Activating citizens – municipalities making use of the European Solidarity Corps

The European Solidarity Corps Programme (more infos here) is the programme of the European Union for promoting solidarity as a value. It offers young people the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to solidarity in society; strengthening their local communities in return.

The aims of the seminar

The main aim of the seminar is to motivate and support municipalities to make use of the European Solidarity Corps Programme as a tool for social cohesion and solidarity. We will explore how to bring a sustainable surplus value in the local community by supporting social innovation and employability of young people.

Content of the seminar

• The event will show the funding opportunities of the new European Solidarity Corps Programme 2021-2027 to demonstrate how the programme works in practice.
• Inspiring examples from Europe and the partner regions will illustrate how municipalities and their youngsters can benefit from the European Solidarity Corps.
• The event will showcase how volunteering within the European Solidarity Corps can foster social innovation and can lead to a sustainable surplus value in communities.
• Group Work sessions will offer space for exchange and counselling.
• There will be space to network and exchange good practices.
• Opportunities for municipalities that want to strengthen their existing networks through involving the young generation will be part of the seminar as well.

Target group

The seminar offers opportunities for

• representatives of municipalities, who have experience in European topics and are interested in incorporating young people into their international activities
• representatives of municipalities from youth work or active citizenship, who are interested in funding opportunities for their local projects
• representatives from organisations from the field of youth work, who closely cooperate with their municipality and local community.

Youth organisations are highly recommended to apply together with a representative of a municipality as a tandem.

Implementation of the seminar

The seminar will involve approx. 30 participants from all over Europe and the partner regions (Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership Countries, South-Mediterranean countries, Russian Federation).

The seminar will be implemented online via ZOOM and other tools, from 2.-3.11.2021 (two half-day long sessions from 9:30 - 15:00 with breaks included). The seminar is hosted by the OeAD GmbH | Austrian National Agency for E+ and ESC, the SALTO European Solidarity Corps Resource Centre and the European Goes Local network.

The event will be translated into international sign language.

Background

This activity is the final event in a series of three small scale transnational activities for municipalities.

The outcomes of  of the previous training courses  “Solidarity in Your Municipality - fostering international youth work by using European Solidarity Corps” and “Activating citizens” can be found on the Europe goes local website: https://www.europegoeslocal.eu/event/activating-citizens_germany/

The transnational activities are implemented in a cooperation with the Finnish, German and Austrian National Agencies for E+ and ESC, the SALTO European Solidarity Corps Resource Centre, Youth@Work Partnership - www.youthatworkpartnership.org and the European Goes Local - www.europegoeslocal.eu network.

Application procedure and contact:

Please submit your application until 06 of October 2021.

Selection results will be send to you by 20 of October 2021.

For further questions please contact Clarissa Millwisch (OeAD GmbH | Austrian National Agency E+ and ESC) via