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Participants: 8 per country (7 participants + 1 group leader)
Countries: Austria, North Macedonia, Greece, Romania, Portugal, Poland and Lithuania

Project Description

Fighting discrimination, social exclusion, creating socially inclusive societies are one of the key
European priorities stated in strategic document Europe 2030 and reflected in various European
Programmes, including Erasmus+.
The idea for the youth exchange ‘European Human Library’ came up from young people
involved in local activities of the partners. This youth exchange is giving young people an
opportunity to strengthen their knowledge on social exclusion, discrimination, hate speech and
moreover providing young people a chance to learn about ‘human libraries’, way of addressing
stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination based on direct interaction among the visitors and
‘living books’ representing groups that are being stereotyped, discriminated and socially
excluded. Furthermore, the participants will have an opportunity during the exchange to
prepare and to realize ‘small’ human library-based event and they will be encouraged to share
their experiences with their organizations and peers.
Objectives of youth exchange ‘European Human Library’:
a) To develop participant’s competencies in the area of human rights education and the
methodology of human libraries;
b) to raise participant’s knowledge on the process of realization of human library as a way of
addressing stereotypes, prejudices and fighting discrimination;
c) to empower the participants to contribute to creating socially inclusive society through the
process of organizing ‘human library’ during the youth exchange;
d) to develop participants competences such as teamwork, leadership, communication,
presentation and to contribute to their personal and professional development;
e) to raise intercultural competencies of the participants by giving them an opportunity to
interact and work with young people coming from different European countries and also local
community from the hosting country;
f) to raise knowledge of the participants about Erasmus + Programme and its Key Action 1 and
to encourage the participants to take active part in the Programme.
g) to support creating network and partnerships between participating organizations, exchange
of good practices among participating countries related to human rights education, social
inclusion.

 

 

Participant profile

● Young people age 18 to 25; Newcomers to the Erasmus+ Programme;
● strongly interested in the issues tackle by youth exchange – discrimination, social
exclusion, hate speech and in exploring ways how to address;
● motivated to learn about human libraries, to transfer lessons learned in their
communities and to their peers and to take part in fighting social exclusion,
discrimination, hate speech;
● open to work in intercultural learning environment, to take part in individual
assignment, group works.

 

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” Rettenegg, Austria (Maps Link). Retteneg 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 3-5 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 Rettenegg in “Die Lams”, only for the days of the activity (21.04 – 29.04.2023).
In case of a longer stay there is no chance of reimbursement of travel costs.
You are not allowed to arrive after 21st of April or leave earlier than 29th of April. Please keep
in mind when booking the tickets. For any other questions consult with the group leaders form
sending NGO.

HOW TO REACH THE VENUE

We are not able to reimburse missing tickets!!!

IMPORTANT: Travelling sometimes requires an additional day for catching a flight and
staying for an additional night at the city, where the airport is situated. We are aware of
such situations, but organizers can’t cover this cost, it is participants own cost. For that
reason, we recommend you to use hostels (http://www.hostelworld.com/) or friends
https://www.couchsurfing.org/).

An invitation to try to travel mindfully – with no excess luggage and extra effort to store it.
Welcome to use tips from EC: https://bit.ly/3r23I00
1.Fly to Vienna Airport
It is the closest airport to the venue. Flying to Bratislava is an alternative if you are arriving
earlier. If landing in these airports, you will have to take a Bus, Metro or a Train to Vienna City Centre
2. At 20:00 Jump on a Private Bus to “Die Lams” – Rettenegg.
There will be an organized, private bus waiting for you at HBF Wien – Vienna Train Station
(https://goo.gl/maps/woF5oCxZJ1dJ6EEo7). The hosting organisation will provide the bus and
share with you the exact location (all partners will get info for the location). The same bus will
drop you off there at 09 am on the departure day.

NOTE: The bus will leave at 20:00 sharp so make sure you are there on time. There is no other way
to reach the venue. Same bus will drop you off at 09am.

If you are arriving from another place and not using the arranged transport please use the most
economical way of transport.

SEE YOU IN AUSTRIA ☺