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YEAP-Youth empowerment, action and partcipation!
YEAP-Youth empowerment, action and partcipation!
Start date: May 1, 2016,
End date: Nov 30, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
YEAP!-Youth Empowerment, Action & Participation aims to engage young leaders, especially Roma and marginalized youth to promote and work on non-formal education of their peers about democracy, human rights, right to access free public information, the right to vote and freedom of choice, the right to ask questions in their municipalities and to raise their voice for their rights as citizen. The aim is for the young people attending the project to become active and assertive citizens that act independently and address their problems properly in front of the authorities contributing to the respect of the EU democratic values, transparency and the rule of law. The project is about creative and political youth involvement and campaigning. This project will not only increase the knowledge and sensitivity of the young Europeans on the topics of Human Rights, Democracy and Discrimination, with an accent on Antigypsyism, but the increased awareness of the young Roma and non-Roma can strengthen the consciousness of the participants about their role and responsibility within their communities, the society and in Europe at large. With this project we aim to develop a comprehensive approach on the issue of youth work with marginalized youth and their effective involvement and participation in local, national and international programmes, to strengthen cooperation and relations between Roma and non-Roma youth and youth organizations in order to strengthen the conceptual understanding for intercultural dialogue, youth empowerment and mobilization, as well democracy and active citizenship and to establish a support system for enhancing Roma youth capacities and developing new projects within the new Erasmus plus Programme. The 8-day lasting training will bring 30 youth leaders from 9 organizations (Germany, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Austria and Czech republic) together, that are engaged at a local, regional and national level in the empowerment process of young people, especially Roma and marginalized youth or youth at risk. The TC will be hosted and organized in cooperation with the partner organization RROMA in Kratovo, Macedonia from the 10-th until the 17-th of July 2016 and it will be the occasion to discuss the issues of non-formal learning, youth mobilization and the opportunities that marginalized youth have to participate in social and political life, as well to use the opportunities provided by different European programmes. The TC will look into practices of intercultural dialogue on local level, different social contexts, democracy and Human rights, inspiring moments and activities, but also how to connect these to international projects based on the tools of the previous programme called Youth in Action and the new programme Erasmus plus. During one day the TC will discuss with representatives of the Civil society and representatives of relevant institutions, such as the national agency for European educational programs and mobility about the opportunities, needs and aspirations of young people. In order to stimulate and improve the opportunities for cooperation between all involved actors, a short video and on-line data containing outcomes from the project will be created. It will include many best practices of local, national and international youth projects related to empowerment, mobilization and participation of marginalized youth. All partners will enlarge and deepen their grassroots networks in Roma communities, enhance their capacity in European cooperation, build partnerships to stakeholders and authorities on all levels, position themselves by mainstreaming their inclusive, empowering and participative approaches on the respective levels and fulfil their own missions. Based on already developed grassroots networks and active volunteers, this project targets to empower, train and capacitate young Roma and non-Roma as multipliers, role models and active citizens in order to raise their capacity, creativity, initiative, self-esteem, negotiating power to advocate their own needs to achieve sustainable effects in their own realities. The biggest impact we expect for the young Roma themselves, as they can realize that the world is not just problematic but there are options for them to construct their own future.