NaturALL
Start date: Jun 17, 2014,
End date: Jul 31, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
Often young people lack basic soft skills and competences to cope with different life situations, especially such that are connected with relationships, communication, team work, and career start. At the age of 18-30, especially up to 25, they want to participate actively in social life, but they don’t know how to do it. They are open to team work and inter-cultural dialogue, but they lack the abilities to initiate it as well as to overcome successfully difficulties in the process. Getting out of school and universities it often turns out that they are not prepared enough to get into the labor market adequately. One of the most successful ways to address these issues is through outdoor activities because they provide the participants with options to interact freely, to learn through practice, to cope with team tasks of everyday life. That’s why we created NaturALL project.
The project’s goals are to encourage and support young people who will participate in it to learn key competences, knowledge, and skills necessary for teamwork, leadership, full of value communication, including in multicultural environment, as well as to adopt and reinforce habits for healthy life in conformity with nature through outdoor activities in natural environment. They will be motivated to cope with unwonted situations, as well as to appreciate and use the resources on hand in the best possible way for them and for the community. Additionally, with this project we aim to broaden young people’s view of life and to reinforce their sensitivity to other cultures and traditions that are different from their own.
In NaturALL 30 people from 6 European countries (Latvia, Spain, Romania, Germany, Austria, and Bulgaria) will participate. Each group will include 4 young people aged 18-25 years and 1 leader. There will be maximum gender equality. Advantage will be given to young people with geographic obstacles and economic difficulties depriving them of enough options for exchange and development. They have to be highly motivated to exchange experience and ideas, to share knowledge and skills, as well as to desire to improve key competences.
The major activities of NaturALL will be during 8-day camp at the Bulgarian seaside. They will be divided in 2 groups: (1) activities aiming the development and the perfection of soft skills for communication of full value, decision-making, and youth leadership; (2) practical activities aiming to present the participants with alternatives to the consuming attitude towards Nature and will help them to try different methods for everyday environmental preservation.
The participants will work on their key leadership, communication and social skills through a process of informal learning – participation in small and big groups on different topics such as the role of young people in the modern world, especially of young leaders, effective methods of communication and decision-making, etc.; discussions; forum theater; reflection groups. They will also participate in practical training how to decrease the negative impact of households on environment. They will get acquainted how to use a number of alternative methods to decrease water consumption and waste in water used by households, electricity consumption, and as well as to decrease the scrap in everyday life by creating and usage of compost in households, separate waste collection and recycling.
As a result of their living in natural environment these 30 people will further develop their motivation to have more responsible attitude to environment and they will gain practical skills to control the negative impact on nature in their lives by motivating other people to follow their example. They will leave this youth exchange with improved skills to communicate, to be active in social life, to initiate change among their peers and in the organizations they work in. They will have more information and attitudes to live healthy life in conformity with nature.
The audiences that will get to know about NaturALL from internet and public media as well as from project’s blog will be inspired to take part in similar initiatives and to look for opportunities to participate in international youth activities. Project’s publicity, locally and internationally, will focus once more public attention on the necessity and the importance to work actively with young people for their development and to support them in fulfilling their civic, social and economic role in solving problems, including those that are connected with preservation of environment.
NaturALL will be a good example of work with young people to develop skills and attitudes in them that will help them to get into the labor market successfully by doing outdoor activities. In the long run, the project will change the way of life of the participants in it, and it will make them capable youth leaders in the sphere of environmental protection and the struggle of ineffective usage of natural resources.