Open Call for Participants for Youth Exchange in Romania

Open Call for 5 participants for Youth Exchange in Romania

Name of the project: “Feeling European”
Date of Project: 15.02.2022. – 28.02.2022.
Hosting organization: “ASOCIATIA PENTRU DEZVOLTARE ACTIVA ADA”
Sending organizations: “BRAVO“
Place: Slanic Moldova, Romania
Participants age: + 18
The number of participants : 5
Working language: English
Deadline for applying: 15.01.2021
Note: Preference is given to all persons who have been fully vaccinated.

SUMMARY

Through “Feeling European” we want to raise European awareness among young people and to increase their confidence in the European Union, but also to promote the European principles and values both, among the young people in the EU and outside the EU. The whole project was built to meet the learning needs of the young people from the partner organizations’ local communities, raising the European awareness of young people and their confidence in the European Union, taking into consideration the trust issues the EU is facing nowadays Brexit and Euroscepticism.

MAIN OBJECTIVES

To increase the confidence in the European Union of 42 young people and 10 group leaders from 10 countries, by developing democratic competencies and their knowledge regarding the functioning mechanisms of the EU.
To promote European citizenship, values and principles by involving 42 young people, as multipliers of the European Union, in awareness campaigns at local level, during the project.
To fight online misinformation about the European Union by developing critical thinking skills among 42 young people and involving them in promoting a fair and realistic perception of the European Union.
To create a visual guide consisting of 10 video lessons and 5 brochures for the correct information of young people on the functioning mechanisms of the European Union, citizenship, principles and European values.

PARTICIPANTS’ PROFILE

Each partner will be represented in the Youth Exchange by 5 people: 4 young people with the age between 16 and 25 years old and 1 group leader with the age above 18 years old (no age limit); From each country 2 out of the 4 participants must be young people with fewer opportunities. The participants are pupils, students, or part of the NEET category, all interested in the project’s topics, who would like to develop their knowledge about the EU and to help raise awareness about the European Union, European citizenship, values and opportunities for young people in the local communities. The group leaders must be youth workers (volunteers’ coordinators, facilitators, trainers, etc.), part of the partner organizations, with a high experience in youth working and European projects (especially youth exchanges).

SESSIONS CONTENT

In the first part of the youth exchange, the participants will participate in creative sessions carefully planned to develop the European awareness of the young participants, as well as their democratic competencies and their knowledge regarding the functioning mechanisms of the EU. During the sessions, the participants will address important issues regarding the European Union, understand the importance of the active participation of young people and why assuming European values can contribute to the development of local communities. The participants will discuss the dangers and threats the European Union is facing, both online and offline will discuss Brexit and how online misinformation is a threat to the EU. At the same time, they will understand the reasons behind youth participation, and through a Street Debate activity, they will collect the vision of the young people from Onesti regarding the future of the European Union. In the second part, participants will learn how to plan campaigns, develop media and social media content, and will elaborate on the main results of the project: a visual guide consisting of 10 video lessons and 5 brochures for the correct information of young people on the functioning mechanisms of the EU, European citizenship, European principles and values. Last but not least, on the second last day, the participants will do an intercultural visit, followed by a final day for conclusions, follow-up and the final evaluation of the exchange.

INTERCULTURAL EVENINGS

The intercultural dimension of any international project it is very important, as it is a great opportunity for the participants to present their country, national food and drinks, traditional songs, dances, but also the people’s lifestyle, way to communicate and so on. Thus, in 3 evenings, between 21:00 and 22:30 we will organize intercultural evenings. On each evening, 3 national groups will be responsible to present their country.

EXPECTED IMPACT

The impact is relevant in relation to the learning needs of the young participants and takes into account their personal, professional and social development (through the development of key and transversal competences), the development of their self-confidence, initiative and creativity, understanding of European values and strengthening the sense of European citizenship within themselves. The participants with fewer opportunities will develop transversal competences that will help them to overcome their fewer opportunity status: young people with financial difficulties will develop their degree of employability and will learn to identify their development opportunities; young people with social difficulties (especially victims of discrimination) will promote European values in their communities, which on the long run will contribute to fighting discrimination; young people with geographical difficulties will develop their mobility and learning opportunities. The project strengthens the capacity and international dimension of the partner organizations, diversifies the opportunities for involvement for their own volunteers and for the young people from the local communities, but also the opportunities for collaboration at local level with other stakeholders; it develops the organizational capacity of the partner organizations and it increases their visibility and the portfolio of projects; the project develops quality and best practices in youth working and social inclusion of the young people with fewer opportunities. The young people participating in the follow-up and dissemination activities will develop democratic competences, European awareness and confidence in the EU. Those who will come into contact with the results of the project (video lessons, brochures) will develop similar skills. Other youth workers will be able to use the results of the project in their own projects to promote the EU among young people. In the long term, we aim the young participants to become EU multipliers in their countries, becoming active citizens, developing initiative and solving other problems from their local community. “Feeling European” is a best practices project, which strengthen the young people’s trust in European Union and its institutions.

ABOUT THE GROUP LEADERS

It is very important for you, as partner, to choose wisely the group leader, as he/she will have a very important role during the entire project, especially in participants’ preparation and during the youth exchange. The group leaders must be youth workers (volunteers’ coordinators, facilitators, trainers etc.), part of the partner organizations, with a high experience in youth working and European projects (especially youth exchanges). The group leader must be above 18 years old.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

From your country to Romania If you choose to travel by plane, you can search for flights to Otopeni Airport (Bucharest) or to Bacau Airport, which is the closest city to Slanic Moldova, the place where the youth exchange will be held. It is better if you land in Romania (in Bucharest) in the morning on 15th of February 2022 and you depart from Romania in the evening on 28 th of February 2022, as the youth exchange will be held in Slanic Moldova, Bacau county, and you need to take into consideration the internal travel, from the airport to the place where the project will be held. You can check for the tickets, but before buying them let us know about the price and the full schedule of your travel. Just after our approval you may buy your tickets. The deadline for the participants to buy their travel tickets is 1 st of February 2022. On 1 st of February 2022 we will open the call for participants outside the consortium (the partner organizations) if there will still be free places. If you need help in the selection process, please let us know in time. At the same time, when buying the tickets, if it is possible, we highly recommend you to acquire also an extra service/option which allows you to change/reschedule the flight in special cases.

ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD

The accommodation is 100% covered by Erasmus+ Programme, between 15 th of February 2022 (Check in after 14:00) and 28 th of February 2022 (Check out before 12:00). During the Youth exchange participants will be hosted at Pensiunea Poiana Verde from Slanic Moldova. The rooms will be shared between 2 or 3 people. Some of the rooms have 3 beds, others TWIN beds and a couch, others have a matrimonial/shared bed and a third bed, a matrimonial/shared bed and a couch or just a matrimonial/shared bed. If you want to share the room with someone, please let us know in time. The food and coffee breaks are 100% covered by Erasmus+ Programme. There will be three meals per day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and 2 coffee breaks per day. On the arrival day, it is included just the dinner and on the departure day, it is included both, breakfast and lunch. It is very important to tell us if you have any allergies or if is there something that you do not eat, if you are vegetarian or vegan, have a diet, etc. Therefore, it is important all participants fill out carefully the application form and not forget to send it to us before the 21st of January 2022. If any participant wants to stay longer in Romania, this is possible up to 2-3 days before and 2-3 days after the mobility. Still, all costs related to the extra days (for food, accommodation, trips, local transportation, or another type of costs that were not made for the project) must be covered by the participant himself/herself.

COVID-19 IN ROMANIA

Travel restrictions: Anyone considering travel to Romania should check the latest information from the local authorities regarding requirements for international passengers arriving in the country. You may find more details here: https://reopen.europa.eu/en/map/ROU/7001 To be able to participate in the project, all participants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (10 days and more after the second dose of the vaccine – if a second dose was required). Further information about restrictions on passengers entering Romania is available on the Reopen Europe website. For passengers travelling from countries outside the EU/EEA, entry into Romania is possible for EU/EEA citizens and for those who meet the requirements for an exemption under the current regulations. Further information is available on the website of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

TRAVEL COSTS

Travel costs are budgeted according to Erasmus+ conditions, using the distance calculator from the city where each sending organization it is registered to the city where the mobility will take place.

Between 10 and 99 KM: 20 EUR per participant Romania
Between 100 and 499 KM 180 EUR per participant Republic of Moldova
Between 500 and 1999 KM: 275 EUR per participant Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Malta, Palestine, Turkey, Ukraine
Between 2000 and 2999 KM: 360 EUR per participant Spain

The amounts above represent the maximum amount that may be reimbursed for one participant, depending by their sending country. According the Romanian National Agency rules, the reimbursement of the travel and visa costs will be done after the activity in the bank account of your sending organization, per national group and not individually, based on all travel documents in original. Still, if any participant request the travel costs to be reimbursed in his/her/their own bank account, this is possible, only if that participant agrees to pay the bank transfer tax.