The Project Bridging Europe and Africa - A Social Initiative or BE AS I was coordinated by the Youth Association from Transylvania (ATA), a Romanian NGO from Cristuru Secuiesc that worked in partnership with Aventura Marao Clube from Amarante, Portugal, Associação Amigos do Calhau from Sao Vicente, Cabo Verde and ONG Minangan, from Ketou, Benin. It was a project for Capacity Building in the Field of Youth financed by the European Commission through the Executive Agency of the Erasmus+ Program. It lasted for 20 months between November 2015 and July 2017.The main aims of the project were to- Foster the cooperation of EU-Africa in the youth field, empowering the youth workers and it´s associations to tackle social and cultural issues under NFE methods. - Develop skills and competences in project management and NFE methods, through which the youth workers will improve the quality of social activities in their communities.- Empower youth associations, promote participation, active citizenship, inter-cultural dialogue and through campaigns, solidarity between partner countries, and- Develop new training methods and tools such as manuals and brochures which disseminate the project results and the new knowledge base gained among the 2 continents.The project was centred on various mobilities between Europe and Africa but the initial plan had to be changed because challenges arose in getting VISA approved for African citizens: The first mobility was a workshop for youth workers done in Portugal organized in the beginning of 2016. It was about project management, NFE and information communication technologies.The second set of meetings was done in parallel in June 2016. One was in Benin and one in Cabo Verde. It was organised to prepare for the European Voluntary Service (EVS) and the Job Shadowing mobilities. What followed was a 3 week long Job Shadowing implemented by a Romanian and a Portuguese youth worker in Benin in September 2016 focusing on strengthening partnerships.Another 3 week Long Job Shadowing was carried out by 2 Romanian youth workers in Benin in January 2016, for charity and capacity building.The most important mobilities were the 2 parallel EVSs:One was a 7 month long EVS project done by 4 Portuguese volunteers in Cabo Verde, starting September 2016 and ending in April 2017. There the volunteers collaborated with schools and youth institutions and offered NFE to kids and youth with fewer opportunities. They also organized countless free time alternatives mainly with cultural, environmental and ecological activities for at risk youth.In parallel with this there was a 6 month long EVS project done by 3 Romanian volunteers in Benin, starting September 2016 and ending in March 2017. There, two midwives helped in a clinic by assisting pregnant women, births and new-borns and advising the local staff. A social and youth worker was also on hand, offering NFE activities for teaching English and handicrafts to children born at the clinic. But mainly she worked with children and youth learning in the public and private kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools. All these mobilities were concluded by a follow up meeting done in Cabo Verde in April 2017.As a result of this project all 4 partners and their communities developed themselves in terms of project management and implementing social activities with a NFE approach. Also, connected to these topics a lot of know how has been transferred from European to African communities and vice versa. In terms of outreach we exceeded our original plans manifold, especially by entering into direct contact with, and helping more than 5000 children and youth with non-formal, environmental activities, awareness raising and with charity and fundraising initiatives. Another 10000 community members were reached across the two continents through dissemination events and the spreading of project results and tools.

<< Objectives >>By implementing this project we aim to increase the degree of involvement of young people in rural areas, within each country participating in the project, in solving community problems related to greening and agriculture.We also want young people in rural areas to be able to participate in exchanges of experience related to the topic, to see that the exchange of good practices should not stop at the country's borders, but they can continue throughout the European space.<< Implementation >>Within the project there will be three mobilities in the participating countries, each mobility will involve a different group of young people. There will be street debates, held by each organization, in her country. There will be online meetings between young people, following the mobilities and at the end of the project, to make a synthesis of what happened, to draw conclusions and prepare the next step. Questionnaires will be applied to see to what extent the objectives are achieved.<< Results >>The exchange of experience for young people in rural areas will determine them to be much more confident in their own strengths, to develop their language, relationship and leadership skills. Young people will become more involved in solving community problems, will know ways to achieve organic farming and will be able to start small businesses, which will contribute to community development. A pro-ecological attitude will also be developed for the selective collection of waste.

<< Objectives >>- to improve the ability of youth NGOs for guiding young people in the field of diversity through European collaboration adopting new methods and interactive non-formal education methods to manage cultural diversity through the use of two short-term joint staff training- to encourage diversity and equal opportunity via participatory arts and dance by planning two Folk Dance FEST that will be held in each country over the course of project- to improve networking among partners << Implementation >>1. Virtual Meetings: Online meetings on Zoom will be organized to review the project goals, activities, organizations and other issues,2. Training 1: The main goal will be to offer youth workers a flexible and interactive means to obtain information that can also allow them to comprehend inclusion and integration of youth with restricted opportunities.3. Training 2: Participants are going to discover new tools to connect themselves to the virtues through a variety of informal learning activity<< Results >>Project Results;1.Trainings 2. Arts & Dance FEST 3. A Methodological Guide4. Local Workshops

<< Objectives >>With this project, we as Permaculture enthusiasts, want to continue to persue this utupian dream of a more sustainable and fair world sharing among each other experiences and solutions that help us all moving forward. At the same time we are faced with huge social, economic, political issues that make our youth look for answers and solutions, we hope that by alliying the non-formal methodology, acess to funding and Permaculture we can provide viable answers to our communities and youngsters.<< Implementation >>We will start with a kick meeting to explain all the different project components, it will follow an LTTA that will focus on the methodologies that we want to use (Non-formal education and Permaculture), this will serve as foundations to create other activities that will produce at least 3 different project outcomes (toolkit, Video tutorials and multimedia platform). The next expected activity it will serve as the key project multiplier, after it we will meet to evaluate the project.<< Results >>With this project, we hope to deepen the practice of permaculture as an effective way to help at-risk communities to become more resilient and sustainable.We want to develop skills in youth and youth workers to make them key players on the transition process to a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient Europe.To develop tangible and accessible materials that help communities respond to the environmental, social, political challenges we are experiencing and which are likely to get worse.

Nowadays, E-learning has evolved into an ideal tool to disseminate knowledge effectively and to promote a universally and socially constructed understanding.E-learning ensures equal opportunities for young volunteers and further development of their skills throughout their ESC project. It is also the way to involve them in an accessible process of continuous learning to improve their skills, to optimize their role in the host community and to find a career path.In addition, online learning can be an effective and sustainable educational tool supporting volunteer tutors and supervisors. For these reasons, in 2018, we created an online platform (https://e-esc.eu/) in the context of KA1 Erasmus+ (3 mobility for youth educators). This platform attracted the interest of more than 800 volunteers who benefited from this tool. It continues to be co-managed by us and our Greek and Romanian partners. In order to continue to meet the needs of young volunteers of different capacities in terms of training, assistance, E-tutoring & networking, as well as the priorities of the European Solidarity Corps program, we would like to update this platform.This strategic project will further improve and structure the content of the platform, modernize and simplify learning methods and facilitate the networking of young volunteers. The access to dynamic online training will also be facilitated by involving experienced partners in volunteering actions and the creation of tools for volunteers.Our project consists of the following activities:1- A 2-day kick-off meeting in Strasbourg, where the person in charge of the project and the co-administrator of each partner organization will gather in order to determine the modalities and methods of implementation of the project, as well as the role to be assigned to each one. 2- Prepare and launch 2 research surveys: one aimed at detecting the specific needs of the beneficiaries of our online platform and future beneficiaries: ESC volunteers in terms of training & E-learning assistance. The additional survey will be launched towards host organizations in order to identify their needs in terms of support, training, coaching and mentoring of volunteers. This will allow us to better identify innovative methods to facilitate implementation and improve the quality of results and impact of their projects.3- Reorganize and restructure the existing E-courses et create a new ones based on survey results. We will introduce the 3M learning concept (Moodle using Micro-learning content) which is a new way of designing interactive and dynamic courses in modules, also accessible on mobile. We will also develop competence-based Learning (CBL), which means that e-learning courses will be built with the aim of developing competencies rather than simply knowledge. In this sense, volunteers can also choose the E-trainings that correspond to the skills they wish to develop.4- Creation E-tutorials & interactive videos for the E-courses of the platform.5- Creation of a map (GIS –geographical information system) which localizes the volunteers of the European Solidarity Corps, beneficiaries of the platform and allows to strengthen the connection between the volunteers, to monitor their activities and to allow the E-services Tutors in order to better understand the context of each volunteer’s activity and to provide the most appropriate support.6- Training for 15 e-mentors (5 per partner organization) in Strasbourg, France, in order to consolidate the skills of our current e-tutors of the platform, to modernize their methods & to train new e-tutors from our 3 organizations.7- Mild term evaluation meeting for 2 days in Strasbourg gathering the person in charge of the project from each partner.8- Creation of the user guide of the simple and attractive platform that facilitates access to the platform.9- Creation of the e-mentoring guide for the platform.10- Experimentation of E-training & operation of the platform on a large scale with the support of e-tutors.11- Training in Greece of E-mentors who have benefited from the previous mobility to become multiplied E-tutors (Mentors of E-mentors).12- Dissemination events organized by each partner at national level in cooperation with the country’s National Agency to promote the platform (https://e-esc.eu/). 13- A final survey to measure the impacts of the project on host organizations and volunteers, benefits and areas for improvement.14- Evaluation meeting in Romania, which will involve the person in charge of the project, the co-administrator and an E-mentor of each partner. A cooperation plan will be designed with partners to ensure the sustainability of the platform.