BeActive

<< Background >>When applying, we assessed the necessity to better reach out targeted young people with fewer opportunities, coming from remote or rural areas or facing exclusion, caused by economic barriers. Our youth workers/volunteers were committed to network with other colleagues from similar rural or remote regions. They needed to learn new or improved solutions to meet the most pressing needs of our rural communities’ caused by geographical isolation, ethnic diversity and irresponsible use of nature. Since we identified these common challenges, we decided to share our experiences, integrate our educational /youth campaign practices to tackle remote/rural communities’ issues. We planned how to Engage and Connect young people through NF transnational or national trainings and then Empower them to organise on/offline campaign events and have 'a say' publicly and digitally. Secondly, we were motivated by the possibilities of the Erasmus + program to transnationally support, through lifelong learning, the educational, professional and personal development of our target youth workers. Thirdly, we expected that due to the program we’d manage to integrate our non-formal educational approaches on the youth needs of inclusion and empowerment. << Objectives >>The project was a small-scale cooperation between youth workers and volunteers of grassroots CSOs from Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. The aim was to engage young people living in remote/rural areas or facing exclusion. The partners aimed to connect, engage, and empower such young people to address common rural/remote communities’ issues, such as discrimination, irresponsible use of nature, and youth exclusion. The project had three objectives. Firstly, it aimed to enhance the competencies of eight youth workers to address common rural communities’ issues beyond borders. Secondly, it aimed to build the competencies of sixteen youth volunteers to reach out to youth rural/remote communities, promote youth activism, and connect with local policymakers. Finally, it aimed to motivate and empower other youths to undertake sixteen days of activism campaign events with 240 youth offline, 220 online, and local policymakers. The campaign aimed to raise awareness of the issues young people face in rural areas and provide them with a platform to voice their concerns. The campaign events included workshops and local events that helped young people connect, feel included, recognise the EU values and empower them to take action. << Implementation >>We successfully implemented all planned activities in the project, including: 1. Launching the project and conducting a kick-off meeting. 2. Evaluating the project and holding a final meeting to review the outcomes. 3. Implementing online networking and platform functioning actions. 4. Conducting joint face-to-face training for sharing experiences. 5. Organizing joint face-to-face training of youth volunteers. 6. Executing national actions. 7. Focusing on communication and publicity. 8. Following project management procedures. Through our planned international online/offline networking and training for experience sharing, we were able to exchange and integrate our diverse expertise. We also built the capacity to use appealing tools uploaded to a safe platform. Following our comprehensive training, 16 youth volunteers from different countries, equipped with newfound skills and knowledge, made a significant impact on other youths in their respective localities. These youths, inspired by our project, organized 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM campaign events nationally, engaging 240 youths from diverse backgrounds. Their stories, shared digitally on the project platform, stand as a testament to the success of our project. << Results >>In general, 4 CSOs newcomers had a transnational partnership, on/offline networking and training, which enhanced the competencies of 8youth workers and 16 volunteers to reach out and activate 60 local volunteers, raise awareness and motivate 240 diverse youths to initiate 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM campaign events as part of EU democratic life. On the safe BeActive platform, the participants digitally told their stories, showcasing initiatives for change and their responsibility towards nature and society. The achievement of the project objectives can be measured and demonstrated by the following Key Project Indicators(KPIs),:-number of shared cross-sectoral experience in the training toolkit and cooperative digital portfolio - planned 8 practices; achieved 9- number of BeActive digital stories on the platform – at least 8; uploaded 22 digital stories; https://paralel-silistra.net/activ/- number of peoplein the 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM campaign events - 240 offline, achieved 275 people- number of people, exposed to the 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM campaign events - at least 220 diverse youths online; achieved 590 - number of posts, articles or photos, published on media - the indicator can be traced in the Annex A7 Communication and Publicity sup