ACTION DAY #4: We inform Youth!

To celebrate our 25th year acting and networking towards Social Inclusion of Young People, we wanted to put a spotlight on some of the ENTER Recommendation, a tool we often use to teach Young People about the Access of Social Rights.

ENTER recommendation #4:
Information and Counseling.

This month, we asked our friends and member organisations to tell us about the various methods, solutions and good practices they implement at local level to provide Youth with information and counsel. Here are their answers!

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Oviedo, Spain – Member Organisation

“When the youth cannot come to us… we go to the youth.”

“In their transition to adulthood, young people have to take decisions that have a strong impact on their lives. Having equal access to quality and free information is essential for them to make use of their rights and to participate in society. But how to support it?

From Youropía, we tried to answer this question, focusing on essential information about youth mobility and non-formal learning. Since 2014 we set up an “info-point for youth mobility” centred in mobility-schemes and learning opportunities. Mainly Erasmus+ (European Voluntary Service, Youth Exchanges…), but not only that: Erasmus for young entrepreneurs, Creative Europe, EURES are just some of the programmes considered.

No matter who approached us at our office or made a query on-line (by email or chat), almost every youngster we met had something in common: that inner sparkle of exploring what is outside the comfort zone…, but also this feeling of being a lost, still wondering what path to take. Yet, we are all different and we all need different answers; and that’s why we decided to include different approaches too.

Although the main service is an individual 1-to1 session, tailored to the specific needs and interest of the young person who decides to enjoy the “info-point”, we also set up open sessions for groups of young people willing to get to know more about some specific subject: EVS, European Solidarity Corps, Youth Guarantee, etc.

And when the youth cannot come to us… we go to the youth. With our “mobile info-point for youth mobility”, we have the chance to go to schools and youth centres in different areas of our region and reach out to young people that cannot participate otherwise.

But “mobility and learning” is also celebration! With “Nómadas” (nomads), we gathered people who believed in the importance of travelling and exposing yourself to other cultures. In this 1 day event we combined youth information with motivational speeches and personal experiences. In 2017, Alba, Alfonso, Juan and Pablo shared their experience with Y-E-N in “Living Together in Europe” and Nomadas 2018 is around the corner… stay tuned!”

Simone – Youropía

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Nancy – Strasbourg, France – Friend Organisation

Promoting international mobility, from information to reality

Parcours le Monde – Grand Est (PLMGE) is a local organisation based in Nancy and Strasbourg in the Grand-Est region of France and information & counseling for young people are two of our main objectives! We develop information and promotion campaigns for the democratisation of international mobility and access for the target groups who are the most excluded from it.

Our target groups are mostly young people living in sensitive neighborhoods, in remote rural areas and without occupation and/or without diploma, who do not believe that an experience of work, internship or volunteering abroad is made for them for several reasons (too expensive, lack of competences, no foreign languages skills etc.). Thus, we deliver collective information sessions on the different opportunities for international mobility and their access, while also tackling intercultural aspects of mobility and the valorisation of such experience in one’s CV.

The sessions are built on a non-formal and youth-centered approach using self-reflection on the added value & challenges of mobility and the competences to be acquired, simulation games on stereotypes etc. Those information sessions are delivered in the 2 offices but also directly into socio-cultural centres, youth centres and local counsel centres for youth employment!

Thanks to these information sessions many young people stay in touch with us in order to explore the possibilities for them to go on an EVS mission, a Working Holiday Visa, an internship abroad or a youth exchange etc. That is where we begin individual guidance and counseling for our target groups: building their mobility project, linguistic and intercultural preparation etc. The guidance goes on during the departure but also after they return in order to accompany them in the valorisation of their competences and their follow-up plan.”

Cécile and Emmeline – Parcours le Monde Grand Est

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Ostia-Rome, Italy – Friend Organisation

Gathering young people around Social Rights

Humanity Over People (HOP) is a youth organisation based in Ostia-Rome, Italy. Like Youth Express Network, HOP organises various activities with young people using non-formal education to promote Social Inclusion, intercultural dialogue and the respect of diversity. Andrea, Secretary of HOP, shared with us on a project they did aiming at informing young people about their rights.

“The aim of our project HOPERATIVE IN EUROPE was to give access to social rights to high-school students using non-formal education. We helped them understand what social rights are, how they can claim for them and how to achieve active participation in the society. The total amount of Participants was: 44 students and 6 migrants.

This project was composed of 7 meetings, each focused on different rights: 1- no discrimination, 2- freedom of movement, 3- education, 4- housing, 5- right to work, 6- health care. For each of these meetings, we went to them and met them in their classes. We always started the meeting with questions on each of the specific rights and then worked on them using non-formal education: “Step forward” for non-discrimination; “World cafè” for education and freedom of movement; problem solving for housing; forum theatre for the right to work; simple explaination for health care system. Everyday, the students had to find out if these rights are protected or not in other European countries: they used newspapers and their mobiles. Thanks to that, they were able to increase their capacity of analysis of their society.

They also built, step by step, a Charter of Social Rights, thanks to the pieces of information they got from answering the questions relating to the right of the day at the beginning of each meeting.

Since another important aspect of our project was social inclusion, the last meeting was a walk in the archeological area of Ostia Antica during which students had to explain to migrants, hosted at CAS in Fiumicino, the history of the ancient harbour of Rome. We wanted to create a bridge between students and migrants.

At the end, we brought students closer to the ENTER Recommendation: what they are, how they can be implemented and their contribution to social rights.

Throughout the project, the students were really interested since non formal education is not so usual in the Italian educational system!”

Andrea – Hop