"<< Objectives >>With the implementation of the project we want to develop a set of creative, innovative practical exercises and activities from the practice of storytelling for nature for educating young people about the importance of preserving the environment. We also want to present these activities as tools that help young people identify their own potentials and competencies and help them develop rhetorical skills for self-presentation. We will also present the benefits of the acquired practices as tools that help young people to get in touch with themselves and nature. These are tools that help young people to overcome stress, develop a positive self-image, respect diversity, strengthen European citizenship and encourage them to become active creators of Europe's future.The aim of the project is to carry out a training with which we will develop international cooperation that will further develop and expand the usefulness of the practice of storytelling for nature as a practice for educating young people about the importance of healthy ecosystems for their lives and personal development.The aim of the project is to test different approaches to storytelling in the wetland, which are the most endangered ecosystems in Europe and together with participating organizations, create a set of stories that will educate young people about the importance of wetlands and show them the importance of wetlands for their personal biodiversity in terms of helping them develop their personal competences.The aim of the project is to publish the selected exercises in a brochure that will have practical use value for youth organizations that will incorporate activities into their work with young people. At the same time, the aim of the project is to use the selected stories from the wetland research for the final narrative performance of the participants in the training itself, which will have a positive impact on the local community in the applicant country.One of the goals of the project is to raise awareness of the current state of the Earth's environment and climate change and the importance of nature conservation.<< Implementation >>In the project, we will carry out activities that will be aimed at achieving the set goals of the project: the final performance of the participants and the publication of a brochure with useful exercises for the implementation of storytelling for nature in the practice of working with young people. All support or accompanying activities will be intended to support participants in establishing contact with nature, encouraging creativity and creating stories from nature, which will later be useful again in their work with young people.The activities we will carry out are:Basics of remembering and telling a story, which will comprehensively introduce participants to simple steps to remembering and telling a story. These steps are also very useful in other areas for young people: writing cover letters, projects, presenting business ideas, writing creative presentations, clear rhetoric, confident presentations and creative writing and performance.The hero's journey accompanied by a donkey, which will introduce the participants to the basics of storytelling for nature and the foundations from which it originates - deep ecology. They will learn techniques of deep listening, empathy with the creatures of nature in order to learn about them, techniques of personal growth with the help of animals - donkeys, story writing and group spontaneous storytelling. The activity will help participants develop their own vision in the context of education and introduce them to the healing power of storytelling for nature.Personal Stories is an activity that will introduce participants to creating their own stories from personal subjects and show them the useful value of this activity as a tool for getting to know and connecting groups.The art of storytelling for nature in the forest, where through various techniques of clowning, creative writing, games, land art, exercises for deeper awareness of nature and sensory activities we will learn ways to create stories from nature to educate young people about nature. This activity aims to introduce the participants to the importance of the wetland and help them compile a repertoire for the closing evening and use these stories for their further work with young people. Exercises will also be useful to teach young people how to compose stories from nature.The world of all beings is a ritual activity of deeply sensitive and connecting nature, which we will perform with the participants in the forest on ""Midsummer night"" and through which we will deeply touch the message of our inter connectedness with nature. The purpose of the activity is to become advocates of ""inaudible"" - beings of nature who do not speak human language. A highly inclusive exercise that opens up space for all beings and encourages tolerance, respect and cooperation is of paramount importance in educating young people.In group creation, we will carry out the activity of writing and designing a brochure with the participants.The project will involve 15 youth workers who have- interest in developing practices of convergence with nature, sustainable lifestyles and coexistence- In their work with young people, they already use storytelling as a method of education or they want it- their work includes public speaking, lectures, public speaking in general and wants to learn techniques for improved rhetoric and relaxed speaking- does not yet have any experience in storytelling, but wants to teach them this knowledge to start using it in their work with young people- interest in developing new forms of creative expression- more than 30 years and come from one of the partner countries.<< Results >>With this project, we want to present the practice of storytelling for nature to the participants and inspire them to start using it in everyday life and in working with young people. We expect that the brochure that will be published as part of the project will be distributed among 50 organizations working with youth and environmental protection, thus ensuring a positive expansion of the practice.We expect that our final storytelling evening will be attended by at least 40 visitors, which will have a positive impact on the local community and give additional impetus to the local wetland protection initiative.The result of the project will be the establishment of a supportive and strong group of youth workers, which will be formed and continue their efforts to develop practice through the facebook group and further meetings with which we hope to develop new storytelling initiatives.The expected result on the personal level of youth workers is a deeply nurturing and connecting practice that will leave an impression on each individual and change his or her perception of nature. These results will be visible immediately, and their consequences will be visible late and cannot be predicted. We see education as a seed of light, a hazelnut that every individual will discover in education in contact with themselves, nature and the community we will create and plant and develop into a tree of light that will share hope and motivate many young people with its stories. to contact with nature and develop their own gifts in contact with it."

"'Game of Wellness' was a 7-day training course which was the third edition of a training course, that we have successfully organized in December 2016 and July 2017. The previous editions started many fruitful cooperation between us and our partnering organisations and among participants themselves and it is also upon a request of the involved institutions and individuals, that we have developed the topic further and developed the third edition. The primary aim of the project/training course was to introduce and explore concept of “wellness” and ""gamification"" with emphasis on well-being of a diverse community. The secondary aim was to support and facilitate specific project development in this field. The training course focused both on the personal and professional development of our participants who learnt and experienced how the concepts of games and wellness empower both themselves and the young people and communities they are working with. The shared wish was to support the participants in finding ways towards healthier and more sustainable lifestyle and working style in order to make creative use of their resources, both locally and internationally. The training course hosted 28 participants from 11 countries and partner organisations, plus 3 trainers (total number of participants: 31 people) and happened in December 2018 in Kaprálův mlýn, ecological centre near Brno, Czech Republic.There were following objectives defined:- to introduce and explore concepts of wellness and principles of gamification in the context of community youthwork; - to create space for professionals to practice and refresh their trainers skills and to share their best practices and receive feedback;- to introduce practical online and offline tools and activities that promote healthy living, community building, conflict resolution and inclusion across diverse groups;- to empower youth workers to develop and organize programs that support sustainable, healthy and joyful living in their communities and organisations;- to facilitate constructive development of realistic project ideas and support formation of new partnerships. The course was fully based on the methods of non-formal education, which fed and encouraged the active participation and an atmosphere of acceptance, trust, openness and non-judgment within the working group. We worked small working groups, which encouraged more reflection, feedback and self-directed learning, as well as the inclusion and the free expression of all participants and minimized the problems caused by the lack of a common language. The course had a strong component based on the sharing of experiences, best practices, opinions, especially in the experiential part when participants prepared specific blocks of program; this allowed participants to learn about themselves and from others through the dynamics of cooperative learning, to know each other and to create a strong network of contacts between organizations and groups involved in working with young people."

"Nature of EVS was a long-term project which aimed to explore innovative methodologies in EVS (community-based approaches, The Way of Council, The Hero’s Journey, nature-based methods etc.) and to support quality and accessibility of EVS projects through supporting different actors involved EVS both in their personal and professional development.OUR AIM:The aim of our project was to explore the potential and depth of European Voluntary Service (EVS) as a journey for personal transformation and complex growth of all the actors involved with the focus on sustainability and service to ourselves, communities and environment.Key activities were 2 training courses (mobilities of youth workers), each for 25 youth workers, trainers, project coordinators and mentors active in EVS. The outcome of the project (next to the learning outcomes for the participants and networking of the participating organisations) was the development of innovative methodologies and tools for all actors involved in EVS - coaching cards, descriptions of inspirational methods, blog articles.We hosted 50 participants in total from 16 countries and partner organisations, plus 4 trainers and 1 support staff (total number of participants: 50 people).WHERE and WHEN?24th - 31th July 2015 (including travel days) in Czech Republic 9th - 16th November 2015 (including travel days) in Italy Together with our partner organisations we defined 4 objectives for the overall project, and then we defined more specific objectives for each of our residential weeks, which are described in section G of this application.GENERAL OBJECTIVES:1) To create an inspiring learning environment for sharing good practices, inspiration and motivation, for networking and to create a collection of tools with EVS as a common topic. 2) To inspire participants to see the EVS experience as a unique transformational experience and a rite of passage for the volunteers; and an opportunity for personal and organisational development for all the actors involved.3) To explore concepts such as ""community life"" and ""service"", and the added value they can bring in EVS.4) To personally experience some innovative methodologies (e.g. The Way of Council, Threshold Walk, The Hero’s Journey, Pesso-Boyden therapy, nature-based methods etc.) and to use this to get new inspiration for future EVS work.NATURE OF EVS project was linked mostly with these three aims of Erasmus+ mobility projects:- to support the professional development of those who work in education, training and youth with a view to innovating and improving the quality of teaching, training and youth work across Europe;-to increase the capacities, attractiveness and international dimension of organisations active in the education, training and youth fields so that they are able to offer activities and programmes that better respond to the needs of individuals, within and outside Europe;-to raise participants' awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries, offerSpecific Objectives for TC #1 - Individual Journey1) To understand EVS as a personal development journey, and to compare+connect this journey to traditional myths and heroes' legends. 2) To experience a variety of nature based educational methods as inspiration to make EVS projects more meaningful.3) To learn about elements of traditional cultural patterns and psychological models and gain skills to implement them into EVS projects.Specific Objectives for TC #2 - Community Aspect1) To experience community based activities as tools for making EVS more powerful and beneficial learning process.2) To gain inspiration by sharing and seeing different examples and approaches to EVS and how the element of community can be a included3) To experience different realities of EVS actors, their motivations and potential goals; to create a space to share strengths, advantages and risks, as learning opportunities.The training courses were based on non-formal education and experiential learning. Participants experienced different community settings close to the nature and more traditional ways of living, and the team used these elements as important components of our learning processes.The tangible outcomes are:Production of useful tool for working with EVS volunteers - EVS coaching cards. These were printed in 10 copies and will be used on EVS trainings by the team, in their respective pools of trainers - Czech and Italian EVS trainer pool, and copies were send also to other EVS actors.Information about the project and its outcomes can be found online, both in SALTO database and detailed articles describing the training courses and main highlights were written by one of the team members, Carmine Rodi Falanga.CZECH EDITION: article - https://carminerodi.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/nature-of-evs/, Salto: http://trainings.salto-youth.net/4969ITALIAN EDITION: article - https://carminerodi.wordpress.com/2015/11/23/nature-of-evs-sermugnano/, Salt"

"<< Objectives >>The Culture Garden: Youth Leadership for Collaboration TC provides essential tools and practices, as well as opportunities for individual and group self-reflection, which empower young people to succeed in any collaborative group context. The program engages with leadership, not as a quality held by one person or by a select few, but as a whole-group phenomenon. The governance practices a group uses, the ways that conflict, feedback, and communication are navigated, a group’s relationship to creativity and self-expression; its economic paradigms and more inform what kind of leadership it potentiates and responds to. In the project, youth leaders are trained to give young people experiential opportunities to learn and build confidence using the “cultural tools” that enable collaboration in their school, employment, and community contexts. ISSUES & NEEDS ADDRESSED:The revitalisation of rural areas, as well as the re-localisation and diversification of economies throughout the UK and Europe, require the initiation and successful management of innumerable small- to medium-scale initiatives. Although significant support is being mobilised for such initiatives by many European governments, there remain significant barriers to local youth engaging successfully in such endeavours. One often invisible barrier is the lack of a collaborative skillset to build the confidence and resilience required for individuals and teams to succeed over the long-term. In order for young people to participate more actively in their local communities and economies, they must have the education, training, and supported practice in the personal and interpersonal skills which ultimately allow effective, collaborative engagement to happen. In this TC we will combine 3 main elements: - Critical analysis of the phenomenon of GROUP CULTURE and an overview of the frameworks, tools, and practices that support COLLABORATION; - Individual and whole-group EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING & PRACTICE; - Creative/expressive and embodied activities to cultivate SELF-REFLECTION, SELF-AWARENESS, and RESILIENCEThe main aim of the training is to provide youth workers with competences & paradigms to empower young people to become effective collaborators in their local community and economic contexts.To reach this aim we have the following objectives:
- to critically engage with the phenomenon of group CULTURE, and to understand the defining elements and impacts of COLLABORATIVE group cultures;- to understand and value the important role of DIVERSITY in collaboration and collaborative cultures;- to learn FRAMEWORKS, TOOLS & PRACTICES for collaboration across the dimensions of: Diversity, Economics, Governance, Conflict, Communication, Somatic Psychology, and Place/Nature; - to PRACTICE and incorporate these frameworks, tools & practices within the group process;- to provide opportunities for individual SELF-REFLECTION in relation to each dimension to identify personal strengths and weaknesses, and to create a personal collaborative leadership PROFILE;- to EMPOWER young people to become more active participants in their local governments, economies, and communities, and to SHAPE their local cultures towards a more collaborative ethos;- to equip young people with the core skills and frameworks to succeed in the VOLATILE and EMERGENT conditions that are becoming the norm worldwide; - to CULTIVATE PERSONAL & GROUP RESILIENCE in the face of change and uncertainty This project links to the overall Erasmus+ objectives: - boost skills and employability- modernise education, training and youth work - focus on young people. And to the objectives focusing on youth:
- improve the level of key competences and skills of young people, including those with fewer opportunities... promote... social inclusion.
- foster quality improvements in youth work, in particular through enhanced cooperation between organisations in the youth field and/or other stakeholders;
- enhance the international dimension of youth activities and enhance the capacity of youth workers and organisations in their support for young peopleWe are also informed by the three pillars of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2017 - Engage, Connect, Empower.During the course, participants will focus not only on exploring the inputs from the training team, but have ample opportunity to share their own practice & explore how to apply the learning in their local contexts. << Activities >>In this application we are proposing a 7-day residential training course with the name “The Culture Garden: Youth Leadership for Collaboration"" which would take place April 10-18, 2021 at The Findhorn Foundation, Scotland, UK. There will be 33 participants - youth workers, teachers, social workers - from the following 10 countries: Czech Republic; Slovakia; Italy; Turkey, Slovenia; Estonia; Spain; Greece; Hungary and UK. The participants consist of 27 direct participants, 3 trainers, 1 Project Coordinator and 2 logistics assistants/trainees. We will have 2-3 participants from each of the 10 participating organisations to ensure a good mix and balance in the group, numbers based on the needs and capacity of each organisation. We want to specifically target youth workers/youth leaders working with marginalised young people including different diversity/minority groups and refugees & migrants. For us the INCLUSION aspect is one of the most important characteristics of the project, we aim to have 30-50% of participants with fewer opportunities, including those working with disadvantaged young people as a target group. We will look for participants who:-are involved in youth work and are active in their communities,-are working with topics either of storytelling, media or global education (to provide a stimulating learning environment, we identified organisations who specialise in those fields)-are able and ready to work in English,-are and willing to commit to work on the objectives of the training courses and courses and participate in the whole duration.The programme is based on non-formal education methods and experiential learning. It will include many different activities, theory and practice of up to date information, evidence based tools and practice, plus reflection, discussions, open workshops to encourage critical thinking and personal contributions.Some of the competences that will be developed during the course are: non-formal educational methods; new knowledge of evidence based approaches to the effective self-management of mental health & wellbeing; new knowledge and understanding of new mental health definitions & approaches; ability to create curricula of activities & programming for their young people on the topics covered in this training course.<< Impact >>With this project we aim to increase the quality of youth work across Europe. We will equip participants with the knowledge, skills, methods & frameworks to design & deliver content, projects and programmes for the young people they work with - which can include the following aspects which they will learn during the training course.PARTICIPANTS: will develop new competences in leadership & good practice which they can pass on directly to the young people they work with. The project engages with leadership, not as a quality held by one person or by a select few, but as a whole-group phenomenon. The governance practices a group uses, the ways that conflict, feedback, and communication are navigated, a group’s relationship to creativity and self-expression; its economic paradigms and more inform what kind of leadership it potentiates and responds to. In this project, participants are trained to give the young people they work with experiential opportunities to learn and build confidence using the “cultural tools” that enable collaboration in their school, employment, and community contexts. TARGET GROUPS: YOUNG PEOPLE AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES: will benefit though improved quality of activities offered by trained youth workers and youth leaders. Youth workers will promote diversity and transfer common fundamental values.PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS: will have increased quality of their participants' activities and their multiplication among co-workers. Each organisation will send 2-3 of their members to the project - which will ensure they can support each other into implementing the new skills and methodologies. Through the project we want to deepen and strengthen established partnerships with our partner organisations and we foresee follow-up projects happening as a direct outcome of this cooperation. Furthermore, we want to invest into the strengthening of this network - as mentioned earlier we hope to achieve long-term cooperation with all the involved partners. We expect this project to be a catalyst for the creation and the implementation of a number of projects, within the Erasmus+ Youth programme and beyond, focused on the quality of the non-formal education and the topics of mental health & wellbeing - so important in this time. A strong focus will be put on how to pass the results of the course to the organisations and the beneficiaries back home. We will dedicate sufficient time on Day 7 to create session and activity plans appropriate to each participants'/organisations' target groups, which will be implemented with support from the partner organisations when they return home."

"""Peace Games"" has been a 8 days residential training course with the following objectives: - to define a positive approach to leadership and develop related skills; - to explore games as learning tools to develop political participation, inclusion and non violent communication; - to introduce tips and principles of ""gamification"" in education and training, and to discuss potential negative side effects; - to empower trainers, youth workers and leaders to increase young people's participation to political life, reduce radicalization and xenophobia, promote a less violent society - and endow them with applicable tools. The course was based on experiential phase on game methodologies of different types and on different platforms (social games, role playing games, boardgames, LEGO, video and digital games, creativity expression exercises) and their direct applications in educational activities. The course has produced a toolkit of games (""Peace Games"" collection) published and shared through the project platform (https://www.facebook.com/wargamestc/), as well as the full report in a published and shareable format, focusing on the applicability of the learning outcomes and multiplying effect. It involved 30 beneficiaries (24 participating youth and social workers + 6 between full time and guest trainers, a coordinator and a staff member) from 12 program countries, including big urban areas, remote rural areas and islands. It took place in Horka nad Moravou (Olomouc), in Czech Republic, between 27th August and 2nd September 2018. ."