• Share:

Participants: 7 per country (6 participants + 1 group
leader)
Countries: Austria, Poland, Greece, Spain, Serbia,
Romania, Turkey, and North Macedonia

 

Project Description

Almost 30 years ago, Roger Hart developed a model to describe the different forms of youth
participation. He argued that participation was the process of sharing decisions that affect
people’s lives and the communities they live in. He believed that participation is the
fundamental right of citizenship and an integral part of democracy. Thus, at the center of Hart’s
definition is decision-making. He describes participation as a ladder, with levels of youth
involvement ranging from nonparticipation to full participation. In that regard, the European
Union’s youth strategy aims to ensure full participation of youth in society both as an overall
goal and as the main objective in its 5th field of action—participation—and puts its focus on
participation in representative democracy, supporting youth organisations and strengthening
opportunities for learning to participate.
Given that, with the Youth Exchange ‘Youth 4 Active Society’ We seek to gather 56 young people
across Europe and show them different ways of actively participating in the decision-making
processes, as well as the benefits from it on a personal and societal level. Therefore, during this
Youth exchange, the participants will present and put into practice various non-formal
addressing youth participation used in their countries. In that way, we want to allow the
exchange of methods and practices between young people and organisations coming from
different parts of Europe.

 

The project’s objectives are set as follows:

– to enable an exchange of different methods used in participants’ counties that contribute to
active involvement of young people in the decision-making processes,
– To increase young people’s understanding of the challenges of current Europe and to debate
possible solutions and responses,
– To promote European values, such as human rights and the rule of law, active participation and
social responsibility,
– To allow improving/acquiring presentation and public speaking skills, communication skills,
teamwork, leadership, etc.,
– To create and disseminate a digital Toolkit with methods and tools addressing active
participation of young people the decision making processes in society,
– To promote the Erasmus+ Programme, Non-Formal Education (NFE) and Youthpass Certificate,
– To encourage intercultural learning and to promote cultural diversity.

 

Project programme

 

Participant profile

● Motivated to take part in a youth exchange and are interested in the topic of the project;
● Motivated to implement the experience gained in the YE in their communities;
● Motivated to build and support international partnerships that will be created during the
YE for future Erasmus+ projects;
● Age limit 18 – 25 years old, preferred;
● People who are willing to learn more about other cultures by sharing rooms with 3-54
other people from different countries;
● People who will be dedicated during the activities, willing to take active participation
and be part in creating the final project results

 

Group leaders profile

● youth workers, leaders with experiences in international youth field, with non- formal
education based methodology;
● with previous experiences in the field of youth engagement, project management, Erasmus
+ Programme, KA 1 – youth exchanges;
● being able to support the participants during project: to organize and implement
preparatory meetings, to communicate with other group leaders in the process of
preparation of programme, to assist participants with arranging practicalities for YE, to
support participants during YE, especially to support their learning process and active
participation, to organize and to implement evaluation meetings with participants, to
support development follow-up activities.
● There is no age limit set for group leaders.

 

Working method

● Learning by doing method.
● Ice-breakers and team building games to get to know each other.
● Workshops will leave room for discussions and debates
● Simulation games will allow us to identify current challenges of non-formal education
and show possible measures that strengthen them.
● These sessions will provide the participants with concrete ideas that can be implemented in their local communities, thus ensuring an important multiplier effect.

Accomodation and food

Accommodation and food are 100% covered by the Erasmus+ programme. The participants
will be lodged in “Die Lams” in Rettenegg, Austria. Rettenegg is a
small town located one and a half hour from Vienna and Graz, surrounded by mountains and
typical Austrian architecture. The facility is rented out to schools, associations, organizations
and private individuals, primarily with a focus on children and youth.

 

Important information about the accommodation

● During the activity participants will be accommodated in a room with 3-4 other people
from different countries.
● Each participant will have a roommate from a different country and we can’t make
exceptions to accommodate people from the same country in the same room. The
rooms will be gender divided.
● We can’t arrange separate rooms for couples or make additional changes in the room
match.
● The rooms have bunk beds. Mattress, duvet and pillows are provided (bed linen
included). The participants must bring their own TOWELS and toiletries.
● Every room has its own bathroom.

 

Meals

Food: There will be 3 meals per day provided, prepared by a cook. Participants will have a
responsibility to help with food preparation, and learn more about international cuisine. Each
participant will be responsible to wash their dishes and silverware after eating.
During the official part of the event, and in the territory of the hotel alcohol and drugs are
strictly forbidden! Smoking is not recommended and in case of urgency only permitted
outdoors in a designated space.
Everyone is welcome with these restrictions. Violation of this entitles the caretaker to
immediately dismiss the person(s) concerned. No refund on travel costs will be guaranteed in
case of dismissal.
Please, inform us in the application form about your food needs (vegetarian, vegan, food
allergies).
The accommodation is covered at Retteneg, only for the days of the activity (11.11 –
19.11.2022). In case of a longer stay there is no chance of reimbursement of travel costs.
You are not allowed to arrive after 11th of November or leave earlier than 19th of November.
Please keep in mind when booking the tickets. For any other questions consult with the group
leaders form sending NGO.

To apply, please fill in the application form on this LINK.

To download the complete project Infopack, click HERE.

 

SEE YOU IN AUSTRIA ☺