The aim of the project Strength through solidarity is to strengthen the capacity of grass root youth organizations working with youths of fewer opportunities (disability) in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Uganda, Thailand and India. During training courses and job shadowing in partner countries youth workers will improve their skills in areas of internal and external communication, seeking and obtaining financial and in-kind resources, finding and hosting volunteers, developing training curricula and using European and world wide recognition tools to enable them to effectively operate their organizations and exchange good practices and peer learning with youth organizations all over the world. To build up their capacity collaboratively - online and real life training curriculum in the above areas will be prepared and disseminated. To conduct online training sessions we are aiming at establishing a website including all gathered training materials and building up solid communication means, which allow proper online communication between partners and any interested international youth organization. The website will depict all training content, related footage and audio material, a forum to allow exchange between website users and information to useful foundations, social entrepreneurs and other social platforms . Local trainers of partner organisations are aiming at strengthening the capacity of youth organizations who are working in related areas. At the end a final 7-day mobility of youth workers will be organized in Uganda for 5 youth workers from every partner country (40 in total) to take part in the final training and evaluation training during which the effectiveness of project's collaborative/peer learning methods will be assessed and will end with a one day conference for all the youth workers and invited institutional representatives from Africa and EU to disseminate the results of the project. By offering online and real life training on a international/national/local level, a wide audience will be reached and can benefit from the project results. Throughout the entire project also youth workers who are not project partners and who carry out projects on a grassroots level, mainly in developing countries, will be involved in the designing of the training and its implementation. Especially the website and the online training will give them the possibility to contribute own training content, improvement suggestions and to benefit from the given training. After the project is completed we hope to have established a mechanism which allows us to continue to online training and peer support sessions on a national and international base.
Strength through solidarity is a transcontinental project implemented by 8 grass root youth organizations, half of them managed by persons with visual impairment, which strengthens the capacity of activists who work with youth of fewer opportunities (mostly disability) in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Uganda, Thailand and India. During intercontinental training courses and job shadowing in partner countries youth workers improved their skills in areas of intercultural communication, seeking and obtaining financial and in-kind resources, finding and hosting volunteers, disability awareness, advocacy, developing training curricula and using European and world wide recognition tools to enable them to effectively operate their organizations and exchange good practices and peer learning with youth organizations all over the world. To build up their capacity collaboratively - online and real life training curriculum in the above areas was prepared and disseminated. To conduct online training sessions the www.networkofchange.org/courses/ platform has been established which gathers peer sourced training materials built up during the project's life time and facilitates online communication between partners and any oter interested youth organizations from across the globe. The website depicts all training content, related footage, audio material and allows exchange between website users and information to useful foundations, social entrepreneurs and other social platforms. During the project local trainers of partner organisations developed their capacity to train other youth workers in what they learned during projects lifetime. At the end of the project 40 youth workers from all continents took part in a final 7-day mobility of youth workers organized in Uganda for 5 youth workers from every partner country. They evaluated the project's methodology of building the capacity of small organizations who work with young with fewer opportunities by discussing good practices of projects for disabled youth all over the word, on-line trainings thru: a) Grassroot Changemakers & Innovators Summit mash up with key decision makers, policy makers, innovators, activists, entrepreneurs and media people + b) 5 day hands on, informal evaluation at the Social Innovation Academy campus which included hands on prototyping and immersive storytelling. By offering online and real life training on a international/national/local level, a wide audience was reached and can benefit from the project results. Throughout the entire project also youth workers who are not project partners and who carry out projects on a grassroots level, mainly in developing countries, were involved in the designing of the training and its implementation. Especially the live and online training prepared in mixed teams by partners (one from Global South and North) give them the possibility to acquire and contribute more balanced training content. The project established a mechanism which allows us to continue online trainings and peer support sessions on a national and international base through the developed tools.