Youth Matters
Start date: Jul 1, 2015,
End date: Oct 31, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
Context/Background:
Youth participation is one of the main focuses of the EU youth strategy. In order to engage and be part of the European project, young people need more opportunities and channels to voice their interests and views. On this project we worked with young people to increase their self-confidence, employability skills, and worked to foster a positive sense of belonging in the European community.
Main Objectives
* To Enhance the ?soft-skills? of participants through active participation in reasoned and informed debates
* To empower of young people to take responsibility for sharing in decision-making
* To offer an opportunity for debate about the youth unemployment and challenges, through exchange of best practices.
* To generate new and innovative solutions, potential interventions and recommendations to be addressed to the local, national and European
* Help young people to learn about the people, processes, and the institutions most effective in improving community conditions, such as there own struggle with unemployment.
Our Project has helped young people developed skills necessary to participate in policy making at the same time having a direct route to policy makers, and a chance to have their voice heard.
Profile of participant
Participant profile can be classified as first time participant of Erasmus plus project activities and many of the young people are often isolated in the community, with low confidence and self esteem and often not confident enough to participate with mainstream society. young immigrants or refugees or descendants from immigrant or refugee families, young people belonging to a national or ethnic minority, young people with linguistic adaptation and cultural inclusion problems, etc.
Activities
Project delivered 10 days of activities based on a non-formal approach to education, including seminars, workshops and discussion based around meetings between 46 young people from participating countries, plus decision makers from partner countries, representative of a youth worker and national youth agency , with a focus on those from disadvantaged/excluded backgrounds.
The project activities provided young people the space to interact, debate and ask questions during the entire process. Thus given them the opportunity to learn in an environment where their assertions challenged in a gentle way while ensuring they can receive information in different channels (debate, one-to-one, presentation) that can suit the informal learning styles of all the young people.
impact
Impact achieved by the project included Increased the self-esteem, confidence and motivation of young people to get involved in local community activities and participate more in local society. according to our project feedback number of young people the project has helped in joining community clubs, sports activities, societies and educing the fear of socialising by on their comfort zone of ghettoised cultural communities.
Young people gained new knowledge in areas such as active citizenship, democratic institutions (EU and local) and social inclusion. Also acquired inter-personal skills such as team work, communication, networking and reasoning skills that are vital for becoming employed. majority of participant received a Youth Pass certificate which is a valuable certificate that will look impressive on their CV.