CONTEXTOur initiative focuses at the intersection of several contemporary challenges: 1. Relationships are the most important factor of our happiness and wellbeing (Baumeister) yet the spaces to these skills are scarce. 2. Gender roles and representations of sexuality are what Hofstede called the “taboo dimension” of cultures, so many are the related taboos and prescriptions. And currently these representations and taboos are undergoing deep changes. The recent series of scandals about sexual harassment and the Metoo movement highlight an aspect of this change. 3. Developing successful models of relating to others may be a challenge to all, but particularly to newcomers with different cultural backgrounds. 4. In many European cities there is a growing representation of groups of ‘young foreign men’ as synonym of threat, in the worst case becoming targets of negative campaign (Hungary) in the best merely a constant association to a ‘social problem’: “Why don’t they mix?”Against this backdrop we see the role of the Youth Workers as crucial in assisting Young people from diverse backgrounds and walks of life in developing skills to connect across cultural and social boundaries. Yet Youth Workers’ training rarely integrates modules on relational issues, on intimacy and sexuality, let alone in an intercultural perspective. As a consequence not only they cannot successfully support the Youth they work with in overcoming their challenges, but they themselves may be subjects of relational problems of their own, on the delicate issue of finding the good proximity. HENCE OUR KEY OBJECTIVES1)Helping youth workers to better address their relationship to the participants, successfully negotiating good distance / good proximity to ensure the coherence and safety of the collaboration process. 2)Offering training tools to youth workers to address issues related to relationships, intimacy and sexuality with culturally diverse groups. Help youngsters engage with others despite cultural differences, going beyond homogeneous groups that give the impression of ‘separation’ or ‘communautarism’ whether it is on the side of minority or majority. ACTIVITIES and their IMPACTSTo reach our objectives we propose to engage in a co-constructive methodological development process to create a set of training materials together with Youth and Youth workers:-The “Book of situations” (IO1) will serve youth workers (and other educators) to be able to identify cultural components in conflicts, misunderstandings related to relationships, friendships, intimate relationships (or harassment)-“Skills to connect” (IO2) offering them tools to develop their own relational / emotional skills or those of the youth they work with-The “Book of good proximity” (IO3) to help negotiate appropriate distance and proximity with their participants to be able to carry out their mission-“Skills for intimacy” (IO4) offers training tools for youth workers to address issues related to intimacy with diverse groups of youngstersFinally, we create an online learning tool based on videos: “Lessons of intimacy and relationships” (IO5) for youth workers to help them integrate the above products into their work practice either by establishing specific trainings or by inserting specific sessions into existing collaboration process. METHODOLOGYOur key methodological pillars are:a)An intercultural approach capable of reflecting on cultural differences without forcing or reifying themb)Applied psychology to develop individual skills for social and emotional learningc)Positive sexuality education inviting to a reflection and discussion about intimacy, gender and sexuality in a safe way, helping to set and respect one’s own boundaries and those of the othersd)Theatre pedagogies, in particular Rainbow of Desires and Forum Theatre to create a collective learning process in inter/action.e)Process Work to make sure that the learning is embodied and lively.PARTICIPANTSDuring the project we’ll involve directly 60 young people to create our training materials together, so that they are the closest possible to their needs and learning styles. We’ll involve 200 Youth Workers to test and assess our materials. We’ll engage in discussions with decision-makers and Youth Worker training institutions to integrate our products.LONGER TERM BENEFITSThe longer term ambition of the project is to complete Youth Workers’ Training with our modules to a)address issues related to relationships, gender, intimacy in an intercultural perspective and b)develop skills to negotiate good distance with their participants in culturally heterogeneous settings

"The DAN.THE. project generated from the results obtained with the ""Dance acCEssibility and Inclusion - DAN.CE IN"" project carried out by the lead partner Iijshaamanka in 2018 as part of the ERASMUS+ SPORT - Small Collaborative Partnerships together with ""The Garage (UK)"" , also present in this project proposal, and to ""Ruedapies"" association (FR). The challenge of offering opportunities for social inclusion to disabled youngsters through the practice of inclusive dance has fully achieved its goal, allowing participants to live significant experiences by breaking down the barriers between the disabled and the gifted, using movement and dance and allowing the creative and artistic act to take shape in bodies ""perfect in their own imperfection"". The social impact that this path has had on the direct beneficiaries led the involved organisation to reflect on the importance of recognizing these paths and professionals who conduct these processes. For this reason, the challenge that the DAN.CE IN partners wanted to accept with the DAN.THE project is to create a network that increases the skills of the professional figure of the theater / dance operator aimed at social inclusion, providing him with the theoretical and practical bases to work with other methodologies and other target groups of young people.The DAN.THE. project will involve, for 24 months, four organizations from Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, which have produced a shared and in-depth needs analysis, analyzing:1) Their organizations (evaluating own structure, development dynamics, skills in the organization chart).2) Their youth workers (evaluating their current methodological knowledge, aptitude, motivation)3) Their current and potential young beneficiaries (evaluating the impact of their operations on young people)In response to the identified needs, the Specific Objectives of the project were stated:SO1. Increase the organizational skills of the proposing associations in terms of their ability to act on the basis of ideas and opportunities and transform them into opportunities for social inclusion, in terms of project planning and management, and capacity for transnational cooperation.SO2. Increase the knowledge, skills and theoretical-practical skills of youth workers of partner organizations in training, educational and artistic interventions aimed at social integration through physical theater and sensitive and inclusive dance courses.SO3. Increase the opportunities for growth and socialization of specific target groups such as the disabled (physical and mental), adolescents from fragile socio-economic backgrounds, migrants and disadvantaged young people living in suburban neighborhoods of metropolitan areas.SO4. Communicate project activities to local and national stakeholders, and disseminate the identified good practices to other similar organizations outside the partnershipEach of the Expected Results is therefore strictly linked to an identified need and, consequently, to a Specific Objective:ER1 Implementation of project activities in line with what was planned at a quantitative and qualitative level, with an increase in project management and financial management skills of the participating organizations.ER2 Increase in the skills of youth workers belonging to participating organizations in the following sectors: theater-dance inclusive of people with physical and mental disabilities (danceability), laboratory work with adolescents at risk of social exclusion, cultural activities (music, dance, theater) with young people migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, digital communication and promotion activities (web marketing, social media management, storytelling, etc.).ER3 Involvement of at least 16 young people with fewer opportunities, from four different European countries, in an opportunity for socialization and intercultural exchange, also promoting the construction of a public event to raise awareness of the local public on issues of social inclusion.ER4 Transfer of good practice practices of social inclusion of young people exchanged during the project to the stakeholder network, and awareness of the project issues of other similar organizations at local and national level, and of citizenship."

"CONTEXTWe are witnessing the lack of direct interaction between people who share a common territory, especially between people in social marginalization and those with more privileges. This has serious consequences such as racism, stereotypes, xenophobia and withdrawal. Our workshops meet the need for exchange between people in a benevolent and constructive setting. They thus make it possible to re-humanize the way how ""others are perceived"" by putting people, stories and voices, on these images. We are convinced that we have a lot of richness to exchange, while the prevailing speech is based on distrust. From the training to the show, workshops are driven by exchanges and collective reflections, and by the practice and the explanation of radiophonic methods.The joint creation of a radio program is a pretext for a meeting. The microphone releases the speech. It is an opportunity to create a dialogue and to question our daily environment and to address some taboo or overlooked topics related to social inclusion.OBJECTIVESV.I.T.A (Voices In The Air) Project would like to set a new methodology to use the radio not only as a mean for self-expression and representation but also as an artistic and creative way to address topics related to social inclusion such as empowerment, equality, interculturality, identity, values and democratization process.1- The social inclusion of minority groups through empowerment and with techniques of Social Radio with the willingness of combating the prejudices and stereotypes, from their own perspective and stories. 2- To generate radio and media content to raise awareness of discrimination in society with special attention to ageism, gender inequalities and different kinds of diversity, such as sexual orientation or cultural origin by actively promote their social inclusion.3- To support individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences (by the co-construction of the radio workshops, pre and post production)4- Extending and developing the competences of educators and other personnel who support adult learners by providing a complete set of tools to easily reproduce the experience with their own groups. We will also provide them with the necessary background theory to better address key topics of Social InclusionMETHODOLOGY1. Participatory Methodologies: allow a group with diverse interests to acquire an ever greater role in the analysis of their own reality and decision -making, thus become crucial actors in their own development. 2. The Process Oriented Psychology: focuses on developing a state of consciousness; i.e. helping individuals and groups to realize how they perceive and live their experiences and learn to change their approach. 3. Radio techniques following the output of IO1: methodology consisting of a set of exercises that promote observation, critical action and pro - positive participation. The methodological arsenal of Theater of the Oppressed, Personal Storytelling, allows for individual and collective reflection and action will be helpful to work on the skills needed to communicate through Radio regards to structural social problematic, minority group conflicts and individual internalized oppression. PARTICIPANTS / Activities and ResultsThe whole project is designed in a way that the targeted group of disadvantage people feels represented and more important feels that the project belongs to them. We payed special attention on how to integrate their perspective and interest in almost every Intellectual OutputThey will be at the same time participants on the co construction of the IOs , participants and main actors of the radio workshops.IO1 : Setup Radio WorkshopsParticipants will be trained by the partner's organisation on how to prepare the technical parts of the radio workshop so they can later be multipliers themselves for their communities or others that want to reproduce the radio show experience.IO2 : Case StudiesParticipants are and the protagonist of the case studies, they will work alongside the trainer of each partner organisation witnessing the experience, testing the different methodologies, preparing and co constructing the workshops and the topics they want to addressIO3 : MethodologiesParticipant are invited to brainstorm and explore different approach on the radio field. To develop technical skills related to the production of a radio show and all the necessary soft skills to achieve it. All of this competence are transferable to other domains as for example to enter the labor market.IO4 : Repertoire for Social Inclusion Participants, helped by the trainer will find key words or topics they want to address as key factors of social inclusion. IO5 : Self Learning platformThe participants will offer their testimonies and experience as they will be the protagonist of each case study. They will disseminate their production radio shows , methods and repertoire."

<< Objectives >>The objectives of the LEGACI project are: - To explore and analyse the Legislative Theatre methodology as a way to promote inclusion and active engagement in heritage processes and meaning-making. - To offer opportunities for 30-40 people from cultural minorities, migrant background, and seniors to participate in civic engagement through an arts-based, participatory learning experience- To foster a critical understanding and raise awareness of FARO at grassroots, research and policy levels.<< Implementation >>The main activities of the LEGACI project are: -Joint staff training to share expertise amongst partners -2 theatre-based pilots and presentations to engage minorities in heritage meaning-making-2 case study research and audiovisual reports of the pilots -2 local/regional policy recommendations based-A virtual event amongst partners and pilot participants to meet and present pilot results to each other-Meeting in Brussels to present the project to key EU policy make<< Results >>The results of the LEGACI project are: -Legislative Theatre will be validated as a method for inclusion and empowerment through heritage practice-Cultural minority, migrants, seniors, cultural organisations, researchers and policy makers will have participated in an arts-based, transnational learning experience to foster critical understanding of EU heritage and values. -2 theatre presentations, 2 case studies, and 2 audiovisual reports will have been develop to raise awareness about FARO

Many NGO-s are frustrated by the fact that while they play an essential role in society by tackling important social issues (they fight against poverty, prejudices, inequlaity, mental health problems, social isolation, unemployment, etc), and while they also have a range of tested and effective methods to deal with these issues, they have limited human and financial capacity to fill the need that arise in these fields. They can expand their reach to an extent by involving and managing volunteers, but even this solution consumes part of their already limited resources. Other NGOs, social and educational services in particular in not geographically central areas may suffer from HR shortage and the lack of educational/cultural opportunities and resources.On the other hand, there is potentially a mismatch between what volunteers want to do/are capable to do and what organizations looking for volunteers offer them to do. Compared to traditional ways of volunteering, a more active role could be more appealing/motivating for many volunteers. The COBU project offers a possible solution to this problem by creating a network of self-managed volunteer groups, that can act more or less autonomously and independentley from the „host/initiator” organisation. To be able to do so, partners need to prepare these volunteers adequately, to offer them supervision/mentoring – at least in the early stages - , and to create a platform for them where they can connect to each other. The partners’ intention is to keep only a minimal level of control over these self-organised volunteer groups – only to ensure that their activities are in line with our values and missions.To our knowledge there is no such model in the participating countries (Hungary, France, Netherlands, Spain). Despite this we think that this idea is viable, as there are some movements/initiations in the UK (University of the Third Age organised as a self-help based network of senior volunteers), or in the US (self-directed volunteer teams assisting medical facilities) that we can learn from. We also plan to take inspirations from social innovators/entrepreneurs and community developers.Concretely, we will- write a research study that will offer an introductory test about different models of self-organised volunteering and will provide the basic methodological material for the development of the necessary training materials (IO1: Self-organised volunteering: an introduction)- create local online platforms for self-organised volunteers with the help of which they could get access to resources, could share experiences with each other, support each other and promote their own projects and events (IO2: COBU Local platforms)- prepare volunteers to be able to assess their own skills, strengths, experiences, and based on their interest and motivations to come up with their own initiatives and to be able to turn their ideas into a reality (IO3: Guidebook for setting up self-managed volunteer groups)- put together local case studies documenting the whole process (by using written analyses and short video reports) that would help others (persons and organisations) to adapt this model by presenting the different steps/activities in context and by describing the journey of all involved parties (partner organisations and their volunteers) (IO4: Case studies)Primary target groups: adults who wish to participate in this new way of volunteering. Secondary target groups: adult educators, other NGO-s, organisations working in the field of volunteering/community development/civic engagement who could adopt our method to engage self-directed volunteer teams that could extend the reach of their mission.Impact on the target groups:- Adults who take part in self-organised volunteer groups as leader or as active contributors will experience the development of their soft skills/entrepreneurial skills/digital skills, will be more empowered to act on their own ideas. In the longer run this role raises their self-esteem and their involvment in society.- Adult educators/organisations who adopt our model could expand their reach and could multipliy the impact of their activities.During the project’s lifetime we would involve 48-60 volunteers as co-constructors in the development of the training materials and online platforms, an additional 270 people from our target groups through local and international multipliers, and we aim to reach more than 1000 secondary beneficiaries through further dissemination and exploitation activities. The concern about sustainability is at the core of COBU’s project design. We see self-managed volunteer groups as key actors in keeping alive, spreading, maintaining educational methods developed throughout the project. The COBU Local platforms will remain active after the project ends: all materials will be available here free of charge, and it will also offer a space for volunteers to communicate with each other and towards the outside world.