Youth Exchanges and Training Courses

ERASMUS+ Project; Erasmus+ Program Key Action 1: Individual Mobility – Adult Education With this project carried out during 2022, the Citizen Academy challenged itself to: Increase the capacity of the adult education program, in order to support citizens and communities in combating climate change, social exclusion, and various forms of inequality. Integrate new pedagogical practices, particularly those that foster active citizenship. Increase the skills and knowledge of its members in: training methods that promote social entrepreneurship and community-led responses to climate change and inclusion; educational methods designed to motivate and promote pro-environmental civic initiatives; methods for developing the well-being, care, and resilience of members and groups involved in active citizenship projects and community-led projects. Create new opportunities for European cooperation, allowing the exchange of practices with other educational organizations. This project was carried out within the framework of Erasmus+ KA1 Adult education staff mobility and in partnership with Col·lectiu Eco-Actiu. […]

Erasmus+: Training Among Activists In Europe

Rabat, Malta| 22nd- 28th April 2019 DESCRIPTION Life on a screen: Understanding Millennial Training Course will be addressing the gap which exists between young people and Youth Workers working within the non-formal sector of education. Young people are being brought up in an environment which is fast, instant and customizable. Therefore, they are being used to environments which are constantly engaging and stimulating. When young people are given something which is less attractive and engaging they have the tendency to turn back to their smart phones. It is very difficult for youth workers to compete with such environments where young people are continuously being stimulated. Therefore, the best way forward is not to compete, but to learn from what is happening on social media and adapt these characteristics and infuse them in the working methods used by youth workers. The Millennials are those born after 1985, thus they grew up in […]

Training Course – Life on Screen: Understanding Millennials (Rabat, Malta)

Rustavi, Georgia| 4th – 11th April 2019 DESCRIPTION The project “Tolerance, Acceptance, Understanding” is initiated by the Civil Development and Research Institute, Georgian non-governmental organization that was approached by the group of ethnic minority youth with the intention to tackle the problem of intolerance in the society and fight for the social inclusion. The project idea is to bring the ethnic minority youth from Europe and beyond together with their fellow citizens in a multicultural environment to share the experiences and increase the tolerance and understanding between young people to show that the diversity provides advantages rather than threats to European societies. The methodology for the activities is set in a manner to achieve the maximum engagement of all participants. It includes the discussions, simulation games, team-building, group works, communication and networking workshops, performances, story-telling and other activities. The participants through the discussions, brainstorming, outdoor activities will raise awareness of […]

Youth Exchange – Tolerance, Acceptance and Understanding (Rustavi, Georgia)

Bremen, Germany | 21 Oct – 1 Nov   DESCRIPTION The main aim of the “Intercultural Performance for Social Change!“ youth exchange is to empower and equip youth with the competences needed to find creative solutions for social issues and various forms of communication that touch people on deeper levels of consciousness through art and culture. Together we want to discover and explore traditions and habits behind the stories of young people with different experiences and backgrounds.   OBJECTIVES to support and encourage the beauty of diversity and the benefits of intercultural dialogue with arts and non-formal education methods among young people from different cultures; to enhance creativity, self-confidence and self-discipline among young people and local students through  performing arts.   EXTRA INFO This youth exchange will bring youngters from Spain (4+1), Italy(4+1) Lithuania (4+1), Turkey (4+1), Portugal(5+1) and Germany together. The age of the participants is 18- 30 and one […]

Youth Exchange – INTERCULTURAL PERFORMANCE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE! (GERMANY)

Linz, Austria | 5th-12th November   DESCRIPTION This is a youth partnership project (ERASMUS+ Programme Key Action 1 TRAINING) aimed at developing the competences of youth workers and TRAINERS working with youth. The main topics tackled by the project are intercultural dialogue, escape-migration-inclusion, and the use of creative tools and methods in youth work. Expected participants in the project will have the experience in working with young people and an active interest in using theatre. The methodological approach of the project will be focused on Non-formal educational, and the working methods will include theatre tools, team building, debates, working groups, workshops, evaluation sessions and follow-up activities.   OBJECTIVES To promote cultural awareness in participants and their intercultural learning process; To offer to participants a clear methodological approach and new tools based on theatre and creativity; To share among participant’s creative working methods focused on promote social inclusion among young people […]

Training Course – Escape (AUSTRIA)

CATALUNYA | 18th – 25th September   DESCRIPTION This is a youth partnership project (ERASMUS+ Programme Key Action 1 TRAINING) aimed at developing the competences of youth workers and trainers working with youth. The main topics tackled by the project are intercultural dialogue, inclusion, and the use of creative tools and methods in youth work. Expected participants in the project will have the experience in working with young people and an active interest in using theatre. The methodological approach of the project will be focused on Non-formal educational, and the working methods will include theatre tools, team building, debates, working groups, workshops, evaluation sessions and follow-up activities. OBJECTIVES To promote cultural awareness in participants and their intercultural learning process; To offer to participants a clear methodological approach and new tools based on theatre and creativity; To share among participant’s creative working methods focused on promote social inclusion among young people […]

Training Course – Creativity as a tool for Youth Workers and Treiners (CATALUNYA)

Targoviste, Romania | 20th-29th August 2018 Between August 20 and 29, Citizenship Academy sent some Portuguese youngsters to the city of Targoviste, Romania, to be received by the association BeYou Romania, our partner organisation, in the project Ative Citizenship.  This project, tackled the theme of activism, by raising participants’ awareness for the importance of their active participation at local, national, European and global levels,  through non-formal  education methods. Since the involvement of young people in society is essential for the proper functioning and continuity of democracy, we are happy to have given Portuguese young people the opportunity to be empowered with this project. This Training Course was designed to develop the critical sense of its participants by showing them the various ways of being active in their societies. The various facets of political and social participation were presented and, thereby, the participants were able to acknowledge that to be a active […]

Training Course – Active Citizenship (ROMANIA)

When three years ago I visited Bucharest, I gained a not very favorable impression about the city. It seemed gray and the streets, the buildings, the people were also gray – as they beared upon themselves the burden of the totalitarian past, 70 years of Soviet dictatorship had not definitely stood back. Maybe that’s why the new visit I made to the city, in the past 9 to 12 June, has caused me much surprise. This was a field trip, within the project New Europe – Cities in Transition, in order to visit locally based projects that promote the city as an area of inclusion, sustainability and participation. We were welcomed by members of Zeppelin and, in addition to the Citizenship Academy, were present organizations from Berlin (Mörchenpaprk), London (Paddington Development Trust) and Amsterdam (Pakhuis of Zwijger). Three days have come to realize how Bucharest had radically changed over the […]

Winds of change in Bucharest

Between the 27th and the 30th of May 2016, the Pakhuis de Zwijger foundation, in the Netherlands, promoted the meeting of more than 600 activists, coming from the four corners of Europe. Because they are normally involved in democratization actions of the cities, as spaces of inclusion, prosperity and resilience, they are called as the “City Makers”. It was during the “City  Makers Summit” that they met, to talk about the main problems of their cities, and the practices that they have been developing, in order to solve them.     City Makers   Visit to the centre of Zaanstad, which was complete renovated in the last 5 years, looking to offer more inclusion, functionality and visual beauty. This Summit had two main goals. The first one was to provide field trips to participants to Dutch local based projects or initiatives, with actions developed in urban context, regarding the improvement of the […]

Let us make an Europe of Democracy

Synthesis by Igor Marko Photos @ Academia Cidadã and participants of the Master Class   The highly challenging urban regeneration case-study was focused on one of Lisbon’s oldest districts – Mouraria.   Lisbon Masterclass #1 – Exploring Mouraria – site analysis, observation and mapping   Paula Marques, councilwoman for Housing of the Municipality of Lisbon, during the Master Class’s opening   Mouraria originated as a 13th century Moorish neighbourhood and remained a marginal downtown area. Nowadays, parts of Mouraria are affected by tourism, others are still deprived with high levels of migrant population and social housing. Cheap property prices and proximity to other tourist destinations (Alfama, Castelo) raise realistic assumptions that Mouraria will face large influx of investment in real estate and tourism infrastructure, resulting in gentrification.   Field trip to historic centre of Lisbon, promoted by Lisbon Sustainable Tourism   Lisboa Masterclass # 2 – Methods and Processes – […]

Master Class “City Making and Tourism Gentrification”