FOSTERING SOLIDARITY THROUGH EDUCATION
Erasmus+ KA3 – “SOLIDinEDU – Fostering Solidarity through Education”
Athens, Greece
22-26 November 2021
INTRODUCTION
SOLIDinEDU- (Fostering Solidarity through Education) project united 40 participants from Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Netherlands, Sweden. The project was coordinated by EKO and got implemented in Athens, Greece.
Country | Partner Organisations | |
1 | Greece | Entrepreneurs and Social Economy Group (EKO) |
2 | Bulgaria | Institute Perspectives |
3 | Egypt | MAAT |
4 | Netherlands | yEUth |
5 | Sweden | Iris Sustainable Development |
OBJECTIVES
Its main aim was to discuss the problems of the educational establishments and policies towards social inclusion and active participation through the enhancement of solidarity and empathy amongst both communities and individuals. In particular, the project aimed to:
- promote equality, social cohesion, active citizenship, in accordance with Educational and Training Framework 2020,
- investigate how diversity and inclusion, solidarity, social identity and reflection, and volunteerism is fostered in the formal education framework,
- provide useful recommendations to local authorities and educational institutions through country-specific analysis and the exchange of best practices, in accordance with evidence-based policy-making,
- connect the EU with Youth through quality information and constructive dialogue inspired by the EU Youth Strategy.
ACTIVITIES
A) Preparatory Activities: 3 Youth Labs
Youngsters from each country participated in “Youth Labs” to investigate school’s curricula and established learning methods/educational policies in the partner countries in the context of the project’s 4 key themes:
- diversity and inclusion
- solidarity
- social identity and reflection
- volunteerism
The results of the “Youth Labs” were presented during the Transnational meeting and were used as discussion material and as a basis to prepare the booklet of the recommendations.
B) Transnational Meeting in Athens, Greece: Main Mobility
Day 1
Various interactive activities enabled participants to get to know each other as for some it was their first Erasmus+ experience. The project’s presentation, its objectives, Erasmus+ & ESC, Youth Pass, and structured dialogue allowed them better understand the different opportunities and benefits of the Erasmus + program.
Participants were invited to share their concerns regarding the 4 main topics of the project by attending the “Speed dating” activity.
Day 1 was completed by the presentation of the Egyptian “Youth Labs” results providing a better understanding of Egypt’s educational system.
Day 2
Presentations of Youth lab results
Day 2 was devoted to the “Youth labs” results through various non-formal activities. The results of each key theme of each partners’ country interactively and engagingly were presented. For the key theme “Diversity & Inclusion” national teams presented the 5 most interesting Insights of their Youth Labs’ results.
The “Youth Labs” Results of the Key theme “Social Identity and Reflection” were presented in mixed groups, identifying the similarities and differences in all the countries.
The results of the “Solidarity” Key theme were presented via a simulation method in which participants worked in national teams experiencing the lobbying process in an interactive way.
The Last Key Theme “Voluntarism” was presented through small performances, where participants were asked to show the most problematic aspects of voluntarism in the context of education curricula.
Open discussion
with educational experts
The evening session was devoted to the meeting with Greek
educational experts: Ms. Dafni Gavrili and Ms. Maria Psychogiou. During an open
discussion, participants had the chance to hear about the situation of the
educational institutes in Greece and discuss possible ways to improve
problematic aspects.
Intercultural night
Day 2 was closed with the intercultural evening, where participants presented their national delicacies, traditional dances, and interesting facts about their culture.
Day 3
Workshop for personal development
Day 3 started with a workshop about personal development by Merijin Ruis, an expert from the Netherlands. The workshop allowed the participants understand and experience the importance of their daily actions and their impact.
Round-table discussions
During Day 3, participants had the chance to explore ways to best tackle the problems that they face in terms of diversity and inclusion, social identity and reflection, solidarity, and voluntarism in the educational curricula. They were first divided into 4 working groups – one per the key theme. Through round-table discussions, facilitated by experts from different countries, participants were asked to reflect on the causes, effects, and solutions to the problems and to come up with 3 policy recommendations for each key theme on improvements.
Day 4
Finalizing the booklet
Day was devoted to finalizing the content of the booklet of recommendations and to the preparation for the meeting with the EU Parliament representative.
Day 5
Meeting with EU Parliament
The morning of day 5 started with a meeting with the EU parliaments’ representative Charis Koudouros. Participants presented their recommendations, shared their concerns and ideas, and received professional feedback and further insights on the way young people can get involved in the policy-making process.
Closing ceremony
The project was officially closed with the Youth Ceremony and Final evaluation of the project.
