EKO is happy to announce that one more awesome youth exchange has been completed. The project took place in Guimaraes, Portugal. In a great environment, 29 youth workers from different countries gathered to be trained and advance the sector to guarantee the existence of high-quality and effective prevention projects on the ground, aimed at young people, especially those with fewer opportunities (F.O). The project was implemented from the 22nd of January till the 28th of January 2023 by the host organization ADDHG and participants from 8 more countries including Croatia, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Hungary, and Estonia. 

The training based on non-formal education activities was planned in order to meet the needs faced by youth workers through networking and creating synergies with different organizations, members of the relevant communities, and decision-makers to combat gender and youth violence, in today’s society we live in. Youth workers need to be able to intervene effectively with young people, in terms of preventing gender violence and promoting the active role of young people, especially young boys, in the fight against this problem.

The main objectives of the project were:

1. – Promote opportunities for personal and professional development in YW through the exchange of experiences, intercultural contact, and exploration of the project theme, methodologies, and intervention tools.
2. – Contribute to the promotion of the active participation of young people in the fight against discrimination and gender violence.
3. – Promote the exchange and increase of knowledge in the YW regarding the reality of violence of gender and how gender inequalities perpetuate this problem.

a) Empower YWs to develop appealing and impactful interventions for young people, using non-formal education (NFE), informal education (IE), digital media.

b) Train YWs for the proper and intentional use of digital tools in the intervention with young people and in project management, as well as for their introduction into the daily lives of their organizations.

c) Promote quality and recognition of the important role of the youth sector in combat and prevention of gender violence.

Activities of the project: 

During the project, the participants in the beginning get to know each other and break the ice activities. Later on, they had more in-depth presentation dynamics of the participants and team building games for reinforcement of cooperative work. Proposal for a Code of Conduct and Collective Agreement.

On the next days, there was a joint exploration on the theme of inequality and gender violence – dynamics of the group to trigger the discussion on the topic, share good practices, the perspective of each country, and the way they work/would like to work on the theme. Registration of ideas that emerge and individual daily reflection and voluntary group sharing.

Furthermore, a dynamic presentation and group dynamics to raise awareness and promote knowledge on the topic of violence and gender discrimination was made but also they worked in multicultural groups to explore the common European values and shared them in a large group. Group dynamics that promote the reflection on Active Citizenship and how to promote it among young people. 

Last but not least, another dynamic exposure of data related to digitization was done. A small exploration of multicultural groups on the advantages and benefits of digitization for intervention with young people. Presentation of useful digital tools by the groups. On the final review of the objectives and learning outcomes outlined for the training course, each YW reflected on the achievement of individual and group goals. Individually, with the support of the facilitator, each Youth Worker reflected on the lessons learned and conceptualized the skills developed by completing the YouthPass certificate.

The project was an unforgettable experience that enabled Greek participants to develop themselves, both individually and collectively and helped them to establish themselves as active participants in public life. Konstantina and Anastasios were the members of the Greek team whom we really wanna thank for all their contribution and collaboration throughout the project!

As EKO, we are also very grateful for that amazing opportunity given to the Greek team and we thank our partner Mariana Feria, as well as the rest members of the hosting organization ADDHG, for all their hard work and for creating such an impactful project!