The venue is situated in the Regional Park of Monte Barro in a picturesque zone – which we wanted, with this occasion, to promote and present its beauty on an international scale.

Legambiente Lecco

Legambiente Lecco is a non-profit organization, that is active in the field of environmental protection, with the main aim of promoting and developing sustainable and well-balanced with the environment lifestyles, whereof man is an integral part – goal that fit like a glove with the main objectives of the mobility:

• Increasing awareness of the environmental impact of human activities.
• Raising awareness about waste and food waste through practical upcycling workshops, utilizing items like newspaper, plastic bottles, glass, tetrapak, clothes, and herbs. 
• Sharing of best practices in waste reduction and recycling among European countries.
• Providing young people with a multicultural learning experience.

The Youth Exchange

These objectives were explored, during 6 days of non-formal based activities, by a total of 39 participants (including 8 group leaders & 1 facilitator) from 6 countries – Italy, Romania (Asociația Hair Redivivus), Portugal (Cooperativa de Inovação Educativa para a Transformação Social), Poland (Polish Ochotnicze Hufce Pracy), Hungary (Association Travelnest) & France (Association Hors Pistes), through ice breaking & getting to know each other activities, international evenings, practical workshops on learning skills related to upcycling (newspaper to create paper, glass and tetrapak to create decorations, clothes, plastic bottles to create jewelry, corks), team building activities, practical workshop on the identification of edible plants in the forest close to the hostel, as well as preparing natural sauces out of them, offered by an external expert, practical workshop on the creation of deodorant & charcoal toothpaste, using natural ingredients, discussions, debriefing and reflection groups. Additionally, the participants even visited “Cascina Selvetto” for a workshop on herbs to address food waste issues.

Since the project was designed and organized under the umbrella of Associazione Joint’s strategic accreditation on the inclusion of youngsters with fewer opportunities, the exchange involved 15 such participants (50% of the total number of participants), many of them with a level of English close to zero. This led to structuring the activities as practical as possible, in order to make them as little based on verbal communication. 

More so, the entire schedule was personalized based on participant’s feedback, with sessions organised & facilitated by the group leaders of the different countries, with the support of the facilitator. This division of roles between partners had the aim of empowering the leaders, as all group leaders were given space to structure & manage at least one activity.

Curious to discover more? Here’s the story of the project, captured in pictures.

L'articolo “Upcycling & Sustainable Lifestyles” – an Erasmus+ Youth Exchange proviene da Youth Networks.

In the light of the 3-year Erasmus Plus accreditation obtained by the Associazione Joint to develop a strategy aimed at the inclusion and empowerment of young people with the fewer social and economic opportunities in European mobility projects, the training was the first step towards achieving 3 objectives:

• Recruit young people with fewer opportunities, also by creating local networks of organisations working directly with them;
• Train youth workers active in the field of international mobility to work with young people with fewer opportunities and train educators to work in international mobility projects;
• Create standard preparation and follow-up activities to meet the needs of this target group.

Inclusion in Mobility Projects

The objective of the Training Course “Inclusion in Mobility Projects” was to train participants to their eventual involvement in Youth Exchanges financed by the Erasmus+ programme and organised by Associazione Joint and its network of partners over 2023, and in the following years. These projects will in fact involve vulnerable and highly vulnerable young participants with economic and social difficulties.

During the course, the priorities were:

• Train group leaders on inclusion and strategies to support participants with fewer opportunities before, during and after a youth exchange experience;
• Co-design the youth exchanges to be hosted by Associazione Joint in 2023 that will focus on inclusion;
• Establish cooperation agreements with organisations active in the field of youth mobility.

Testimonies of Participants

Curious to know how it went?
During the 8 days of work, Associazione Joint collected testimonials from the training participants!

“THE TRAINING COURSE WAS WELL THOUGHT AND I FELT LIKE I GOT PERSONAL GROWTH THAT HELPS ME IN MY CAREER AND ALSO IN MY PERSONAL LIFE.1 WEEK IN MONTE BARRO WAS EXCEPTIONAL.” – JAMI, FINLANDIA (ASSOCIAtion OIVANKI)

“NGO PROVIDING EXCELLENT SUPPORT AND IMPARTING VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE. OVERALL, IT WAS THE BEST-ORGANIZED PROJECT I HAVE EVER PARTICIPATED IN.” – MIRKO, SERBIA (ASSOCIAtion MOTUS ADOLESCENTI)

“EIGHT INCREDIBLE DAYS, BETWEEN SKY AND LAKES, EXCHANGING PRACTICES, KNOWLEDGES, LANGUAGES AND STORIES. IT IS HARD TO FORGET EXPERIENCES LIKE THESE.” – NICOLÒ, FRANCIA (ASSOCIAtion HORS PISTES)

“IT HAS BEEN AN AMAZING WEEK. THANKS TO THIS TRAINING COURSE I HAVE LEARNT A LOT ABOUT HOW TO IMPROVE MYSLELF AS A YOU THE EXCHANGE LEADER. I HAVE ALSO MET A LOT OF INCREDIBLE PEOPLE INSPIRING ME FOR MY PERSONAL LIFE AND MY PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS. I’M REALLY GREATFULL TO EVERYBODY THAT MADE THIS POSSIBLE!” – ADRIÁN (ASSOCIAtion PARCOURS LE MONDE)

“THE TRAINING COURSE WAS PRETTY COOL, I LEARNED A LOT ABOUT INCLUSION OF PEOPLE WITH FEWER OPPORTUNITIES, AND THE PRACTICAL EXERCISES WERE GREAT FOR PRACTICE.” – MIKKEL, DANIMARCA (ASSOCIAtion PASSION UDFLUGT)

“IN GALBIATE, ITALY. I REPRESENTED THE PRIENAI YOUNG MALTESERS GROUP AND THE PRIENAI PRIENAI PRIMARY SCHOOL.THE AIM OF MY PARTICIPATION WAS TO FIND PARTNERS FOR THE YOUTH EXCHANGE AND TO BE A YOUTH LEADER IN THE FUTURE EXCHANGES. IN THIS EXCHANGE WE PLAN TO INVOLVE THE BEST MEMBERS OF THE PRIENAI YOUNG MALTESERS GROUP AND THE BEST STUDENTS OF THE ISLAUZ SCHOOL. 22 PARTICIPANTS.10 COUNTRIES – PORTUGAL, LITHUANIA, FINLAND, SERBIA, GERMANY, POLAND, FRANCE, SPAIN, ITALY, AND DENMARK. WE LEARNT HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE MOST VULNERABLE YOUNG PEOPLE AND INVOLVE THEM IN MOBILITY PROJECTS. CONTACTS WERE MADE FOR FUTURE YOUTH EXCHANGES. I AM GLAD THAT THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ISLAUZ SCHOOL SUPPORTS MY DESIRE TO LEARN AND DEVELOP. AND ABOVE THAT CHURCH IS A 15TH CENTURY CHURCH. FRANCESCO SFORCA, GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF OUR SIGISMUND AUGUSTUS, HAD A FORTIFICATION WALL BUILT.” – RITA, LITHUANIA (ASSOCIAtion PRIENU JAUNIEJI MALTIEČIAI)

“IN THIS TRAINING COURSE I HAVE SHARED AND EXCHANGED EXPERIENCES WITH OTHER YOUTH WORKERS AND YOUNG FUTURE YOUTH LEADERS WITH DIVERSE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUNDS.  THE SYNERGIES THAT I HAVE CREATED WITH OTHER PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND CULTURES IS AN ENRICHING EXPERIENCE BOTH PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY” – AIDA, SPAGNA (ASSOCIAtion MUÉVETE POR EUROPA)

“THE TRAINING COURSE REALLY HELPED UNDERSTAND OTHERS WITH SIMILAR GOALS AND GOT ME TO EXPEND MY VIEW OF THIS FIELD OF WORK. IT MADE ME EVEN MORE SURE THAT I WANNA KEEP GOING IN THAT DIRECTION, AND I HOPE THAT I MAY BE ABLE TO TEACH THAT EXPERIENCE TO OTHERS” – LOICK, FRANCIA (ASSOCIAtion PARCOURS LE MONDE)

“THIS TC HAS BEEN ESPECIALLY EMOTIONAL FOR ME. THE TOPIC TO BE DISCUSSED WAS INCLUSION AND WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED IS TO CREATE A GROUP OF VERY CLOSE TIES BETWEEN US, A TOTALLY HORIZONTAL COMMUNITY AND A SAFE SPACE IN WHICH EVERYONE FELT COMFORTABLE. WE HAVE UNDERSTOOD INCLUSION AND ITS IMPORTANCE AT THE DEEPEST LEVEL SINCE WE HAVE EXPERIENCED IT ON OUR SKIN. IT HAS BEEN AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE” – SANTIAGO, SPAGNA (ASSOCIAtion BRÚJULA INTERCULTURAL)

L'articolo Inclusion in Mobility Projects | Training Course on the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities proviene da Youth Networks.

1. Block all mobilities abroad at least until the 15th of April

2. Cancel or postpone all international meetings until the end of May to dates from September onwards

3. Request to:

– all volunteers coordinated by Joint in Italy who return to their countries;
– all Italian volunteers coming back from abroad in projects related with Joint; 
– all volunteers who want to go abroad during their mobility period; 

to implement all the necessary preventive measures, including a 2 weeks quarantine period in complete isolation.

4. Request to all our ESC partners willing to receive Italian volunteers to host them only in case they can guarantee 2 weeks quarantine in a complete isolation period.

Moreover, all our staff and volunteers in Italy are quarantined at home, in smart working when needed.

Short description of the current situation in Italy:

On March 9, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte stretched the quarantine zone across the entire country and announced the whole territory to be a “restricted area” in the “red zone”, making traveling to and out of Italy very complicated, and specified all exchange activities must stop. Then on the 11th of March, the Government also decided for the shutdown of all not-needed commercial and economic activities. There are also many restrictions concerning traveling between provinces, or even within cities, unless absolutely necessary, which significantly hinders the effective implementation of our projects.

L'articolo Coronavirus – How to manage mobility projects? The official position of Associazione Joint, from Italy: quarantine has to be compulsory proviene da Youth Networks.