Project Greenhouse for Inclusion & Participation

Aims & Objectives Inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities and political participation are two important features in the new EU-Programme Erasmus+: YOUTH IN ACTION. As true democratic participation has the power to give a voice to all young people, but youngsters with fewer opportunities are still underrepresented in participation projects, the TC focuses on this overall challenge: How to involve young people with fewer opportunities in participation projects? How to give all young people a role in the design and implementation of projects and policies? Objectives:  Bring together youth workers and young people with experience from the two fields inclusion and participation who want to set up participation projects specifically involving inclusion groups  Share expertise and practices about inclusion and participation projects  Provide space for participants to discover the opportunities of the format of “Strategic Partnerships” (key action 2) within Erasmus+: YOUTH IN ACTION  Create new inclusive participation project ideas within strategic partnerships to enable all young people to have a say in decision making on different levels Target Group  The Project Greenhouse is open for voluntary and professional youth workers or active young people who plan to set up inclusive participation projects and long-term strategies in their organization within the frame of the Erasmus+: YOUTH IN ACTION Programme, especially in the format “Strategic Partnerships”.  During the Project Greenhouse participants are invited to find partners among the participants of the Project Greenhouse to create ideas for common “Strategic Partnership” projects. Taking into account that participants may already have existing partner organizations they can either apply to the Project Greenhouse together with their partners to work on their planned “Strategic Partnerships”. Or participants can benefit from the seminar contents and developed ideas to later on put this inspiration into practice in their organization’s and their network’s reality.  Participants should have experience either with inclusion projects or with participation projects (gained inside or outside YOUTH IN ACTION).  Max. 30 participants from YOUTH IN ACTION Programme countries.  Participants should be at least 18 years old.  The working language is English. Partcipants should be able to work and set up projects in English. Participants are expected to be part of the full duration of the Project Greenhouse. How can you benefit from the Greenhouse? Are you experienced in participation projects?  Then you know how powerful political participation can be. Opening your participation projects for young people with fewer opportunities makes your projects more representative and therefore unfolds the potential of the democratic ideals.  Take the challenge to overcome obstacles in working with young people with fewer opportunities, enlarge your target group and work scope, identify success factors and tools to include specific inclusion groups. Are you experienced in inclusion projects?  Then you know how important it is that all young people have their say in our democratic society.  Get inspiration and identify success factors to get the voices of your target groups heard and to prepare young people for taking part in decision making and true participation. Are you experienced in inclusive participation projects on local level?  Get information and support on how to go international and explore the added value a European dimension will bring to your projects. Get to know the new Programme Erasmus+: YOUTH IN ACTION and the funding opportunities of “Strategic Partnerships”. Share your experience with participants from your own field, be creative and develop new approaches and project ideas beyond your direct working field. Programme Outline Day1 - Arrival & welcome evening Day 2 - Sharing A day focused on meeting and discovering participants personal and organizational backgrounds, sharing success factors of working with young people with fewer opportunities and opening the door to participation and decision making of young people. Day 3 - Getting inspiration A day to explore the potential of Strategic partnership (Key action 2) and to start thinking how we can use this opportunity to develop inclusive youth participation projects. We’ll visit an inspirational local participation and inclusion project in Berlin. Day 4 - Shaping future A day to bring ideas into action: this will be the time to design possible project formats for Strategic partnership and receive feedback on them. We’ll think about possible ways or actions to spread the results of the seminar to more beneficiaries. Day 5 - Departures Practical information All participants will be accommodated in double rooms. Single accommodation is optional and available at one’s own expense. The venue is accessible for people with reduced mobility. (Note for NAs: This is a TCP 2013 financed project)