The SAMEN-programme aims to build the capacity of volunteers and their organisations in Bolivia, Ecuador, Kenya, India, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and The Netherlands, as well as the marginalised youth that they work with. Objective 1: Improving the life skills (self-dependency) of street children and youth at projects in 6 partner countries.Result: Well-prepared Dutch volunteers spend 3-6 months at a project for street children and give life skills trainings to marginalised youth to promote capacity building and self-dependence. Objective 2: Capacity building of projectpartners about non-formal learning opportunities for street children and youth and stimulating exchange between projectpartners.Result: Volunteers and staf in partnercountries have more knowledge about methods of non-formal learning for the benefit of guiding children and youth to an independent life. An application with instructions for life skills trainings is developed.Objective 3: Strengthen the capacity of volunteers in order to promote lasting European citizenship.Result: Returned volunteers and Dutch and European volunteers have received training to remain active as a volunteer. The programme includes volunteering activities of 24 participants that give life skills trainings to the marginalised youth; a youth exchange of 26 participants (Dutch and Kenyan) exchanging about methods of non-formal learning and life skills trainings for street children, conferences on the importance of volunteering and international exchange; development of best practices on life skills trainings and non-formal learning; development of an application with instructions for life skills training and dissemination of results to 13 European partners and 25 partners outside the EU.Stichting Don Bosco Amsterdam is proud to present this innovative programme, as it enables young people to engage in concrete voluntary activities that not only have impact on themselves, but also on marginalised youth, local young volunteers and their organisations.The SAMEN-programme is unique as it is organised by-and-for young people. Returned volunteers remain active in the organisation after their volunteering or youth exchange. They continue to be active in all steps throughout the programme. This can be in the youth-board, in organising preparation weekends and in coaching young people before departure. This peer-to-peer methodology is cost effective, makes use of the expertise of returned volunteers and keeps the organisation dynamic.The impact of the programme is expected at the level of the marginalised youth to have better abilities for positive behaviour to deal with the demands of everyday life. In addition, it impacts the local volunteers, their organisations and their stakeholders, having improved methods of working with youth. Moreover it impacts returned volunteers to remain active as a European citizen.
Project DescriptionThe SAMEN-programme has built the capacity of volunteers and their organisations in Bolivia, Ecuador, Kenya, India, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Belgium and The Netherlands, as well as the marginalised youth that they work with. This is accomplished by working on three objectives;Objective 1: Improving the life skills of street children and youth at projects in 6 partner countries. Result: Well-prepared Dutch volunteers spend 3-6 months at a project for street children and give life skills training to marginalised youth. Objective 2: Capacity building about non-formal learning with the youth at the partner projects and stimulating exchange between partner projects. Result: 1) The increase of knowledge about non-formal learning for volunteers and staff members of the partner projects, which will improve the guidance towards self-dependency of the youth. 2) The development of an application with games and ideas for non-formal learning.Objective 3: Stimulate active citizenship of Dutch volunteers in their social environment and in Europe. Result: 1)Volunteers from SAMEN are active in the society, and their social environment and they have a better understanding of volunteering and international development through training they get from SAMEN. 2) This is summarized in a video where volunteers from SAMEN are interviewed about the impact of volunteering on their lives. The activities employed in the program include the following;EVS participants (12) have organized life skills training to the marginalised (street) children and youth in partner countries; built and exchanged knowledge with local staff; a Youth Exchange of 12 participants about non-formal learning and self-dependency in life; organising life skills training activities together with local young people (14) in Kenya; a Youth Exchange of 12 participants organising life skills training activities together with local young people (14); EVS volunteers joined more than 66local staff meetings of which 24 particularly focused on promoting non-formal learning; development of an application about with activities and ideas around the theme of non-formal learning; Dissemination of the existence of the APP to partners in The Netherlands, Europe and partner countries worldwide.Stichting Don Bosco Amsterdam is proud to present this innovative programme, as it enables young people to engage in concrete voluntary activities and exchanging knowledge and experiences with other youngsters from different backgrounds and cultures. This generates an impact on themselves, but also on marginalised youth, local young volunteers and their organisations. The SAMEN-programme is unique as it is organised, by-and-for young people. Returned volunteers remain active in the organisation after their EVS or youth exchange. They continue to be active in all steps throughout the programme. This can be in the youth-board, in organising preparation weekends and in coaching young people before departure. This peer-to-peer methodology is cost-effective, makes use of the expertise of returned volunteers and keeps the organisation dynamic. The impact of the programme is at the level of the marginalised youth to have better abilities for positive behaviour to deal with the demands of everyday life. In addition, it impacts the local volunteers, their organisations and their stakeholders, having improved methods of working with youth about the theme of self-dependency. Moreover, it impacts the Dutch volunteers and their social environment, changing their views and behaviour towards volunteering and international development.Total costs according to the final financial statement:Capacity building activities: € 25.600,78Budget Youth Exchange:€ 18.366,00Budget European Voluntary Service:€ 39.862,00Total costs:€ 85.603,78EU Grant: € 76.603,78