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A new and intercultural “glance”
A new and intercultural “glance”
Start date: Aug 1, 2016,
End date: Jul 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
The project is the result of a partnership focused on promoting youth active citizenship as a driver of change. The collaboration between CISS and the Volunteers Centre of Skopje, given their operational experience in the area, goes in this direction. Macedonia is a country with a complex demographic composition where the minorities’ rights have been incorporated into the country’s national legislation. The commitment of the Macedonian society to establish a legal and institutional system based on the principle of non-discrimination and the protection and respect for the rights of the minorities was significant and symbolically represented by the Ohrid Framework Agreements. The volunteers will be involved in a highly dynamic and participatory environment, entering into direct contact with this type of society. In fact the goal of the project is to encourage volunteering as tool for promoting the positive values of active participation, equality and multiculturalism also with the use of creative tools.The relation with a reality strongly characterized by multiculturalism will allow a mutual personal, intercultural and educational enrichment to bring back in their territories of origin to young people living or working in highly disadvantaged neighborhoods.The young volunteers will have an age between 18 and 30 years and will be committed to volunteer abroad; to work in the promotion of the active citizenship and of the non-formal education, to actively participate in initiatives with young people and local communities; they must have adaptability, flexibility, creativity and good social relations skills.The activities will be organized as follows:- Activity 1 (2 months): coordination, identification of 2 EVS volunteers and training before the travel. CISS will have the responsibility to select really motivated youth and provide them with operational, psychological and logistic support.- Activity 2: EVS experience (8 months). It will be implemented a path of personal growth, exchange with the hosting community and non formal training. The volunteers will be involved in a cycle of activities with other youth and with operators and volunteers from the hosting organization using the methodology of the “learning by doing” but also by sharing their personal skills. The young people will acquire non-formal skills that will allow them to improve their chances of future employment, and to increase the solidarity pact with their context of belonging. In particular they will acquire the knowledge and experience in writing articles and in the use of media as a tool to promote social change working closely with young media professionals; they will work in creative projects and in the production of awareness and visibility material (videos, photos, etc.) on their EVS experience. - Activity 3 return and sharing of the acquired experience (2 months). At this stage it is foreseen the spreading of the experience of the volunteers in their territories. The volunteers will organize meetings in order to share their own experience.Interviews and cognitive maps will be used as tools for the evaluation and assessment of the skills. Knowledge games and icebreaker activities will be used to work on team-building and mutual understanding; methodologies of education to citizenship, to the integral development and to the socio-productive inclusion of young people as a possibility and a means for stimulating the creation of critical and creative individuals, capable and willing to make changes in their personal lives and in the community life.The young volunteers will experience a journey of personal and professional growth and knowledge of a different and rich culture. A life experience that will allow them to increase and improve their interpersonal and professional skills by providing them with the opportunity to experiment themselves in a different context and feel part of a community of young Europeans. Moreover they will enrich their professional background with new and more efficient operational tools, new methodologies, transferring them within organizations with whom they come into contact with an improvement of their capacities of intervention. The planned activities aim at stimulating the intercultural dialogue and knowledge of the other; the youth will deepen their knowledge and understanding of the themes and issues addressed by the action through the identification of new projects and joint actions. An expected and more tangible outcome will be the identification of new proposals for exchange, services, and/or twinning involving young Macedonians and Italians in shared non-formal education processes, exchange of techniques, methodologies and experiences.