Boosting sustainability and social change through Youth led-community
development
Project summary:
BeYou is a project funded by the European Comission through the program Erasmus Plus, Action European Youth Together.
For more access: https://www.eacea.ec.europa.eu/grants/2014-2020/erasmus_en
The project aims to generate youth led-community development processes that strengthen mechanisms of active participation and social responsibility of young people in marginalized community contexts in Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Romania, that are characterized by a high proportion of young people at risk of social exclusion and educational poverty. The project addresses the global needs of young people to be actively engaged in their local communities and to learn how to tackle by themselves the problems that most affect their lives and peers. Through an innovative socio-educational intervention addressed to young people, with particular focus on those in vulnerable situations (economic, social, cultural), promoting sustainability and social inclusion in the local communities involved. In this frame,
the project includes the launch, testing and validation of a “Community Youth Incubator” programme, aiming at engaging actively both youth workers and young leaders into inclusive, green and sustainable development of their local communities.
Disadvantaged young people will be engaged in grass root projects that address community issues that matter to them, take responsibility & contribute to the sustainable development & social innovation of the community in which they want to grow and live. The project builds on the objectives of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 and the EU Youth Goals, and more specifically is contributing to the ‘Engage-Connect-Empower’ priorities of the Strategy by “improving the involvement of young people in democratic life, in terms of active citizenship and engagement with decision-makers (empowerment, new skills, involvement of young people in project design, etc.).
Through the Community Youth Incubator programme, both youth workers and vulnerable and socio- economic disadvantaged youth will be engaged directly and gain their first experiences in leadership, community resources mobilization, project management, networking, providing also a meaningful voice to them in the framework of the Covid-19 recovery process in their local communities. Community stakeholders will be also engaged to take responsibility and participate as active community partners in order to support young people in the development, evaluation and crowdfunding of their project’s ideas.
The project contributes to reinforce the European dimension of the activities in the field of youth and sustainable community development of the organizations involved, by encouraging youths’ integral development, active citizenship, social cohesion and sense of belonging to the community (both local & EU). Such cooperation will reinforce & strengthen the network between countries and peer learning among partners & target groups. Moreover, youth participants, thanks to the distinctive approach of the project, will experiment remote & transnational cooperation, thus developing not only creative, linguistic
& digital skills but also intercultural competences & EU citizenship.
Activities:
Kick-off meeting in Trapani, Italy, 12 -13 January 2023
The meeting aimed at establishing the paste of the management process and to make partners acustom to the project procedures and tasks to be accomplished.
Desk research done by each partner country
THE OBJECTIVE (RELEVANCE)
In order to provide tailored support to the needs of the disadvantaged young people involved in the “Community Youth Incubator”, preliminary context analysis will be conducted in all target regions in order to identify socio-economic and cultural vulnerabilities and challenges faced by youth in their own communities.
Each report will contain desk research followed by field research on quantitative and qualitative analysis in each local community through questionnaires and interviews targeting at least 120 young people, youth workers and community stakeholders (at least n. 24 interviewed people per country including n. 8 youth workers, n. 8 young people, n. 8 relevant stakeholders).
FOCUS
The main focus of the local report is to map community-based socio-economic vulnerabilities and environmental challenges affecting young people in the framework of the Covid-19 recovery process in the target local communities, presenting in a critical way information and data collected at every partner’s level (especially according to the youth communities level and organizations, youth policies, etc.).
Targets are:
- Young people aged between 16 and 25 years old (indicative range) with a disadvantaged background and at risk of social exclusion and educational poverty (targeting marginal context based schools, rural communities, organizations working with vulnerable youth, etc.);
- Youth workers aged between 25 and 35 years old (indicative range) working with vulnerable young people;
- Other representatives of youth organizations, local authorities, experts in the field of social inclusion and education (NGOs, local and regional development organisations, training providers, businesses associations, youth workers, etc.).
- Local communities and national background/statistics.
- DESK RESEARCH
- The desk research will be aimed at mapping community-based socio-economic vulnerabilities and environmental challenges affecting young people in the framework of the Covid-19 recovery process in the target local communities. It will include also a context analysis of the operative framework of each partner organization
Peer learning & capacity building: transnational training course in Agrigento (Italy) , 3-8 Iulie 2023
Report of the activity :
Second transnational meeting in Craiova, Romania, 14 -15 June 2023
The second meeting intended to evaluate the implementation of the activities up to that point, evaluate possible adjustments and risks for upcoming activities as well as fine tune the management procedure.
Info-days:
In order to publicize the call for ideas for social projects led by young people, we are going to organize 2 information days.
The main objectives of these sessions are:
- Publicize the call for ideas for projects led by young people
- Explain how to prepare project proposals
- Evaluation criteria for proposals
The activities are part of the BEYOU project – Driving sustainability and social change through youth-led community development, funded by the Erasmus+ programme, KA3 European Youth Together.Activities will take place both nationally and internationally, including participation in a workshop in Greece in May 2024.
Participate in one of these sessions and start preparing your proposals!
Call for projects – Community Youth Incubators
DEADLINE Extended to 30th November
Are you a young person? Are you interested in engaging youth in the local communities involved to co-plan community projects that matter your own needs? The BEYOU project is made for YOU!
Read the Call attached and Fill the Application Form.
In case you need our support just write an e-mail at andctr@yahoo.ro
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