Some of our activities...

The activities planned during this youth exchange included, exclusively, non-formal methods; the aims were to facilitate the process of interconectivity, to activate motivation and creativity, to support the process of decision making and contribution with new ideas, encouraging freedom of expression and tolerance among participants. All these methods facilitate the learning process and support the development of entrepreneurship competences, the integration and assimilation of the project results and cooperation among young people. The involvement of young people in these activities help them to develop personal and social competences, and also competences for teamwork.

The non-formal methods proposed during the project activities had the objective to develop a participatory attitude, to support the process of refection, to promote tolerance, to support the integration of intercultural differences in the proces of creation and to support cooperation among young people.

(Eg. Energizers: The aim of these activities is to facilitate the getting-to-know-each-other of the participants, to energize them and to facilitate the switch between other activities. Usually these activities are group games that takes up to 15 minutes).


Pass the energy: Partipants were splitted in 2 teams; they had to be aligned. The facilitator took one hand of the first participant from each line. When the facilitator squeezed their hands, they had transmit this signal to the next one. When the signal arrived to the last participant, he had to kiss the opponent and then run to the facilitator. Participants had to be really focused and also fast when transmitting the signal, but also when running.


Birthday graph: Participants had to stay in a line, on a thin surface. Withouth talking and only by making gestures, they had to align according to their birthdays, from the youngest to the oldest. They had to help each other in order not to fall from the bench and they had to think of the best strategy to let the other know their birthdays.

Straw towers

Aim: to facilitate communication and cooperation between participants
Method: teambuilding activity
Description: Participants were splitted in mixed teams and each team was given an equal number of straws. The task was to find a strategy and then cooperate in order to build the tallest tower made only from the given straws. In the end, the tallest tower wins.

City rally

Aim: to facilitate teamwork

Method: teamwork activity

Description: Participants were splitted in mixed teams; each team received a list with several tasks, such as finding a European flag, making interviews with youngsters from the local community about the “Erasmus+” Programme, helping some old people to carry the bags from the supermarket to their homes, making interviews with people from the local community about entrepreneurship. They also had to gather some proofs, like taking photos or making videos, in order to show to the other participants that they have successfully completed the tasks. While doing this activity, all the participants had the chance to discover the local community and to interact with the citizens.

“Erasmus+ “ and Youthpass presentation

Aim: Presenting the new “Erasmus+” Programme and discussing on new opportunities

Method: interactive videos presentation, Q & A

Description: Due to the introduction of the new “Erasmus+” Programme, we considered a good opportunity to discuss on the differences between the actual and the former programme, “Youth in Action”. We also had a debate about the new features of the  “Erasmus+” Programme and discovered together the new opportunities of merging with other cultures. We also discussed about the Youthpass certificate; what it mean, what skills and competencies it validates and what are the benefits of having such a certificate.

NGO fair

Aim: finding more information about the partner organisations

Method: interactive fair

Description: The participants were  splitted in national groups, each of them representing the sending organizations. They were given time to prepare their presentations and they were also given materials in order to make promotional materials and to arrange their own space. After all the preparations, it all worked as a fair; the participants went to each organization, asked for information, discussed about the old projects of the organizations, but also about the new opportunities and most importantly, they got contacts in order to collaborate in the future. The two most important results of this activity were networking and partnership building.

National workshops

Aim: sharing with the other participants the situation of entrepreneurship in a specific country

Method: interactive presentations, quiz, questions and answers

Description: On one side, there were the members of one national group, who played the role of the trainers and on the other side, there were participants from the other national teams. Each participating country had the chance to share with other participants information about entrepreneurship related to their country. There where 2 workshops for each country; the first one was based on presenting the information through different interactive methods, while in the second one, the other participants were asked to do practical things related to the topic of the project. During these workshops, the participants found out a lot of new information and got the chance to see the actual real situation of entrepreneurship in each country from the perspective of youngsters who are citizens of that country and who are struggling to be entrepreneurs themselves. 

 
Talk show

Aim: to discover the simmilitudes and differences between the situation of entrepreneurship in Italy, Turkey, Spain, Romania and Lithuania

Method: Lotus flower method and debate

Description:  This activity was done after the completion of all national workshops, in this way the participants had information related to the topic about each country.  Participants, together with the facilitator, brainstormed about the simmilitudes and differences between the situation of entrepreneurship in Italy, Turkey, Spain, Romania and Lithuania and they they concluded that the biggest similitude is the lack of the entrepreneurial initiatives among youngsters. Then, each main cause became the effect, which was to be splitted again in 8 different causes. Participants were splitted in mixed teams and they had to brainstorm  on these causes. At the end of the activity, there were 64 causes of our main problem: lack of the entrepreneurial initiatives among youngsters. Following this, participants discusses on the importance of each cause in their countries in comparison with the other participant countries.

Theatre plays and making of movies

Aim: to facilitate the communication between participants

Method: acting and editing videos

Description: Participants were splitted in 4 mixed teams. They had to prepare 4 videos / theatre plays on the topic of the project, entrepreneurship among youngsters. They had to brainstorm and to come up with the best ideas; they also had to decide on their roles and to improvise on costumes, music and background. In the end, they also had to act the movies / theatre plays in front of the audience (the participants from other teams).

They had different materials to use and were encouraged to express creatively.

Intercultural Nights

During the whole week, each night had a designated theme, each country prepared a cultural night. The participants prepared the program of these nights as they wished and in character with their cultural specifics. The program included a presentation of the country, a presentation of customs and traditions, traditional music and dances, traditional clothes, food and drinks.