TOGETHER AGAINST VIOLENCE
Program :
• Erasmus +
• Key Action n°1: Learning mobility of individuals
Project :
• Youth exchange
• Title: Together Against Violence
Location :
• Nis, Serbia
Date :
• Project: March 2015 – November 2015
• Activity: July 6-16th 2015 (10 days excluding travel days)
Purpose of the project :
The youth exchange project comes from the 3-year partnership between the Serbian association Proactiv and the French association Cool’eurs du Monde. Both are working on issues such as youth involvement, active citizenship and international mobility. This exchange project aims to promote a European citizenship by mobilizing a group of youth, both from Serbia and France, and built an intercultural exchange around the topic of non-violence.
Objectives of the exchange :
– Develop solidarity and tolerance between youth of different countries;
– Encourage young people to get involved in citizenship and solidarity actions;
– Promote European cooperation and citizenship and give youth people the keys to understand another culture;
– Raising youth people awareness on consequences of violence in sport, media and school and make them aware of non-violence as a means of prevention;
– Give youth people the opportunity to acquire new competences and knowledge such as team work, public speaking, initiatives, etc. useful for their future professional and personal lives;
– Support non-formal education and cooperation with partner countries.
Issues raised :
The main topic addressed during the project is violence in young people’s lives. Thanks to the young French and Serbian participants, the idea is to understand how they may experience violence in sport, in media, at school, etc. and then suggest solutions to struggle against such violence. The focus will also be on intercultural exchange in order to support the need to foster mutual understanding and tolerance.
Participants will be real actors of the construction of the project because they will be involved in the exchange from the preparation up to the return, balance and restitution of the project.
Participants :
This project will involve 20 youth from France and Serbia (from 13 to 25 years old) who will be supported by two leaders for each country. The number of girls and boys will be perfectly equal to ensure gender balance and youth with fewer opportunities or any handicap will be involved like any others.
Participants will acquired competences and skills such as: communication in a foreign language (English), understanding of another culture, capacity of public speaking, team work and listening to others, active participation in citizenship actions, initiatives, or capacity to evaluate and manage a project. To validate the competences acquired at the end of the project and during their experience abroad, participants will receive a Youthpass Certificate.
Organisation of the activities in Serbia :
Cool’eurs du Monde will be in charge of the logistical details of the trip to Nis (administrative procedures, flight tickets, insurance, etc.) and of the preparation of the French participants (training on interculturalism, stereotypes and prejudices, presentation of the country, etc.).
Proactiv, with the help of a French volunteer from Cool’eurs du Monde, will be in charge of the preparation of the Serbian participants and of the organization of the activities in Nis: stay at the “Regionalni centar’’, transport for visiting areas, and security of the participants (including declaration of presence to the French Consulate).
Proactive will also organize the activities of cultural discovery (visit of Nis monuments, intercultural evening, photos exhibition, etc.) and the workshops on non-violent conflict resolution (games, animations, artistic workshop, comics workshop, meeting of Kobra, street actions, sport activities, etc.).
Expected impacts :
On youth participants :
– Improvement of learning capacities and initiatives by active participation in workshops about non-violence and increased competencies in English with the communication with other young participants
– Evolution of self-esteem and sense of responsibility with the participation of street actions
– Opening to the notion of interculturality and tolerance toward otherness and better knowledge of the European Union’s values and projects
– Transmission of the competencies and knowledge acquired through the exchange of experiences and the restitution after the exchange
– Increased active participation in society with the meeting of local NGO
On partner organizations :
– Reinforcement of the French/Serbian partnership
– Better knowledge of the context and way of working of each organization
– Sharing of best practices, support tools and animations through the common definition of the exchange
– Development of a new youth program and European awareness
On territories :
– Locally: direct impact on the population of Nis touched by street actions implemented during the exchange or by information received through the media; events in the region of Bordeaux to present the country/project
– Regionally: dissemination of the project in both Serbian and French associative networks to promote Erasmus + program and youth exchanges in order to develop an opening toward Europe and sustainability of the project
– Nationally / internationally: improve the visibility of Serbia in France, develop European youth programs
Dissemination of projects results :
– From the activities in Serbia: creation of comics during the exchange that may be published (website, blog, etc.), photos exhibition on tolerance and non-violence presented in Nis and/or Bordeaux (youth events, Youth and International Solidarity Day organized by Cool’eurs du Monde each year, etc.), projections and debates around a film produced during the exchange and that may be used to promote youth programs, tolerance and living together.
– Media: contacts with print media both in France and Serbia to publish articles before, during and after the exchange, cooperation with the media in Nis for the television broadcast in south-east region of Serbia.
– Internet: creation of a Facebook group for the participants to facilitate the visibility of the project in an informal way with the participation of broader public, news of the project on both associations website (for volunteers, partner networks, broader public).
– Participate to our stay in Nis, in Serbia (transports, accomodation…)
– Buying material to create a comics in Serbia
Erasmus + Exchange Program – Proactiv & Cool’eurs du Monde