The project Open to change represents a strategic partnership in the youth field which aims to address insufficient opportunities for participation in the life of society among vulnerable young people by creating specific paths for enhancing awareness and behaviors of active citizenship and participation. The partners involved in the project are organizations from Romania, Turkey, Lithuania and Italy. The project will be developed on a period of 21 months. The overall goal of the project is to increase youth participation among disadvantaged youth communities from the partner countries and its specific objectives are: -By the month of December 2020, 16 youth workers from the partner countries will review organizations youth participation programs and design and implement process changes through sharing practices, concepts and activities, resulting in more efficient and coherent educational programs in the field of youth participation. -By April 2021, partner organizations will have delivered 1 international mobility on active citizenship, democracy and participation to 36 disadvantaged youth participants aged 16-22 years old. -By June 2021, 36 disadvantaged youth from the partner countries will create and implement 12 youth-led projects promoting participation and community involvement. Target group of participants is represented by youth operators and disadvantaged youngsters from the partner organizations who will participate in teaching training learning activities on youth participation build by the partners through cooperation and exchange of experiences/practices. Project main results will refer to: • Study - Collection of concepts, practices, activities on HR topics – active citizenship, democracy and participation across the partner countries - surveys organized at local levels/regional/national with representatives from at least 30 organizations from the following profiles: school, municipality, NGO, school inspectorate, Youth/students councils (if they exist in the partenr country) and surveys targeted to young people from the local community - at least 100 respondents. • New expertise on how to promote youth participation as a complementary educational path for boosting youth social inclusion as result of the study and share of practices, challenges, concepts and activiteis between partner organizations • 16 youth workers/operators from 4 countries will acquire concrete competences to create mechanisms to support the meaningful participation of young people, thus resulting in more efficient and coherent educational programs in the field of youth participation and moreover fostering empowering environments for enhancing youth social inclusion in various EU communities. • 36 Disadvantaged youngsters will acquire knowledge, competences and skills needed for them to become empowered to take control of their lives, the project will enhance their ability to meet the challenges of today, to broaden their knowledge of new cultural contexts, availability and ability to accept and recognize the differences in each of these contexts and to gain European consciousness. •A common learning program which will contain a set of non formal educational activities created by the youth operators in the field of active citizenship, democracy and youth participation targeted to disadvantaged youngsters from the partner countries, build on the experiences, practices and methodologies shared and united from the partner countries •12 youth-led projects planned and implemented by youngsters themselves in the partners local communities ( 3 projects implemented in each partner country) • At least 24 different stakeholders (schools, local authorities institutions, NGOs, social institutions) involved in the projects developed by the youngsters ( at least 2 stakeholder per local youth led project) • A dissemination brochure which will show examples of best practices and proven techniques for implementation of participation programs in youth sector disseminated accross partner countries and their international networks • About 3000 people across EU to be informed about the project results, taking part directly or indirectly in the proposed activities, including the youth-led projects •Raised awareness of disadvantaged youth regarding the benefits of their participation in international mobility opportunities, thus enhanced inclusive access to educational opportunities at EU level •Exchange of expertise among youth workers and other educational representatives in regards of fostering social inclusion through participation •Strategic support for the application of participation mechanisms within local communities, through establishment of partnerships with relevant bodies as well as through the relevant know-how gained by partners, allowing the better sustainability of such programs in future.
The overall goal of the project was to increase youth participation among disadvantaged youth communities from the partner countries. Specific objectives were: - to review organizations youth participation programs and design and implement process changes through sharing practices, concepts and activities, resulting in more efficient and coherent educational programs in the field of youth participation through the involvement of 16 youth operators in the elaboration of a study focused on best practices in youth participation and organization of 1 international mobility in Italy - to develop active citizenship, democracy and participation among 45 disadvantaged youth participants from the partner countries through their participation in one international mobility organized in Romania - to create and implement youth led projects promoting participation and community development with a view to foster participants knowledge and skills and the involvement of local educational partners
In the partner countries, enough room is not given to enabling vulnerable young people to acquire the necessary knowledge to know their rights and duties and be empowered to take control of their own lives and take part in the decissions that affect them directly. Specific challenges that were addressed by the partner organizations were: - youth activism and advocacy not being nurtured in our communities as result of current practices and beliefs of local authorities and community leaders from the partner countries which hinder youth participation in the development process. - program and activities initiated and run by adults, lacking participatory approaches to foster motivation and enhance meaningful participation of young people -lack of coherence and discountinous cooperation with different stakeholders involved in education which led to narrow contents, inconsistent practices for youth participation, thus the need to train youth operators in the field to review their practices and settle down a program for youth participation, but also to learn how to develop youth activities and programmes that strengthens meaningful participation of vulnerable young people in the life of the society with the help of all relevant bodies.