discovery of an alternative leisure, healthier and from the active participation in the life of the locality, participating, for example, in the Three Kings parade and without consuming any drugs that are so popular at that time (such as alcohol, tobacco,..)<< Implementation >>The participants were 16 from Spain (between Bargas and Olías del Rey) and 16 from Finalndia (8 from Ruokolahti and 8 from Lemi) with the number of girls participating being greater than that of boys, only 3 by the Finnish group and 7 for Spanish. These young people, from both countries, are small towns, without much access to leisure, which leads to abuse of unhealthy leisure, with their sights set on large cities to be able to study or work and without ""self-love"" for the people where they live.The activities carried out in the project were, mainly, that of video recordings on the current events, culture, environment and history of the town of Bargas, as well as the identification of and analysis of youth leisure in the area. Accompanied with cultural outings and leisure activities, all of them programmed within non-formal education and facilitating learning spaces through discovery and peer learning.Right now the plans for the future are stopped due to the Covid-19 crisis, but one of the clear plans is to create a youth association and participate in an exchange in Finland with the same group, thus completing their learning.<< Results >>The results of this project are young people more aware of where they live, of the possibilities they have, as a group, to improve the area where they live and the capacities they have to act as social agents of change. Also young people with a better vision of the future and more committed to cross-cutting issues such as the environment or feminism, as well as a deeper awareness of Europe. Also a town that has experienced the exchange, thanks to the great visibility it has had in the town of Bargas."

The project aimed to promote European citizenship among young people and their participation in the decision-making process at European level, in an assumed and responsible way, starting from 3 main linked problems: the low degree of confidence of young people in European institutions and the increase of the degree of radicalization of young people, high degree of misinformation of young people on the background of intensification of fake news in social media, low degree of participation of young people in elections for the EP. Objectives: 1) To increase by at least 50% the degree of confidence in the EU of 42 young people by developing democratic competences and their knowledge regarding the mechanisms of EU functioning during the implementation of the project. 2) To develop the critical thinking and responsibility online of 42 young people during the implementation of the youth exchange. 3) To develop a guide for promoting critical thinking among young people and to help them to recognize and combat fake news online. 4) To increase the participation of young people in the 2019 EP elections (compared to 2014) in the local communities of the partners by initiating and conducting campaigns to inform the youth about the EP 2019 elections. The project’s main activity was a youth exchange, with Program countries, which took place in Bacau, Bacau County, Romania, between 3rd and 15th April 2019 and attended by 42 young people between with the ages between 17 and 30 years old and 7 group leaders from 6 countries from the European Union: Finland, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Spain. . Specific learning activities: Teambuilding; information sessions on the EU and training of democratic competences; interactive presentations supported by the young participants; debates regarding the participation of young people in the democratic life; creative learning sessions; training sessions on fake news stories from social networks and concrete ways to combat them, for the development of critical thinking (including games and exercises); Work sessions for developing a guide for promoting critical thinking among young people and helping young people recognize and combat fake news in the online environment; training sessions in communication, marketing and social media; planning sessions for an online and offline information campaign; working sessions for developing media content (text, photo, video); an street debate activity; reflection sessions on the learning process, a session on the Erasmus + program, intercultural evenings and an intercultural visit, sharing and networking sessions. Main results:1 informing campaign – to inform the young people about the EP 2019 elections (information about EU institutions and their functioning mechanisms will be promoted): https://www.facebook.com/youthdecideEU/A series of visual tools for informing young people about the EP 2019 elections: posters, information clips, clips with reasons for participating in the elections - which were used in the information campaigns and dissemination activities.1 guide (brochure) in English for promoting critical thinking among young people and helping young people to recognize and combat fake news in the online environment, which was presented during follow-up activities and was disseminated to other partner organizations.Impact: Increasing the participation of young people in the 2019 EP elections (compared to 2014) in the local communities of the partners following the activities of the youth information campaign regarding the PE2019 elections, promoting and stimulating the active participation of young people in the democratic life among young people, increasing interest in EU policies and EP 2019 elections, etc.

Venue: Vilnius, activity dates: 2017.12.04 -2017.12.09;Type of activity: training courseCountries involved: Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, Kosovo, France, Finland.Number of participants: 25 participants and 4 facilitators/trainersNGO Social action is organization that works with EVS projects for 12 years. We see from our practice, that the role of the mentor is very important for EVS projects – it is one of the main actors for volunteer during the project cycle. The survey of the impact of our previous project Mentor’s LAB (pr. Nr. 2016-2-LT02-KA105-004934) – 6 days training course for mentors- shown that during these trainings we are able to develop competencies of mentors. That’s is why we decided to proceed with training for mentors.The main aim of the project was to create a space of learning in order to develop competencies of people, working with youth through mentoring. The objectives of the project were: • To create multicultural space for learning, sharing experience/tools and networking among mentors/people willing to be mentors• To share experience/knowledge/situations and practice different methods in order to enrich supporting youth with fewer opportunities through mentoring and implement quality of youth projects • To develop and acknowledge personal, social and professional competences of mentors in order to strengthen and motivate them • To strengthen international cooperation and support systems among EVS mentors.The group of participants consisted from people working in youth field in different countries. All participating organizations were from different countries in order to enrich the project and to develop cultural awareness.Participants improved personal, social and professional skills, such experiment and develop new learning practices/methods, Cultural awareness and expression, Reinforce and extend professional network and built up new contacts, Interpersonal and social competences, Emotional skills, learned from good practices abroad. Mentor’s competences (skills, knowledge, attitudes) were developed and quality of work with youth with fewer opportunities was improved. Also participants learnt new working methods, experienced non- formal learning, shared ideas, got new contacts (networking), increased motivation and satisfaction of their work, increased cultural awareness.The project made an impact on organizational level mostly with motivated and with recognized learning achievements employees, bigger capacity to implement international projects and motivation to connect to mentors’ support network.Main activities were: team building, exploring the road of mentor, mentor's roles and boundaries, personal support in mentoring, helping carry out self-reflection, sharing and trying methods, providing sessions for EVS volunteers, description of methods used, evaluation, promotion of mentors' network.Main methods included in this project:• Team/group building and analyzing group processes. • Explore Mentor’s behavior attitudes and working strategies in the main tasks of mentoring.• Simulating situations.• Concentration activities.• Mindmapping, painting and writing techniques.• Warm-ups techniques from Theater of Image.• Evaluation of the day by group reflection.• Involving international mentors’ community with communication on the internet. During the training course and after network for mentors going to work as support system and space to share knowledge. Also methodical tool with methods used in youth work and mentoring was created. This tool was published publicly and is used by different professionals in more than 12 countries.