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Europa und seine Nachbarn gemeinsam entdecken und ..
Europa und seine Nachbarn gemeinsam entdecken und kennenlernen
Start date: Aug 1, 2014,
End date: Nov 30, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
In the last few months partnerships between the German association Open Door International e.V. (ODI) Vicolocorto (Italy), Center for Peacebuilding (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and Yaddash (Azerbaijan) were developed for the following project: "Discover Europe and their neighbors." Inspired by the idea to learn and understand Europe and their neighbors through an intercultural exchange, the partners defined the following aims:
• Promotion of young people from socially and financially disadvantaged families and with health problems.
• Promotion of intercultural understanding, international friendships and the European idea.
• Expansion of long-term cooperation and friendship between the partners/ project countries.
The main themes are:
• Promoting intercultural understanding and exchange, acquisition of intercultural skills of all participants on an interpersonal level.
• The promotion of a common European idea.
• The promotion and support of non-formal education projects and NGOs.
Through the European voluntary service young people with fewer opportunities should be supported, which means especially people from financial disadvantaged families. The volunteers are selected by age, sex and socio-cultural background. The projects and the main activities are determined by the interest and mission of each institution and also according to the competencies and skills of each volunteer. Under the slogan "Discover Europe and the neighbors" the activities are implemented at three levels: a) the active participation of volunteers in the daily project-work, b) the support of the volunteers in special activities initiated by the organizations (events, workshops, meetings), c) the volunteers own projects. The NGO Vicolocorto (Italy) is classified in the political-cultural area, the volunteers can participate varied work: workshops around the theme of "interculturality, inclusion and career start for young people"; Promotion of European exchange programs, peer-to-peer meetings with volunteers from the region; Organization of cultural events (including cinema, literature) as well as creating a blog about the main activities. In the Center for Peace Building (Bosnia-Herzegovina), the volunteer will have the opportunity to deal jointly with the locals about their history of the Bosnian war: workshops, seminars and language courses. A history and political enthusiastic volunteer will assist in this project with much enthusiasm/input and creativity. In the project Yaddash (Azerbaijan) the volunteers are actively used in the realization of afternoon facilities for children and young people, who come from difficult family situations: language courses, computer skills, sports, cooking and handicraft work.
The distribution of tasks of each partner is clearly structured and divided. ODI (in position of Sending-Organization) coordinates a great deal of planning before the project starts: Applications, preparation of the volunteers and the theoretical project planning in coordination with the partners. The coordination, guidance and implementation of the main activities and also the taking care of the volunteers meanwhile are taken by the partner organizations in Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Azerbaijan.
The volunteers and all other persons directly or indirectly involved people of this project are participating on an intercultural exchange; meanwhile they learn more about their own country and also about Europe, different traditions and cultures. Through intercultural exchange they make (international) friendships, meanwhile reducing prejudices and growing the tolerance to the strangers. The activities should support the formation of a European consciousness among all participants. They will get intercultural, social and communication skills. In the long term, the volunteers develop a strong awareness of Europe and thus in a long time they will represent Europe and the EU as “ambassadors”.