The seminar “Increased Competences to Improve Project’s Design and Management” took place in January 2016 in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina and was aimed at providing a relevant platform for discussion and exchange of good practices in order to define common standards and quality elements in project design and management in the field of youth work. At the same time the project pictured feasible future activities and scenarios for broadening the opportunities of social, cultural, environmental and economic inclusion of young people in their communities.

During the 5 days of seminar, participants (youth and social workers, NGOs staff, volunteers, expert in environmental subjects, young artists, etc.) worked together first of all to define common standards and quality elements in project’s design and management for our activities. Participants in project were representatives of all ORA network members.

Objectives:

• To know and share some good examples, best practices, working methods and practical tools realized by associations, groups of citizens and local institutions in order to define common standards and quality elements in project’s design and management for our activities.
• To provide to youth and social workers, volunteers, responsible of NGOs a platform of discussion in order to draw feasible future scenarios in which to engage our communities and young people, support the process of ORA Network and to develop methodologies, activities, practical tools and work dynamics.
• To analyze the methods and tools to transfer and spread in each community involved (multiply effect) both the experiences acquired and the final outcomes of this project in order to improve the youth work especially with young people with less opportunities;
• To establish a link at international level and to give continuity to the activities started in previous years in order to contribute to a high quality implementation of ERASMUS+ projects and to develop the capacity for youth NGOs to better deal with subjects such as youth centers and youth culture, sustainable development and environmental protection, social enterprise and green jobs.

Outcomes:

The outcomes of the project will be published soon! 

ORA: Sustainable Communities with Youth Power Switched ON

The project "ORA: Sustainable Communities with Youth Power Switched ON" took place in 2015. This project had three core activities which took place over the course of the year: a training course held in Italy, and two youth exchanges - one in Germany and one in Serbia.

This project was designed to encourage youth workers to develop the necessary skills for outreach towards young people with fewer opportunities and to inspire participants to take a more active role in organising local level activities.  The themes of sustainability and environmental protection - in part due to their relevance to us all - were the tools used in order to reach out to young people, and to work with the local communities during each activity.

March 19^th – March 28^th, Torino di Sangro (Italy)

Erasmus + KA1 Mobility of Youth Workers Training Course

Workshops: Gardening, Sustainable Construction, Renewable Energy Sources, Nutritional Education, Environmental Educational Path 

Description: This training course, and the first action of this longer project included all the organisations that were to take part in the youth exchanges in order to develop and plan the activities for the youth exchanges. This included considering the local contexts of the youth exchanges and discussing with the local organisations how best to adapt our work to local needs.

May 16^th – May 25^th, Oybin (Germany)

Erasmus + Youth exchange

Workshops: Gardening, Sustainable Construction, Sustainable Mobility and/or Energy (for Berlin Carnival).

Description:

The theme and focus of this exchange was the social inclusion and active participation of young people in communities, mainly using the tools of sustainable development and environmental protection. The creativity of our participants was unleashed through the following workshops: urban gardening, sustainable construction, and sustainable mobility and energy. This immersion into building new skills was designed to raise environmental awareness and involvement among young people in their local communities and support the inclusion and active participation in civil society of young people with fewer opportunities.

August 22^nd – August 31^st, Krupanj (Serbia)

Erasmus + Youth exchange

Workshops: Renewable Energy Sources, Gardening, Environmental Educational Path.

Description:

This youth exchange was the last stage of this multi-activity project. The main activities of the project were shaped into three workshops: Renewable Energy Sources, Gardening, Environmental Educational Path, which were conducted using the implementation of O.R.A. methodology.

The participants of this youth exchange got a chance to increase their positive awareness of cultural diversity and inclusion as well as to acquire new knowledge and skills through the activities. During the practical workshops, participants were invited to send a strong message to the public through channeling their creativity in the public space. The activities in all the stages of this project developed and enriched the common understanding and meaning of active citizenship and added meaningfulness to the active participation of young people with fewer opportunities in the planning and implementation of initiatives, projects and activities that use sustainable development and environmental protection as tools for social cohesion and the reduction of inequalities of any kind in the European society.

ORA: sharing skills for better teamwork in project design

The project “ORA: sharing skills for better teamwork in project design” is a seminar with the goals to share skills of youth centres and youth workers from it and environmental NGOs in order to create common projects to promote sustainable living in Europe and to raise the awareness of young people in this topic. This will be done by 3 working groups:

• Project design will on a practical way create a common project which combines the skills of youth centres and environmental NGOs;
• Fundraising will show several funding opportunities on European and national level in order to finance projects in this framework;
• Project communication will exchange experiences how to use different media in project context and to make it more successful and visible.

On this seminar we will combine work of youth workers from youth centres and environmental NGOs and create one new approach which youth workers will be able to use farther in work and what will be intellectual outcome of this project. As this project is created through cooperation of partners and youth workers motivation for learning and developing methodologies we are planning to use developed methodology and to create new projects on European and national level, to use created framework/intellectual outcome of this project in others and to work on it farther development on other projects.

Bringing the people from different part of the Europe will be great space to share situation in their own country and to learn from each other.

Seminar will be space for learning and sharing experiences and ideas and contribute in development of participant’s/youth workers competences. Each youth worker will have space to express her/him self and to learn in safe environment.

During the seminar we will use non formal methodology as a good way for inter active learning.

Seminar will involve 8 participants from X countries (Germany, Serbia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Former Republic of Macedonia, Rumania, Bulgaria). Venue of the seminar will be Oybin, Germany. Seminar will be from 19. till 25. September 2014 and it will be the first seminar in framework of ORA Network after it will be established as NGO. In it we want to share and connect network members more in structural/professional way.

O.R.A.: green areas to enhance youth inclusion and participation

The project is the realisation of a 5 days seminar using methodologies of Non Formal Education (Observe Rethink Act, learning by doing, peer education, sharing experiences, etc). All activities will be lead by an international team of facilitators with experiences in non formal education activities, youth policies, sustainable development, communication, intercultural learning and in management of international youth projects.

The activities will be based on the sharing of the different approaches, methods, actions and tools that each partner apply at local and/or international level on environmental education, sustainable development promotion, inclusion of young people with fewer opportunity, active citizenship. Each partner will be in charge to prepare one Study Case that will be presented during the seminar in the most interactive way (workshop, exercise, role play, projections ... NO POWER POINT!). From this sharing part of single experiences, we will move to the establishment of a common platform of good and innovative practices, methodologies and actions to be applied in order to enhance inclusion and active participation of young people through the promotion and the use of green areas.

A final session will be devoted to the possibilities of real application in both local and international levels of the new methods and activities identified.

All materials (study cases, new methodologies, exercises, dynamics, actions) will be collected and prepared in order to be published in a handbook that after the seminar will be printed and shared among the partners. An online version of the handbook will be available for a better and easier promotion and use.

As usual, during the Seminar will be realized ice breaker activities, team building exercises, an intercultural evening, 1 session “Open Space” to share other and different elements of our local contexts, a field visit, elaboration of future projects, evaluations.

ORA Network: creating of an European NGO

After the positive experiences reached through the previous projects realised in Italy, Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia under the framework of O.R.A. we would like to launch a follow up to create a new international NGO called “Observe Rethink Act”, composed by European, national and local NGOs, during the year 2014. O.R.A. (acronym of Observe Rethink Act) represents a methodology of Non Formal Education to aware and empower young people to be active on the topic of Sustainable Development to raise the activities related to inclusion and active citizenship.

For this we started a process which will have constant activities from January 2014 to September 2014. In this process we discuss terms, share methodologies and create a statute in order to register the European NGO.

This Project, run by 12 NGO from 9 Countries contains two partnership building activities. First was held in Germany and it was setting the common rules for network NGO, shares knowledge about national situations, methodologies and terms and which prepared local activities in each country.

second activity we evaluated the local activities which were implemented between both projects, finalized the statute of the network NGO and signed it.

“Observe, Rethink, Act: multimedia and sustainability for intercultural dialogue and inclusion of marginalised young people”

Project is a 10 days training course for 30 participants (3 per partner) using methodologies of Non Formal Education (learning by doing, peer education, sharing experiences, etc) in a learned centred approach ensuring the self learning needs of participants.

Three parallel workshops will be realised: Educational Module (developing new tools, methodologies and dynamic for the educational path settled last years); Video and Graphic (realising promotional material for the Nature Reserve); Nutrition Education (developing educational activity on healthy food using the community garden settled last year).

Meetings, visits, dynamics will be realised as well as a public event to share with local community the results achieved by the workshops.

Beside the 3 mentioned workshops, our proposal is also to create a small crew of 3-4 persons who will work on the settlement of a bike path that will connect the nature reserves of Lecceta di Torino di Sangro and San Giovanni in Venere.

“O.R.A.: young people for sustainable, social and economic development”

Project is a 10 days youth exchange for 36 participants (6 per partner) using methodologies of Non Formal Education (learning by doing, peer education, sharing experiences, etc) in a learned centred approach ensuring the self learning needs of participants.

Three parallel workshops will be realised: Educational Module (developing new tools, methodologies and dynamic for the educational path settled last year); Setting of a bike path (enlarging, mapping and restore the bike path in Lecceta di Torino di Sangro); Community Garden (Setting and launching a project of Community Garden inside the Nature Reserve of Lecceta di Torino di Sangro).

Meetings, visits, dynamics will be realised as well as a public event to share with local community the results achieved by the workshops.

Beside the 3 mentioned workshop our proposal is also to create a small crew of 3-4 persons who will share experience, knowledge, competences in the management and promotion of so called “Communitarian Interest Sites” in order to plan a possible application to the European Programme Life. Further “beside” crews could be settled in order to develop communication products (video, animation, promotional): it will depend by next communication and possibilities.

A Preliminary Advanced Visit will take place among one representative of each partner organisation at the beginning of August to plan,. settle and work on the methodologies and activities to be realised during the exchange.