Neighbours Discovering Internationality Together!

"<< Background >>First of all, we figured that there's many similarities between our countries - in the culture, in the structure of the society and also in the challenges and issues our young people are dealing with. Especially we recognized many similarities in the realities and challenges of rural areas in both countries. Based on this, we think that bringing Finnish and Swedish youth workers together would be a great opportunity for peer learning.In our planning meetings we also found out that internationalization of the youth field is one important priority for both Fryshuset and Juvenia, and we decided to focus on that theme in our project. Internationality can be a very effective learning tool. Both Fryshuset and Juvenia have also first-hand experience on this after leading many international youth work projects. However, we strongly recognize that there are many youth work organizations and youth workers (especially in the more rural areas we focus on in this project) that lack the knowledge, skills, courage or other resources to use internationality in their work. We have the mutual experience that there are some organizations and people who are very active, but many more of those who would need support in taking the first steps.<< Objectives >>In the 'Neighbours Discovering Internationality Together!' project our main goals were:1) Increase the awareness of the participating youth workers about the various international opportunities provided by the European Union (e.g., via Erasmus+ and ESC programmes) that they could use in the day-to-day youth work in their home organizations.2) Provide the participating youth workers a possibility for networking and peer learning with colleagues who work in a similar rural context (Sweden and Finland) and who face similar issues in their work with young people3) Provide the participating youth workers with practical understanding and skills on how to get started with internationality in their own work and help them map out project ideas suited for their home organization (already taking concrete preparatory steps towards actual projects during our international meetings).4) Create, publish and disseminate a practically-oriented manual based on the work and results of the project. This manual will sum up our learning results and experiences and provide concrete tips and solutions for any youth worker who is considering taking their first steps in internationality.<< Implementation >>To achieve the set goals, we gathered up two groups of rural area youth workers (in Etelä-Savo, Finland and in Kalmar, Sweden). In the beginning of the project, Juvenia and Fryshuset had local meetings with these participants to prepare them for the international meetings and to help them recognize their specific needs and goals in internationality, that we could work on solving together within the duration of the project. After this the groups had two international meetings (in Finland and in Sweden) with the focus on learning about the various international opportunities available for them, study visits to learn good practices in using internationality in youth work, networking, peer learning and taking concrete steps in planning projects to start the international work back in their home organizations. After the international meetings we created and published a manual intended as a tool for youth workers and youth organisations to get started with internationality, summarizing the learning results as an output of the project.<< Results >>The main result and a concrete output of the project is the ""How to get started with internationality as a tool in youth work"" manual that is published online: https://www.xamk.fi/app/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/NDIT-booklet-def.pdf (also attached in the annex).As a result of the project, youth workers in Kalmar (Sweden) and Etelä-Savo (Finland) gained new skills and confidence in international youth work, recognized by Youthpass. This has led to concrete development of international activities in both regions, which was one central goal for our project. For example in Kalmar region, a youth exchange was carried out within the framework of Fryshuset's Erasmus+ KA1 accreditation. This was made possible thanks to local colleagues gaining greater confidence and reducing their fear of running EU youth projects. In Etelä-Savo region the project has brought many concrete steps in internationality, such as two participating youth workers from our project joining a Star of Europe E+ training in Italy, project coordinator Juvenia starting official cooperation with the Finnish Erasmus+ national agency as an Eurodesk multiplier, and founding of a new NGO Menijät Menee ry, that is focusing on increasing international Mobility in Mikkeli region."