EurHope
Start date: May 4, 2015,
End date: Oct 4, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
EurHope is a multilateral Youth Exchange, coordinated by YOUROPÍA cultural association, that was held in Asturias (Spain) in the summer of 2015 and gathered 32 participants from Spain, Italy, Germany, Romania, Poland and Russia.
Thanks to the "Erasmus +: Youth in Action" support, young Europeans, aged between 18 and 25, together with their group leaders, met each other and spent together a whole week in the countryside around Oviedo reflecting on the present and the future of Europe and recalling that 100 years ago, peers of the same age crossed the continent to go to war.
Far beyond the commemoration of the events of World War I, EurHope (pronounced like "your hope") aimed to be a space where participants could explore the value of unity and peace and debate around the real meaning of European Citizenship.
By comparing the life as it was one century ago with the current situation of European youth, the group of EurHope shared ideas and visions about the future of our continent and started to reflect on their own role and responsibility for the future of Europe.
Through simulations, teamwork and other non-formal methods, the participants were invited to transfer their ideas into artistic creations that have been used by the partner organizations to disseminate the project results and expand its impact in their local communities.
However, just as expected, the main impact of the project was the learning process of young men and women who had the opportunity to share playful and informal time, while exploring the historic and natural heritage of our region. The interpersonal bonds tied between participants from different countries, not only set the basis for future projects and cooperation, but also represented the emotional framework where to grow the intercultural competence and the attitudinal change necessary to develop a conscious European Citizenship and, on long term, to make them feel that Youth really is the "hope of Europe "(" EurHope ").