COVID-19 has had a massive impact on the travel and tourism industry, both of which are vital for the cultural sector.Heritage YOUth Perspectives is a strategic project partnership of 18 months that aims to promote cultural heritage sites and crafts from 5 European countries: Romania, Denmark, Portugal, North Macedonia, and Spain. The main intellectual outputs of the projects are: a digital toolkit, an Insta-mapping platform of cultural sites, a collection of short videos on national heritage crafts from the 5 countries and an interactive platform. These long-term activities will be possible with the participation and active involvement of 25 youth workers and 250 young people, 30 representatives of cultural institutions and artisans.The project will achieve the following projects by the end of its duration.1. to engage young people, youth NGOs from non-formal educational field, public institutions to stimulate cultural heritage awareness and to empower artisans to face the COVID-19 situation.2. To equip 25 youth workers with know-how and key-competencies to facilitate.3. 250 young people identify, exhibit the European “cultural gems” and develop their social, civic and intercultural competencies.4. Raise awareness about European cultural heritage and create spaces for dialogue between 100 stakeholders and 500 youth through5.Strengthen the operational capacity of 30 cultural public institutions and artisans in order to face COVID-19 situationDescription of the activities: = Digital toolkit containing the methodology Heritage YOUth Perspective and related instructions in 6 languages= International campaign “Heritage YOUth Perspective” Recognising cultural heritage opportunities - that can be used as a tool or seen as a way of raising consumer awareness of cultural and natural heritage= A collection of digital maps of cultural heritage sites and videos of cultural heritage crafts developed in partnership with young people from Romania, Denmark, Portugal, North Macedonia, Spain=Discover Heritage platform - open space for youth interested in european cultural heritage - open space for youth interested in european cultural heritage.The partners represent a variety of NGOS, public institution, firm, associated partners ( Ministry of Culture from North Macedonia ) and other NGOS coming from 5 countries across Europe dealing with cultural heritage will commit to effectively share results of the project with local stakeholders groups .The expected results:= transfer of know-how and tools between trainers team to the 25 youth workers from various Youth NGOs from 5 countries during 2 staff training events; = 250 young people from 5 countries actively involved in the process of mapping and promoting the “hidden, less known or forgotten cultural gems” from Europe and discuss with key-stakeholders about the future of the cultural heritage and their role. = 30 cultural public institutions, craft institutions and artisans will directly benefit from the maps with itineraries created and become aware of the possibilities to preserve it and valorize it. The platform connects young people, NGOs and public institutions from all Europe, develops a sense of belonging, and encourages them to raise awareness among Generation Z about their mission to promote cultural heritage as a way of building bridges towards different cultures. The impact on the participating organisations:= Increased capacity to connect young people with culture heritage in their communities through digital tools= Better capacity to help the culture institution, craft institute or artisans form their communities to promote their work among young people and adapt to the new realitiesThe impact on other the target groups:= 5000 young people and general public from 5 countries actively involved in the process of mapping and promoting the “hidden, less known or forgotten cultural gems” from Europe and discuss with key-stakeholders about the future of the cultural heritage and their role.Heritage YOUth Perspective addresses the themes identified in the Extraordinary Erasmus+ calls to support digital education readiness and creative skills as Coronavirus response and will develop methods for a sustainable long term care strategy where heritage is understood in connection with young people, youth workers, cultural institutions and the community as a tool for the production of human and social capital.

<< Objectives >>Erasmusfest consists of two groups of festivals that give importance to inclusiveness and diversity.With the first group festivals SportFest,DanceFest, CookFest, ArtFest,it is aimed to gather under common universal values and build bridges between cultures by working and having fun.With this bridge,it is aimed to contribute to digital transformation with DigiFest, one of the second group festivals we will organize,and to be ready to work together for the green future of our world with Greenfest.<< Implementation >>The project consists of six festivals, namely SportFest, DanceFest, CoookFest, ArtFest, DigiFest and GreenFutureFest. All festivals consist of the activities that the partners will carry out at the local level, the sharing of the experiences to be gained from these activities, and the dissemination of the gains obtained at the international level at the local level again.<< Results >>The result we expect from the ErasmusFest project is to see that we can more easily focus our minds, free from prejudices, on production and the fight against climate change, with the festivals to be organized by working together. In the project, it is aimed to open the borders between countries, which were closed tightly due to covid-19, by learning dances of different cultures, food, traditional sports and traditional arts, and to focus on digital production and the green future.

"<< Background >>Asylum seekers and refugees have been a global problem for centuries.No effective policy, strategy and implementation has yet been produced on this issue. According to 1951 Geneva Convention, Refugee; is an individual living abroad of the country of citizenship and doesn't have access to protection of this country or doesn't want to access because of the fear at issue, who is scared, for justifiable reasons, of being oppressed because of his/her race, religion, nationality, allegiance to a certain social group or political opinions. Asylum seeker is an individual who is intendment of law not admitted as refugee yet and waiting for the results of asylum application. As it is seen in the definitions, refugees and asylum seekers left their countries for justifiable reasons because of necessity. In the EU Council Concluding Declaration titled “Strategic Framework for Cooperation in Education and Training”, one of the 4 main objectives of Education and Training 2020 is to promote equality, social cohesion and active citizenship.The importance of active citizenship stems from the fact that individuals have the power and potential to create a better society by directly and positively contributing to the society they live in. The reason why active citizenship is becoming increasingly important is that it is considered as a precaution against social exclusion. In many countries, self-help mechanisms, volunteering and active citizenship are encouraged in the community to overcome social exclusion. The concept of social exclusion includes many socio-economic problems such as poverty, unemployment, marginalization, and ghettoization. Active participation and active citizenship in lifelong learning are among the priorities of Erasmus+ for the period of 2021-2027. In many European countries, the protection and support of democratic values, the development of society, the development of social capital, cultural expression, strengthening social integration, and supporting active citizenship are important. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 2020 data, there are nearly 80 million asylum seekers and refugees worldwide. In the countries forming the consortium, according to UNHCR 2020 data, There are 3,980,000 asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey; 480,300 in Portugal, 437,160 in France, 25,100 in Romania; 119,700 in Greece. In Estonia, 398,700 are foreign nationals. When these data are analyzed, Turkey is the country with the highest number of asylum seekers and refugees worldwide. Our project partners host varying proportions of asylum seekers and refugees. The problems experienced by asylum seekers and refugees during the integration process were effective in the formation of the project idea and the establishment of the project partnership. The mandatory departure of asylum seekers and refugees from their countries is a process involving many vital problems. The grievances experienced by asylum seekers and refugees should be eliminated with a rights-based approach. In countries that accept asylum seekers and refugees, it is important to ensure the rapid integration of asylum seekers and refugees in order to protect and maintain social welfare and to transform them into productive individuals. Recent studies reveal the role of adult education in providing new skills, competencies and social inclusion. The concrete goal of our project is to develop an e-learning module to meet the needs of asylum seekers and refugees for active citizenship in adult education. We aim to provide active citizenship training to asylum seekers and refugees in order to facilitate and accelerate the integration processes of adults into society. We will achieve this goal by providing active citizenship training to asylum seekers and refugees both face-to-face and on the web through the e-module we will develop.<< Objectives >>With our project, we aim to develop an e-learning module in order to raise awareness of asylum seekers and refugees about their rights and obligations and to enable them to be active and participatory. In line with this purpose, we aim to improve the competencies of educators working in universities, public institutions and NGOs in providing ""Active Citizenship for Asylum Seekers and Refugees"" training. We aim to achieve social inclusion by accelerating the integration processes of asylum seekers and refugees into their newly arrived countries through the project partners working with asylum seekers and refugees who have acquired this qualification. It is aimed to increase the institutional capacity by improving the competencies of education administrators and educators. As a result, more asylum seekers and refugees will be reached, student / trainee profile will diversify and multicultural education environments will be created. Thus, we aim to reduce the rate of social exclusion and discrimination among asylum seekers and refugees. We created a consortium by enriching the refugee and asylum-seeker phenomenon with the perspectives of three different sectors (University,Adult Education Institution and NGO). With this multi-perspective comparative analysis, we aim to offer constructive, practical solutions to policy makers, stakeholders, pressure groups, and the active citizenship of asylum seekers and refugees. Our concrete goal in the project is to develop an ""E-Learning Module"" to raise awareness of active citizenship to asylum seekers and refugees. Other goals of the project are: - Comparing the strategies, policies and practices for asylum seekers and refugees - Developing the knowledge, attitudes and skills of adult educators working with refugees and refugees on active citizenship - To provide active citizenship training to asylum seekers and refugees - To ensure that asylum seekers and refugees are aware of their fundamental rights and obligations in the country they live - To ensure that asylum seekers and refugees are sensitive, solution-oriented and participatory to the problems of the city, region, country and world they live in. - To accelerate the integration processes of asylum seekers and refugees into the country where they live. -To improve employment skills of asylum seekers and refugees, Employment opportunities will be increased by adapting the professional knowledge and skills of asylum seekers and refugees to their new country of destination. The procedure that an asylum-seeker or refugee, who is a university student in his/her country of origin, should follow in order to continue his/her university education in his/her new country of origin will be explained. Thus, the protection and best utilization of human capital will be provided. In the e-learning module, health, education, accommodation, language training, employment, legal consultancy, obtaining work permit, workplace licensing, vocational and social courses, hospital interpretation, financial support, women's guest houses, etc. rights will be included. The sections on the rights and obligations of asylum seekers and refugees in the e-learning module will be organized within the framework of the current practices of each country.<< Implementation >>A significant number of asylum seekers and refugees live in the partner countries. Our partners are organizations that actively work with asylum seekers and refugees. Throughout the project, we will conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis by researching policies, strategies and practices regarding asylum seekers and refugees both in the context of partner countries and globally in order to create an e-learning module. These comprehensive comparative analyzes will be synthesized while creating the e-learning module and will allow us to create a functional project product. In addition, we will organize ""Experience Sharing Workshops"" with the participation of academicians, educational administrators, trainers, NGO representatives, asylum seekers and refugees. In these workshops, we will compile a multi-dimensional information, observation and experience from the field by bringing together different sectors (University, Adult Education Institution and NGOs), asylum seekers and refugees. We will benefit from creating the content of the e-learning module by analyzing and reporting the data we collect at the workshop. In our project, we will organize 5 TPM and 1 LTT to develop the e-learnig module ""Active Citizenship for Asylum Seekers and Refugees"". Transnational meetings will allow us to discuss and exchange views for the synthesis of the desk research and the data collected from Experience Sharing Workshops. While sharing the work we do in each TPM, we will also have the opportunity to plan the work we will do until the next TPM. The TPMs we will make will allow both the monitoring and evaluation of the work we carry out for the e-learning module, as well as financial controls and the follow-up of the dissemination plan. These TPMs will also contribute to the creation of synergy between partners by forming international workshop teams to create the content of the e-learning module. Four Elements from Greece will bring the ""Active Citizenship for Asylum Seekers and Refugees"" e-learning module to the web platform. When Four Elements uploads the e-learning module to the web, Tandem Plus from France, Casa Seis from Portugal and Kadıköy Public Education Center from Turkey will do a pilot. Academicians, education administrators, trainers, asylum seekers and refugees will participate in this pilot. Analyzes will be made and reported in the light of the data collected from the pilot applications. Four Elements will finalize the e-learning module in line with the feedback from the pilot application and make it accessible.LTT, which we will organize, is for the training of trainers of the “Active Citizenship for Asylum Seekers and Refugees” e-learning module. With this training activity, the product of the project will be fully understood by the project partners. Participants will organize local seminars, meetings, conferences, etc. and promote the project product. LTT will increase the quality of the promotion and sharing activities of the project.<< Results >>As a result of our project, we will develop the ""Active Citizenship for Asylum Seekers and Refugees"" e-learning module.With this training module, we aim to improve the competencies of academics, education administrators, educators, and NGO representatives working with asylum seekers and refugees, and to provide effective training to asylum seekers and refugees on this issue. The e-learning module, which is the product of the project, will be accessible on the web platform. During the project, the e-learning module financed by the EU will be financed by Marmara University for 7 years and 8 months, and will be updated for 10 years in total. It is expected that the e-learning module, which is the product of the project, will be included in the education programs and training plans of educational institutions (University, Adult Education Institution, NGOs). Brochure, e-brochure, e-newsletter etc. created within the project. It is expected that more asylum seekers and refugees will benefit from the e-learning module by sharing these materials with public and private organizations working with asylum seekers and refugees and NGOs. As a result of our project, we expect asylum seekers and refugees to learn about their rights and obligations thanks to the e-learning module. Asylum seekers and refugees who know their rights and obligations will also be able to protect themselves from abuse. We expect to accelerate the integration process of asylum seekers and refugees into the country where they live, as a result of the trainings that our partners' academics, adult educators and NGO representatives will give using e-learning modules. We also aim to increase the employability rate of asylum seekers and refugees whose integration process is accelerating. We expect the result of realization of social inclusion and prevention of exclusion and discrimination with active citizenship training. As a result of the Active Citizenship training of Asylum Seekers and Refugees, it is aimed to be sensitive, participatory and solution-oriented to the problems of their region, country and world. Sharing the project results with EPALE, national / international policy makers, other stakeholders working with Asylum Seekers and Refugees will result in reaching a wider audience. Thus, we expect the project results to contribute to the development of effective policies at local, regional, national and international levels. At the end of our project, we will obtain scientific data, comparative and comprehensive evaluations and many results/data regarding our applications. We aim to develop cooperation by sharing these results with local, regional, national and international institutions/organizations. We will organize 1 LTT event within the project to improve the competencies of academics, education administrators, educators, NGO representatives on active citizenship of asylum seekers and refugees. LTT participants will reflect the competencies they have gained to their institutions and other stakeholders in their regions. With the seminars, meetings and conferences they will organize in their institutions, they will increase the competence of both the personnel of the institution and other stakeholders. By including more asylum seekers and refugees in their institutions, they will ensure both social inclusion and the creation of multicultural education environments."

<< Objectives >>PEDITORY aims to provide educational solutions to support peace education by building a partnership in the field of youth. The consortium wants to develop a new and innovative methodology and toolkit based on digital storytelling that can be used in potential conflict areas/communities in order to foster mutual understanding, respect, and acceptance amongst diverse people in that area/community, to enable them to work towards a resilient, respectful, sustainable and cooperative communities.<< Implementation >>PEDITORY will develop a combination of peace education through digital storytelling tools to encourage youth workers to deliver peace education trainings. PEDITORY deliberately chose to develop a virtual platform to provide space where young people share their stories about conflict and peace. Besides, the PEDITORY project also foresees a set of sustainable project management, implementation, dissemination, monitoring, evaluation and coordination activities.<< Results >>The main expected result of the project is the creation of a PEDITORY Peacemakers Platform which contains a non-formal learning toolkit, video stories of young people, and promotional materials to promote peace education through digital storytelling. The establishment of the PEDITORY project results comprises 4 working packages.WP1 - Project ManagementWP2 - Peace Education through Digital Storytelling ToolkitWP3 - Peacemakers Virtual PlatformWP4 - Dissemination and Promotion

<< Background >>Our consortium applied this project as we encountered a problem and a need in the european volunteering projects. Moreover, at an international level this problem increased due to the covid-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures have produced significant interruptions in young people’s lives, the impact of which is still to be analysed and understood in the future. With borders closed and airlines grounded for almost six months, COVID-19 effectively shut down the global tourism industry at a scale never witnessed before. Besides leisure travel, restriction of movement threatened to destroy international volunteer sector and NGOs, devastating the projects that depend on them for support. The pandemic has especially hit hard the recruitment of international volunteers, with some organisations already forced to reinvent their activities.During a previous KA2 project, coordinated by Deses-3, REEVOL – “The referee for volunteering” with the reference number 2018-2-ES02-KA205-011520, an APP was created as, in which organizations involved in EVS, further ESC, had the opportunity to share possible problems that may occur during a volunteering project, as well as solutions. After analysing and interpreting the data collected, Deses-3 propose this project, Safe&Informed Volunteering, which comes as a response and solution to an issue that was identified as being the cause of most of the problems shared: the lack of previous structured and objective information regarding the community where the hosting organization is located (village/town/city – neighborhood). Most of the volunteering projects are sharing previous information regarding the activities to be performed, the accommodation and only general information regarding the village/town/city. This may lead to a mismatch between the expectations of the volunteers and the reality that they find when they reach the place. It is highly important to know all the features of a community in terms of cost of life, quality of life quality, leisure and free time activities (culture, sports) and some other details such as the probability of people to speak english, the average age of the residents and so on. That is why our project comes as a solution to the encountered problem and needs of our organizations and the target groups (explained below), by creating an APP (project result) with information generated by local and/or foreign volunteers on the villages/towns/cities of organizations which host ESC project. This information will be in the form of reviews and divided in topics of interest regarding services and facilities relevant for the integration of the volunteers into the local community.Target groups:o Direct target group: young people, especially the ones with an interest in volunteeringo Indirect target group: ESC accredited NGOs or planning to get accredited, NGOs active in local/national/european/international volunteering and their representatives, volunteers coordinators, tutors, mentors, leaders, youth workersAs it can be identified during the form, the project has been designed with respect to the environment. This ecological way of working will allow project participants to contribute to sustainable development. For example it is planned only tree meetings, to reduce the printed materials for dissemination bu using online activities, to set the transnational meetings considering the carbon footprint, etc.<< Objectives >>The objectives of Safe&Informed Volunteering (SIV) were set according to the priorities tackled, the needs encountered both inside the partners’ organizations and in the field of youth volunteering in general. These objective were further correlated with the activities planned to create the main result, which is expected to improve the partners’ work in volunteering projects by integrating it in the daily activities.- Create an instrument to improve the participation of all young people in ESC projects in an informed and secure manner- Facilitate previous preparation of volunteers for the ESC projects - Foster the integration of the volunteers in the project community (village/town/city – neighborhood)- Improve the collaboration between hosting organization and volunteers- Develop the sense of initiative and social entrepreneurship of youth and youth workersWe expect to fulfill he needs of the direct TG during the entire project and through the result itself, being an active part in the creation of the project result, gaining knowledge and skills, such as critical thinking, time management and organization, sense of initiative and social entrepreneurship. We expect them to learn both theoretical and practical matters on how to design a technological product with a social and community beneficial purpose. Our project also aims for them to become engines of positive changes in their communities and to act as multipliers of the results, but also to further create innovative solutions to existing needs in the youth participation field.The indirect TG will be integrated in the projects’ activities from the very beginning with the purpose to create a database of ESC accredited NGOs which are interested to appear and contribute to the content of the app. This way we ensure they get to know the project and the benefits of the project’s results from the very beginning and that they will use the app to improve their work with volunteers and to facilitate the selection process. We expect them to be encouraged by our project and innitiative to innovate themselves and to further research on this topic and create new projects which will serve to activate and dynamize the volunteering, active citizenship, sense of initiative and social entrepreneurship of their volunteers, youth workers etc.<< Implementation >>The activities planned to implement are divided into management activities (related to coordination, quality ensurance, sharing and promotion) and activities which will serve in the process of creation of the project result, the APP.These activities involve both the direct and indirect target group in the creation of the content of the APP and in ensuring it’s quality, relevance and sustainability.In order to reach the final result, 10 main activities were planned, following the working methodology DBR (Design Based Research), used by multinationals and start-ups in the design of innovative products/services which serve the needs of the users. Each activity will have a leader to coordinate the tasks needed and to ensure that they are performed on time.The activities planned are the followings:• Contact the acredited ESC NGOs from each partners country (Led by P1)• Create a data base of cities/town/village with the active NGOs from each partner's country (Led by P2)• Online Focus group (Led by P3)• Obtain reviews regarding the cities/town/village of the ESC acreditated organizations from Spain, Romania&Portugal(in terms of living cost, life quality, leisure time activities, english level of the citizens etc.) (Led by P3)• Design the app (Led by P4)• Create the app (Led by P4)• Pilot test of the app (Led by P1)• Feedback collection of the pilot test, centralization and interpretation of the data (Led by P2)• Final design of the app taking into consideration the feedback of the pilot test (Led by P4)• Create a sustainability mechanism through an ESC network (Led by P1)Moreover, in order to ensure the outreach and exploitation of the result, a sharing and promotion plan was drafted, by P3 (the leader of this activity), which will be updated in the first months of the project and all partners will need to follow.<< Results >>The main project result, which will be concretized into an APP, a free digital tool which will support NGO’s active in ESC, youth workers and educators in their work and will improve the selection process of the volunteers and also the development of the volunteering projects.The APP will serve as an instrument to improve the participation of all young people in ESC projects in an informed and secure manner, will facilitate pre-preparation for European volunteering, as well as integration at the site of volunteering and will overcome the mismatch between the expectations of the volunteers and the reality of the project’s place. The APP will be designed containing categories representing important aspects regarding the cities/towns/villages in which there are located ESC accredited organizations, to facilitate the acces of details regarding the cost of living, access to facilities and services, safety, free time activities etc. The categories and their relevance, as well as the content will be generated after an online focus group with the direct and indirect target group from each partner's countries, ensuring in this manner the pertinence of the entire content of the APP.More tangible results will be generated through the sharing and promotion activities during the entire life cycle of the project. - Sharing promotion and communication plan - Sharing and promotion strategy- Sharing and promotion guide- The logo of the project- Content to be published on the project websites and on the partners’ website- Posts regarding the project to be published on the social media pages of the project and of the partners- Photos and videos taken during the multiplier events or any other sharing and promotion event- Project’s brochure and infographics- A FB group for the ESC accredited organizations networkThroughout the project one of the priorities will be to make visible the project, the needs that we have demonstrated, the problems associated with those needs as well as the SOLUTION that we provide, in such a way, we are not only manifesting and making visible the problem but our interest in providing youth associations, centers, or any other sector easily accessible and useful digital tool.Intangible resultsThe intangible results are expected to be seen in the partner organizations, direct and indirect target group in terms of:● Improved participation of young people in ESC projects in an informed and secure manner● Improved previous preparation of volunteers for the ESC projects ● Faster integration of the volunteers in the project village/town● Improved collaboration between hosting organization and volunteers ● Expanded knowledge and skills of the youth workers in using innovative digital resources to improve youth participation in volunteering ● Hosting organizations and youth workers, volunteer coordinators enabled with a tool to provide to their possible volunteer in order for them to take a better informed decision