To the Roots

“To the Roots" is a training course in the framework of Erasmus+ program that aiming to bring together young people, youth workers, trainers etc. from different and remote regions around the EU and together learn and exchange ideas on how to tackle cultural, social and personal barriers, through nonformal and informal educational activities in order to improve the quality of their youth work.

ISSUES/NEEDS:
1) Decreasing importance of traditional cultural heritage: This is a European problem. Development and mass communication media had lead to issues such as a decline (or even dying out entirely) in the patterns of community life, rituals, customs, skills, knowledge etc, and an overall fragmentation of social ties and identity.
Therefore, cultural (youth) organisations have a responsibility to find ways of preserving youths' involvement in cultural heritage to ensure that traditions are handed down,
whilst at the same time innovating to ensure that cultural progress is made sustainably.
2) Decreasing culture of volunteering among youths: In parallel, these same cultural shifts have affected youth volunteering.
Compared to the 31.7% EU average the rates of volunteering in all 5 partner countries are among the lowest in Europe. Special Eurobaramoter 466 found the EU average of people who volunteer organisations active in the cultural heritage is 5%. Nowadays, the pressures of keeping up with work, education, and one’s home life is proving a larger challenge than before. We therefore must find ways to keep youth volunteering alive
and attract new members.
3) International collaboration and exchange: For any NGO, the key driving force for its volunteers is to find ways to remain relevant, grow and develop. In MoL's case, we are a small organisation in a small city, and in our efforts to explore new and
innovative ideas our insularity of experiences/ideas is a problem. We believe that looking beyond our borders is key to grow as individuals and as. We would be able to discuss with like-minded peers, who at the same time come from different
backgrounds/experiences, and have tried out different methods/ideas. This belief is also one of the key foundations of the project, and why they continuously seek different international opportunities. By collaborating, we would be contributing to
our mutual need to sustain our cultural heritage, as it would give us a more tangible and lived appreciation of our European heritage and connections, which is just as much a part of our identity as our local heritage.

Within this context, our PROJECT OBJECTIVES are:
1. To bring together 25 youth workers of different cultures and countries and provide them space to reflect and share intangible elements of their Cultural Heritage with an interactive participation in the project giving them vital role in it.
2.To promote and define the notion of intercultural dialogue among 25 youth workers from 5 countries through several activities conducted during 7 days of activities
3. To challenge 25 youth workers` own prejudice and barriers in terms of diversity in the EU with a view to improve and integrate new information into their youth work in 5 NGOs from 5 different countries
4. To reflect and find ways to tackle and manage Euroscepticism through active discussion and small workshops for 25 youth workers from 5 countries during 7 days of activities
5.To elaborate on stereotypes about EU and their appearance in youth work for them
6. To discover new ways of stimulating the youngesters on civic engagement in terms of culture and intercultural dialogue through dissemination and sharing of results one month after the activity ends.

Impact will be achieved on:
a)Direct target groups:
–Youth workers with fewer opportunities involved in the Mobility.

b)Indirect target groups:
- Participating organizations.
- Young people in general.
-Stakeholders in partner countries and at the European level.

The impact on each mentioned group of targets is outlined below, as follows:
1)Youth workers with fewer opportunities involved in the Mobility.
-Have increased awareness in terms of EU actions for youth, Erasmus + and tackling Euroscepticism
-Acquire knowledge on stereotypes and cultivate inclusion
-Practice intercultural dialogue and empathy
-Develop presentation, organizational and argument skills
-Tackle prejudice and stereotypes
- Increase their understanding of civic engagement and being active citizens
-Learn to disseminate ideas and raise awareness (having role of “ambassador”)
-Increase their self-esteem, well-being and eagerness
- Meet and discuss with people of different cultures and ideas
- Acquisition of mathematicali critical thinking, creative thinking skills, transversal skills, competences of active listening and
curation, online cooperation and communication, creativity and ability to create educational resurces, collection resources
and multimedia, digital approaches enhancing inclusion, active citizenship and participation.
- Acquisition of skills and competences to be employed in all fields of personal and professional life.
-Acquisition of contacts at the transnational level with other youth learners from other European countries as well as with
experienced NGO workers.
-Increase integration in the system of Intercultural Learning and prevention of cases of gaps and failure among the different
cultures.
-Narrowing of gaps related to conditions of youth workers of whatever source.
This expected impact on the participants will be stimulating for the sending organizations, since their participants will be more eager to participate, further understand and develop their skills and the notion of volunteerism, while being the
“ambassadors” of this information and raise awareness regarding European actions and projects, social and cultural inclusivity, critical way of thinking and active participation in democratic procedures to the other members of the sending organization. In addition, the developing dialogue and the meeting among participants from different organizations, may create relationships and promote the communication among the organizations after the implementation of the project, and
thus creating future partnerships or collaborations in projects.

2)Partner organizations, will be development of a cross-country and cross-sector and intercultural knowledge of the state of the I. L in the youth field, with a particular focus on stakeholders' efforts in all partner countries to employ as an innovative tool to convey employability skills, transversal skills and active citizenship to youth workers in their areas of engagement.
-Acquisition of thoroughly researched and processed youth empowerment and tools of education of youth workers.
-Acquisition of Intecultural Learning social studies and educational tools, techniques of reseach and data assessment through long-term interaction and exchange of innovations practices among the project partners.
-Enhanced networking and number of initiatives at the local, regional, national and European levels through the establishment of a long-term collaboration in the field cultural heritage and EU values with trustful partners at the different
levels.

3)Youth in general - A specific impact will be produced by participants in project following-up on getting skills and knowledge through the initiation of active participation and/or busness initiatives employing the potential of I.L as well as through multiplication of the mentioned skills among their peers, families and other people. To increase social inclusion, paricipation through enhanced quality of available educational offer.
4)Stakeholders - Awareness about the potential of IL as an innovative path connecting women inclusion, acquisition of transversal and active citizenship skills will be enhanced in stakeholders, youth categories and general audiences in all partner countries by means of exclution during the enhancement of local awareness and interest is expected to produce an increased proactivity and involvement in IL education and participation at the local level, with a particular focus on locally based youth groups.

Activities of the training course will be based on non-formal education methods and activities.

Training course will take place in Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania in summer of 2024 with 25 participants from partner countries.

Interested NGO`s can send their Partner Identification Form (PIF) document to our official e-mail: office@modoflife.ro