European Voluntary Service Bridge is an Erasmus+ European Voluntary Service Project. Tokat Provincial Directorate of Youth Services and Sports is the coordinating and sending organisation within the project. Hosting organisation is Nucleo Educativo per la formazione Europea al Lavoro Internazionale from Italy. Project application form was prepared to submit to Turkish National Agency. Our main goal to prepare this project application is to include our young people in our organisation with fewer opportunities with time and money in international voluntary activities. This will help them to have the idea of European and Global citizenship. Within this framework we plan to send our young volunteers to our partner abroad as EVS volunteers. And we plan to enhance their education, that is why we are applying for this project. There is long term EVS activities planned for 3 volunteer in total. Our activities are aiming directly to include volunteers in it. Non-formal, formal and informal learning styles are combined in the activities but main focus will be non-formal and experimental learning. Within the project, our activiy plan is like; - Nucleo Educativo per la formazione Europea al Lavoro Internazionale, Italy hosted 2 volunteers for each 6 months, 1 volunteer for 12 month in total starting from April 2018. Our main target group is young people with fewer opportunities and our activities are designed to include these youth group. In the end of activities these young people with fewer opportunities will develop theirselves in social and cultural way. Their employability will be developed as well as they are going to develop their personal and social skills. Our project aims to create international mobility and mobility awareness within the young people in long term we are aiming to contribute youth participation.

<< Objectives >>Youth Workers as Mindful Leaders training course is a collaboration between 10 organizations wanting to raise awareness and teach practical tools for youth workers about mindful leadership. Mindfulness is a key focus area that all partners agreed to develop in as in their environment - be it professional or personal, their youth workers are facing much stress, anxiety and cases of burnout. It’s link to leadership for youth workers lies in the practicality of how methods can be passed on or applied either as a tool to be implemented in their work environment or for their own practice for self-empowerment.Youth Workers as Mindful Leaders training course aims to combine mindfulness concepts to youth workers to combat stress and learn a more aligned methodical way to become a Mindful Leader - ML. These solutions shall impact positively the target group both at a) personal b) professional level plus their c) environment will benefit from it too.Experiential and non-formal education based leadership and mindfulness practices will be targeted to raise awareness, drive self-empowerment and help concentration. Target group of participants shall be first gaining skills for personal development during the training’s processes, which is to enhance their ability to become a balanced charismatic individuals that can lead better.As the Study – „Understanding Burnout in Child and Youth Care Workers” of Sean W.Bardford and William J. Whleton indicates, human service occupations like youth workers are facing plenty of stressful and difficult situations by working with variety of target groups, mostly from difficult background (migrants, unemployed, rural area, problematic youth, teenagers, bullied students etc. – few examples from our partners)Clarity of mind, importance of health and ability the to focus better are outcomes that we want to promote and raise awareness about. By introducing Leading Mindfully (LM) concepts and practices, our participants and organizations are foreseeing to become agents of change and promoters of a more phyisically and mentally healthy society at personal, professional and communty level.The importance of health, self-care and ability to focus better are outcomes that we want to promote and raise awareness about. With the introduction of ML concepts and practices, our participants and organizations are foreseeing to become promoters and advocators of a phyisically and mentally more healthy society at personal, professional and their environment’s level.By learning such, the result we expect is that the target group will become more self-aware, conscious and mindful leaders, knowing what matters and not, how to care more for their own and others wellbeing and how to handle critical and stressful situations.The objectives of the training are: 1.To equip youth workers with competences and methods for their professional and personal development.2.To understand the concept and importance of conscious leadership in working with youth. 3.To understand the concept and acquire skills of Mindful Leadership to be used in anxious situations.4.Firstly to experience and learn from creative theoretical and practical methods of Mindful Leadership through activities for self and youth empowerment.5.To learn from exercises, how mindfulness, concentration, calmness and silence can be introduced to youth workers.6.To boost skills and ability of self-directed stress reduction and consciousness raising techniques and their possibility of usage in NFE setting. 7.To promote Erasmus+ as a tool for modernised development of youth workers<< Activities >>The 10 countries involved in the project are: UK, Turkey, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Estonia, France, Denmark, Greece and each of the partner will send 3 participants for the project. Altogether the training will gather 30 participants (youth workers) that will be facilitated by 2 trainers and 2 local support staff. They have to tackle stress and learn anxiety management and are at high risk of burnout. After the training course they be able to apply Mindful Leader concepts and techniques in practice at critical situations for their personal, professional and environment’s benefit.The working methods that we will use during the project will be as dynamic and participatory as possible. The expected participants will have interesting knowledge which we want to include and use also in an active way.The activities during the project will include:-Explanation of the Program and methodology.-Name Games, for the participants.-Group Games to create cohesion among the participants.- Debriefings as crucial part of experiential learning methods-Session on Erasmus program +-Intercultural Night where all participants will show their typical foods, culture and music and do debriefing about their stereotypes, similarities, differences and what to learn from each.-Space for the exchange of good practices among participants of mindful leadership activities.-Preparation in groups of different videos to promote stress reduction and anxiety management methods for personal and professional setup.-Space for reflection for the participants on the YOUTHPASS.- The group will have the opportunity to create a workshop/activity or method that after they can practice in the group and use in their home organizations, projects, their activities and communities they work with.-Presentation and practice of the workshop/activities created by groups and evaluation of these by all (how to give feedback)- Open Space on mindfulness and leadership’s connection-Evaluation Project (Dynamics and written)<< Impact >>In general as a result of the training course participant youth workers will:•become more self-aware and self-confident•learn to focus, concentrate and calm themselves and others in highly stressful and anxious situations•learn to be good leaders and inspire others in a conscious way•learn about Leading Mindfully principles, methodologies and techniques to be used as tools in NFE setup and youth work•learn to implement Mindful Leader concepts in practice and handle better stress at personal and professional level too•understand themselves and others better by active listening and improved attention on the 5 sensesThese solutions shall impact positively the target group both at a) personal b) professional level plus their c) environment will benefit from it too. Will gain and raise quality of their life and work by the knowledge, experience and practical implementation methods of: 1. Mindful Leadership concepts 2. combating stress and anxiety 3. highlighting the importance of health at physical and mental level.This will have a long term impact in their personal, professional and environment’s level. In practice it will raise the quality of their youth workers skills and competences along with their quality in working on: E+ trainings, youth exchanges, volunteer camps, ESC coordination, local activities etc.

"According to the Eurostat statistics youth unemployment rate in Europe in July 2014 was 21.7 % in the EU-28. This is the lowest rate for the EU-28 since September 2011, but anyway the rate is still higg as the latest statistics of Eurostat december 2016 shows 18.6 % of young people are unemployed in the EU-28. The highest rates were observed in , Greece (46.13%), Spain (43.6 %)Italy (36.4 %), Croatia (29.7%). Entrepreneurship is one the most important aspect to fight with youth unemployment as today social entrepreneurship is becoming one of the effective and innovative methods to solve the social problems. It gives the opportunity to deal with the problematic issue in a creative way that in turn helps to involve into social sphere more people, create alternative jobs and income. In light of economic changes, globalisation and requirements on labour market (the moving from employment to employability) entrepreneurship itself is becoming popular issue among young people as a lot of them are struggling to find job or having their own income. As a result of these young people are searching alternative way which turns to be running of their own enterprises. In order to be able to do this they need some certain skills and knowledge like knowledge business sector, understanding financial risk and management, having soft skills (communication, leadership, management etc). Moreover, 90 % of all startups are failing which stops young people to put their ideas in action. At this point NGOs should provide young people with information and help on the topic of social entrepreneurship and involve them into the issue. But there are not many organisations which are competitive enough in this field. That youth exchange “A new Job - A new Love - Entrepreneurship” aims to develop participants’ skills on social entrepreneurship, financial management, creativity, soft skills, strategic planning of the ideas. It is designed for youth leaders, youth volunteers ages between 18 - 30 to explore methods of working with youth on the topic of social entrepreneurship and practical skills on running the social enterprise with their organisations. The priority age group will be 18 - 30 years old. The whole project is built up and developed in accordance with the objectives and the priorities of the Erasmus+ Programme. Our objectives are: 1) To develop creative thinking, soft skills, financial management, strategic planning of the ideas and social entrepreneurship skills 2) To transfer knowledge and experiences on how to motivate young people in developing entrepreneurial paths. 3) To offer a basic exchange on how to develop, validate and implement social entrepreneurial projects. 4) To explore practical ways of supporting young people set up social enterprises, taking into consideration legal, financial, management and social requirements. 5)To equip youth leaders and youth volunteers with tools and methods designed to develop entrepreneurial skills 6) To develop new methods and tools of working on the topic of social entrepreneurship. 7) To provide participants with the opportunity to exchange experience and expertise in the field of social entrepreneurship. 8) To inform the participants about opportunities to develop new projects under the Erasmus+ Programme The project will be take place in Karaman, Konya between November 7th to 14th 2017 and It will gather together 32 participants from programme countries such as Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Lithuania, Romania and Turkey. Working methodologies of the youth exchange will be based the non-formal education methods such as outdoor activities, debates, discussions, sharing experience, creative sessions and self-assessment sessions, roll-play activities, simulation games, meetings with young entrepreneurs, Erasmus+ possibilities, innovative presentations, team-building activities, energizers, ice-breakers, ""getting to know each other"" tools, brainstorms, individual/pair/group work, inspirational visit, feedback and reflection sessions. Regarding to the specific methods and tools on the project topic the trainers will use business model canvas, CEFE, XMind, creativity tools, brainstorm maps, logical framework, problem tree , etc. Except the trainers local and international young social entrepreneurs and experts will involve into the project. The main results of the project will be activities for young people on the topic of social entrepreneurship implemented by project participants in the countries and social enterprises created by young people after these activities. We expect that the youth exchange will help the organisations to start to run their own social enterprises. Also the project will increase the quality of youth activities and projects on local and international levels, including new cooperation."

""" Activating Rural Areas Through Art "" was the Erasmus+ Key Action 1 Project - Youth Exchange aiming to raise awareness on empowerment of rural youth in order to reach the European opportunities and increase capacities of youth through art Works, create space for open dialogue, inter-cultural understanding, mutual respect and acceptance of diversity between young people in our countries. The Project will include groups of 4 participants plus one group leader from 8 partner countries. Project will be organized on 02-11 April 2018 in Ariogala, Lithuania. The daily program was designed for 9 working days plus 1 travel day. The youth exchange will involve 42 participants including 9 leaders and 33 young people people with rural background, youth leaders working with rural youth and artists who want to work with/for rural areas. CCI would like to empower European youth, by enabling them to raise their cultural awareness through a mix of methods of Non-formal learning and using different tools for learning and sharing information. By this Youth Exchange we provide space and time to our participants to share their life stories and experiences to enhance their mutual understanding, better inter cultural communications, networking, and friendship. Project objectives were: -Ensuring that participating young and local people are informed about European opportunities and providing opportunities for young people living in these regions to take advantage of youth opportunities; - Being able to develop new methods that will enable young people living in rural areas to access to important information that can change their future; -Improving the skills of young people living in rural areas on the basis of art and culture and contribute to becoming active citizens; -Being able to provide social change positively in rural areas with art and cultural activities; - Encouraging young people living in rural areas to have information about the nature of the youth projects and to undertake new projects; - Creating a platform where young people can develop and demonstrate their artistic skills and their ability to express themselves; - Encouraging young people living in rural areas to explore the NGO experience and to produce new projects by gaining project experience; -Introducing the culture of the country and ensure introducing different cultures; - Learning to appreciate and understand differences, similarities and other people’s point of view and to consider inter-ethnic relations as European gain by common activities - Improving self-confidence and communication skills of youth for a better interaction with others through understanding and practicing the non-verbal communication within activities - Developing artistic skills, creativity of youth by using different technics in short time - Improving personal abilities of interacting and building bridges of trust by working in a team with people of different culture and traditions, through different methods - Strengthening relationships between participants, discover that, beyond our differences, we share a common humanity; create a positive attitude towards European values. Using non-formal education methods we offered participants wide variety of interactive workshops, presentations and discussion platforms comprising photograph, video, music, theatre production. We will share information targeted at our local communities and European citizens in general, raising awareness on inclusion of young people who live in rural areas into Erasmus+ projects. As an outcome of our project, participants used the new skills and competences to increase their intercultural sensitivity, became more tolerant and respectful toward other European cultures and become more active in their communities and organizations. The working methods were: - Small group discussion - Group presentations - Individual presentations -Digital Skills - Theatre methods - Energizers - Ice-breaking activities - Outdoor activities - Team-building activities, - Exchange of experiences, - Cultural activities, - Social media skills - On-going evaluation The information about the project disseminated widely through Online platforms like action blogging, facebook, youtube, instagram, partner organization's web pages. Also, thanks to our exhibition and performances our projects reached its audience directly and Participants of the Project. They also had chance to communicate with local people and inform them about Erasmus+ projects and opportunities. So, the outputs and overall results of the project was available to anyone – all over the world."

"<< Objectives >>Through our project we wanted to build the capacity of youth workers and organizations so they can provide adequate support to young peoplewith refugee and migrant background as well as to young people affected by ""migrant phobia"" and violent extremism. There is a clear need of empowering civil society organizations which work with refugees and migrants so they become crisis and to policies for the integration of refugees. This may result in providing both high quality support to the refugees and migrants as well as in supporting the EU and national policy making with valuable input.Our objectives were:A. To provide conceptual framework on the notions of emigration, immigration, integration and multiculturalism to youth workers from different countries;B. To analyze and give insights into the situation of refugees in Europe, into possibilities of supporting refugees and their families;C. To discuss and analyze the current refugee crisis and migration challenges in Europe and try to offer solutions from the perspective of youth work; D. To foster tolerance, respect and open-mindedness towards migrants while working with young people as a target group;E. To share experiences and best practices of integrating young migrants in youth organizations;F. To equip youth workers with capacity to combat hate speech towards migrants, misinformation about refugees and xenophobic discourse;G. To create a network of NGO's to be involved in the migration management process and contribute to the refugee integration process in partner countries.Considering above aim and objectives we wanted to equip our participants to build their capacity so we have a better social integration. To do this we planned two activities which; a training course dedicated to build skills and companies while also sharing good practices, a study visit to provide real cases, and experiences.<< Implementation >>We implemented two different activities.Activity 1:A training course with 32 youth workers, project coordinators or youth workers in Fethiye, Turkey.All participants were over 18 years old and fluent in English. We also had participants with fewer opportunities. Big Majority of the participants were between 18 - 30 years old.Activity 2:A study visit with 32 youth workers in Paris, France. All participants were fluent in English and over 18 years old. Participants were youth workers, youth leaders or project coordinators.Participants with fewer opportunities:Migrants; We had several participants with migrant backgrounds;Refugees; we also had refugees, one of them was also in team of coordination in activity in Paris. Minorities: We had several participants with minority ethnical backgrounds;Economical Obstacles: We had a lot of participants with economical difficulties and low income or unemployed. Social and Cultural difference: we also participants with cultural and social obstacles.Geographical obstacles; we also had participants coming from smaller cities with limited access and opportunities.<< Results >>As a result, more qualified youth workers will have a stronger impact on their communities. Participants gained and experienced different working methods such as brainstorming techniques, role and simulations, work in small groups, world cafe, open space, innovative presentations, presentation of real cases and field work towards integration of migrants, getting to know each other activities, energizers, icebreakers, team-building activities, group work, debates, discussions, sharing experience, feedback and self assessment sessions. Some of the participants joined in both activities and trained as youth workers and project coordinators."