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Active unit - social changes
Start date: Jun 1, 2013,

Active unit - social changes! was a youth exchange between 7 different countries that was realized by young active people in Cyprus. This project brought together 42 youngsters from different background among EU countries to act together as a team. The mission of this one week of youth exchanges was to spread information about EU opportunities for young people and to empower them to be active citizens of Europe. The main goal of this project was to show young people, regardless of the difficult background they have, how to take an active role in the life of their community and provided them possibility to get new skills and knowledge and increase their ability to create projects tackling and solving the common community problems.Youngsters with fewer opportunities are facing more problems. The cause of this we can find in fact the society is now aware of their problems and has to information about the lives of young people with fewer opportunities. Lack of information can very easily lead to misunderstandings and potetial conflicts.The change the perception of majority is significantly important that people with fewer opportunities will raise their voices and stop being silent that tthey will take activre role in their local authorities/communities. It is more than important in small cities where no bridging activities as implemented for example by NGOs of local authorities. In these cases is significantly important that these youngsters will become active - will become physically and socially active and they will start to take steps to change the situation.Team building activities was one of the main tools of this education. A team sport was an activity in which a group of individuals, on the same team, work together to accomplish an ultimate goal. Outdoor activities and playful methods brought social, cultural and language barriers among youngsters and encourage them to work together.The key of the project was to highlight the importance of health and physical activity have in the development of healthy European citizens that means be physically active through sports that develop teamwork and trust with each other. A theme closely related to the annual priority of 2013 which is "promoting healthy lifestyle through physical activity including sport aiming social inclusion and active participation of young peoplein "(YiA-Prio-55). Active living benefits health at any age, but it is especially important to the healthy development of children and young people, and can make a substantial difference to th ewell-being of older people. On the contrary, physical inactivity is one of the leading risk factors for health and is estimated to attribute to one million deaths per year in the WHO European Region" http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/disease-prevention/physical-activity. Taking part in safe but challenging activities, young people develop new skills and abilities and essentially improve their health. Physical activity not only has an important educational cortribution to young people's personal development, but it also provides opportunities for enjoyment, for learning new motor skills and cooperating with others. What is more, a healthy life style can also be provided. Physical activity is associted with enhanced health and reduced risk of all-cause mortality. Despite that, regular physical activity has many health problems through their lifespan. With this exchange program we wish to be involved in activities that not only will help to health improvement but also to increase the trust and confidence between us as being European citizens. Due to that we chose to include activities that are associated with collaboration, team work, trust and confidence and that will foster young people's self-confidence and motivate them to participate in their local community and therefore in the society we are living in.
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