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Culture Camp
Start date: Sep 1, 2016, End date: Aug 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Following the volcanic eruptions 20 years ago, Montserratians were forced to migrate, mainly to the UK. The population dropped from 12,000 to just 2,000 in 2001. Following the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, Haitians were forced to migrate and many have settled in Montserrat. In addition poverty has forced people from the Domincan Republic to migrate. As a result of the outward and inward migration less than half of the current population in Montserrat, 5000 people, are indigenous Montserratian. This has given rise to a lack of tolerance, exclusion and discrimination against migrant communities. In Montserrat young migrants do not drop out of formal education - they are pushed out. At the end of the autumn term of the exam year every student is assessed. If after assessment the teachers conclude that the student will not pass the exams with a good grade, they do not enter them for the exams at all. This means that the pass rates look very good but as many as 25% of young people leave school with no qualifications at all. These failure rates are significantly higher for French and Spanish speaking youth who have migrated from Haiti and the Dominican Republic to escape environmental disasters, poverty and oppression. There is only one VET College on the island. If you can't get into it because you don't speak English and/or you have no exam passes there is nowhere else to go for learning. A a result, young migrants suffer low self-confidence and self-esteem leading to feelings of depression. There is also tension between the immigrant and the host communities as they compete for low skilled jobs, suffer long periods of unemployment and work for extremely low wages. The aims and objectives of this project are to 1. Empower young people NEET by building self confidence and self esteem through non-formal learning activities2. Promote tolerance, equity and inclusion between communities 3. Build the capacity of the partners to develop youth led initiatives that promote active citizenship4. Create a youth-led multi-lingual and multi cultural space for non-formal learning and a source of information about learning opportunities across Europe The ultimate aim is to improve the level of key competences and skills of young people, especially those with fewer opportunities as a result of being excluded from the benefits of the formal education system. This will be achieved through hosting 2 EVS volunteers to strengthen the capacity of an informal group of young people by supporting them to convert a disused campsite into a multi-cultural learning space where young people can come together to pursue their own interests and ideas. The weekly programme of activities that they will then provide will to promote active citizenship, inter-cultural dialogue, language skills, social inclusion and solidarity on the island. The project also includes a youth exchange for 25 young people with fewer opportunities. The purpose of the youth exchange is to create an opportunity for inter-cultural dialogue on the impact of forced migration as a result of environment disasters. The partners seek to gain a greater understanding of the power of non-formal learning, its interconnectedness with vocational education and its potential to bring young migrants NEET closer to the labour market. By the end of the project 1. 28 young people NEET will demonstrate increased levels of self confidence and self esteem after the non-formal learning programme 2. The leadership capacity of the youth led networks/organisations that have initiated this exchange, will be strengthened3. A Lionfishing competition will be organised to develop teamwork, leadership and entrepreneurial skills 4. 28 young people will learn about climate change and sustainability 5. 28 Young people will increase their knowledge about Erasmus+ and the European project6. 20 young people will achieve the Youthpass certificate7. 28 young people will learn about crowdfunding as a means to raise capital for their own projects8. 4 organisations/youth networks will gain more experience of organising youth exchanges and be in a stronger position to design more attractive programmes and activities for their target groups through being able to offer international mobility.In the long term the project seeks to make peer-led youth work initiatives more effective and attractive to NEETs through increased learning mobility opportunities. The project aims to address the specific barriers of low self-confidence and low self-esteem as well as the economic or geographical obstacles to young peoples' full inclusion in society and the labour market. The project evaluation will measure the extent to which motivation to take part in future education or training programmes is increased within 6 months of the mobility activities. The project will promote non-formal learning within the context of peer-led youth exchanges as an effective personal development tool.
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