The project reacted to current social and educational situation as young people need to gain also certain skills and attitudes, to have better job opportunities and to actively react to social and environmental changes. Acquiring such skills and attitudes has to be done through pupils‘ active participation, while teacher should create reasonable conditions and act like an guide and facilitator. However, in the participating countries (former Eastern bloc) the change of teachers role remains challenging. The project idea was to work with the topic of active citizenship which helps pupils to develop soft skills and create a tool for teachers how to gradually change their participation involvement or role in the educational process.The main objective was to support development of education for active democratic citizenship and participative learning through a new jointly created methodology introducing interactive and participatory methods into school education. There were 2 outputs created that contributed to this objective. O1 „Training module“ that brings description and inspiration on how educate teachers in the field of active citizenship and participative learning, 18 teachers from 3 partner countries attended and graduated the training module. Other output is O2 „Handbook“ which is newly created methodology describing what is active citizenship, why is it important and what concrete tools and methods the teachers can uses. There are 19 new specific tools and methods they can use separately or preferably all together. They were created to help teachers to lead the pupils in such way that will develop pupils competencies for active citizenship. Using participatory methods will make easier for teachers to transform their role in education. The work procedure was that each partner will test the first year the 2 methodologies from the other partners. The methodologies were „Schools for Sustainable Living“ (CZ) bringing aspects of place based learning, „IMPACT“ (RO) based on service and adventure learning and „Young reporters for the environment“ (SL) based on media education. After the first year the partners gathered enough experience, suggested improvements, edits of the methodologies and selected their strenghts – most potential and suitable activities/tools/methods to reach to project objective. Together with involved teachers they proposed brand new methodology (consisting of 5 chapters and 19 specific methods), which was tested during the second school year. The methodology was introduced at the Training module, a practical workshop, which was created by mentors from partner organizations.There were involved 6 teachers from each partner country (in total 18) that participated in every stage of the project. They tested other partners methodologies, gave feedback, proposed adaptations and improvements and then together with partners created new methodology „Handbook“. They also participated at Training module. Other target group were pupils – over 700 pupils in total experienced more than 2 new tools and methods created in O2. The last target group were the members of the partner organizations (6 involved in all activities and other 6 involved in education activities), who developed or deepened their skills and knowledge within active citizenship education and expanded their offer of participatory methods. The project and testing partners national methodologies also helped to enrich each other methodology, it resulted in the fact that partners now can use improved original national methodology and also brand new one, both methodologies tested and adapted to their national environment, therefore each partner expanded their portfolio and offer of programmes/tools towards their target groups. Evaluation report shows such intense involvement of teachers to all the project stages help them to understood deepely the importance of the active ctizenship topic. Other results is that they feel more confident and empowered to introduce and use participatory methods within their teaching and more motivated to be more in role of „guides“ and let the pupils to be initiators of the actions in education. Our main objective was met. All the methods and tools described in O2 and introduced to teachers within O1 focus on supporting pupils in making independent decisions, developing skills for 21st century (communication, critical thinking, problém solving, analysis) and creating a sense of community. Because of the pandemic there were created also online versions of all the tools, methods, materials on the active citizenship and participatory methods were transfered into online version – unexpected result.We realized 3 dissemination events, 2 present events with more than 40 participants, and one virtual event. with over 130 participants. Each organization is coordinating the national network of schools and educators. Through these networks will further disseminate the created training module and methodology.

"""HUMOR ME! - The smallest distance"" is a project that aims to give value to ""humor"" as part of learning approaches and as part of concrete methods in youth work in inter and multicultural spaces. Not only has the purpose of promoting good humor, but also to increase its use as a way of supporting the personal development of young people and workers. All this using humor as a way to help the creation of connections, since ""the shortest distance between two people is a smile"". Make humor a tool and a way to face different situations, an attitude towards life. The project has promoted high quality youth work, understanding better the challenges of this intercultural field by working different ""humor languages"" and developing concrete methods as well as a help network to respond to the different challenges of youth and educational work. Humor has been understood as an important basis for the focus on youth work. The 14-month project has been implemented in four countries: Hungary, Italy, Romania and Spain through the following organizations: Birs OTI Hungary, Muovimente, New Horizons Foundation and PARKERI. 8 participants have been involved in transnational meetings of the project team and in the local coordination of the project. There have been 20 participants in the international seminar of Youth Workers and around 200 participants (EVS mentors, Youth Workers and volunteers) in local workshops and activities. ""HUMOR ME! - The smallest distance"", has been the beginning of something innovative, at least in the local and regional reality of the project partners. The project has been developed in the following phases: research and preparation in the partner countries on humor and previous use of humor, 1st meeting of the transnational project in Spain, research among EVS volunteers, mentors and workers of youth on experiences with humor, 2nd meeting of the transnational project in Hungary, international seminar on youth work on humor in working with young people in Spain, local activities, implementation of the methods developed in previous phases. 3rd meeting / evaluation of the transnational project in Italy. The results of the project have been: - E-book, on the use of humor not only as a tool, but also as a focus on learning spaces, as an attitude of life.- Website www.humorme.eu that shows the different results of the project.- A Facebook site, to continue sharing and disseminating ""Humor-me"" in the short and long term, based on a network of international humor, young workers and youth coaches. ""HUMOR ME! - The smallest distance"" is a project, a theme, a planning that ""has moved"" the organizational team, has been a way to continue learning, discovering and improving the work they do in different organizations in the field of youth in Europe ... and also a way of focusing attention on the importance of humor as an attitude of life."

<< Background >>Current health and economic crisis related to the Covid-19 pandemic, growing trend of overconsumption, and degrading environmental situation on our planet, are some of the triggers why we, partner organizations involved in this project, think that we need to develop ourselves and use new approaches, more holistic and inclusive tools and methods in education and youth work, in order to be up to date and responsive to the current actual challenges for the youth.Being youth workers, trainers, and VET teachers, working on different areas such as civic education, vocational education, human rights education, Outdoor adventure education, etc. We are in constant search of the best fitting methods and approaches in our work. While each organization has its own approach and style, within this project, we would like to explore, enrich, and promote the wider use of Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) throughout the activities we are involved in.Evidence, backed by numerous studies carried out in prominent universities around the world, as well as supported and fostered by vocational education schools, youth organizations and Outdoor Education practitioners, shows that using OAE in youth work and education has solid positive results and the potential to improve the engagement of both, learners and educators, increase sensory range, and in general, raise the quality of learning and development of young people. Moreover, we think OAE is ever more relevant especially now, in the context which is clearly highlighted by the pandemic. One of the main symptoms and consequences of it being high levels of stress, anxiety, mental breakdown, over-digitalization of work and leisure time, exhaustion, etc. among young people. OAE is an effective methodology for stress reduction, increasing motivation, and mental hygiene. Besides, OAE brings about its own value system which is important for youth work, in general, and relevant to the context of this project. Namely, sustainable living, respectful coexistence with the natural environment, humble and introspective attitude, readiness for the challenge, etc.The project addresses the needs of different involved stakeholders, which is described in detail throughout the application form. In short, we would like to summarize some of the most common needs below:Needs of the organizations involved in education and youth work: - To improve competencies of staff, linked to their professional profiles. - To share and adopt good practices and successful frameworks among the organizations involved in the field of education and youth work;- Increasing the organizational capacity and international network;- Capacity to apply the competencies within the organizations and their staff in local youth work.Needs of staff (Youth workers, Teachers, Educators):- Increased motivation and satisfaction in daily work.- Better access to professional educational resources and tools; - Professional training, sharding practices, exploring the methodologies and approaches used across different partner organizations;Needs of young people:- Better quality, more relevant, engaging, and participatory education and youth work;- Improved competencies for learning, employability, and personal development;- Healthy and sustainable ways of spending their study/work, as well as leisure time for their physical health and mental hygiene. It should be noted that this project was first applied in 2020 in the German NA and was not supported. After carefully reflecting on the received feedback and analyzing it, our consortium decided to modify the application accordingly and apply again. “Natural Curriculum” consists of 4 stages and various types of activities, therefore there are different groups targeted on different parts of the project. Namely:- Youth workers, teachers, educators representing partner organizations and their close networks;- Young people, students, target groups of the partner organizations;<< Objectives >>Natural Curriculum sets the following objectives:- To increase the quality of youth work and education by deeply exploring the framework and practices of OAE methodology and enabling partner organizations and their close networks to implement them in their local youth work.- To Promote OAE as an efficient, highly engaging, and holistic methodology to be used in education and youth work widely, on local (Partner organizations) as well as European/International level.- To improve professional competencies of the staff of the organizations by training, study visits, joint sessions, exchanging practices, resources & materials within the consortium and beyond; - To create quality educational opportunities for young people on the national and international level within/as a result of the project, using Outdoor Adventure Education methodology;- To develop intellectual outputs as concrete tangible results of the project, which are in line with its idea and topic and can have a more long-term, sustainable impact on the partner organizations and their wider professional networks; - To enhance cross-sectoral cooperation among the actors involved in formal and non-formal education and youth work by involving them in the project and facilitating the exchange of the best practices;These objectives will be achieved throughout the 4 stages of the project:1. Training & Capacity Building;2. Producing Project Results;3. Testing and improving of Project Results;4. Dissemination & multiplying of the results.<< Implementation >>Activities of the Natural Curriculum are planned upon the objectives and consists of the following stages:1. Training & Capacity Building;2. Producing Project Results;3. Testing and improving Project Results;4. Dissemination & multiplying of the results.More specifically, we plan to implement the following activities:3 Transnational Project Meetings;4 Learning, Teaching, Training Activities;Production of 2 Project Results;2 Multiplier Events.3 Transnational Project Meetings(TPMs) are crucial for quality management, smooth planning and implementation. During TPMs, the “Steering Committee” will meet each other face to face and work together to discuss, track, analyze, plan and conduct different aspects of the project.The 1st TPM will be a Kick-off Meeting in Potsdam, Germany in late Autumn 2021. The 2nd TPM will take place in Lupeni, Romania roughly in Autumn 2022.The 3rd and final TPM will be an evaluation meeting, which will close the whole project, evaluating the whole process and concluding the results.Apart from TPMs, the Steering Committee will have ongoing communication through different online channels, including regular video conferences, in order to ensure quality communication, which is very important for a large-scale project. 4 Learning, Teaching, Training Activities (LTTA) - During the 4 LTTAs, one hosted by each partner, participants will go for a study visit to one of the partner organizations. During the visit, they will get to know the host organization closely, their activities, methods, target groups they work with, educational modules and training programs they use, daily activities, topics and areas of work, specific contexts, get to know their staff and volunteers, etc. In some cases, get involved in the daily work of the organization, support carrying out activities with young people, take part in training module(s), and so on. This stage will serve to train the participants, increase their competences, exchange best practices, build common knowledge and explore different ways of using OAE methods and quality civil education.Production of 2 Project Results - E-library of Open Educational Resources (OER) - Collection of research, books, Teaching & Learning literature, and resources in Outdoor Education and relevant related fields. (Such asAdventure Education, Experiential Learning, Environmental Education, Adventure Therapy, Place-based Learning, etc.) OER will be collected, analyzed, filtered, and categorized in a way that is accessible, user-friendly, easy to use for learners, researchers, educators, young people, etc. - E-Learning platform & an Educational Module. (Based on the principles of OAE methodology) The topic of the educational module, in a very brief description, will be “Civic Education through Outdoor Methods.” This will be a “Ready to Use Product” envisioned for a certain timeline, (e.g. 15 lessons/ working hours) logically structured and built up, including concrete theoretical framing and resources, set of activities & exercises, supportive materials for the educators, guidelines, Homeworks, step-by-step description of the process, possible adaptation tips, etc. In other words, it will be an educational curriculum that can be taken, slightly adapted according to the context, and used by multiple stakeholders as their extra-curricular material.Once the Educational Module has been created, it will be tested by each partner organization on a local level, with local young people in order to increase the outreach and impact of the project, but also to collect feedback and improve the module for its final shape...2 Multiplier Events, held in Germany and Georgia, will mainly serve to disseminate the project results to the wider range of stakeholders, reach out to more organizations, educators, young people, create a wider network, spread the idea of the project, and thus - increase its impact<< Results >>We expect Natural Curriculum to have concrete tangible and intangible results during and after the project timeline. Namely:- Improve professional competencies of educators, staff, and representatives of partner organizations directly and indirectly involved in the project.This will be achieved especially during the 1st stage of the project, through Learning, Teaching, Training activities, and Transnational Project Meetings. Also during the 3rd stage,where the educators will put their learning into practice through local and international training.- Improved personal and professional competencies for young people, who are target groups of the partner organizations, taking part in Learning, Teaching or Training activities withinthe project, as well as, in the longer term, being beneficiaries of better quality youth work and education opportunities provided by the partner organizations.Concrete tangible Results/Outputs will be produced through the Natural Curriculum project:- E-library of Open Educational Resources (OER) - Collection of research, books, Teaching & Learning literature and resources in Outdoor Education and relevant related fields. (Such asAdventure Education, Experiential Learning, Environmental Education, Adventure Therapy, Place-based Learning, etc.) OER will be collected, analyzed, filtered, and categorized in a way that it is accessible, user-friendly, easy to use for learners, researchers, educators, young people, etc. We saw a need to create such an E-library, based on the experience of ourselves and our colleagues working in this field. We think it will be useful for educators, OAE practitioners, project managers, students, teachers, anyone who needs such materials for teaching, learning, or research. It will be useful to have it in one digital space, organized and structured, easy to search and use. - E-Learning platform & an Educational Module. (Based on the principles of OAE methodology) The topic of the educational module, in a very brief description, will be “Civic Education through Outdoor Methods.” This will be a “Ready to Use Product” envisioned for a certain timeline, (e.g. 15 lessons/ working hours) logically structured and built up, including concrete theoretical framing and resources, set of activities & exercises, supportive materials for the educators, guidelines, Homeworks, step-by-step description of the process, possible adaptation tips, etc. In other words, it will be an educational curriculum that can be taken, slightly adapted according to the context, and used by multiple parties such as Formal & Vocational Educational teachers, Youth Workers, Youth Centers, NGOs, Special Educational institutions, etc. as their extra-curricular material.The module will be accessible on an online E-learning platform, which will have a simple, user-friendly & interactive interface & Supporting audiovisual materials. The module will bedisseminated and promoted not only within the partner organizations and their close networks but in wider professional channels on national and European level through such platforms as SALTO.Besides the aforementioned results, we think that the project, in general, will promote wider use of OAE methodology in youth work, specifically in local contexts/regions of partners organizations and also within the Erasmus+ programme, as it will be promoted and disseminated by the partner organizations, participating youth workers and educators and other stakeholders in their professional networks, shared a successful practice, which will make its modest contribution in the general progress of youth work in Europe.

The goal of the project is to develop the capacities of our organisations to improve the effectiveness of civic engagement of youth and youth’s capacity to champion social inclusion in service-learning (SL) projects. Our specific objectives are to:O1. enhance the skills of 191 youth workers to use SL with youth. O2. boost leadership skills of 104 youth aged 13-17 years old to do SL projects in their communities.O3. improve the toolkits of 4 partner organisations to effectively support civic engagement of youth in SL with a focus on championing social inclusion in their communities; Our countries share common challenges with youth’s civic engagement, participation in non-formal learning and social inclusion. Results of the 'Youth Study Southeast Europe' showed similar trends accross the region: 79 % of young people in the region, on average, have not engaged in any unpaid voluntary activity in the last year; furthermore, compared to the FES 2015 survey, the trend is in decline (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), Youth Study Southeast Europe, 2018-9). FES concludes 'these results are upsetting considering the importance of civic engagement for building social trust, reproducing civic values or contributing to a society’s democratic fabric.' Other international organisations (World Bank, UNICEF) also call for creating opportunities to enhance adolescents’ participation and meaningful contributions (BiH, UNICEF), increasing the percentage of time youth spend in civic activities (KS, World Bank), the need to change the value system of young people to enhance their civic engagement (MN, UNICEF). The project objectives are aligned with European policies in the field of Youth, especially with EU Council recommendations for actions that 'maintain and acquire skills that allow full participation in society and successful transitions in the labor market...[where] entrepreneurial, social and civic competences [are] becoming more relevant in order to ensure resilience and ability to adapt to change. From our direct experience with youth, we know their need to be engaged in meaningful actions whereby they not only develop their competences, but also contribute to making their community a better place. This gives them a feeling of accomplishment and boosts their self-worth and sense of belonging to their local communities. Service Learning (SL) is the approach that we intend to employ to support the development of these competences and attitudes in youth. Such type of involvement calls for highly skilled youth workers and effective toolkits. We will therefore increase our organisations’ capacities to address civic engagement of youth more effectively and to support the youth in championing social inclusion.

The Project “Track One” aims to increase the quality and thereby outreach of youth work by encouraging innovative and collaborative practices between organizations/institutions who are interested to use and practice outdoor adventure education as the main working methodology. This project focuses to increase the efficiency of the youth work through promoting and raising capacities in Outdoor and Adventure Education. The project consists of 3 Stages and 10 capacity building and mobility activities.First stage invests in professional growth of the youth workers and youth leaders, through training course and fellowship and study visits.The second stage will be focusing more interphase activities and local activities, practice and working on grassroots level.The third stage is oriented to digest, sum up and document the gained practices, focus on tools for dissemination and follow up Through the whole duration of the project its activities are build up in a way that they encourage building up and strengthening relationships between the project partners and other civil society organizations & public bodies. To start with, during the motilities of the Track One project there are several visits envisioned. (Job Shadowing & Both Study visits.) It involves youth center, climbing gym which is actually doing youth work, school and civil society organizations. Moreover, one of the central parts of the project is Stage 2, local empowerment, which involves cooperation with NEW schools/youth centers in the region the partner organization operates in. Therefore new relations with them will be built and reinforced during the whole project. We have applied for separate funding for this stage because we consider this aspect crucial for the achievement of the goal of the project. We do believe these new cooperations will not finish together with this project and continue further afterwards.Also, very importantly, as stated above in the description, on the meta level our purpose is to lobby the OAE in the formal education system in our countries. So we would like to send all the outcomes to ministries of education/youth/sport (specific in different countries) in our countries as a recommendation and invitation for future collaboration, that hopefully will bring some more OAE into schools.Another cross-sectoral cooperation will be in case of Georgian partner DRONI. As during the project there is several activities taking place in Borjom-Kharagauli National park, the organization will deepen the partnership with the park administration and Agency of Protected Areas of Georgia. The cooperation has started during previous outdoor projects and some positive results has been achieved. The project has a great emphasis on youth work development through Outdoor and Adventure Education, and it seeks for cooperation and interactions with various stakeholders active in youth field.