Discover Safir, an ambitious initiative, supported by the European Union, striving to empower and uplift young individuals in nine countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East.

The aims of the project is to foster a nurturing environment that actively encourages the active participation of youth.

The final goal to promote the initiation and growth of entrepreneurial projects that contribute positively to social, cultural, and environmental aspects.

Read on to find out more about this project!

About the project

Safir empowers 1,000 young individuals to contribute to sustainable development goals and be active change-makers.

It encourages their involvement in community life, helps integrate them socially and economically, and supports the development of their projects.

Safir also provides training and support sessions for entrepreneurial, media, or community projects at different stages of development, collaborating with local incubators known for their expertise.

The initiative started during 2022, with the implementation of the reinforced Youth Guarantee.

Member States started implementing measures under their recovery and resilience plans targeting young people and youth employment related measures.

What has been achieved so far?

Safir wants to support sustainable and successful projects by creating a favourable environment.

It also equips higher education institutions, local incubators, and civil society organisations to help young individuals excel in the Safir project.

The final goal of the project is to build an ecosystem that nurtures projects with social, cultural, or environmental impact, showcasing regional talent and initiatives on a global scale.

The Safir project is:

• 21 civil society organisations supported to strengthen their advocacy training methodologies

• 18 innovative spaces in higher education and research institutions
• 7 local networked incubators, which contribute to the creation of a regional guide to innovative and social entrepreneurship
• 1000 young project leaders supported from 9 countries across North Africa and the Middle East

Discover more about the initiative

If you are interested in finding out more about this project, the results achieved and future initiatives visit the official website!

Read also

Reinforced Youth Guarantee | Youth Employment and Education

Capacity-Building in the field of Youth

L'articolo The Safir Project | Socio-Economic Inclusion across Africa proviene da Youth Networks.

Get to know the “Youth Guarantee”, a project to support young people in gaining work experience and developing the right skills for a changing world of work.

This initiative doesn’t have an end date and it will persist as the European Union’s primary policy framework for combating youth unemployment and inactivity.

After 2022, it will retain the substantial EU funds allocated in the 2021-2027 long-term budget and NextGenerationEU to further its mission of delivering improved outcomes for young people in Europe.

About the initiative

The Youth Guarantee represents an opportunity from every Member State to guarantee that all individuals under 30 are provided with a high-quality opportunity for:

• Employment
• Ongoing education
• Apprenticeships
• Traineeships

Within a timeframe of four months from the moment they become unemployed or conclude their education.

The initiative started during 2022, with the implementation of the reinforced Youth Guarantee.

Member States started implementing measures under their recovery and resilience plans targeting young people and youth employment related measures.

The goals of the initiative

The final goal of the project is to enhance the employability of the youth.

It aims to support individuals under 30 that want to access high-quality employment, continued education, apprenticeships, or traineeships.

In 2020, the Youth Guarantee underwent a strengthening process to better cater to the needs of young individuals.

This reinforced approach places a primary emphasis on preventing unemployment and inactivity while facilitating smoother transitions from school to work.

One of its central objectives is to support young people in acquiring valuable work experience and cultivating the necessary skills to thrive in an ever-evolving job landscape.

What has been achieved so far?

The project has already achieved excellent results, improving the difficult situation caused by the COVID pandemic which has made it difficult for many young Europeans to find employment.

Over 24 million young people who were once registered in Youth Guarantee schemes started a job, continued education and traineeships.

To learn more about the results obtained in recent years through the program we recommend you visit the official website of the initiative.

Discover more about the initiative

For more information about this initiative, its results and future objectives you can consult the official website.

Read also

Capacity-Building in the field of Youth

Youth Sounding Board | A Project for Youth Empowerment

L'articolo Reinforced Youth Guarantee | Youth Employment and Education proviene da Youth Networks.

2-Minute Videos

To meet these needs, we decided to launch a series of 15 2-minute videos, pills that will help you understand more about how to make your business idea real. The videos, designed for TikTok, use simple and straightforward language that can both help young people with little knowledge of the subject and give useful hints to more experienced ones.

The 15 videos can be watched in series, or you can decide to watch only those that you find most interesting. The contents cover different topics and can be a useful tool both for getting answers to specific questions and for gaining a clearer picture of the entrepreneurial world in general.

The videos will help you find answers to questions such as: How do I define the scope of my company? How do I define my long-term objectives? What legal form should I give my company? How do I forecast my initial investment and how do I manage costs? What do I have to do to present my idea to financiers? How can I manage my staff?

This is also a useful tool in entrepreneurship training courses aimed at young people, since they can serve as a support to introduce or deepen the contents of the lessons.

The videos are available in 5 languages (English, German, Italian, Romanian and Spanish) and can be accessed on:

• TikTok,
• Instagram,
• Facebook and
• Youtube.

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The KA2 project “Entrepreneur+ Exploring Entrepreneurship Beyond Concepts” is managed by Centrul de Voluntariat Cluj-Napoca, in cooperation with Associazione Joint Milano, Backslash and “Gemeinsam leben und lernen in Europa e.V.”, and co-funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus Plus programme

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

L'articolo Entrepreneur+ | Entrepreneurship Explained… in 2 Minutes proviene da Youth Networks.

The Erasmus+ Youth Exchange “I want (you)th” hosted by Associazione No Borders, gathered 25 young people aged 14-18 years old and 7 youth leaders from 5 countries – Italy, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Spain and Albania. The project about volunteering, active participation and opportunities for and by young people took place in the scenic Ostello Parco Monte Barro in Galbiate, Italy from 18th to 26th September.

During 7 days of non formal education activities the participants had an opportunity to:

• learn about active participation, involvement, the difference between volunteering and activism, as well as different volunteering opportunities in local, national and European levels, such as European Solidarity corps international volunteering activities, Erasmus+ and others. 
• increase transversal skills, especially various soft skills related to communication, problem solving, time and resource management etc. 
• reflect on the personal contribution they make and can make to society through volunteering and social dialogue and the possible use of social media for raising awareness of and tackling social issues.

This was achieved by the experience of living in a multicultural community, self managed activities and non-formal education activities, like role-plays, discussions, trying out volunteering in practise with association Legambiente Lecco, participants sharing their own experiences (half of the group had previous experience volunteering while others did not), listening to good practise examples for involvement of young people in volunteering activities in Human library, sharing their culture through dances, quizzes and food in intercultural nights and self-organizing activities in the free time.

The results

As a tangible result of the project in one of the sessions devoted to volunteering practise, after getting to know the general goals and approaches of Legambiente Lecco (the manager of the hostel where the project was hosted), participants created upcycled items useful in the daily life of the hostel and the organization, such as  a sign with the name of the hostel, a birds house, holders for cutlery and pencils and a clothes hanger.

Within the project various artistic tools were used, such as theatrical performances, representing practical volunteering examples, comics creation for active youth participation processes, drawing posters for explanation of European opportunities – Erasmus+ Youth exchanges, European Solidarity corps volunteering activities and solidarity projects and DiscoverEU, as well as photos and videos.

During the mobility activity participants also created ideas for volunteering activities about topics that they care deeply about and find problematic, which they could do when returning back home, for example:

• providing activities of clothes swap every season, as well as informative campaigns focusing on the problem of fast fashion, targeting in particular young people
• organizing conferences in schools and youth centers addressing the problem of fake news and misinformation, raising media literacy of their peers.

Results from impact assessment questionnaire, which was given to all participants on the first and the last day of the exchange showed a visible increase in understanding the differences between volunteering and activism, a smaller, but still significant increase in awareness of the diverse opportunities for volunteering (at a local, national, European and international level), awareness of what are the social issues participants as individuals are mostly interested in and that I would like to address as a volunteer as well as awareness of the impact of volunteering and active participation for the society.

The voices of the participants

But what could better describe the project than the participants themselves – a few days after the project, when asked about their experience, Miriam from Italy shared that “The topic was so useful because now I know how to find opportunities on the specific topics. The thing I liked the most is learning about other people’s experience. The most challenging moments were trying to create a plan that everyone liked with all or most of the ideas that we came up with. The happiest moments were dancing in the auditorium or dancing while we were doing the dishes or even cooking”. 

Mario (Spain) says “I learned a lot about expressing myself although it was more difficult because I used a different language. I also learned that sometimes I need my space and socializing all the time is really tiring. I imagined that the most distant countries would have many differences but I saw that we are really similar in all the aspects. And I learn many things like dances, new words and expressions from the rest of the countries and that’s funny. I went to the project with a small idea about volunteering and activism and I return home with a lot of examples, ways, and ideas to contribute to our planet and society.” 

Kalina (Bulgaria) says: “During the project, I learned that living in a community is hard but not impossible when you work as a group in the activities and outside. I learned that it’s important  to be an active participant in the community you live in not only for your own personal growth but also for  the environment. One of the most challenging things I did was to break loose around the participants and during the activities, but in the end, everything just became easier, and the talk went smoother. Some of the activities were definitely more daring as they were connected with topics most of us weren’t that familiar with. Even though it was hard, the experience I got from it was something you can’t just find anywhere and the friendships you make along the way are the ones that will stay with you for the rest of your life. I got to experience other cultures, and I think that the cultural nights were my favorite. In the end, I can say that the experience I got from the project has definitely made a change in me, and I’ll definitely out for other projects.”

More thoughts about the project can be seen also in this video, created by the participants on the last day of the project activity.

L'articolo “I want (you)th”. An Erasmus+ youth exchange to create opportunities for youth proviene da Youth Networks.

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.

A Successful and Efficient Project

In order for your project to be successful and work efficiently, you need business knowledge and skills. Especially when it comes to financing a volunteer project, many people don’t know what they are doing.

And this is where we want to support you. As part of our EU project “Entrepreneur+” we organised workshops on this topic. You can now find our concentrated knowledge on our handbook “How to finance my own volunteer project?” The handbook is also suitable for people, who have little experience in the financial field.

In the manual, we not only provide you with theoretical knowledge, but it also contains many practical exercises and templates. We hope that this will help you to finance your own volunteer projects.

What to Consider When Financing a Project

In the 3 chapters, we will introduce you to the following steps that are important when financing a project: 

• What do I need for my project? You will learn how to plan a project, how to set clear goals and how to determine what resources you will need.
• How do I get what I need? We introduce you different financing methods. You can find out which method is the best for your needs.
• How do I handle the money? You will learn how to keep track of your costs, how to record transactions and how to inform the relevant authorities.

You can then share your knowledge and run a workshop yourself: In the attachment to the handbook you will find a schedule for a 3-hour workshop and practical exercises on the financing topic. 

You can download our handbook “How to finance my own volunteer project?” for free. It is available in 5 languages: English, German, Italian, Romanian and Spanish.

Download the English version for free.

L'articolo Handbook | How to Finance my Own Volunteer Project? proviene da Youth Networks.

From July 26th to 31st, Galbiate (Italy) became a vibrant hub of adventure and cross-cultural exploration, as young participants from Denmark, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and Spain gathered to create unforgettable memories. 

Uniting for a Common Cause: The Essence and Ambitions

At its core, the Youth Exchange aimed to empower teens aged 14 to 17 by immersing them in the world of outdoor activities and inclusive sports. Together with our partner organizations, we sought to break down barriers, create lifelong connections, and provide a truly transformative experience. 

A Snapshot of Success: Highlights and Milestones

Over six incredible days, we embarked on a journey of growth and adventure. Through it all – learning survival techniques or sharing cultural treasures, we grew individually and collectively. From icebreakers that turned strangers into friends, to traditional and creative games that had us all laughing and learning, every moment was designed to bring us together. Cultural nights allowed us to savor diverse flavors and traditions, deepening our understanding of each other’s backgrounds.

Embracing Physical and Mental Challenges: A Holistic Approach

Our program had something for everyone, catering to both body and mind. From decoding body language to mastering the art of juggling, we tapped into self-expression and personal growth in creative ways. The physical challenges weren’t limited to traditional sports; we introduced inventive twists that encouraged teamwork, strategizing, and yes, plenty of laughter.

Cultural Showcases: A Feast for the Senses

Sharing our cultures was a highlight of the exchange. Cultural nights transformed into global feasts of music, dance, and flavors. Denmark, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and Spain came to life through stories and traditional dishes that sparked conversations and a deeper appreciation for our diversity.

Sporting Challenges: Taking Fun to New Heights

We reinvented the concept of classic sports games that tested our skills and teamwork in exciting ways. Volleyball took on a twist, while dodgeball brought surprises that had us strategizing and laughing in equal measure.

Impactful Adventures: Learning and Giving Back

Beyond the fun, our project also aimed to give back. We cleaned beaches, honed survival skills, and engaged with local communities, experiencing the joy of making a positive impact. Our activities promoted responsibility, teamwork, and an understanding of the world beyond ourselves.

Embracing Memories: The Final Chapter

As our journey came to an end, we celebrated our achievements by summarizing our learnings, sharing them with local Italian kids and putting them into words for the YouthPass, closing the chapters of our emotional diaries, and cherishing the moments that shaped us in heart-warming closing rituals. We left with a sense of fulfillment, carrying with us the memories of this adventure – the laughter, the challenges, and the connections – with us to fuel our journeys ahead.

Voices from the participants 

Samantha from the Italian team shared: “The thing that prompted me to participate was curiosity because I had never participated in a project of this type. I really enjoyed the activities and especially learning about new cultures.”

Nicolo from Italy says: “It was an incredible experience, I wanted to have this experience to improve my English and get to know new cultures, my expectations were absolutely met.”

Lara from Portugal shared her thoughts: “What made me join was meeting new people and improving my English. I loved the experience and would gladly repeat it, the part I liked the most was the international nights.”

Luis from Portugal says: “My personal favorite part was being able to meet other cultures and getting in touch with people very different from me, and being able to identify with them and form friendships. Above all I’ve learnt how a Youth Exchange works, what the Youth Pass is and improved my notions of multiculturalism. I would without a doubt recommend Youth Exchanges to a friend, like my friend did with me.”

A Legacy of Friendship and Adventure

A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who contributed to the Youth Exchange. This journey has shown us that when we come together, share experiences, and celebrate diversity, magic happens.

Stay Tuned for More: The Journey Continues

The “Outdoor Activities and Sport for All” Youth Exchange has left us with memories that fuel our desire for more adventures, more learning, and more global connections. We invite you to keep your spirits high and your hearts open – who knows what incredible journeys await us next?

L'articolo “Outdoor Activities and Sport for All” Youth Exchange: A Journey Worth Sharing proviene da Youth Networks.

But how to do it? The topic is too big, too wide, it may seem unreachable, off limits, unrealistic. It is for these daunting circumstances that this toolkit emerges.

Intercultural Dialogue Through Art

In order to be able to approach intercultural dialogue in a creative and inclusive way, this toolkit can help to: 

• Fostering the debate, among young people, on the topics of cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and intercultural conflict, allowing them to exchange their own personal experiences. 
• Implementing activities, focused on  specific forms of art, addressing the topic of intercultural dialogue. This not only will make the debate more accessible, but will also support the creation of tangible artistic outputs, to be used to make your activities more visible in the local communities. 

The Toolkit

This toolkit contains some of the methodologies and activities implemented during the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange “Intercultural Dialogue Through ART”, implemented in Ligonchio (Italy) on April 27th-May 5th 2023, in the framework of the Erasmus+ accreditation of Associazione Joint. 

We decided to collect here only the methodologies that were designed or adapted specifically for this mobility and that have been successfully tested during the Youth Exchange.

The Youth Exchange

The activities aim was to explore the topic of intercultural dialogue, approaching it through different artistic techniques, while in direct contact with nature, in order to find new ways of practicing and promoting intercultural dialogue. The practical approach of the activities allowed us to make the topic and the debate accessible to young people with a low level of English, to young people facing fewer opportunities, as well as to valorise the individual strengths and passions of each participant, in a very diverse group.

Europe is a rich continent, where different cultures, religions, beliefs, nationalities and ideas interact with each other. With this in mind, it is crucial to be able to create culture dialogues.

Therefore, the goals of the YE were:

• Making young people more aware about the topics of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogues 
• Exchanging experiences about intercultural dialogue and discrimination in the involved countries
• Investigating artistic forms to foster intercultural dialogue among young people and local communities 
• Creating tangible artistic outputs to be used during the dissemination events.

With this Toolkit, any interested entity or person will be able to host, deliver and carry successfully activities in these topics and thus, help their local community to become more international and to address issues of the most crucial importance.

L'articolo TOOL: Intercultural Dialogue Through Art proviene da Youth Networks.

It is a course organised within the ERASMUS+ program, the European Union program in the field of education, vocational training, youth and sport. The program has been providing learning and development opportunities for more than 35 years, and approximately 13 million people have participated to date.

The Training Course

Training course participants were selected following a business plan competition. They had the chance to improve their ideas in order to be more competitive in the market. If some were just at the beginning of their journey, others have already launched their business, or will do so soon. Their chosen business field is different, some of the young people want to venture into entrepreneurship through various mobile applications, others have chosen to deliver certain services, based on their skills set, while some have already launched their own production line of dog care products, sports clothing, etc.

“It was an extraordinary experience, a new experience that took me out of my
comfort zone. I had the opportunity to meet wonderful people from several countries,
extremely friendly and empathetic people that I will keep in touch with in the future.
The course was extremely useful and I strongly believe it will help me in the future. I
think that this course helped me the most to learn to better manage costs, risks and
time” – Sergiu, young man from Romania, interested in launching a company
specialised in software product development services.

In addition to the educational activities, the participants also enjoyed social
and cultural activities, including a guided tour of Cluj-Napoca and a cultural evening, in which each of the countries represented shared cultural elements and stories with the others.

The course is part of the “ENTREPRENEUR+: EXPLORING ENTREPRENEURSHIP BEYOND CONCEPTS” project, coordinated by Centrul de Voluntariat Cluj-Napoca, in partnership with Associazione di promozione sociale Joint, Backslash Association, and Gemeinsam leben und lernen in Europa e.V. and co-financed by the of the European Commission.

L'articolo ENTREPRENEUR+ | Training Course in Cluj-Napoca, Romania proviene da Youth Networks.

In the beginning, each of the players randomly selects a business card. The business cards are grouped into three sectors: hospitality, services, and the food industry. Each business has some features listed on its respective card: the yearly revenue made, the risks it is prompted to, and how much a cost unit is. Throughout the game, the players will roll the dice and advance on the board. Similar to other popular games, they will either cash in or cash out some of their money, depending on the box they find themselves in. Otherwise, they will need to draw a card:

• knowledge cards will test the players’ knowledge related to entrepreneurship, economics, or business administration,
• surprise cards will affect the player only if their business is prompted to such a risk, as the one listed on their card,
• development cards test the participants’ entrepreneurial abilities and add more interactivity to the game.

Because we aim to promote a healthy mindset, we introduced also the happiness points, one would receive after answering successfully a question on a knowledge card. The happiness points have a specific role in the game and are associated with several benefits the individual can enjoy in life. 

The game can be played individually, or in pairs, with a maximum of 12 people, with a duration of 90-120 minutes. A facilitator is needed to support the participants’ learning process and ensure the rules are respected. 

Future Entrepreneur is an open-source game, that one can print out and use for non-profit, educational purposes: in the classroom, in the training room, or in other circumstances. The kit contains also printing instructions. The game is available in 5 languages: English, German, Italian, Romanian, and Spanish. 

You can access it for free, here. 

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The board game is a result produced within the “ENTREPRENEUR+: EXPLORING ENTREPRENEURSHIP BEYOND CONCEPTS” project, conducted by Centrul de Voluntariat Cluj-Napoca, in partnership with Associazione di Promozione Sociale Joint, Backslash and Gemeinsam Leben und Lernen in Europa e.V. and co-financed by the European Commission’s Erasmus + Program.

The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the uthors, and the National Agency and Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”

L'articolo Project Result | Entrepreneur+ | Future Entrepreneur Board Game is READY! proviene da Youth Networks.