LEAP – First biannual Newsletter

Jun 24, 2019News

How does project-based learning empower young people and foster participation in non-formal education?

How do young people understand “participation” today?

Which is the good balance between freedom and support in youth-led projects?

Which are the strategies to involve young people in participating in a Erasmus+ mobility?

These are some of the questions that the LEAP project aims to answer. The project, co-financed with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, is a strategic partnership between two universities: University of Vienna as coordinators and University of Hannover as well as three youth organisations: Sapere Aude (Austria), Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci (Italy), Udruga Mladi u EU (Croatia). It started in the beginning of 2019 and will be implemented until January 2021.

The partnership met in Hannover in May 2019 to discuss about youth work in EU countries, qualifications of youth workers, young people’s voices in projects and issues that concern them, pedagogical cooperation and innovation.

The project is in fact an opportunity to dive into questions that affect the sustainability of our democratic systems, that can only be impacted if young people are supported in taking ownership of contemporary societal issues and if they start being considered not only as recipients of public policies that concern them but instead as active citizens that can shape them.

 

Project results

In the programme: 45 youth workers will be trained with the project-based learning methodology and 45 young people will participate in a one week Erasmus+ Mobility in another EU country.

Furthermore, the partnership is currently working on a pedagogical booklet for youth trainers and on a project-based learning methodology to work with and for young people in the elaboration of a project that concerns them. Moreover, young people will express their views on what is political participation today and their views will contribute to elaborate a Youth Charter on Participation.

 

Objectives

Specific objectives include: offering further training to youth workers; supporting young people in the development of social and civic competences, intercultural dialogue and respect for diversity;  strengthening common European values about youth participation; establishing a new form of collaboration amongst formal and non-formal education institutions.

 

Next steps

  • The partnership will meet in November 2019 in Palermo, Italy, to continue the elaboration of the booklet, the methodology and the charter.
  • A training for youth workers will be offered free of charge in Vienna on the 22nd of November 2019. If you are interested in participating, don’t hesitate in writing to us!
  • Between February and May 2020, 45 young people from Austria, Croatia and Italy will have the opportunity to participate in an Erasmus+ mobility for a week in another European country partner of the project. The selection process will start in Autumn!

 

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