The main objective of the project was to empower young workers and associated organizations to promote active citizenship and participation among young people at the local, national, and European levels. Specifically, what we wanted to achieve was: - Create new tools and methodologies to empower workers and youth organizations and improve the quality and impact of our work with young people. - Involve, connect, and empower more youth, promote their active participation in the local community, in non-formal education activities, and subsequently in youth mobility projects in the EU. - Raise awareness about the possibilities and benefits of Erasmus+ Youth and motivate young people to take more initiative for their personal, social, and professional development. -Initiate local activities and participatory processes that would lead to mobilities in the EU in the future, where young people would be involved in all stages from idea creation and project planning to monitoring, with continuous support from youth workers.
We applied for this project because we need to take a step further and grow as organizations and youth workers, enrich ourselves with new experiences and methodologies, and expand our reach and cooperation at the European level. This project addressed various needs such as: - Low participation of young people in the local communities of each partner. -The need for new ways of working among the partners. -Lack of suitable tools to motivate young people to participate in activities and engage in the local community and at the EU level. -Lack of common methodologies that international partners can use for joint planning of youth mobilities. -Lack of spaces that attract young people. - Lack of awareness of the most relevant means to connect with young people. -Young people not understanding the benefits of youth projects, non-formal education (ENF), and tools like Youthpass, missing out on opportunities for their development. - Many young people who are not familiar with, understand, and trust the Erasmus+ program, especially in rural communities like ours. - Lack of young multipliers collaborating with entities and involving other young people, who do not respond to participation proposals.