YE "Elements of Earth"

The project is a Youth Exchange involving 36 young people from SEE and EU, to be held in Vrnjacka banja-Serbia, hosted by NGO "Calamus", with the intention of using photography as a tool for environmental protection. The objective of the Youth Exchange is to give young people seven-day stake in the natural environment and a reason to wish to preserve it.
Specific objectives of YE are to:
- Stimulate young people's spirit of initiative using method of creative photography for their ability to create,
- Promote photography as a tool of protecting environment, and a way to acquire knowledge and skills useful for persons' professional development,
- Foster mutual better understanding of ecological situation and culture in countries of participants and develop a sense of ecological awareness,
- Campaign against climate change and environmental degradation,
- Encourage youth to further influence media, in the topic of ecology, in their own countries,
- Promote cross-border cooperation in the fight against climate change.

Young people in Europe today are usually urban dwellers with little contact with the natural environment. By taking young people from across Europe and teaching them the skills of landscape photography in the beautiful countryside of Serbia young people are given a stake in the environment and a solid reason to want to preserve it. Not only this but the photographs they take with inputs of professionals can be used to spread the word and inspire other people to also use and preserve the natural environment. It will therefore utilize workshops on why the environment is important, what threats it faces, whether or not we need to preserve the environment and how to use aspects of photography, such as photographic composition, lightning and effects, with the aim being to put on an exhibition of the participants photographs for the local people of Vrnjacka banja at the end of the Youth Exchange.

If you are interested in being partner on this youth exchange, please send us:
- partners identification (fulfiled in .doc format)
- preliminary agreement (signed and stamped, in .jpg or .pdf format)
on e-mail nvo.calamus@gmail.com by 20th August 2013. Partnership documents are attached.