From 2nd to 10th of March 2016, Belgrade hosted 35 youth workers, trainers, youth leaders and active young people from 10 European countries during the Training Course “Active Europeans for Active Citizenship”, which is funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union through the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency. The project was hosted by Akademsko drustvo “Novi Beograd” and brought together participants from Serbia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Poland, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Through sharing knowledge, experiences and best practices from their countries, the participants learned about the concept of active citizenship, how to inspire and motivate young people for the concrete actions, which can make difference in their communities and in the world. On the long-term, the project will help to raise the quality of (European) citizenship education and active participation of young people in European youth work.
Since culture is not only one of the dimensions of citizenship, which was actually the main topic of the project, but also an important factor and the key to the effective functioning of the international groups, a lot of attention was dedicated to the intercultural learning and sharing local traditions from the participating countries. Besides the traditional for such kinds of projects Intercultural Evening, the hosting organization has also organized a Serbian Evening, during which participants not only got to see and experience traditional Serbian dances, but have also got an opportunity to try the national costumes, that impressed everyone by their stunning beauty.
Besides that, the participants have also visited the local municipality of Belgrade Stari Grad. During the meeting with Bojan Marić, the representative of the office, participants learned about the local practices and mechanisms of the youth work in the community of Belgrade.
One of the biggest results of the Training course has become the Toolbox of non-formal learning methods for citizenship education and active participation, developed by participants. The tools aimed to promote the concept of active citizenship, encourage active participation of young people and promote European values that can be used by youth workers and leaders in their work back in their organisations and local communities.
All in all, the effective work and dynamic energy of the group, has provided the outstanding results and made the significant impact on all the levels, for which all the participants and partner organisations can be definitely proud of.
During the project, participants have also created a website www.activeeuropeans.wordpress.com where everyone can find more information about the project, its objectives, activities, results, used and produced materials, media and contacts of involved organisations.
The project “Active Europeans for Active Citizenship” was organized with the support of Erasmus+ programme of the European Union and was granted by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).
Active Europeans for Active Citizenship 