From 2 to 10 March 2016, two European Voluntary Service (EVS) volunteers from ECAS, Joanna Marczuk and Esra Inan participated in the “Active Europeans for Active Citizenship” training course organised by our partner in Serbia AD “Novi Beograd”. Together with 33 other youth workers, trainers, youth leaders and active young people from 10 European countries, they spent this time learning about active citizenship, European values and youth participation.
The project brought together participants from Serbia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey, Poland, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Through sharing knowledge, experiences and best practices from their countries, the participants learned about the concept of active citizenship, how to inspire and motivate young people to develop concrete actions which can make difference in their communities and in the world. The participants have also visited the local municipality of Belgrade Stari Grad. During the meeting with Bojan Marić, the representative of the office, participants learned about the local practices and mechanisms of the youth work in the community of Belgrade.
One of the biggest results of the training course has become the Toolbox of non-formal learning methods for citizenship education and active participation, developed by the participants. The tools aimed to promote the concept of active citizenship, encourage active participation of young people and promote European values that can be used by youth workers and leaders in their work back in their organisations and local communities.
During the project, participants have also created a blog www.activeeuropeans.wordpress.com where you can find more information about the project, its objectives, activities, results, used and produced materials, media and contacts of involved organisations.
The project “Active Europeans for Active Citizenship” was organised with the support of the EU’s Erasmus+ programme and was granted by the EACEA.