The project "Joint Exchanges Network" is aimed at the creation of a network of organizations for the development of international high-quality youth exchange projects. The project involved 17 partner organizations and consists of two main activities: a Partnership Building Activity and a Training Course. The idea of the project came from all the partners, who really want to strengthen the partnership among the organizations working in international youth mobility. The main objective of the project was to create a network in which organizations collaborate with well-known partners and in a clear and shared frame-work. In this way it will be possible to facilitate the involvement of the youngsters in the management of exchanges designed by young people for young people, based on peer-to-peer education and thought to develop soft skills that promote employability.In the PBA from the 6th to the 10th of March 2015, 17 coordinators of youth exchanges/presidents of the partner organizations will reinforce the relation among the organisations, will establish quality standards for common projects and will create the Joint Exchange Network, JEN.

The members of Világjáró Önkéntes came up with the idea of an own youth exchange-Be Your Media- last year after several participations in youth exchanges as partner. Since we already have good relationship with other European organizations, we started to work on this project together, from the very beginning to the end of the writing of this application. The idea, to organize a youth exchange about media, came from previous experiences from other youth exchanges, and from the fact that media affect our lives in many different ways. Especially our target group, youngsters from 18-25, are well connected to different kinds of media, from social media to online media. The idea was, to get together youngsters from, at least, five countries in order to share their experiences about media, media consumption and raising their awareness about different kind of media issues. We think it will be an interesting experience to get a picture about, how media works in different countries, even if all of the groups will be from European Union. Furthermore it would be a perfect moment to raising the awareness of the youngsters about manipulation through media, and have a reflection about it.So, the main objectives of the project are to analyse the differences how media works in different countries, to examine how people use media in Europe and also to analyse the differences between old and new media. Other main aims of the project, as we mentioned above, are to raise the participants awareness about manipulation in media and about the power of social media. As secondary objectives, we want to raise the awareness about European values, and mobility opportunities and increase the popularity of Erasmus+ and non-formal education.In this project, we would like to involve 30 youngsters (include the 5 leaders) from 5 European countries. We tried to involve organizations from all over Europe to this project. In order to this goal, a French, an Italian, a Romanian a Polish and a Hungarian group will participate in the project, which is a guarantee to have an exciting exchange. We won’t recommend from the participants high level of English, in order to have the chance to involve those youngsters into the project who usually would not participate in a youth exchange. We will welcome firstly those youngsters who never took part in Erasmus+ projects.During the project, we will have an APV in July, where we will have the chance to meet with the partners, and have discuss about many details of the exchange. Also it will be a perfect event to share our ideas about the participant’s profile and to show the place where the exchange will be and to present our organization. As it will be our first youth exchange, we believe that an APV is indispensable if we want a successful project. In November we will organize the youth exchange, in Debrecen. Debrecen seemed to be an optional place to organize the exchange, because it’s easily reachable and it has a young and energetic atmosphere, and last but not least Világjáró Önkéntes is based in the city. During the nine days of the exchange the participants will have the chance to learn about the topic, change their experiments about how media working, share their ideas about social media and face those issues which are related with media consumption. During the workshops we will use non formal education tools, and all the workshops will require active participation from the youngsters. We want to involve the youngsters as much as possible during the workshops, so in order to this, we will mix the groups, and also offer to them to hold warm ups if they interested. They will have the chance to get to know the city and the locals during the “Discover Debrecen” workshop, when they will make interviews with the citizens, like real reporters. As we mentioned above, during the exchange we will use non formal education methods, so the participants won’t feel that they are in a ”school situation”.The youth exchange will have different kind of results. We believe that a Youth Exchange can leave a big impact in the youngsters, and can shape their thoughts and behaviour. After 8 days of workshops about media, and media consumption hopefully will make them more conscious about the topic, and will raise their awareness also. As another result, we would like to share with them the Erasmus+ experiment and the feeling of an international community. Moreover the exchange will have many other impacts in different levels. During the workshops with the local community, we can share and spread the idea of Erasmus+, in order to involve more people into international mobility projects. For our organization it will be a great chance to show ourselves to our partners, and to start new, even long term partnerships. . Hopefully this exchange will give us the chance to start work on future projects, which would be a great next step for Világjáró Önkéntes!

"During this training course we welcomed 30 young peer educators, youth volunteers and youth workers that wanted to deepen their knowledge about the use of theatre as a mean to discuss social matters. During this training course we encouraged the participants to explore theatrical methods in order to stimulate young people to become responsible members of society, help them to participate in decision making processes and engage in actions and activities in order to contribute to their society. Our main purpose, our heart and our motivation was to support them to find new ways to stimulate your youngsters to PARTICIPATE & ENGAGE because we truly believe that they have the power to make changes. Ignite for TRANSFORMATION! And.. theatre is an excellent method to use as ignition for transformation. In contrast to talking, theatre has the power to move directly into the heart and move people from within. Often you immediately get to the people’s core beliefs and motivation. The visual language of theatre allows people to understand each other quickly without getting lost in misunderstandings. Besides, playing theatre is a lot of fun and creates a safe space, being it a great method to serve as a platform to address societal issues in a light-minded way, without losing its importance. Since theatre is a process in which trust and cooperation are essential for success, it is a helpful and interesting method of exploring different ways of thinking, weighing pro’s and con’s in order to be able to work together as a team. Furthermore it is a way for people to become aware of their independency and self confidence. Through theatre people are more likely to discuss their own behaviour and to reflect on that, it does make them think about a lot of things, about themselves and other people’s points of view and validate their role in life and this society. Therefore it is a beautiful and very playful way of taking people “by the hand” in a process of self awareness and growth towards active citizenship. Since theatre is a safe haven, with no goals in convincing and arguing with each other, it is by all means an excellent platform to “play” with all sorts of societal issues - big or small - in a cheerful way. This training took place between the 6th and the 14th of June, 2015, in Ommen. The following countries where involved in this project: Ireland, The Netherlands, Romania, Turkey, Lithuania, Armenia, Italy, France, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. We welcomed in total 30 participants, 3 interns and 3 trainers in The NetherlandsObjectives: The 2 main objectives:-Knowledge on use of theatre as a tool to discuss social issues; knowledge and practice with different theatrical methods in order to engage young people; transforming youth & social matters into theatre-Provide the participants with the skills to express themselves, make themselves seen; make participants aware of their own presentation and help them improving it, provide participants with tools for effectiveness and credibility in speech, establishing verbal and nonverbal methods of expression, creating empathy and compassion and a open, out of the box mind set.Description of the activities, impact and results:The training course was divided in 2 parts. The first 3 days of the training course are dedicated to develop connections between participants and to work at the same time on more personal competences that are essential in theatre. These activities are described as ""interconnection"" in the programme. From day 4 we worked 2,5 full days with the ""Forum theatre"" method and we end these days with a Forum theatre performance. The performance was done at the Saxion Hogeschool in Enschede. After the training participants concluded that they are more aware, openminded and selfconcious. They got acquainted with severals methods of theatre which they already shared with youngsters and peers and bring up social issues for discussion. Not even 4 weeks after the training we received the first feedback of participants that used part of the theatre activities that they learned during youth exchanges and volunteering and animation activities with children and youngsters. Participating organisations gained this way, via their participants, new knowlegde on behalf of their organisation and therefor will be able to offer new methods in working with young people. At the same time we did found new partnerships for future activities. Alltogether the enthusiasm of the individual participants will hopefully lead to more activities in the local realities but also on an European level. Enabling young people to speak up and make themselves heard and seen. Ignite for TRANSFORMATION!"

De Europese jeugduitwisseling ‘Make Yourself Heard, Make Some Noise’ heeft vijftig jongeren en tien groepsleiders uit Frankrijk, Italie, Spanje, Finland en Nederland een week bij elkaar gebracht. Samen hebben zij gebrainstormd over jongerenparticipatie. Met als basisbegrippen ‘intercultural learning’ en ‘non-formal learning’ hebben de jongeren een actief programma gehad met de centrale vraag hoe je als jongere je stem kunt laten horen in de samenleving – en in Europa. De Jongerenraad Overijssel heeft op deze manier actief willen bijdragen aan een breder begrip van democratie en betrokkenheid in de (Europese-) samenleving.In het afgelopen jaar hebben wij ons als doel gesteld om buiten de muren van het provinciehuis te treden. Daarnaast wilden wij niet alleen op nationaal vlak actief worden, maar op internationaal vlak; als Europeanen onder de Europeanen. Het jaarthema van de JROv was daarom 'van denken naar doen'. Hierbij sloot het begrip internationaliseren naadloos aan.Als Jongerenraad komen wij dagelijks in aanraking met politieke besluitvorming. We zijn langzaamaan handig geworden in het meedenken over deze besluitvorming. Daarnaast zijn we eraan gewend dat de provincie ons de ruimte geeft om mee te denken en te groeien. Toch komen wij nog altijd moeilijkheden tegen of lopen we tegen besluitvormingsprocessen aan. Hieruit ontstond de vraag: hoe kun je als jongere nou écht van je laten horen? Of nog beter: hoe kun je als Europese jongere je stem laten horen? Met deze vraag kregen wij het idee dat dat antwoord misschien niet zo eenduidig zou zijn als we in eerste instantie dachten. Daarnaast wilden wij eigenlijk wel weten hoe jongeren in andere landen hiermee omgaan. Hoe zouden jongeren met een verschillende taal, cultuur en achtergrond denken over het thema jongerenparticipatie? Tijdens de “Make yourself heard, make some noise! hebben we van ons horen!Onze doelen waren:• Vergroten van de kennis over opvatting en definities van democratie in de verschillende landen• Vergroten van de kennis over opvatting en definities van betrokkenheid bij je samenleving in de verschillende landen• Deelnemers ontwikkelen kennis over besluitvormingsprocessen en groeps dynamiek in een groep en doen vaardigheden op over de wijze waarop ze deze kunnen beïnvloeden• De deelnemers bouwen samen kennis op door effectieve wijzen te bedenken hoe jongeren (nog beter) bij beleidsontwikkeling betrokken kunnen worden;• Ontwikkelen van vaardigheden die nodig zijn om in een democratische samenleving te wonen zoals; communiceren, assertiviteit, probleemoplossend vermogen, empathie, conflict beheersing en debatteer vaardigheden • Stimuleren van een proactieve houding, openheid en bewustwording. Bewustwording over waarden, ons gedrag en mogelijke consequenties• Het bieden van een interculturele leerervaring/leeromgeving aan de deelnemers • Het bieden van een ervaring van actieve participatie tijdens de gehele jeugduitwisseling (inclusief de voorbereiding)• De deelnemers ontwikkelen “tools” die kunnen ondersteunen bij actieve participatie; “How they can make themselves heard”• Bouwen aan sterke en verbonden nationale teams welke na de uitwisselingDe activiteiten die we hebben ondernomen:• Op uitnodiging van de Provincie Overijssel hebben we in de Statenzaal het democratiespel gespeeld verzorgt door de Provincie i.s.m. Pro Demos• We hebben verschillende workshops gevolgd over jongerenparticipatie verzorgt door verschillende workshopsleiders, jong en wat ouder. Met dank aan de Saxion Hogeschool voor het ter beschikkingstellen van diverse lokalen• We hebben een dag lang creatieve workshops gevolgd waaronder theater en banners schilderen met dank aan onze theater regisseur en een fantastische docent handvaardigheid uit Nijverdal.• We hebben een middag gesport met elkaar, met dank aan een van onze jonge deelnemers die studeert voor sportdocent• We hebben zo mogelijk alle media uit de provincie Overijssel ontvangen en te woord gestaan tijdens de activiteiten met dank aan het media team bestaande uit jongeren van de jongerenraad• Tijdens de jeugduitwisseling heeft het media team 3 filmpjes geproduceerd van de uitwisseling voor de groep zelf en voor promotionele doeleinden• We hebben een flinke straatactie georganiseerd in hartje Zwolle en samen met de mensen op de markt twee grote banners beschreven ‘What would you dream to change in society?’ en ‘How can young people change society?’.• Tegelijkertijd met de straatactie is de andere helft van de groep deelnemers in gesprek gegaan met beleidsmakers uit de Provincie Overijssel. De commissaris van de Koning, Ank Bijleveld sprak ons allen in een videoboodschap toe waarna de film van de jeugduitwisseling werd vertoont.• We hebben gekookt schoongemaakt, voetbalwedstrijden gekeken, verloren & gewonnen en we hebben kennisgemaakt & afscheid moeten nemen. Gelukkig helpt facebook ook ons om in contact te blijven.

The EVS-project “Music for Youth” allowed our European volunteer to work, from January to December 2016, with youths from diverse origins and backgrounds as well as develop and reinforce their professional knowledge by developing the qualities and abilities which will be useful in their professional career – notably relational, organizational and linguistic skills. Their direct involvement in multicultural activities with young people developed their ability to adhere to a project, work as a team and coach groups of young people.The volunteer was involved with the promotion, organisation and management of the following projects:- January to March: organisation and management of concert tour for young European and Luxembourgish soloists, which took place March 8 to 15 in Luxembourg and North Rhine-Westphalia (D);- January to July: organisation and management of the National Youth Wind Orchestra in Luxembourg and Gérardmer (F), workshops and concerts took place March 28 to April 3 and a concert June 19;- March to August: organisation of the European youth exchange “International Music Week” that took place July 22 to August 1 in Ettlebruck (L);- September to November: registration and communication with participants of the Concours Luxembourgeois pour Jeunes Solistes;- October to December: preliminary organisation of the 2017 session of the European Union Youth Wind Orchestra and the National Youth Wind Orchestra 2017.The volunteer was involved in all aspects of the activities including: the promotion and media coverage of the projects;communication and cooperation with foreign partners and participants; administrative arrangements, organising lodging, rehearsals, concerts, etc; elaboration of the daily schedule of the projects; elaboration of youth related cultural programs (trips, talks, visits); promotion of activities to arouse the interest of the participants and public; ongoing contact and support to help participants solve any problem before, during and after the projects; pedagogical coaching of young participants and favour their integration into the group; pedagogical assessment of the results of the projects.