"According to UNESCO, cultural heritage is a very important element for European society, being not only the heart of ""European identity"" but also a means of creating economic development in the community and of improving the environment in which people live. There is evidence to show that relatively modest investments in preserving cultural heritage can bring substantial added value in time, which can be quantified both economically and in terms of increasing the quality of life and social cohesion (according to the Expert Group on Cultural Heritage - Horizon 2020, 2014). iCare is an international exchange of young people with partners from 6 countries of the program: Romania, Czech Republic, Italy, Greece, Lithuania and Croatia. It will take a total of 7 months, from June 1st, 2018 to December 31, 2018, with a period of 9 days dedicated to the implementation of activities between October 6-14, 2018 (October 5-15 with travel days). The location for activities is Pensiunea Poiana in Poiana Negrii, located 12 km from Vatra Dornei, a resort in northern Romania. The group present in the activities will be 42 young people between the ages of 18 and 30 and 6 group leaders who will have no age limitation for a total of 48 people. Each national group will consist of 7 young people and 1 leader. The objectives of the project are: 1. Increasing the level of understanding of the project-specific problem for the 42 participants and the development of competencies over 7 months through active involvement in the preparation, implementation and follow-up of the exchange. 2. Informing 300 people from the 6 communities about the importance of cultural heritage preservation (old buildings and monuments) through 6 local events, organized by young participants and foreign partners, which will draw attention to buildings in decline which possess a cultural and historical value. 3. Creating the ""iCare"" international network for new initiatives, with the core of the six partner organizations, which will attract another 12 entities (local authorities, organizations, schools, etc.) during the project. The methods underlying iCare exchange activities belong to non-formal education and have important roles in getting the desired results from the project. The project team grouped the methods according to their utility and impact on young people, as follows: 1.Integrative. Role: Stimulates group cohesion and dynamic between participants. Develop team spirit and teach young people how to work and organize together, whether in small groups (mixed or national) or in the big group. 2.Creative. Role: Develops the artistic sense of young people and stimulates their creativity, while emphasizing freedom of expression. Young people discover how to use artistic elements (theater, music, videos) to make presentations, provide information in a more interactive way, express how they feel. 3.Intercultural Learning (ICL). Role: Develop participants' empathy for other cultures, overcoming stereotypes and prejudices 4.Learning through direct experiences. Role: Put learners in a situation of learning through a direct experience, having the opportunity to study a problem directly at source. 5.Reflectie. Role: Encourage young people to evaluate the experiences they have experienced, to express what they think and what they would like to change. It also teaches young people to self-assess and become aware of the positive changes they make. For the international impact, the central element is the iCare partnership, starting from the six organizations that have found a common vision and goal. We want the development of this network by attracting 12 new partners with which future local/international actions will be planned. As a multiplication effect, we want this project to lay the foundations for a new candidature to be held in Romania, filed at the first deadline of 2019. 1. Quantitative indicators: -new partners attracted to the iCare cooperation network (planned 12) -1 Erasmus + application submitted in partnership in 2019 (planned 1) 2. Qualitative indicators: -stimulating international collaboration -capitalizing on the obtained results -obtaining the multiplication effect The measurement methods will be: questionnaires and direct observation"

Background of the projectThe Internet has significantly changed how people perceive and think about the world: how information is acquired, employed and understood. It is becoming especially common nowadays for young people to spend an increasing amount of time engaged with social media. However, there is a noticeable lack of balance between the development of proper understanding of how to utilize online communication resources securely and efficiently, and the speed of technological advancement. Consequently, young people frequently fall under risk of emotional abuse online and are rarely informed about the broad possibilities of using Internet resources as means of personal and professional development. Therefore, it is necessary to advance general Internet awareness, which includes suggestions on secure browsing and communication, teaching to acknowledge the practical significance of Internet and social media, and how to seize the opportunities provided by rapid technological progress.Objectives of the projectTo improve understanding of possibilities provided by Internet and modern communication technology among young people, positively influence their professional development and social engagement by teaching to use virtual communication securely, independently and without causing potential threat to their own health and safety.Number and profile of participantsThirty young people aged between fifteen and twenty-two from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, who are willing to learn how to effectively utilize Internet resources in order to promote personal growth as well as apply the gained knowledge in their daily lives.ActivitiesActivities included in the project are based on methods of informal education. Questions regarding the significance of Internet as a contemporary cultural phenomenon and the tools it provides, which could be used for self-help, education and occupational purposes, as well as Internet-security, ethics, Internet- related laws and regulations are going to be covered in discussions, simulations, debates and activities of other format. The participants would be given a chance to formulate, share and freely discuss views and opinions, enhance and improve knowledge by taking part in the planned tasks.MethodologyTeamwork exercises, “icebreakers” and team-building activities, open discussions, interactive presentations done by both the participants as a form of assignment and by qualified professionals attempting to foster understanding of a specific topic , simulations, daily and overall feedback and evaluation sessions, filmmaking.Results and impactsParticipants will raise their awareness of both national and international work-placements, internships, academic and informal educational opportunities by learning to utilize IT resources effectively. Additionally, they will be encouraged to think about the Internet and social media as a cultural phenomenon along with gaining an understanding of underlying moral and philosophical concepts. Therefore, improving own occupational desirability, ultimately diminishing odds of falling into unemployment and promoting habits of secure Internet usage among youth.The project's partner-organizations will acquire valuable experience concerning the organization of youth oriented activities, specifically, aimed at promoting effective use of IT and social media. These skills will be required to organize on-going information sessions after the end of the exchange as well as independent projects based in their home countries.On a European scale, the project will result in the establishment of a stronger bond of mutual understanding between European youth, when dealing with problems of employment, secure exchange of information and the influence of social media on occupational prospects.The project will have a direct impact on thirty participants along with at least three hundred other young people, who were not able to take part in the exchange. This is going to be accomplished through enabling chairpersons of partner-organizations and the participants of the exchange to organize information sessions and various activities in their hometowns dedicated to promoting the results of the “Like IT: Internet as a modern way of thinking and a tool for professional development “ project also engaging with the local youth.

"Project ""Cooperation Instead of Rivalisation - power of cross sectoral partnerships "" is designed to implement a seminar on cross-sectoral cooperation, especially focused on the local, youth aimed activities, capacity building of youth organisation and creation of sustainable local and international partnerships. 24 participants from 7 countries will gain a wide range of competences related to creation and development of intersectoral partnerships in the local backgrounds. Project will be implemented in the frame of NonFormal Education, with usage of interactive methods, like games, world-cafe, team activities, elements of study visit, reflection and evaluation. Main results of the project for participants will be strenghtening of competences related with intersectoral partnerships, better insight in the problems of youth people in the local backgrounds, skills related with project management and raising of intercultural competences. For the participating organisations main results will be maintaining of sustainable partnerships, in both: local and international level, implementing local activities, related with the project idea in local environment, know-how exchange between partners, and raising local visibility and importance of each participating organisation. Additionally project will be influencing disadvantaged youth, as a target group related with local activities. Even if direct beneficiaries of the project are youth workers, then with usage of cascade model - their task will be to transform knowledge and skills learned during the seminar to use them as competences in the local background for their target groups which are youth in need."

"Youth Mobility Project ""MY FIRST ERASMUS +"" will be held in August 2018 in Lithuania. The project will gather teenagers from 6 European countries (Romania, Latvia, Turkey, Poland, Greece and Lithuania). That will be the first participation in the international Project for those teenagers. Participants of the Project will meet peers from various European countries and immerse into the depths of intercultural learning. During games and workshops they will test various methods of youth activities, will learn from each other on how to involve youngsters into social activity and how to disseminate experience they get. Also, the participants will get acquainted with the Youthpass document for the first time in their lives and will learn about it's basic competencies as well as it's advantages. As to participating organizations, impressions of the international program will strengthen local youth projects and encourage peers for more active participation and involvement. Knowledge acquired during exchange program will be brought back to their communities and realized in the form of both local youth projects and international work. Venue of Exchange program is Jovariškės, Trakai distr., Lithuania. Participants' age is 13-17 years. Number of participants in the 5 + 1 leader, whose age is not regulated. APV is on 21-22 of April, 2018. Exchange program is on 06-12 of August, 2018. The project is organized by the Naujoji Vilnia Culture Centre in Vilnius (Lithuania) and 5 NGOs, actively working in the field of youth involvement."

"Young people are the ones hit hardest by unemployment and precarious employment. At the same time, all EU and national elections in the last few years have revealed increasingly low youth turnout combined with growing Euroscepticism, as dramatically illustrated by the Brexit referendum. The complex situation of young people in transition to adulthood thus calls for trained and experienced European youth workers. Driven by YES Forum’s membes, YES Academy addressed this issue by contributing to achieve a greater impact of the Erasmus+ Youth Inclusion and Diversity Strategy by:• Creating a more inclusive environment, with more and diverse young people participating in civic activities throughout Europe• Enabling organisations working with and for vulnerable young people to be a more effective force in making it easier for them to actively participate in society• Increasing the capacities of youth workers and their organizations in working with young people and fostering greater cooperation and synergies among youth organisations and other stakeholders throughout the EUThe project idea came from our partner organizations and their ongoing interest in increasing civic participation of disadvantaged young people. All the project partners brought strong expertise in working with young people affected by various disadvantages (e.g. educational, psychological, economic inequalities) in their own communities. Ranging from school social work to street-based youth work, our partners aim to prevent, resolve and avoid the worst effects of exclusion while helping young people to flourish. Through 4 major events conducted over the span of 16 months and involving 115 participants from 15 EU countries, the YES Academy project innovatively combined a process-oriented learning approach prioritising youth worker’s reflection and exchange of experience to create tools for sustainable approaches in working more effectively with young people across Europe:-Through a Contact-Making Event in Germany, the first activity built a common approach based on mutual understanding and fostered the exchange of experiences on promoting youth engagement, active citizenship, participation and social inclusion, preparing the ground for an action-oriented report on how to be more effective in reaching young people.-The second activity, an International seminar held in Brussels, continued the learning activities while providing the space for a dialogue between project partners, representing the youth field, and European policy and decision-makers – the European Parliament and the European Commission in particular – as well as public bodies involved in youth social inclusion, youth unemployment, and active citizenship.-The third activity, a study visit in Finland, was co-organised with After Eight, an organization with a long standing experience in the development of youth active citizenship, participation and social inclusion. The event offered an in-depth look into After Eight’s measures, projects, methodologies and political, financial and administrative infrastructures targeting youth. The event also enabled further exchange of experience between youth workers, resulting in a Good Practices Guide for the Promotion of Active citizenship and Youth social inclusion-The last Contact-Making Event in Germany facilitated transfer into practice. The action-oriented report on how to be more effective in reaching young people was finalised and prepared the ground for future projects following this objective. Policy recommendations on Erasmus+ were also finalised thanks to the partners’ gathered feedback.The tangible results of the project include (all available under ""Downloads"" here: goo.gl/CtAhD9) :• An action-oriented report that summarized the next steps in order to better promote youth active citizenship and participation through concrete project ideas, leading to several Erasmus+ project applications by YES Academy partners on the 4th October 2016 deadline;• A Good Practices Guide for the Promotion of Active citizenship and Youth social inclusion, based on the experiences and case studies shared during the project in order to share them with youth workers throughout Europe. • Policy recommendations on Erasmus+ to help public institutions better support youth and social work across the EU in the future, thanks to feedback from project partners, all grass-root organisations involved in Erasmus+ Youth.The learning results for youth workers were:• Deeper knowledge of structures and support measures for young people and youth organisations at EU and national levels• Qualitative support for the dialogue between the European youth sector and stakeholders in the field of European youth policies with a focus on youngsters with fewer opportunities;• Greater knowledge of good practices related to the social inclusion of young people and the promotion of active citizenship, leading to the concrete implementation of new"