DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
The Youth Exchange "YOUth can move the world forward" gathered 35 participants from 5 countries: Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Latvia and Israel.
The Youth Exchange "YOUth can move the world forward" gathered 35 participants from 5 countries: Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Latvia and Israel.
The main aim of the exchange was to empower youth through non-formal learning on the topic of social entrepreneurship and motivate them to go from observers to listeners to creators and innovators.
During the 8 days of activities we shared realities and experiences about social issues we face in our countries and discuss the role of social entrepreneurship as an answer to these problems.
Through workshops, study visits, social analysis and discussions, increased our knowledge and understanding of different aspects, concepts, stakeholders and supporters of social entrepreneurship and our competences as social entrepreneurs. We learnt about European and national funding possibilities and opportunities related to youth social entrepreneurship. We visited successful social enterprises in Athens and job shadowed their work in order to see from firsthand the impact they have on social workers and on society. After the theoretical approach and our study visits, we developed our own initiatives of social enterprises and presented them the last day of our main activities.
THE HOSTING ORGANIZATION&THE PARTNERS
DreamTeam is a group of young people active in youth work and its activities are based on non-formal education methods and structured dialog. Culture, arts, creativity, youth active participation, social inclusion, solidarity and tolerance, mutual understanding and respect, human rights, cooperation, European awareness are the core elements of the group.
THE PARTNERS
The project partnership consists of organizations with significant experience in European Projects, with contacts throughout Europe and wide dissemination networks.
- matrioskas.cy from CYPRUS
- Israeli and European Youth Exchanges (R.A.) from ISRAEL
- matrioskas.it from ITALY
- System and G from LATVIA
THE PROGRAM:
DAY 1: Ice-breakings, team builging activities,
Introduction to Erasmus+
Day 1 of our Youth Exchange "YOUth can move the world forward" kicked off yesterday!! Young people from Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia and Israel gathered in sunny Athens where we will spend 10 days working on the topic of social entrepreneurship. The day was full of 'get to know each other' games, name games and funny missions to accomplish together as a team! We did not do bad.
We also shared our expectations and our fears for the days we will spend together here and we discussed the opportunities that Erasmus+ offers to us! 🇬🇷 🇮🇹 🇨🇾 🇱🇻 🇮🇱
We also shared our expectations and our fears for the days we will spend together here and we discussed the opportunities that Erasmus+ offers to us! 🇬🇷 🇮🇹 🇨🇾 🇱🇻 🇮🇱
DAY 2: Introduction to the topic
Day 2 of our Youth Exchange "YOUth can move the world forward": the day begun in our lovely amphitheater with small plays and we discovered the types of entrepreneurs. It was so much fun!
Then we self reflected about our perceptions and ideas about what a social enterprise is. We kicked off the afternoon split in national groups discovering and exploring the world of social enterprises in our countries. That way even before learning about challenges social organisations face in each country we explored loads of examples in our own. After sharing the unique situations and examples, one of the greatest conclusions we reached is that the concept of social enterprise differs - in some places of the world it’s already defined legally yet in some it has a much broader form that is not regulated in legislation. We learned, shared, exchanged and engaged in quite specific and complex discussions of different forms of social enterprises and dug deeper to understand the principles of it.
In the evening we had the first cultural night, the groups that presented were Israel, Cyprus and Greece. They made us play games, learn about their culture and countries, and try their food. Later on we learnt some of the traditional dances and sung songs in different languages.In the evening we had the first cultural night, the groups that presented were Israel, Cyprus and Greece. They made us play games, learn about their culture and countries, and try their food. Later on we learnt some of the traditional dances and sung songs in different languages.
DAY 3: Study Visits & Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs
Day 3 of our Youth Exchange "YOUth can move the world forward" was dedicated to the direct contact with local social entrepreneurs.
We visited Kypseli Municipal Market and Stoa Emporon. We talked with the owners or employees of various social enterprises and had the chance to discover more about the challenges, the opportunities and difficulties of their work and become inspired of how they tackle social issues by creating jobs for minorities, providing psychological support to refugees, disabled people, single parents etc.
As we were passing along the streets of Athens we also came face to face with reality, such as homeless people sleeping in the street and poor people begging for money. It is obvious that there need to be more social entrepreneurship programs in the future in order for this issues to be vanished. We hope that the future will look brighter!
In the afternoon, we attended a presentation by our invited speaker, Mr. Manos Andreadis from Asset Tec who informed us about Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme. It was very informing as we found out how we can apply for this opportunity and got inspired by successful stories. It was a great day that concluded with our second cultural evening where Latvia and Italy presented their countries through games and we tasted different local products.
As we were passing along the streets of Athens we also came face to face with reality, such as homeless people sleeping in the street and poor people begging for money. It is obvious that there need to be more social entrepreneurship programs in the future in order for this issues to be vanished. We hope that the future will look brighter!
In the afternoon, we attended a presentation by our invited speaker, Mr. Manos Andreadis from Asset Tec who informed us about Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme. It was very informing as we found out how we can apply for this opportunity and got inspired by successful stories. It was a great day that concluded with our second cultural evening where Latvia and Italy presented their countries through games and we tasted different local products.
DAY 4: Cultural Visits
The day was dedicated to explore the city and some of us went outside Athens to explore Greek islands :) The weather was perfect and we had so much fun and the time to unwind from activities and come closer!
DAY 5: Social Issues in our countries
Today we really got into the idea of what social entrepreneurship is and wrote down our own ideas while getting in teams with people that share similar thoughts. There were nine big issues that we separated into different categories/teams.
First, it was the Mental and Physical Disabilities.
Second, it was Ex Prisoners Inclusion and Addictions.
Third, it was Women's Rights.
Fourth, it was Army.
Fifth, it was Education.
Sixth, it was Homeless People.
Seventh, it was Youth Empowerment.
Eighth, it was Terrorism.
Ninth and last, it was Environmental Issues.
Each group had to create an "Empathy Map", covering what they See, Hear, Think, Do and Say.
After that, we had a Photo Competition to shoot pictures outside, in the city of Athens, which all had a different meaning about social problems. Before the announcement of the winner, we had our mid-term evaluation where we shared the 3 A's : Appreciation, Apologize and A-ha Moment.
Overall it was an eye opening experience for all of us as we discussed about different opinions on social problems and when we went out to shoot the pictures we could actually pay more attention to details that we couldn't observe before.
DAY 6: Create your social enterprise
Day #6 of our Youth Exchange "YOUth can move the world forward": we developed our social enterprise ideas in the following topics:
- Environmental issues
- How to include people with disabilities in our society
- Homelessness in Athens
- Education
We created 4 ideas of social enterprises, that we want to realise in the future:
1️⃣The Zero waste movement
Zero waste shop - no packages, no plastic!You don’t have to pay for a good looking package, but for what is inside there! Bring your own jar, put there everything you need and use it for 101 times! Products are made in your home country and they are made by people in special needs (young parents, ex prisoners, youth)
Check them out in facebook page - @ The Zero Waste Movement
2️⃣ Homeness Athens
Social hostel - Homeness, where employees are people who don’t have a roof over their head. They need a place to live, work and they are actually ready to make a change in their life! But that’s not all - Homeness offers rooms for adventurous travellers that like the idea and want to contribute, coffee and trainings!
Check them out in Instagram - @homeness_athens
3️⃣ A cup of dreams
Cafe - A cup of dreams. But it’s not just a cafe. It’s fully green, with a lot of plants and zero waste. This place is for everyone: people with disabilities, pet and eco friendly. It is a place where you can come and feel alive, take your coffee and especially for people with disabilities there’s animal therapy. Come and drink your dreams!
Check them out in instagram - @acupofdreams19
4️⃣You change through youth exchange
Youth exchange program for Latvians and Israelis. Latvians go to Israelis families for a while and vice versa - to understand others, their culture and values. They learn and travel through youth exchange!
🎶After presenting these 4 amazing social entrepreneurship ideas, we had an karaoke evening!
DAY 7: LipDub and Study Visit @ImpactHubAthens
Day #7 of our Youth Exchange "YOUth can move the world forward" was a really productive one. We begun the day the typical way: energizer in our outdoor amphitheater. And then, a LipDub!
This needed much work and cooperation from all of us as we had to create a videoclip without editing in one take! We split roles, we had our director and our cameraman and everything went smoothly and here is the result:
In the afternoon we had our study visit at Impact Hub Athens where a representative talked to us about the challenges, obstacles and opportunities of social entrepreneurship in Athens. It was an eye opening experience and rather inspiring. In the evening we ate amazing mexican dinner and drunk the best margaritas!
It was the best way to end a perfect day!
DAY 8: Youthpass &Final evaluation
Day #8 of our Youth Exchange "YOUth can move the world forward", the last day was about our final evaluation, future plans and goodbyes.
We made our personal reflections about the results of this Youth Exchange and if it has met the expectations we have set the first day. We then brainstormed on future projects creating our Youth Exchanges that maybe will be implemented in the future and we had the YouthPass ceremony. We were given our Youthpasses that certify our participation in this exchange.
We had a small goodbye karaoke party while revealing our secrets friends.
Thank you all for this amazing experience.. we know it's not goodbye, it's see you soon!!
We had a small goodbye karaoke party while revealing our secrets friends.
Thank you all for this amazing experience.. we know it's not goodbye, it's see you soon!!
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