Passive attitude of young people to participate in democratic activities and processes, lack of skills and knowledge of youth workers on how to equip young people with skills and knowledge needed for critical approach to the democracy and media literacy connected to the democratic processes, lack of trust of young people in democracy and democratic values (especially visible in the Western Balkan region) are the main reasons behind the work of partners in developing and creating CritiDe. Based on the needs assessment, research and publications from all partner countries, the proposal is focused on raising the level of political and media literacy of young people, learning about democracy, rule of law and values, and exploring how to become active citizens, having in mind not only elections but also a wider set of actions: campaigning, demonstrating, volunteering, engaging in political parties or NGOs. CritiDe as a project aims to raise capacities of participating organisations and their local partners, as well as youth workers; in the fields of critical thinking and activism of young people in democratic processes and development of media literacy skills. This will be achieved through development and delivery of educational trainings for youth workers and development of educational handbooks and workshops. As a cherry on the top, educational platform containing developed practical handbooks and online learning course on how to use and adapt materials to specific needs of local communities and work of youth workers/educators/professors; will be developed. Platform will further provide opportunities to contact local organisations as a focal points and resource centres.

LGBT youth suffers homophobia, violence and lack of solidarity from their peers nor their teachers during their schooling period. Attempts of LGBT and Human rights organization in Serbia to tackle this problem wasn’t fruitful, because for any activities in schools one needs special permission form the Ministry of Education, that wasn’t willing to cooperate on these issues. Similar situation regarding homophobia, bullying and violence in schools is present in Bosnia and Herzegovina and partially in Croatia, and with this project we will exchange experiences and knowledge, and find alternative ways in solving these issues, especially in cooperation with our partners from Germany.Although mechanism for protection of individuals against discrimination exist (on different levels in our countries and in Europe in general) there should be more activities aiming on supporting the individuals in threat of discrimination and violence, but also aiming at the mainstream youth in order to raise their understanding and level of tolerance. Thus, we have proposed another way of solving this problem through the network of Youth organizations and organizations working with Youth.We have explored examples of good practices and implemented methods and strategies in the study visit that were explored and used, adapted, for the development of new tools and methods in a form of the Manual for local workshops for youth on homophobia and LGBT rights.By creating workshops manual tackling LGBT rights, homophobia, non-violence, respecting and accepting differences, we strived to give innovative tools in solving the problem of homophobia among youth and bullying in schools. We also took in concern good practices from the region and EU and different approaches in working with youth.The manual contains workshops on the subject of nonviolent communication, perception, conflicts, violence, prejudice and stereotypes, identities, non-violence, dealing with fear and mediation.The most important aspect is decentralization and having participants from smaller cities and communities, that already have showed interest in advocating for LGBT rights and preparing local trainer who will continue the work in their communities.The 10 days long training course, as the main mobility activity of the project, put the manual into practice and examined it with the partners and participants, in the same time sharing the knowledge, tools and methods, materials and resources in educating youth workers and impact bearers, while receiving valuable feedback on the tools and methodology which have been applied in the final revision and preparation of the manual.

<< Background >>In youth work for reconciliation, inclusion and intercultural acceptance in post-conflict areas, we’ve noticed sport can bring people together, as when playing a sport together for the same team, players are not focused on the interracial, interreligious and other differences between them, but are focused on team work. The CYSW4RD project through its activities addresses the needs of youth communities in partner countries and beyond to adapt sport work as a way to accept diversity and tolerance.<< Objectives >>To empower youth workers in reconciliation youth work in post-conflict areas and using sport methods and creative large-scale youth sport work events for reconciliation through organising training coursesTo provide insight into the operation of German organisations and institutions in this regard through study visitTo develop basis for knowledge management capacity building through production of intellectual outputsTo develop a community of youth workers (European)for YSW for reconciliation<< Implementation >>The project is implemented successfully in all 5 partners countries: 3 training courses in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia; 1 study visit in Germany; a preparatory meeting, 1 youth exchange, and evaluation meeting in Kosovo; 5 local dissemination activities in each partner country. The implementation of the project comprises of the production of 4 intellectual outputs: 3 guidebooks with curriculum of developed training courses and 1 handbook on organizing large-scale YSW events.<< Results >>Key project results are:15 youth workers gathered in evaluating and planning detailed activities for youngsters29 youth workers empowered in reconciliation and intercultural learning14 youth workers got insights of good practices in Germany29 youth workers educated in large-scale youth sport work events3 guidebook with curriculums produced and published 1 handbook on large-scale YSW events produced and published29 youngsters shared practices on creative YSW events for reconciliation

<< Background >>Despite today’s youth being the most educated generation ever, young people are more likely to work on short-term and informal contracts with low pay. In the EU, youth represent 38,5% of the total unemployed population, while 4,6 million people aged 15-24 do not have a job. Two-thirds of the unemployed youth population are women. If we consider that almost every 5th woman is a single mother, their position is very ungrateful. Because of this, our primary focus was on the young women empowerment.<< Objectives >>This project was aimed to build the capacity of youth (work) organizations, their young women entrepreneurship empowerment centers on a local level and their youth workers in competences for entrepreneurial mind-set development through youth work in our communities and on the European level. This was achieved through extensive list of objectives connected to educational activities, development of educational materials and organizing activities in local communities.<< Implementation >>Project implementation included organizing preparatory meeting, 4 educational training courses for youth workers, development of 4 curriculums and 4 online courses, one study visit for youth workers and dissemination activities in local communities of each involved partner organization. Implementation was concluded with evaluation meeting on which the experiences, outcomes and outputs of the project were analyzed and served as starting point for partners’ planning of new initiatives/projects.<< Results >>Main project results are visible in development of 4 educational curriculums that can be used by all interested youth workers and organisations for future work on similar topics, 4 online courses for youth workers and youngsters, dissemination events organized in local communities of project partners and 4 educational training courses for youth workers coming from partner countries (not only partner organisations).

In our youth work for reconciliation, inclusion and intercultural acceptance in post-conflict areas and with migrants, we’ve noticed sport can bring people together, as when playing a sport together for the same team, team players are not focused on the interracial, interreligious and other differences between them, but are focused on building quality team work together respecting each other’s strengths and weaknesses and complementing each other.All project partners believe and are motivated by the fact that through sport, personal development of our beneficiaries is multiple. In connection to reconciliation and intercultural learning is mainly the fact that through sport our beneficiaries create a sense of personal identity and then it is easier to accept the others as they are, as well.Unfortunately, when organising education of their youth workers so far, partners could not find enough youth workers experienced in the topic and principles of using sport activities as methods in NFE/youth work for reconciliation and acceptance especially, as well as for using sport methodology in work with youngsters with fewer opportunities.Project aims at: Building capacity of youth (work) organisations, their youth workers in NFE for youth SPORT work for reconciliation and accepting diversity among youngsters in our communities and encouraging creative usage of sport and outdoor activities in youth work for reconciliation.Project activities:A1: Preparatory meeting, 19-23 Dec 2020; ME; 5 participantsA2: TC1 - 15-24 Feb 2021; RS; 29 participants (12 fewer opp) from ME, BA, RS, SE, DE.O1: Guidebook with Curriculum TC1 A3: Study visit In Berlin, 23-28 Apr 2021; DE; 15 participants (8 fewer opp)A4: TC2 - 7-15 Jun 2021; BA; 29 participants (11 fewer opp) O2: Guidebook with Curriculum TC2A5: TC3 - 9-17 Sep 2021; SE; 30 participants (10 fewer opp) O3: Guidebook with Curriculum TC3O4: Handbook on organising creative large-scale youth sport work eventsA6: YE - 21-30 Jan 2022; ME; 30 participants (16 fewer opp) A7: Local dissemination events, Feb 2022; ME, BA, RS, SE, DE.A8: Evaluation meeting, 15-20 Mar 2022; ME; 15 participants (8 fewer opp)+ Dissemination and reporting activitiesProject will contribute to capacity building and knowledge management of partner organisations, as well as other youth (work) organisations and respective youth workers and youngsters. It will contribute to developing sense of reconciliation, tolerance and understanding of diversity, not only among participants, but also among further beneficiaries of different youth sport work activities (with mainstream and marginalised groups) that will be lead and managed by participants of this project activities.