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Better ESC (+ cross-border volunteering i.g.) with mobility mentors

2021-1-DE04-KA153-YOU-0000211192021Mobility of youth workersfinalized
Countries: DE|BG|FR|SE|PT|ES|BE|IT|TR|LT|EL · Grant: €16,537
Democracy and inclusive democratic participationBridging intercultural, intergenerational and social divideInclusion of marginalised young people

Objectives

The project BEMM - “Better ESC with Mobility Mentors” was a training course (TC) that took place from 11th to 16th of June. The training lasted 4 days (+ 2 travel days). This training foresaw the participation of 2 participants from each partner organisation, a youth worker of the association and a (future) mentor. Given that that some partners were not able to send participants, other organisations, in particular migration_miteinander, sent more than the planned 2 participants, who collaborating with different organizations in Germany, though. The overall objective of the TC was to form mentors in the framework of the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) who are able to competently mentor ESC participants with a focus on volunteers with refugee backgrounds (as well: young migrants in other vulnerable settings), as a group with so far very little access to such opportunities. To do so, we wanted to professionalize and sharpen the profile of the mentor through the acquisition of competences in reflecting and in managing educational processes of the volunteers and of additional specific competences in guiding young refugees during their ESC mobility experience, such as knowledge on the legal framework. On the long term, that will increase the educational value of the ESC, will promote its inclusive character and will make possible the successful participation of young volunteers with refugee backgrounds in it. Based on that, BEMM outlined the following specific objectives: raising awareness for the relevance that the figure of the mentor covers during an ESC experience by providing the necessary information on these issues. To do so, joint reflection and group sharing activities of previous experiences were implemented Improving the quality of a mentor's profile by promoting the acquisition of new skills, knowledge and tools in the field of leadership, non-formal education and cultural mediation. That should enable the participants to effectively perform their function as a mentor in ESC projects. With that, with BEMM we wanted to form a group of trained and aware ESC mentor with the needed additional knowledge and competences to guide as well young volunteers with refugee backgrounds in this experience.

Project partners (11)