Youth people that live in disadvantaged rural areas are facing many challenges In their daily life, but the hardest is to find employment. This problem contributes to the drastic increase of young people that, underestimating the potential of rural areas, leave their villages to move to big cities in search of best opportunities. Rural Up aims to raise awareness among the young people with fewer opportunities on the potential of rural areas, to train and inspire them to start new business in rural areas, and raise awareness on the benefits that rural entrepreneurship can produce In their Communities. We intend to contribute to decrease youth unemployment, to Develop of rural areas and the increase of social and economic cohesion. The 24 young people from Italy, Bulgaria, Grecee and Slovakia, between the ages of 18 and 25 who will participate in the exchange live in rural territories where there is an high rates of unemployment. We will select young people full of resources and potential to increase thanks to their project the employment in Europe The phases of the activities require a very strong active participation of young people, in a collaborative environment monitored and tense slaughter of relationship difficulties between individuals of different cultures. The methods will be based on non-formal learing and will be oriented to the needs of the participants. The facilitators and trainers will propose specifically: individual reflections, group exercises, workshops, presentations conducted by the participants and input sessions, exhaustive debates, team building exercises as well as to more complex simulations, role-playing games. The youth exchange will have a direct positive impact on young people, but also on the community, in fact, the participants will acquire the skills to develop new business into their own villages. The project results will be disseminated through various actions by partner associations to their members and to the participants' home communities. In addition, the young participants will have a new attitude towards Rural areas.

"Croatia, Greece and Italy have been strongly influenced by the ongoing migrant flows in the course of the last few years. It is no wonder than that organisations working with the refugees in those countries decided for a partnership to work together towards achieving a brighter present (and future) for our communities. The organisations are The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS - Croatia), Poli.Ana (Greece) and Associazione InCo - Molfetta (Italy). The idea for the project came about after our organisation's youth workers participated in a seminar ""Ethnicity and integration in multicultural Europe"" and saw the potential for further collaboration. The organisation from Croatia saw how they can benefit from learning about specific youth work methods from more experienced partners in that field, whereas organisations from Greece and Italy saw the potential for expanding their knowledge and skills in working with the refugees. Partners thus got together and came up with what they wanted to achieve. The general objective of our project is to empower youth workers in their work with young refugees and to foster social inclusion of young refugees in the European society. As for the specific objectives they are as follows: 1. Detecting main challenges and needs in the integration process of young refugees considering different country experiences (Croatia, Greece and Italy) 2. Exchanging best practices and enhancing practitioner's skills through mutual learning of youth workers working with young refugees 3. Raising the awareness of young refugees about the resources from the community that they can use for boosting their well-being 4. Empowering refugees for civic engagement and overcoming cultural and social gaps between countries of origin and receiving EU member states 5. Promotion of intercultural dialogue through mutual work and exchanging experiences among youth with different cultural background. The participants included in the project were therefore youth workers and young refugees. Five youth workers were selected within each organisation among their staff or volunteers, whereas 30 refugees in total were selected from beneficiaries databases. In order to assess the needs and perceived obstacles to integration focus groups were conducted with young refugees. After analyzing the data reports were written and youth work methods selected to be presented at a seminar for youth workers on effective methods in working with the refugee youth, held in Greece. Participants (15 youth workers) gather there to share best practices in working with young refugees. After the seminar, 2 youth workers from each organisation gathered again, this time in Croatia, for a training session with young refugees where, in addition to participating in the activities, they implemented the methods shared at the seminar. Parts of the training session were filmed in order to produce a short documentary/ promotion video about project and methods and tools used in gropu work with youth, that will serve in future as an educational tool for youth workers, but also for raising awareness about the challenges the refugee youth face in the process of integration. Participants engaged in different types of workshops, lectures and other forms of activities and finally evaluation was performed to assess the effects of the implemented methods. It was shown that knowledge connected to civic rights and civic engagement greatly increased and motivated refugee youth to became their own tools for better and more sucessful future. All that was done in order to produce a ""Manual in working with young newcomers"" containing summarized focus group (research) results and newly designed methods in working with the refugee youth. The next activity was open webinar for youth workers from different countries already working with or interested in working with refugee youth. The webinar was an new approach to disseminating project results and it was filmed to serve as an educational tool in future.Although webinar was ment to incloude al least 25 youth workers, situation with coronavirus made it more difficult so fewer participants attended. Lastly, there were conferences held in every organisation's country in order to disseminate the project results. The results are: 1. manual in working with young newcomers 2. video in the form of a documentary/ promotional video filmed at the training session 3. open webinar for the dissemination of specific methods with youth workers 4. focus group report 5. exchanging the ideas and best practices in working with the refugee youth 6. improved skills and gained experience in self-motivation and self-empowerment (for the fostering of social inclusion and diversity) 7. conference report."

<< Objectives >>We are working on a Training Course - GPS Grow Partnership Strategies - which will be held in Stockholm, Sweden and will gather a team of 28 people from Romania, Spain, the UK, Poland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Ireland, Greece and Portugal. The TC was an idea which has been growing among the partners in different projects for the last 2 years - it will gather partners with very few experience in Erasmus+ Projects, willing to develop that experience and deepen their knowledge, together - by sharing the knowledge of partners who have been working with european projects and still see a lot of room for improvement of matter of understanding of what is quality of projects as a tool to motivate and empower young people towards inclusion. There will be a trainer in charge of combining all these different experiences, summing it up according to the Programme Guide and realities across Europe.This project combines a mix of sessions between Training Course and Seminar, as an attempt to find the best balance of work. There will be time for workshops delivered by a trainer on topics related to project development; but there will be also Seminar sessions – exchange between partners on experience and knowledge from the work at local level.Goals set for the project are such- Get to know what are Erasmus+ projects, how to implement them, how to submit and apply for projects, prepare a project.- Develop a common understanding on project quality and the important elements to achieve it;- Get to know how to reach youth empowerment through quality projects;- Develop partnerships;- Develop better opportunities for youth;- Work on the needs of the partner organisations;- Work on inclusion, especially of those with fewer opportunities;- Explore youth work, youth participation and youth goals for structured dialogue;- Empower NGOs through Europe to better support youth through European opportunities;- Work on difficulties o NGOs face around Europe in matter of youth participation;- Share best practices from partners;- Gather partners with different experiences and share our knowledge and experience towards projects quality improvement, youth participation and inclusion;- Explore the concept of Nonformal Education and soft skills for young people and youth workers;- Explore youthpass as a tool for certification and reflection.In order to reach these goals, we will work on quality projects implementation as a tool to empower NGOs and young people, promote inclusion and discuss concepts such as NFE and European opportunities. This will be done based on creating a strong support and networking around Europe.<< Activities >>We will implement only one activity - a 7 days Training Couse, in Stockholm, Sweden which will gather a group of 28 people, from 10 countries.Profile of the participants involved:Youth leaders, teachers, pedagogues, volunteers of the NGOs or youth workers, local youngsters and youth leaders, with fewer opportunities and local social workers, aware of the reality among youngsters in the local environment of the NGOs and able to give inputs of previous experiences or establish partnerships for future projects. In some cases, coordinators of the NGOs will take part in the TC. The participants must be someone who can influence quality of local programs while sustaining transnational cooperation. As well as educators, coaches or trainers who are in a close link with the local youth and with the projects and activities implemented by the organization. In this way, it will be also possible to build a bridge between different kinds of education: formal, informal and non formal towards a better understanding of them, how they can complement each other and be implemented in european projects.From the participants' background, they have a task to give an input based on their target group’s needs regarding participation of young people from local to national to international. Also there has to be a motivation to develop network and cooperate with partners to create more opportunities for young people, as well as improve the quality of Erasmus+ projects. That motivation will be showed in an aplication form where the participants will write about it, about their experience and expectations to take part in the project. For the less experienced NGOs we expect participants to be very engaged and curious about how to get the NGO started on international work and to occupy a space on the youth mobility reality. As well as we provide to these participants the opportunity to share their goals and aims for the future in the reality of youth inclusion and we expect them to bring those expectations to the trainers and to the discussion time. Based on the concept of NFE, the participants are taking part of the TC because the topic is relevant for them and they want to develop at personal and professional level. The participants must be willing to:Develop as an Erasmus+ and volunteer coordinator in order to empower young people and support their involvement in local activities. Actively promote & implement planned changes to their organizations after the project is over. Carry knowledge of Erasmus+ programme and the different activities; and have already experienced non-formal education and recognise it as a powerful tool for young people’s personal and professional development. Share their experience with coordination and Erasmus+ program. Have a strong need to improve their competences in approaching, planning, implementing communication with target group of their organizations.Feel the need to react on needs of local community and be able to respond to these needs in a flexible manner.<< Impact >>The project was designed aiming to have impact at many different levels - at first, in the participants taking part in the TC, then in the organisations and at organisational work, in the surrounding environment and target groups. The impact is also expected overall on youngsters and on other youth workers.Thus, the impact through project results in matter of knowledge, skills and attitudes towards new competences, must be multiplied at regional, national and european level, where the youth workers work and the youth initiatives take place. European impact will be also achieved thanks to the european partnership setfor the project. The objectives of the TC were set based on the work experience and needs of the participants/ organisations and target groups.We have european partners involved in this project, as well as national partners which will be working together towards stronger impact in different regions of the same country (the case of Portugal, Spain, Greece and Romania).NGOs will:- Get a better and deeper understanding of Erasmus+ Programme, its KAs, stages and features;- Discuss strategies to have a better impact on youth at local level, through european mobility;- Develop a common understanding of young people with fewer opportunities and NEET and Increase the commitment to inclusion and diversity from the different actors;- Learn more about youth empowerement through quality projects;- Build contacts and networks with common understandings of what is Erasmus+ Programme, quality of projects and management; and practical matters regarding its implementation in different countries;- Discuss effective methods of dissemination and follow up stages of the projects;- Be able to increase educational tools in local activities.- Become more experienced in designing and implementing multinational and european projects;- Learn about project management tools and procedures;- Develop long term strategies to promote volunteering and international mobility;- Be able to support more inclusively education in practice and at political level;- Work together on developing better opportunities for youth;- Develop better and stronger sense of social responsibility and feel further committed to local and national impact with their local partnerships.Target groups of the organizations will:- Have access to higher levels of youth projects in terms of quantity and quality;- Be mentored, coached and supported by much qualified youth workers and youth leaders in these organizations, which will lead to more engagement from the youth side;- Be aware about the opportunities regarding international NGO work and European youth programmes that can help developing their skills;- Be more aware of Erasmus+ Programmes and its opportunities;- Feel confident to lie on trustable youth workers who can help them and support them with challenges they might face and thanks to it, be more involved in NGOs work and activities.Concerning project results:We have a dissemination plan which, anyway, will be discussed the group of participants in the last day of the Training Course. Regarding results agreed with partners:- Pictures will be available online during and after the TCon the partners social networks;- A toolkit will be created with all materials shared during the TC;- Partner organisations will share posts from the TC and create posts in their own languages within one month after the activity ends;- Possible events and meetings might be held after the TC ends w/ young people and local partners;- Possible magazine/ publication or video can be created, after discussing with participants and partners - in detail - about their skills - and spread to the partners and to their networks after the TC ends.

"""EnglishmanInYouthWork"" was an international project created by 14 partner organizations from Poland, Turkey, Macedonia, Romania, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania. Main project's activities took place in Poronin (Poland) from 12th to 19th of April 2018. The project was attended by 28 participants and 2 trainers – 30 people in total.The main objectives of the project were:- exchange, develop and create a safe environment in the context of acquiring new, innovative skills necessary for the proper development of an international project;- training 28 young people in the specific English language used during all phases of the international project;- familiarize and overwork IT elements that will serve to improve and improve the quality of promotion and dissemination activities.- exchange of best practices and tools in the field of youth work excluded- create new language workshops for target groups- developing a practice for reaching consensus - establishing common solutions in spite of different perspectives and reaching agreement despite cultural differences.- creating a working environment and learning the intercultural environmentThe whole project was based on methods derived from non-formal education, based on experience through action and experience.The project had an impact on the participants by giving them the knowledge, skills and attitudes that they will use when creating their international projects. Within the project, we organized workshops for young people with fewer opportunities and activities for employees of our organizations. As the effect of our work is the publication and short movies, created by project participants and based on competencies gained during the training course."

<< Objectives >>ISLANDISM: Empowering Participation Through Tradition targetS to empower young marginalized people to be more active citizens through the importance of the tradition that comes from small communities, such as islands and improve their sense of belonging to the European family by examining some problems the participants face in their communities. Through this exchange we are aiming to spread the tradition of different islands that could be forgotten due to their size and location and offer a common space of debate and exchange of ideas to enhance the quality of living of young people who live on islands. This project will enhance participants’ skills in various thematic related to social inclusion, active participation, creativity and communication skills. It will further help participants to increase their employability and entrepreneurship skills which is one of the main problems that islands face according to the The ESPON 2013 Programme and European Economic and Social Committee (especially for mediterreanean islands).The specific objectives of the exchange are: For the participants to learn about the traditions of their own country but also to get to know the traditions of other marginalised European areas. Then, participants will be able to spot the differences and the similarities between the cultures of the participating islands to increase their sense of belonging to the European family.To promote active participation and social and civic responsibility in local and european level by engaging young people with EU values through non formal educational activities (tolerance, solidarity, etc).To promote creativity and innovation as well as digital skills through the use of different software during the production of audiovisual material to promote their tradition.To develop participants’ skills to be able to search and learn about social issues and inclusion. This knowledge can then be used to build their future, since they can use it to enrich their career opportunities, and it will also allow them to enhance their critical thinking.To make people more aware of different island challenges and opportunities which will result in the connection of people with different backgrounds from similar geographical situations by improving their active listening.To provide participants with a deepened self-knowledge and develop their communication in English and other foreign languages. To strengthen participants’ knowledge of the Erasmus+ Programme and to provide them with a solid network of international partners.To foster participants facilitation and leadership skills for non-formal activity through the workshop each national team has to organise during the exchange.<< Activities >>The planned activity is an eight-day (excluding travel dates) youth exchange that will take place in the camping of Dymes in Cyprus in April. All the activities of the exchange will be learner-centered and passive listening will be avoided. The working methods used will be non-formal education methods that will allow the participants to acquire new skills, learn, and share knowledge and ideas. The activities will include energizers, ice-breaking games, team-building activities, interactive presentations, peer to peer education, experiential and embodied learning, group work, visits to youth clubs and human rights NGOs, workshops, role-playing, simulations and brainstorming. The project will include 40 young people who comes from European islands. The countries involved are: Portugal (Azores), Spain (Canary Islands), Cyprus, France (Martinique), Italy (Sardinia) and Greece (Lesvos). Each national group will be consist by five people aged 18-30 and one group leader without age limit, representing each one of the participating organisations. The Cypriot team will be 10 participants, because we want to include participants from all communities of Cyprus, Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Maronite, refuges and Armenians. We have paid particular attention to the choice of countries in order to ensure a diverse group in terms of traditions, ethnic representation and geographical position. Specifically, we chose islands from Mediterannean Sea, Caribean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean where active participation and the sense of belonging to a community is on different levels.Although we will ensure a diverse group on different levels, all participants must have in common the following:Desire to explore traditions of European islands Desire to learn about active participation and social inclusionInterest in learning about other cultures and sharing their skills and knowledge with other participants Interest in exploring non-formal education techniquesInterest in improving their group management skills, in the context of a youth exchange (applicable only for youth leaders) Desire to organise and facilitate non-formal education activities for youth<< Impact >>This exchange is expected to have an impact on various levels. The objectives of the project and the activities around them were built in a way to assure the biggest impact in all of our target groups. Participants will have the most direct impact as they will experience the whole youth exchange and participate in all of its activities. Through those, participants will become more active citizens in their rural areas as well as in a European level. They will reflect on the importance of their own tradition and culture as well as the tradition of other islands which are often ignored by society. This will result in making the participants feel part of the European family while at the same time do not forget their own tradition from the islands they live.They will be further benefited with skills on how to create audiovisual materials by improving their digital skills. At the last day of the project, participants will create a video, an online newspaper, a drawing or any other audiovisual material with the aim to share it among other people to promote their own culture and its importance although they come from smaller societies. This will result in having participants with improved skills of creativity, innovation and the sense of initiative. By exploring techniques, methodologies and benefits of non formal education, participants will get skills on searching from available sources and learning about social issues and inclusion. These skills can be further enriched and be used for building up their career path and increase their employment opportunities. Additionally, participants will get a chance to increase their level of English or any other participating language, as well as, their intercultural understanding, since for a week they will live with an international group of young people whos one of their main responsibilities during the exchange is to share their culture among the group. This interaction will also create an atmosphere of solidarity which hopefully will lead to new international friendships. They will also increase their intergenerational understanding as for some activities, participants will be in touch with the citizens of Dymes village which are mostly older people. Apart from the participants, our partner organisations will be benefited too. Our partners will be involved in the preparation of the programme activities, so they will gain more skills and experience and further increase their capacity to operate at EU/international level and implement Erasmus+ projects in the thematic of the project and any similar youth activities both locally and internationally. They will further develop their international network of partner organisations which come from EU countries and operate in the similar geographical situations. This will lead to new collaborations and ideas with innovative and improved ways of operating towards their target groups. Besides the new skills which will be gained by the participants and consequently passed on to the partners, participating NGOs will be equipped with members who are aware and able to reflect on the harmful consequences of discrimination against themselves or against other in their hometown which are provoked from the lack of such educations. Thus, those participants will be more active in the society having improved their sense of initiative. Participants will also gain skills on producing audiovisual materials such as videos, blogs, newspaper that can be used to create more materials on topics of social inclusion through tradition and even more specific to the needs of local communities or for the promotion of the NGOs activities. Finally, at a European and international level, the project is expected to improve the individuals' key competences and increase the level of awareness about the issues addressed by the project. The expected impact also involves greater participation in democratic life in Europe and its surroundings, and is expected to inspire young people to be active citizens. The participants, in fact, will be promoters in spreading the acquired skills, in their associations and in their communities, and they can be active participants in the implementation of best practices.