"<< Objectives >>We believe that Nutrition is one of the pillars of our well-being, often we note that underestimating this factor in our work in contexts of residential experiences such as youth exchanges, trainings and different kinds pf camps, leads to waste the commitment on other levels such as those of the activities: the participants and the project team do not ""produce"" as much as they could, they lose lucidity, interest and the results get affected. In some other cases quantities are calculated wrongly, food is wasted or it’s not enough for everybody. We think that underestimating this factor is not done on purpose, in the majority of cases, by the coordinating associations but on the lack of a culture related to food and nutrition. Sharing with our partners, we also realized that capable staff who take care of cooking balanced and inclusive menus is not easy to find or it has a high cost.If we shift the focus on young people and their relationship with nutrition, statistics show that there is a need to improve awareness of the impact that such eating habits have and to promote a healthy lifestyle through concrete initiatives that involve young people and support them in developing awareness and healthier eating habits. Beside the statistics, very often we see directly in our young people how little importance is given to what they introduce into their body (food, drink, alcohol, smoke and drugs), as if the risk to which these habits exposes them is not real or it doen’t not touch them directly.Many of the young people we work with find themselves in situations of unemployment or at unemployment risk and they are stumbling into a still stagnant economy, phenomena that got worst with the pandemic and now with the war in Ukraine and the consequences on the world’s economies. We think that to support unemployed youth it is necessary to work on several fronts, one of these is to stimulate the development of soft skills through non-formal education, another is to build more positive and proactive attitudes.Through this project we wanted to work to bring solutions and results on these fields and use food, cooking and healthy life style both as means and ends.The OBJECTIVES of this project awere:1-Prepare and bring together 24 youth workers for a training course; 7 youth leaders for an APV and 42 young people for a Youth Exchange;2- Improve the skills of the staff and volunteers of the organizations involved in the project in preparing balanced and inclusive menus (with valuable vegetarian, vegan, halal, gluten-free and lactose-free alternatives).3- Create and disseminate knowledge about the legislative system of the countries involved in terms of cooking for groups: permits and necessary certificates.4- Increase the organizational skills of the associations involved in the management of funds for preparing meals during their projects, improving their performances and involving their staff in it.5- Improve the skills of young leaders in the field of facilitation and non-formal education.6- Improve the competencies of the participants in cooking, regarding the food industry, sustainability, nutrition and the relationship between what we consume and health.7- Improve the soft skills of the participants to increase their chances of entering the labour market or to improve their job opportunities. Specificallyimprove: communication skills, teamwork, leadership, time management, cooperation, planning and organizational skills.8- Stimulate entrepreneurship, pro-activity, self-esteem and get out of the vicious circle of unemployment that creates insecurity, immobility and apathy.9- To know the cultures of the countries involved through national food, to ground the sense of European belonging and to value differences10- Increase the awareness of the participants about their relationship with food, their eating habits' consequences and stimulate self-care and self-appreciation.11 - Improve the quality of participants' life by introducing healthy habits regarding nutrition, movement, and relation with technology.12- To create 4 tangible outcomes about the project:A) A web pageB) A printed bookletC) A documentaryD) An online testimonies booklet13 - Implement - involving the participants of the TC and YE - at least one dissemination activity for partners<< Implementation >>We created a training course for youth workers and young volunteers active in partner associations which involved 28 participants. These were figures who collaborated with partner associations on a paid or voluntary basis and who were interested in improving their skills in designing and preparing inclusive and balanced menus according to the needs of the participants in their programs.We carried out a preliminary planning visit which involved 14 young people: 1 leader and 1 young participant for each national group. The visit had the aim of bringing together future leaders and some participants to get to know the project location, start working together, share the participants' background and their aspirations regarding the exchange, share inputs for the realization of the project and start to create concrete workshops to be included in the program.We carried out an international exchange that involved 42 participants: 7 national leaders and 36 participants.PARTICIPANTS were aged between 20 and 28 years. Their common characteristics, in short, were an interest in improving their lifestyle and making it healthier and more sustainable, focusing especially on the following areas:- nutrition and relationship with food- physical activity- balanced use of technologiesParticipants were also interested in learning about other cultures, traveling abroad, improving their level of communication in English and other languages.The LEADERS were young people between 20 and 35 years old with previous experiences in youth exchanges and non-formal education and wanted to experiment in coordination and management roles within their national groups and within the organizing TEAM of the exchange. They were also interested in increasing their skills in facilitation, leadership, organization of youth projects in general. The leaders also shared wishes and needs similar to those of the participants: they were intended as participants with an extra role.The participants in the project had a background with the following difficulties, sometimes multiple:Cultural differences 14 peopleDisability 1 personEconomic obstacles 20 peopleEducational difficulties 4 peopleGeographical obstacles 6 peopleHealth problems 4 peopleRefugees 1 personSocial obstacles 10 peopleAfter the exchange, the national groups carried out 8 local activities involving about 80 young people. The activities had the aim of sharing and deepening the themes of exchange: well-being in the areas of nutrition, physical movement and the use of technologies.<< Results >>We have created the following tangible results:A) 3 online magazines called ""Foodie"" which include:- Introduction to dietary choices for health reasons or related to beliefs: vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, halal, no pork, no beef, gluten and lactose free.- Vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, gluten-free and lactose-free recipes- Nutritional properties of different foods (fruit, vegetables, different types of meat, eggs, cheeses, legumes, pasta, rice, etc.)- 1 article on the food market and its trend with successful examples- 1 article on food bloggers- 1 article on the relationship between food and sustainability- 1 article on the concept of slow food- 1 article on the use of preservatives, herbicides and food colors in the food industry and their effects on the body- 1 article on eating disorders and food-related diseases- 1 article explaining what are the certificates and permits that people must have in order to legally cook for groups and how to get them, made from 12 paragraphs for the 12 countries involved in the project- fact sheets on how to grow popular fruit / fruit and how to build a garden on a balcony- fact sheets on many national foods, their recipes and nutritional values- 4 balanced and inclusive menus designed by the training participants for 4 specific programs for young people- additional content prepared by the exchange participants in national groupsFOODIE N.1: https://online.pubhtml5.com/xtwk/axgf/#p=1FOODIE N.2: https://online.pubhtml5.com/xtwk/bwcl/#p=1FOODIE N.3: https://online.pubhtml5.com/xtwk/labz/#p=1B) 2 documentaries, one on training and one on exchange.TRAINING: https://youtu.be/8Kqf7cG_rrwEXCHANGE: https://youtu.be/Tp1q98D8ZIUC) 2 booklets of online testimonials, one with the testimonies of the training, one on the exchangeThe online manuals produced were disseminated through the network of organizations involved and were sent to:- Other organizations working with young people locally, nationally and internationally- Youth mobility portals- Information point for young people and non-profit organizations- Youth sectors of the municipalities of their territories- Schools in their territoryThey were also shared on their media: web pages and social media pagesTRAINING TESTIMONIALS: https://online.pubhtml5.com/xtwk/xuau/#p=1EXCHANGE TESTIMONIALS: https://online.pubhtml5.com/xtwk/jgap/#p=1Numbers of the diffusion of the outputs: more than 26,000 views, see attached table for details.The intangible result that more than others we are happy to share concerns the impact that the training has had on our association: thanks to the training we have developed new strategies and new practices regarding food in residential projects, both in those of which we are direct coordinators , both in those that are made in Bergolo and for which we take care of practical and logistical issues, including cooking and transport, which this year have been a dozen.Our new practice implements the main objectives of the training, that is a choice of foods and recipes more attentive to the personal choices of the participants, a menu more sensitive to the target group of individual projects, to the activities that are carried out and to their religious or personal choices. philosophical. The new strategy involves the purchase of fruit and vegetables from local producers, reducing the impact of transport on the environment and supporting local production and small farmers.Another important intangible result is linked to the learning of the training participants, who brought the skills acquired into their associations, favoring a similar impact, and that of the exchange participants, especially as regards the improvement of their own well-being in the areas covered by the exchange and their soft skills.Positive impact was also achieved thanks to the 8 follow-up activities organized by the participants in their local areas: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1q6rl6UUpWXLMFju20pAn_g5AOwkjPHXO?usp=sharing"