PRESS RELEASE FOR CLOSING „BUILD EUROPE THROUGH SPORTS - BEST” PROJECT

BUILD EUROPE THROUGH SPORTS - BEST (Project Number: 2014-1-RO01-KA105-001552)was a multilateral youth exchange funded by European Union through Erasmus Plus Programme, K.A.1, that involved 36 participants from Romania, Turkey, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Greece, 5 young people and a group leader from each promoter, which took place from 11 to 19 August 2014 in Ramnicu Sarat, Romania.

The project idea emerged as reaction to the present situation at European level in most countries in which the importance of sports is minimized because of weak involvement of central and local authorities, schools, too high taxes to access some sports fields, so young people are forced to go away from the sport. The purpose of the project was the promotion of mass sports and a healthy lifestyle through activities that involved both physical and the socio –professional development.

The objectives of the  BEST youth exchange were:

Objective 1 - Increase awareness of the importance of practicing the mass sports and outdoor games of 36 young people from Romania, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Poland and Slovenia, through activities undertaken in Ramnicu Sarat, Romania between 11 - 19 August, 2014 ;

Objective 2 - Increase the involvement of young people in sports and leisure by conducting outdoor games by 36 young people ;

Objective 3 - Developing intercultural communication of the 36 young people through intercultural recovery activities to promote social attitudes based on tolerance, equality, fairness, non-discrimination, solidarity, cohesion, mutual respect;

Selected activities in order to achieve the objectives and aim were based on methods and tools of non - formal education, as follows: workshops to practice some sports like football, handball, badminston, foot tennis, street ball, darts, ball throwing, mission Impossible, all serving to stimulate and drive to promote youth involvement in grassroots sport. Moreover these outdoor activities took place in order to produce a community and European impact, mass effect that ultimately will produce positive change in the mentality of the citizens.

From the methodological point of view, we chose to use non – formal and informal education as a way of voluntary involvement of young people from the six countries in the development and acquisition of skills which supports young people in their development and evolution. In this regard, alongside workshops were used other methods, such as: Motivational Seminars/Presentations to promote basic principles that young people should know and use them in practice and understanding of the importance of sport and the values it promoted such as fairness, responsibility, respect, equality, self-confidence, non -discrimination, communication, altruism, etc. Other methods used for activities scheduled were: teambuilding, round tables, reflection Grups, midterm and final evaluation, treasure hunt, traditional and intercultural evenings, energizers, know each other games, and more.

All these methods lead to a better representation of youth involvement in decision -making, an approach of the authorities and the creation of new mentalities and solid structures to support grassroots sport in Europe as a result of partnership which unified common interests of representation and promotion of six European partners. Thematically speaking, the results were translated into a mass sports promotion, new mentalities and patterns among youth in the youth field. Targeted impact due the implementation of the youth exchange was felt directly by the target group of young people who developed some new skills coming from Youthpass range, while indirectly benefited from the project: organizations, local communities of developers - the real long-term beneficiaries, media, European community, teachers, parents of young people, local authorities and other. 

On Long-term the results will consist of a greater attention offered by the authorities and schools for the youth need to practice sports in order to create new programs and structures representing the interests of young people who want to give dynamism for their life through sport. On the other hand, on long-term the local communities will be be awared of the  importance of values transmitted through sport, approached by our project which will guide our children and youth to practice the mass sports, whatever the chosen branch so that the community will grow in principles, morality and integrity.

Partners involved: 

Asociatia de Tineret ONIX – Ramnciu Sarat, Romania – Coordinator;

TD Zetale – Zetale, Slovenia – Partner

E-Genclik – Bursa, Turkey – Partner

K.A.N.E. – Kalamata, Greece, Partner

Sabbeen Group – Sabbioneta, Italy – Partner

Stowarzyszenie Mia – Lublin, Poland – Partner

Implementation period of the project: 

01.07.2014 – 01.03.2015

BEST TEAM!

BEST DISSEMINATION BROCHURE --> Lovely memories!

“WE INVEST IN YOUTH” TRAINING COURSE, an important dissemination and multiplication of non-formal learning among Romanian participants!

As we planned, at the end of September, between 26 – 28, Youth Center from Ramnicu Sarat was the place where 20 youngsters decided to start a valuable learning process together with specific trainers, youth workers or simple volunteers in BEST project. One of the most important steps followed by the training was to capitalize the opportunity to give to the participants the chance to be creative, to use their knowledge, their experiences and dynamic spirit in order to understand and be part of a different kind of learning through, also, different tools and methods used, all coming from non-formal education. Starting with a dialogue from which we tried to make them be aware about the differences between formal and non-formal, after a work on teams, the training course succeeded to be a good promoter of a new way of learning structured and build on ERASMUS PLUS principles and guided to new future projects in which the participants of the training will be involved. In this way the training wanted to be a valuable investment in participants education and preparation, considering their motivation for participating in future projects in which all these experiences to be capitalized. 

For that, the training was built each day on two sessions of learning each one being composed of two sub-sessions. The first part of each session was represented by the training process in which the trainers tried to teach the youngsters new tools and methods of non-formal education as: Brainstorming, Workshop, Photovoice, Public Café, Open Space, Teambuilding, Debate, Energizers, Storytelling, Know each other games and Case study. The most important part of the training process after a complete presentation for each method was to application of the method. For that, the participants were divided in teams or motivated individually in order to complete different tasks which helped for a better understanding of the methods. For the training course, they were prepared application forms and a selection process for which each participant applied, the selection being made after a motivational interview in which the most important argument was the motivation to multiply the knowledge and experiences gained in new future ERASMUS PLUS Projects. Also, an important part of the training was reserved to present ERASMUS PLUS Program, it’s principles and the importance of non-formal language, Youthpass and competences in each participant development. 

“INVEST IN YOUTH” training course, at the end of the process, as the evaluation appreciates was a full learning process, one which for this moment created a new team of youth ready to be part of new mobility projects (especially), continuing in this way the collaboration started in BUILD EUROPE THROUGH SPORT project.

Florin Ceparu – Manager de proiect

Articol realizat in cadrul proiectului BUILD EUROPE THROUGH SPORTS derulat cu sprijin financiar din partea Uniunii Europene in cadrul Programului ERASMUS PLUS, Actiunea cheie 1 – Mobilitati ale tinerilor.