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Transition in Action 2
Start date: May 1, 2016, End date: Oct 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

As we plan our second “Transition in Action” Youth Exchange we can’t help but realise that Europe is very different from one year ago. The challenges we addressed last year remain but their perception has changed: the Paris UN talks on climate change produced a much-needed shared agreement, and there is a new impetus to the question of adaptation, a sense of shared goals and urgency. Our Youth Exchange will draw on that new impetus as ‘Transition in Action’ is very much about reinventing our local communities in respect of ecological limits and there are many Hungarian and other European examples we can draw on. This provides a positive impetus for our shared focus.The Youth Exchange will support young peoples creative exploration of active citizenship in a diverse, environmentally pro-active Europe, through an ecology and community-development thematic framework. Climate change and migration are closely interlinked, and aspects of our future we will have to come to terms with. Community is one level of interface with these challenges and globally “transition communities” build their capacity to turn what many regard as crisis into opportunities for positive, inclusive development. This is a crucial concept for youth to grasp in a time of uncertainty - Europe will be what we make it. We will explore Transition in the locality of a diverse local community, and bring new ideas and energy to this community and learn traditional rural skills from them - hence the title, Transition in Action. The community we join is well known for its openness and innovation in organics and renewable energies. It is a rural community with a migrant workforce, many employed on ecological farms. Many Dutch and other Europeans have found their home in this small part of the Hungarian Great Plain, the village of Kunszállás near Kecskemét. This community and the natural environment is able to provide for all the needs of the visitors. It’s entrepreneurial culture illustrates well how green values are a basis for a viable, sustainable livelihood. Throughout the YE we will evaluate how the wider community benefits from our presence, shared perceptions, expectations and how we benefit from sharing ‘their’ little part of the country.Activities: Our Transition in Action Exchange has four main phases and one free day:- lead partner and partners select and prepare participants - arrival: coming together as a group and sharing understanding of Transition in our Communties in 3 days - the creative work will be complemented with organization and cooperation skills, consensus decision-making and facilitation, heart and soul work as well as discussions and workshops sharing, exploring and initiating practical action in local communities.)- creative interventions in the locality (8 days of practical workshops culminating in practical outcomes - traditional cobbing, buildings, stoves, felting, dying, ovens and other rural skills. Upcycling using cycle-ology ( bike - based technology ) as a base for human-energy driven appliances. The workshops will draw on the participants’ and locals’ skills but be supported by experienced and skilled artisans. - 2 day reflecting on own experience, designing dissemination materials and planning for next personal steps. - 1 free day in Kecskemét or BudapestFollowing the team-building and exploration activities, the participants - 40 young people, coming from 8 countries - will actively participate in the final design of the program, the workshop scheduling and finalising the outcomes. They will also share responsibility for creating living and celebration space and participating in the house-keeping collectively and in a sustainable manner. We aim to achieve this with as small as an environmental footprint as possible. Meals will be largely meat-free and participants will be encouraged to bring culinary ideas from their own cultures which support the idea of sustainable diets. This two week YE will equip the participants with insights, experiences, and practical skills which allow them to make more informed choices about the type of community they wish to create and empower them to achieve their own potential as changemakers within their communities, as young people in diverse parts of Europe. It will open up sustainable livelihood opportunities that may not yet have occurred to them. It will bring together the concepts of innovation and co-production, giving experience of team-work in a multicultural context. It will lay foundations for cultural insights and the enhance their ability to reflect on differences and commonalities. All this takes place in a supportive, creative context.
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