Skip to main content

Month: June 2022

FMID – Film Making for Inclusion and Development

Let us introduce you to our project “FMID – Film Making for Inclusion and Development”, which officially started its work in November 2021 and will be implemented until August 2023.

The project, led by the German Partner Jugendförderverein Parchim/Lübz e. V. brings together a group of expert partners from Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus.

The project will create a suite of video creation resources for young people and will support youth workers and educators in delivering video creation training through bespoke in-service training and a handbook. The project will also develop an e-learning portal.

In the framework of the project, two transnational training events will be organised in the form of an In-Service Training Programme for youth workers and educators and a Film-Making Masterclass for young people. In addition, each partner will be tasked with organising a Film Festival on a local level.

Despite our first consortium meeting taking place online due to COVID-19 restrictions, we are excited to finally be meeting in person next month in Schwerin, Germany.

The general objectives of the project are: 

1) To create a suite of video creation resources for young people

2) To support youth educators in delivering video creation training with the help of bespoke in-service training and handbook

3) To provide a series of virtual learning and collaborative environments for sharing project results, enabling education resources usage and gaining recognition for videos created by project participants

4) To provide a series of events for both young people and youth educators

The main goals are:

1) To train Youth Educators in Delivering the In-Service Training Programme During the Short-Term Joint Staff Training Event

2) Front-Line Youth and Community Educators Will Have Completed the In-service Training Programme and Upgraded Their Professional Competences in The Piloting Phase Of the first project result.

3) Young People, Including Marginalized Youth, Will Grow Their Digital and Media Literacy Levels by Using the Video Creation Resources and Approaches While Piloting The second project result.

4) Young People, With Special Emphasis On Marginalized Youth Will Complete the Transnational Film-Making Masterclass

BLUE TOURISM: Build a network of local advisors to put small tourism providers in watercourse regions on a more sustainable path

Due to COVID-19 epidemic, the tourism industry has been hit extremely hard as restrictions to international travel have caused a decline of the tourism economy at least between 45 and 70% (OECD). Through this project, there is an opportunity to rethink tourism as a whole, by shifting more decisively from over tourism models to existing sustainable tourism models.
The aim of this project is to equip a network of future local advisors with the necessary competencies so they can support and advise small tourism providers in watercourse regions to be more sustainable and competitive, with a strategic focus on:

1. Sustainable Tourism and SDGs;
2 Ethics and Social Responsibility;
3. Natural and Cultural Heritage;
4. Competitiveness and Sustainable Local Business Development;
5. Innovation and Digital Transformation;
6. Networking and Local Partnerships;
7. Branding and Digital Marketing; and
8. Internationalisation Strategy.

The objectives of the project are to:

● Create a new competence profile for the tourism sector: the sustainable local tourism advisor
● Contribute to local sustainable tourism development through the capacity building of small tourism providers
● Promote less renowned watercourse touristic destinations, giving visibility to their sustainable and innovative practices in the tourism sector
● Contribute for local sustainable tourism practices and policies by increasing awareness and discussion on the challenges and opportunities regarding the potential of watercourse tourism and sustainability

Digital Youth focus groups with youth workers

The Digital Youth project partners have conducted focus group interviews with youth workers and youth trainers in Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, and Spain. The focus groups took place in May and June 2022 and aimed to map the gaps and needs in the field of youth in relation to digital youth work, in terms of their knowledge, skills, and competences.

In particular, the focus groups aim to:

  1. Assess the current state of digital skills knowledge in youth workers
  2. Identify gaps in digital skills and competencies of youth workers
  3. Identify what youth workers need in digital skills
  4. Identify digital devices and apps/software youth workers use daily.

The focus groups have gathered very valuable information from the target group of the project, which will be furtherly analysed and will lead to the creation of the Digital Youth Training Package. The package will include an Interactive Handbook for youth workers and online learning modules, as well as other useful resources for youth workers and youth trainers.

For more information on the project, please visit: www.digital-youth.eu

Green VET Choices – Fighting climate change and fostering innovation by increasing interest in green VET professions through empowering digital storytelling

Climate change concerns everyone and is a very real threat to global society, affecting millions of people and causing natural disasters all over the world. The Green VET Choices project joins this fight for a healthier planet by developing and implementing an innovative learning methodology to increase green skills and raise interest in green vocational education and training.

VET professions offer rich opportunities for individuals interested in green technologies, green entrepreneurship, green social business and related environmentally-conscious industries. These professions and career paths play a key role in the pursuit of a healthier environment and green growth in European economies. The Green VET Choices project sees its central objective

in developing a way to combine green VET with the fight against climate change by increasing the attractiveness and awareness of environmentally-friendly VET career options and fostering required green & digital skills and competences.

Innovation Ecosystems for Circular Economy Entrepreneurs

Global strategies to achieve a circular economy often overlook the contributions of smaller, locally-led enterprises and the need for market-based solutions specific to emerging economies. Most mainstream business models operate the “take, make and dispose” way of production and consumption and this is reflected in the vast majority of entrepreneurship or business development training resources. The ECO-CENT project will support the transformative potential of business models driven by social, economic and environmental sustainability objectives. It will be designed for entrepreneurs and business owners committed to adopting business models premised on up-cycling and re-cycling, resource efficiency, and ensuring valuable resources are not simply discarded but live on in innovative products and services.

The ECO-CENT project aims to respond to these needs of iVET and cVET providers and members of the business community by providing targeted training both to businesses on circular business models, and to VET trainers to support their continuous professional development in this domain. To bring innovation to the forefront of VET provision in each country, ECO-CENT partners will also form local synergies between VET professionals and business representatives to develop an innovation ecosystem to support both parties to contribute to the green transition of Europe.

Stop Lies About Climate Change

Fake News can have a devastating effect on issues where understanding observable and scientific facts is essential. As a result, opinion is divided on fundamental issues such as man-made global warming.

The project SLACC tackles climate fake news in the context of youth work. The overall objective of SLACC is to strengthen young people as potential climate ambassadors who support their parents’ and grandparents’ generation in debunking populist distortions about our climate.

The project focused on different target groups such as: Youth workers, Young people, Older generations and providers of training for young people.

A new tool for migrant orientation and exploration in Nicosia

From now on international protection holders, asylum seekers, newly arrived minors and their families, as well as international university students and refugees, will have a new orientation tool for their new city; the NEAR “Unconventional Maps”.

These “Unconventional Maps” have been developed as part of NEAR – NEwly ARrived in a common home, an innovative European project facilitating the integration of newly arrived migrants (adults and minors) during their settlement in the host countries. The maps have been implemented in the neighborhoods of four European cities: Lisbon (Bairro das Galinheiras), Nicosia, Milan (Central Station-Martesana canal) and Perugia.

Read more in the press release below.

 Download Press Release-english

Download Press Release-greek

GOTHEN kick-off meeting in Italy

 On 7th and 8th of June, has been completed with success the kick of meeting of the project GOTHEN in Bari, Italy. Partners had the opportunity to get to know each other and set the baseline for professional and constructive cooperation to deliver high-quality services for the implemantion of the project. 

During the 2-day productive meeting, we discussed the details regarding the overall project management, financial management, implementation steps, dissemination activities, and procedures for the project’s quality assurance. Partners agreed on the priorities and responsibilities of each stakeholder, while they set the timeline for each intellectual output and intermediate tasks.

Following this fruitful meeting, partners returned to their countries safe and pleased, promising to do their best to prepare the following steps for GOTHEN, and promote it in their social circle.

 WhatsApp Image 2022 06 14 at 10.43.42

GO ESC AND THEN?

Our initiative roots from our direct participation and experience as volunteers and from the need analysis that we conduct in the three partner’s countries that is important to support the new organizations diving into the information, procedures about the solidarity corps activities. Talking from National Agencies, organizations, youth workers perspective rather than volunteers is probably not fulfilling the volunteer’s needs and also there is a lack of outreach and awareness of the European Solidarity Corps.

The main aim of GOTHEN is to empower & connect young people while driving innovation and reinforcing volunteering culture.

The objectives of GOTHEN are:

  • Give the volunteers the tools to reach useful information for them
  • Raise awareness about the volunteer’s culture among the local communities
  • Create a community around the volunteer once he/she is abroad
  • Help the Youth Workers with the recruitment of participant to their ESC events
  • Empower the volunteers

The three outputs of the projects are:

  • Volunteer talks videos
  • Solidarity Hub: live streaming with Esc volunteers
  • Go Locals! Training course for youth workers
  • Esc advisor- an online platform