http://www.yource.net The blogs of yource. http://learningsharing.yource.net After the riots of December 2008 in Athens, became stronger and stronger the necessity to face the difficulty that young generation encounters in expressing its needs and in having a participatory attitude towards the social and political issues. This need was expressed several times even before those events, and together with our partners we thought to implement some projects in the frame of the development of European co-operation through youth policy and non-formal education with the main aim to inform and to raise awareness among young people far from public issues. The aim of this project is to bring into contact young people from public schools of not privileged areas of Athens together with our participants creating a bilateral channel of work: - The foreign participants had the role, through non formal educational tools in the field of raising awareness, to attract the Greek young people toward common issues and to show a positive approach to active participation in the society. They were be also asked to prepare some examples of active participation from their personal experience and share them with the Greek students - The Greek young students had the chance to investigate youth active participation issues of the countries of the foreign participants. They were also informed about themes and issues between multiculturalism, tolerance, racism, intercultural learning by interacting with the foreign young participants. http://filtercsoport.yource.net ISIS IS – azaz az iskolás, isis is tud segíteni. A program célja, hogy középiskolás kortársainkkal együtt hat hónapon keresztül, meghatározott rendszerességgel látogassunk el fővárosi kórházak gyermekosztályaira, ahol játékos foglalkozásokkal szeretnénk vidámabbá tenni bent töltött napjaikat, s ezzel, ha lehet, szeretnénk enyhíteni szüleik terheit is. Kortársaink toborzásával, és a szakértők felkészítő segítésével, szeretnénk a társadalmi szerepvállalás, az önkéntesség és a szolidaritás fontosságára felhívni a figyelmet. Ezen kezdeményezés arra hivatott, hogy segítő szándékunk mellet mi is kapjunk valamit a gyermekektől (szeretet, egy-egy mosoly, önértékelés). Kezdeményezésünk célcsoportja a beteg gyerekek és szüleik, továbbá a projekt résztvevői, akikkel megismertetjük az önkéntességet. Rendelkezünk számos olyan fórummal, melyben tudjuk ismertetni céljainkat, eredményeinket és a projekttel kapcsolatos érzéseket. Reményeink szerint kezdeményezésünk egy hosszú folyamatot indít el, amelynek mi szolgálunk alapjául. http://pdfest.yource.net Our idea is based on the music that will connect all people and through music and music festivals, bring together all young people to their diverse music also contribute against all types of discrimination, because music do not knows nations or religion. www.myspace.com/balkanrockinitiative http://cafegloballocal.yource.net The Café Global Local was a multicultural place in the middle of the 7th district of Budapest, designed, created and run by the participants from Réunion and Hungary. The main aim of the project was to discover and understand the meaning of globalization which influences our daily life, our set of values and our national cultures. During the programme we got know each other's reality and expressed our perception about the topic and the result of the workshops with different artistic methods. These art pieces functioned as the decoration of the Café Global Local, which was open for the local community during the last afternoon and night of the youth exchange in a popular alternative spot of young people. http://guidetofilm.yource.net Guide to Film http://YESoundtrack.yource.net Cinema is very often said to be an art that reflects our everyday life. In this regard, short films produced by young artists are a particularly effective means to convey their point of view on present-day society and on more specific themes. Soundtracks also play a momentous role in movies. Contemporary music can complete the images of a film and communicate emotions or messages in a simple and powerful way. Music is an art that crosses borders and has influence on the creativity of young people, whether they listen to it while they learn, rest, work or travel or whether they create, play or dance on it. Through the “YES – Youth European Soundtrack!” project, the promotion of short films is combined with the creation of musical compositions by young people. At the beginning of the project, ten films produced by young filmmakers will be presented to the groups. The participants will discuss the films and then each musical band will choose a film on which it will write a soundtrack. At the end of the exchange, all the participants will play their music in front of the public. The project also includes making a short film, a photo album and an Internet blog about the exchange; the participants will learn more about each other and thus will promote the European Year of Creativity and Innovation. The whole project is aimed at increasing the motivation and the ability of young people to take initiatives. Creativity and innovation are indeed based on these skills and qualities. The YES project takes place in the town of Sandanski (Bulgaria) and involves 58 young people and 10 leaders from Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Greece, Turkey, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, and Croatia. Some of the project activities will happen during the 14th edition of the Balkan Youth Festival “The Balkan Youth” (from September 9th to September 14th, www.myspace.com/byfestival). The participants in “YES – Youth European Soundtrack” project will have the chance to perform in front of more than 1 000 people and of the participants of the BYF. Together with other young people from the other activities of the BYF, they will take part in the opening festival procession (September 9th), in the cultural visits to historical sites, and in the sports day (September 11th). http://education.yource.net This is the Website of the media project "Education, a comparison". A documentary being made at CSV Training & Enterprise in Preston by a group of young media volunteers. The movie is in its filming stage. http://europe.yource.net "You and me in Europe" is project for young people how have the same intrest: see und get new experiences. We will share our culture, have fun time together and learn new things from us and others! We try to find out what is culture? We will make many kind of workshops and repair also that house were we are staying. http://active_europeans.yource.net This youth exchanges has as main goal to raise awareness among European youth about the multiple dimension of campaigning and voluntary activities as a way of active participation in the civil society. Each group of participants will create and run a campaign about Youth information on European Elections in their own country before the exchange. They will come in Athens to share and discuss the tools and metodologies they used and the experiences thei lived in order to participate and create a campaign event in Athens before the end of the exchange. Participants arriving in Athens will have the chance to present their best practice concerning the national caimpaign and to elaborate new and innovaive tools of campaiging to reach as many young people in Athens and inform them about the issue of the importance of voting for the June 2009 Euroelection. For 10 days they will represent in athens a ''living expemple'' of the europan youth policy being ambassadors of several european countries.Stress will be given to the investigation of innovatinve tools for campaiging such as open space, direct dialogue, forum theatre, expressive artistic workshop and much more. http://phototalk.yource.net The youth exchange “Photo Talk” includes two different dimensions which interact: The first is the meaning of the image in our life, photo “evolution” from first black and white picture till digital photo today. The second dimension is the image as important tool in every day communication and in research the other cultures. This Youth exchange will be hosted in South-Italia, Altamura, with participants from Italy, Latvia, Slovakia, France and the Netherlands from 16 until 25. The youngsters will create an intercultural dialogue in pictures without big necessarity to speak the same language. http://together4nature.yource.net Together 4 Nature is project bringing together partners from Germany, Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria to Vilnius, Lithuania for a week of fun, work, and cultural exchange. It is for young adults with a concern for preserving the environment. The nature of the project is based on exchanges between multiple countries including Bulgaria, Portugal, Latvia, Spain, Germany and Lithuania. The aim and purpose of the project is to gather and exchange information about environmental threats and how we, as young adults, can contribute to the reduction of these threats. We will prepare and release a publication in which every country will present the largest problems threatening their countries’ environment. After completion of the publication we plan to prepare a short film showing the creating process. During the duration of the project each country will collect interesting information and data which will be gathered into a general publication in English. Alongside these activities, as the projects coordinating organization, we will familiarize the participants from other countries with Lithuanian enterprises and organizations that participate in the goal of protecting our environment. In general, these activities will help to not only become better acquainted with other countries’ environmental problems, but also to become more tolerant of other people, cultures and traditions. Creating a short film of the projects activities we hope to create more associating and socializing between people from different countries, and to observe how people of different cultures find ways to work together towards one general goal. The project results will be presented in Vilnius. A tent will be set up in the city, into which people will be invited to enter to observe the completed short film, we will distribute our publication and personally present the experiences and information gathered. Those who visit the tent will leave with a small surprise: a potted plant including a reminder to be aware of environmental issues. All organizations contributing to the project will be presented with a copy of the publication, a copy of the short film and a potted plant. http://MyHolland.yource.net This blog talks about taking advantages and challenges when your lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel. MyHolland takes the philosophy that their are two types of travelling. There's the tourist who travels and walks the city streets taking generic pictures and there are the travellers that create roots. These roots from longer visits, whether it be based on employment, studies or backpacking are a key part of ones youth because they are when little bits of culture rub off on you. http://healthylifestyle.yource.net Healthy Lifestyle is a multilateral youth exchange held in Arrimal- Porto de Mós, Portugal and had the participation of 42 young people coming from Portugal, Poland, Romania, Belgium, Spain, Greece and Italy. During this exchange were used several methods to treat the following issues: - The importance of diversity in nourrishment and healthy food - The utilization of agriculture techniques in the sustainable production and preservation of the biodiversity; - The importance of cultural heritage as a factor of enrichement of our food and the healthy lifestyles The main goal of this project was for some days to have a space of discussion on the cultural differences and cultural diversity regarding nourishment habits, healthy food, what can be done to maintain or increase biodiversity connected with healthy lifestyles, as well as the respect towards the cultural diversity and mutual understanding among different youth coming from different countries. http://youthvolunteering2008.yource.net With this training we had the chance to enrich and reinforce our international partnerships, to create new projects, collect the best practices of the participants and, of course, to promote volunteering through young europeans. We reflected on the issue of youth volunteering, its importance, possibilities and effects. We talked about how it promotes solidarity, integration and combates stereotypes and racism. Young people are the future of our societies, so it is very important for them to know volunteering and be an active part of it. http://planademofest.yource.net Anent INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY 12 August in Velika Plana organize a festival of young musicians Balkans. Music against all types of discrimination, is our motto. Merge all young people from the Balkans, including former Yugoslavien republic. In the following period, the festival will expand the variety of cultural, ecological and sports programs and called Balkan Youth Week. Velika Plana located in the center of the Balkans equally distant from the north-south, east-west territories of the Balkans which allows easy arrival of all the participants. We would like to include other countries in the region to exchange music group in order to merger youth for a more beautiful and better future. >>MUSIC AGAINST DISCRIMINATION<< Our idea is based on the music that will connect all people and through music and music festivals, bring together all young people to their diverse music also contribute against all types of discrimination, because music knows no nation or religion. Simply, music We are all. http://www.myspace.com/planademofest http://www.myspace.com/balkanrockinitiative http://culturalexpressions.yource.net Culture is a part of each one, and each one of us is part of European Union, therefore culture belongs to all. “Cultural expressions” intends to be a trans- national youth initiative, that will be developed for 13 months, which main goal is the preservation of the cultural patrimony of two different places: Coimbrão in Portugal and Helsinborg in Sweden. “Cultural expressions” intends to be a mean to keep some “cultural expressions” alive, make young people from rural areas, discover something more beside what it’s presented to them, to go deeper in their local culture and to know other cultures, promoting intercultural dialogue. This project makes them more aware of cultural diversity, to be active citizens and to understand the importance of active citizenship, to exchange experiences and to develop their competences and skills. The project will be built on several activities, happening in specific periods, such as research on historical issues regarding culture (gastronomy, handicraft, professions, etc), getting in contact with the local community taking testimonies, taking photos, creation and promotion of documentation, among others. Europe is not only what we see today, and what we wish for the future, it’s also the result of ideas and ideals from the past that, trough respect and understanding of cultural differences, became the family we live in today. http://ohp.yource.net A group of young people of different nationalities, which you can see in the picture above, spent 12 days together. They visited the Lubelskie district and went to many interesting places. They got to know the secrets of Polish culture which are passed from one generation to another. We gathered together in order to create a multimedia guide, get to know each other better and find out more about Poland, especially the history of this region. http://niewweerdinge2.yource.net DAWN project was held in Niew-Weerdinge,a nice village near city of Emmen. DAWN 's purpose was a big discussion about discrimination existing nowadays against women,whilst having fun at the same time.Thus,by using a great variety of means,all organizations participating(including mine,PRAXIS NGO)finally managed to get all the info required about the topic and by 3different workshops present their conclusions to the other groups and local society.It was a really great experience. http://byfestival.yource.net Music overcomes boundaries, music styles raise barriers! Is the theme of the project „YES – Youth European Sound“. Music has the power to overcome national, cultural, age, language and other boundaries which we face daily. All young people like to listen to contemporary music and some of them like to create, perform and dance to contemporary music. Often however, the preferred music style happens to be a major unconscious barrier for meeting now friends and new cultures, for the communication and understanding of peers and can even affect the relationships in the family and community. The preferred music style often instead of stimulating the development of young people binds them to the rails of uniformity and alienation, and hinders their creative potential. With the project “YES – Youth European Sound” we will open new horizons for development and will create opportunities for the expression of talent, for dialog among young people from different EU member and neighbouring countries. Countries, who are involved with different contemporary music styles. During the project young people will perform on stage emblematic pieces of music, performances or dances, characterizing their favourite style. During the thematic workshops they will present elements of their favourite style: stage appearance, make-up, behavior, dances, and instruments, among others. Together they will perform popular music pieces. They will discuss what separates them and what unites them, they will present and get to know each other's cultural traditions, exchange experience, create new partnerships and working relationships, popularize the messages, related to the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. They will create a dictionary of common words and gestures for communicating agreement! This project, which will take place in the town of Sandanski, Bulgaria, will host 49 young people from 9 countries (Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Greece, Spain, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia and Turkey). The intercultural exchange will last 9 days. http://diem.yource.net DIEM Dialogo Interculturale Euro-Med DIEM is an Action 2 project - Group EVS - to promote the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008. This project takes place in Altamura, Italy from the 19th of January to the 18th of February 2009. Working with media, newspaper and simply the voice, the volunteers try to promote the dialogue between the people and the inclusion of youngsters with less opportunities. The participants come from european and mediterranean countries, all with different cultures, traditions and mind sets. http://stepoutside.yource.net 25 youngsters from 5 different countries (Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania) came together to experience nature and discover cultural diversity. The event aimed to raise the environmental awareness among the participants and also to have an effect on the local community of the city of Arad. During the youth exchange the youngsters have concentrated on various environmental issues and activities and have presented conclusive materials through the public exhibition at the end of the event. This youth exchange has been realized through Youth in Action Program (Action 1.1) http://eysf2008.yource.net European Youth and Sport Forum 2008 http://greenhope.yource.net The extended fires of August 2007 affected almost all Europe, the South suffering the most of the damages and loss of human lives. Greece was one of the countries that suffered a lot: forests hundreds of years old, houses and properties as well as human lives were lost that summer. As organization promoting the voluntary work, we knew from the first moment that our help would be needed and appreciated. That is why we have already been active in the affected areas organizing already many activities of reforestation. This youth exchange was the third time that ELIX was working in the field in the burnt area of Ancient Olympia in Peloponnese. During this exchange, we went a bit further than doing restoration work and decided to come closer to the people of the area. The stories and the memories that local people carry with them told us more about the fires of that summer. The life after the fires is for sure different than the life before: many people lost their houses and properties, a great part of the flora and the faune has disappeared and these new conditions have already pushed many of the young people to leave the area. The young participants of the project tried to collect many of the stories and memories of the local people and put them together in a special album made for this occasion. This was the main but not the only aim of this exchange. Our group also continued the reforestation works in cooperation with the local authorities spent some time to collect non-formal education material that will be used in future environmental education activities for teenagers. http://actoromania.yource.net In this project, 50 youngsters from Romania, Portugal, Estonia and Lithuania had the occasion to participate to workshops like forum theatre, masks, stage fighting and media ones. It was a great atmosphere but the best moment was the coastering experience, which made us, live very intense and with a lot of adrenaline... DRUMS for PEACE network is the coordinator of a big successful series of youth exchanges in Denmark, Estonia, Portugal, Italy, UK Wales, UK Scotland, Romania, France, Lithuania. http://samegrelo.yource.net The aim of this exchange was to involve young women and men in awareness-raising activities with the issue of gender- based discrimination in east and west Europe; The project took place in the forest, more or less in the wildness of Georgia. Parts of the activties was changing the social role of men and women during everyday-life! 34 youngsters from Georgia, Armenia, Poland, Turkey, France and Austria exchanged cooking-experiences, opinions, games and a lot more... http://getinvolvedinevs.yource.net We are providing an opportunity for organisations to find future EVS sending hosting partners. EVS is based on multi-lingualism and European citizenship projects. Another aim is to meet the partners personally, and to get to know each other better in order to: share ideas; share different experiences of how youth work pans out country by country; learn about the methods used to motivate youngsters for active participation. The ‘Get involved in EVS project’ idea has invented a ‘Tic Tac’ training course, in which we wrote the prototype of the project during a simulation task. http://ridingnature.yource.net Hi people! This wonderful youth project we did from 12.7 - 20.7.08 in Italy was related to ecology. We went by bike through the northern region of Italy (Piemonte and Liguria) and during our stops and free afternoons we had plenty of workshops, interesting working sessions and discussion. Riding together was also a way to know each other and to get in touch with nature. One week of riding up and down through beautiful Italy! Camping at different places every day, cooking outside- just living in the nature as simple as possible! It was just a very special experience for all of us- 30 people from 6 different countries (Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania Lithuania, Turkey) we learned a lot about social skills and we got to know each other well in this days... We did very interesting workshops about environment- what everybody could do/ change, and what are the differences about environment in the certain countries... we just had a real good time! Birgit from Austria http://Europeancitizenship08.yource.net The Project ... The Youth Exchange "European Citizenship" will occur in Portugal, in Oeiras Council and will involve 10 European Countries, with 50 participants in total. During the time that the youngsters will spend in Portugal, they will have the chance to know the local community and to learn about the culture and habits of Portugal and share at the same time their own culture with the rest of the group. In the end of the exchange we hope that the youngsters became more aware of the role they must have in the society and the importance of European citizenship. We also hope that this can be the beginning of several individual and group projects in each participant home town. http://Armenia.yource.net "Diversity makes us richer" was a youth exchange that enabled 33 young people from Austria, Latvia, Armenia and Georgia to experience the diversity of European cultures and sharing their cultural heritage through traditional dances and folk songs, arts and crafts and national cusine. The project was concluded with a concert and an exhibition organized for the host community, in Armenia/Stepanavan. The project date was 20.06.08 - 28.06.08 http://countmeout.yource.net The project will focus on the engagement of young people exploring the international diversity of political and social attitudes towards Homosexuality and sexual diversity. It will educate and inform young people about sexual differences and help them come to terms with personnel identity, sexuality and have a positive healthy out look on life and self awareness / confidence. The main thrust of the project will be to create a DVD Documentary film that can be distributed to educational, governmental and health departments as well as Youth clubs and associations across Europe and be broadcast on the internet to educate and empower people about the tolerance and acceptance of diversity in sexuality. "Count Me Out” will sensitively tackle prejudice and discrimination and will take responsibility for helping reduce prejudice and will promote tolerance and community cohesion in Europe. http://handinhand.yource.net International camp SMILE hand in Hand- in Germany Altensteig. There are 6 different European countries coming to the camp. The idea is that young people can meet and exchange experiences they already made, as well as make new ones. They will see the differences between the cultures and make new friends. During the camp we run 4 big workshops: Expressive Arts, European Magazine, Movie making, Creative Expression. Partners are: Jugendwerk der AWO, Germany (host) Rota Jovem, Portugal Millenium Center Arad, Romania Melagrana Onlus, Italy Mystyle Art, Latvia UN Youth EStonia http://twofeet.yource.net Multilateral Youth Exchange in Portugal...The topic is about Nature and is it our relation with this special Gift, how we saw the nature in the past and how we are considering preserving it in the future, depending on our different cultures. The aim is to reflect upon our own actions in the past that could hurt Nature, and what kind of activities will we (in different countries) engage to stand for Nature Preservation. http://sousse.yource.net Euromed youth exchange with the participation of the following countries: Tunisie, Algérie, France, Hungary. The topic is the environment, recycling, the project will take place in Sousse, Tunisie. http://stepwise.yource.net It is a training course designed for youth workers and youth leaders, who would like to gain competences to guide youngsters with fewer opportunities in youth initiatives, recognise the importance and the success of using non-formal education and broaden their organisation's activities. It aims to provide information for beginners about the Youth in Action Program and to promote the usage of non-formal education.