Youth Exchange: “Rural entrepreneurship for rural youth”

Dates of the youth exchange:  6 – 10 October 2021 (+2 travel days)

Place: Panagyurihste, Bulgaria

Participating countries: Poland, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria

Number of participants for YE:  5 participants (age 18-30) and 1 leader (age must be 25+)

Application deadline:  ASAP (read below how to apply)

INFO PACK (click to download)

What about the project?

The current project has been built up and its main objective is to promote youth entrepreneurship in rural areas, in order to overcome the social exclusion of young people with fewer opportunities and to improve their living conditions
respectively.

We all know that much of Europe’s rural areas are underdeveloped, making life difficult for the population, especially young people, as they face many challenges:

• low standard of living;
• long-term unemployment;
• dependency on social payments;
• low level of education;
• lack of opportunities for further training and education;
• low levels of remuneration;
• inability to find employment in the specialty, etc.

These problems particularly affect young people living in rural areas, and often they are the cause of their marginalization and social exclusion, which has a detrimental effect on themselves and the communities in which they live. LAG Panagyurishte, Strelcha, Lesichovo as an organization working fully in rural areas and for their development and well aware of the problems of “rural” life, decided to develop this project that addresses entrepreneurship in rural areas and proving that this is the way to overcome, to a large extent, the risk of social exclusion of young people, encouraging their initiative, creativity and activity by engaging in non-formal activities.

What about the youth exchange?

The project is planned to implement a youth exchange “Rural Entrepreneurship for rural youth “. During the youth exchange, non-formal education methods will be fully used, as the project consortium considers them to be an effective method for raising the skills and abilities of young people. Frequently, the methods used in the implementation of the activity will be: brainstorming, group work, discussions, debates, role-plays, simulations, city games, ice-breaking, concentration games, movie sessions, meeting with local people, art and cultural activities (plays, musical challenges), quizzes and others.

The project envisages activities such as demonstration of good practices, the role-playing game “I am an Entrepreneur”, social entrepreneurship training and various workshops related to the theme of the project, their aim will be to prove to the participating youth that entrepreneurship in rural areas is possible and can be successful and that it is through their initiative that they can live well and overcome many of the challenges of living in rural areas. In this way, in addition to their own development, young people will also influence the overall development of their rural communities.

PARTICIPANTS PROFILE

We are looking for 5 participants (+ 1 team leader) who are:

• age 18 – 30,
• Croatian residents,
• able to communicate in English,
• strongly motivated to engage in the project,
• have the interest to learn and are willing to participate actively,
• have willingness to do self-reflection techniques to learn more about oneself, others and the world itself,
• open to different cultures and new learning methods.
• The team leader has to be at least 25 years old and there is no upper age limit (that means if you are older than 30 you can apply for the team leader position ).

COSTS

This project is financed by Erasmus +, so all costs like travel, accommodation, and food during the exchange duration are covered.

Erasmus + program is covering full costs of accommodation and food (3 meals per day + snacks with a coffee break) during the youth exchange.

There is an annual membership for joining our mobility projects. The price of membership is different for active and passive members, volunteers, or newcomers, so for detailed info click here. Membership has to be covered 1 week before the departure date.

TRAVEL

Participants are buying tickets with the help of organizers and travel costs are going to be reimbursed after the project. The maximum travel reimbursement budget for a participant from Croatia is 275 EUR.

DO I NEED TO KNOW SOMETHING MORE?

Yes. There is no participation fee. But you are agreeing with rules and conditions by signing a participation contract and including it in the application. Applications without a signed contract are not going to be accepted. So, better be serious and read all the info about the project one more time including your personal time management.

HOW TO APPLY?

Fill out the application form for participants and send us the following documents to the email pr************@gm***.com:

– Signed participation contract (click to open).

All data is going to be handled according to GDPR regulations.

SELECTED PARTICIPANTS

As this is an urgent call, first 6 people who apply and do all the necessary administration work will be accepted to a project.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO TRAVEL DUE TO COVID-19?

As you already know, measures are changing every day in every country due to epidemic situations. If organizers estimate implementation of the youth exchange won’t be possible due to the safety of participants, the dates of the exchange will be delayed.

TO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

Even we are offering participation in this project “for free” it doesn’t mean it is free. As an organization, we are covering project administration costs and our young volunteers are working hard, investing their energy, knowledge, and time to make this opportunity possible. Why? Because we are in love with mobility and striving to open even more international opportunities for young people and youth workers in Croatia and wider who invest time in self-development and make positive changes in their environments.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUPPORT OUR SMALL STEPS TO GREAT POSITIVE CHANGES?

Our projects would be even more productive and beneficial with small financial injections. So, please, feel invited to invest in youth education, future and entrepreneurial spirit. <3

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