DARE TO EXPERIENCE
Start date: Jan 1, 2015,
End date: Oct 31, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
The youth exchange "DARE TO EXPERIENCE"; focused on the themes of diversity and inclusion. It was set up between motivated and skilled youth organisations in Ireland, Lithuania, Romania and Austria. We offered our youngsters between 15 and 19 years of age, who have not had the chance to experience European mobility and exchange, a unique learning experience in Summer 2015 in Austria. There were 24 young people involved in this exchange, six from each partner organisation.
We wanted to make the teenagers experience European mobility and awareness of the benefits that can be connected to this privilege and to EU citizenship in general, to sensitize them for group processes, make them bond with youngsters from other countries and embark on a personal learning journey about themselves and others. Moreover, the youngsters were especially supported in gaining awareness of their own self - their confidence, their interests, skills, strengths and their impact on the group. Young people were animated to leave their comfort zone punctually at certain sessions, gain self esteem during this programme by being included as a valuable group member of this exchange. During the 6-day-programme "DARE TO EXPERIENCE", different non-formal creative, self-explorational and outdoor methods in a safe and well-rounded frame were applied. The activities ranged from outdoor non-formal workshops and sessions, over theatrical non-formal methods to group work and social pedagogic methods. The teenagers experienced that challenges like exclusion, discrimination or poverty can be tackled and that they are not alone. They had room to express themselves and to be creative. The activities were documented per video and photos and were published online on the websites of the organisations and on their social media platforms. Also they local community was involved during the project and was benefiting from this intercultural exchange. Expected long-term benefits of the project are European interest and mobility of the youngsters, lasting friendships, future project cooperations and spreading the knowledge of the Erasmus+ programme.