Each of the 6 partner organisation will create the youth group that will take part in the project.
Each group will consist of 7 young people aged 15 to 19 and 1 youth leader.
It was the young people’s wish after S-LAROPA 3 to continue the project. Many of the young people from the previous youth exchange are already involved in preparation of this application form. Their involvement is the best garantee for the long-term format of our project. In Slovakia, Brasil, Chile, Norway and Uruguay, there are between 2 to 5 young people who are already working on the preparation of the project right now. Since each S-LAROPA team will consist of 7 young people, new members will be looked for.
Information about the possibility to take part in the project will be advertised by each organisation among the young people that they work with. The organisations will use personal contact with youth in their organisation, their website, as well as the local media for publicity of the project.
The criteria for taking part in the project will be made clear as: age between 16 to 19, interest to participate and motivation to learn, willingness to actively participate throughout all phases of the project. Selection process and deadlines will be made transparent to all interested participants. Furthermore, it will be also be made clear that preference will be given to young people:
a. who have already taken part in the previous parts of the S-LAROPA project (to ensure the continuity of the project)
b. to young people with less opportunities
All young people interested to take part in the project will apply to their organisation by sending a motivation letter. Based on the motivation letter, each organisation will conduct a personal interview with the young people, making sure that they are willing to actively participate in all phases of the whole project and also to offer answers to any questions young people might have about the project.
Each of the partner organisations will have created the their team the latest by 30th November 2008: Brasilian, Chilean, Uruguayan, Norwegian, Austrian and Slovak S-LAROPA team
PHASE 2: First meeting of the S-LAROPA teams (the first week of December 2008)
During the first S-LAROPA team meeting, the group will:
get to know each other
each young person from the S-LAROPA team will receive a learning diary – a notebook, into which they will regularly take notes of their motivation and expectations from the project, later on of their learning progress. Furthermore, this diary can also serve practical purposes, such as taking notes of own tasks, suggestions for the project, etc.
the group will share their motivation to take part in the project and share their expectations of the project
the young people taking part in the previous S-LAROPA exchanges will speak about this experience
the leaders will explain the young people the planned schedule of all phases of the project and the idea of cooperation with the other groups
the team will agree on the time of the regular weekly meetings
filling-in and evaluation pre-questionnaire that will be used in measuring the impact of the project
PHASE 3: Deciding the 5 highlights of their country within each S-LAROPA team (December 2008)
As an introduction to the work, during the next S-LAROPA team meeting, each team will brainstorm, what they know about the other countries participating in the project
each team will decide, what they consider the 5 highlights – i.e. specifics, facts, objects from their own country which they would like the others to know or experience
PHASE 4: Processing the 5 highlights within each S-LAROPA team (December 2008, January 2009)
Having decided what their 5 highlights are, the teams will now process each highlight into a form which could be presented to the other teams, i.e. a photo, a short article with description and characteristic, a short movie, audio recording, poster, etc. Each highlight can be processed in a different form – e.g. one highlight can be in the form of a photo, another one as an audio recording, etc.
All 5 highlights will be processed in the form which can be put on website
All members of the team will actively participate in processing the highlights, they will share tasks and divide responsibility. The youth leaders will act as facilitators of this process and as contact persons in case their group needs an expert help (for example somebody to teach them how to work with a video camera, or a person who can show them how to cut audio recordings, or an expert on history, culture, etc.)
Apart from the “core members” of the group, the youth group will also cooperate with other people, who will help them in preparation and follow-up activities of the project but will not take part in the youth exchange itself. These people are for example: other members of the organisation, other youth leaders from the organisation, ex-volunteers and ex-EVS volunteers who did EVS in the participating country, young people with previous international experience, contact persons with the local public, local experts, the local media, the closest social circle of the participants, etc)
It is essential, that all S-LAROPA teams work at the task simultaneously, so that by the end of January, all 5 highlights from all participating countries will have been processed
All 5 highlights will be sent to the Chilean group who have suggested that they will be the website coordinators and will take responsibility for putting all information from all S-LAROPA teams on the web
During this phase, all teams will also get in touch via online meetings on MSN and Skype. They will get to know each other and exchange experience how the work on the highlights of their countries is progressing.
PHASE 5: Highlights and S-LAROPA team info on the website (February 2009)
During the previous parts of the S-LAROPA exchanges, the participants created http://www.s-laropa.wz.cz/where they presented the exchange. This website will be used in this continuation of the project. . Possibly, a new website just for S-LAROPA 4 will be created.
The website will be done and regularly updated by the Chilean S-LAROPA team
Each S-LAROPA team will present the following info on the website:
- personal information about the participants + their photo
- motivation for participation in the project and expectations
- the experience from the project work so far
- the 5 highlights from their country
Each team will present their website in the local media and advertise their plan to organise workshops at local schools, youth organisations and town and community meetings
PHASE 6: preparation of S-LAROPA workshops (February 2009)
The partners involved in this project have agreed that the S-LAROPA teams will organise workshops during which they wish to reach around 200 young people from their community directly and approximately 400 young people indirectly
The aim of the workshops is:
- provide space where the participants can look for hidden prejudice and become themselves more open, tolerant and sensitive to cultural, ethnic, religious, etc. differences
- provide information about the other countries, their culture, people and motivate young people to become active at international field
- offer information about the Youth in Action Programme and what it offers to young people
- to empower the young people and stimulate the process of non-formal education, where the S-LAROPA team members will learn how to deal with responsibility for own tasks, time management, organisational skills in preparing, running and evaluating activities, presentation skills
- show a good example of young people in action, and motivate other young people to become more involved in the life of their local community
- generally contribute to the development of youth policies, youth work and the voluntary sector
The general structure of the workshops will be:
- INTRODUCTION: the S-LAROPA team will introduce themselves, the project, the Youth in Action Programme
- RESEARCH 1: the participants will present what know about the participating countries in the project (in the form of a poster, discussion, etc)
- PRESENTATION 1: using the website, the participants will be then presented the 5 highlights of each country as prepared by the other S-LAROPA teams. A discussion about what the participants of the workshop knew about the countries, and what the young people living in these countries consider as the 5 highlights, will follow.
- RESEARCH 2: questions will be collected from the participants for the other S-LAROPA teams which they will answer during the S-LAROPA exchange.
- RESEARCH 3: the participants will be asked what they consider as 5 highlights of their own country
- PRESENTATION 2: the 5 highlights chosen by the S-LAROPA team will be presented to participants, followed with a discussion and suggestions for changes
- CLOSING THE WORKSHOP: feedback on the workshop, evaluation, agreement about a meeting with the participants after the youth exchange when the S-LAROPA team will be able to answer the questions directed for the other S-LAROPA teams
Each S-LAROPA team is flexible within this general structure and can choose to run the workhops the way they wish. The youth leaders will act as facilitators of this process.
Each S-LAROPA team will agree on:
- methods used in their workshop and approach to the whole workshop
- division of roles : e.g. young people running the workshops, support and logistics persons, people responsible for contact with the schools, youth centres and town and community meetings, people responsible for contact with the local media)
- each team will appoint 1 person who, will be responsible for processing the research results from each workshop and create an overall research result. This person will also take part in the APV at the beginning of May.
- time schedule of the workshops
- contact with the schools, youth centres and town and community meetings
- presentation of the workshops in the local mass media
Each team will search contact with the local town authorities to present the outcomes of the project to the them
PHASE 7: Running the S-LAROPA workshops (March and April 2009)
Each team will run approximately 10 workhops at local schools, youth centres and community centres, reaching around 200 young people from their community directly and approximately 400 young people indirectly. The local media will be invited to the workshops and will be informed about the results of the research.
The teams will be in constant touch via MSN and Skype and will inform each other about the progress of the workshops
PHASE 8: Processing the outcomes of the research done during the workshops, preparation for APV (the end of April 2009)
With the support of the whole team, the people responsible for preparing the outcomes of the research delivered during the workshops, will process it in a form of a presentation (e.g. a poster, a Powerpoint presentation, etc.)
The person responsible for processing the outcomes of the research done during the workshops will consult their team to see how they wish to present these outcomes to the other young people in during the youth exchange. They will also collect questions from the team members about the youth exchange itself.
the young people from each sending S-LAROPA team will be responsible for arranging the practicalities of the journey to Slovakia, the leader only facilitating this process
the hosting Slovak S-LAROPA team will be responsible for preparing the programme, logistics and contact with the local press and town authorities during the APV. The leaders will only facilitate this process.
PHASE 9: APV – Advance Planning Visit (1st to 4th May 2009)
From each country – the youth leader and the person responsible for processing the outcomes of the research will take part
The young people from the Slovak team will organise the logistics (transport from airport, train station, accommodation, guiding the guests around the town, etc.) as well as for running the programme (leading the discussions, organising the meeting with the press, taking the guests to a meeting with the local authorities, etc.)
During the APV, the youth leaders and young people will:
- discuss further steps in preparation of groups for the exchange
- briefly present the outcomes of the research done during the workshops in each country
- based on these brief presentations (when everybody will have idea what topics will be dealt with during the exchange), delivery and way of dealing with the Cultural Days during the youth exchange will be discussed
- details of how the Public Day during the youth exchange will be discussed
- the visitors will see the venue of the exchange, meet the mayor of the town
- any questions from the young people from other countries concerning the youth exchange itself will be answered
- involvement of young people and their role will be agreed upon
- division of tasks and sharing of responsibilities for preparation and running of the exchange will be discussed
- crisis management and problem prevention will be discussed
- the programme of the exchange will be planned in detail
- logistics will be discussed
- ground rules for the exchange will be suggested by the young people – to be taken back home and finally agreed upon in all S-LAROPA teams
- reimbursement of travel costs will be discussed
- a meeting with the local journalists will take place to spread the information about the project
- during the APV, the leaders and the young people will get in touch with the rest of the S-LAROPA teams via MSN and Skype to report to them about the meeting.
PHASE 10: preparation of the youth exchange in S-LAROPA teams (May, June 2009)
Based on agreement during the APV, each team will prepare for the youth exchange. Emphasis will be put on making the young people actively involved also in this phase of the project (e.g. they will book air-tickets and arrange local transport for the group, prepare their presentation for the exchange, communicate with the local media about the project, etc.)
The Slovak team will coordinate the preparation. Furthermore, the young people will prepare all practicalities needed for the youth exchange as well for a successful running of the programme
PHASE 11: youth exchange S-LAROPA (15-27 June 2009)
the programme of the youth exchange is enclosed separately
PHASE 12: preparation of the follow-up after the exchange (July 2009)
The final form of the follow-up will be agreed during the APV and the youth exchange. However, the partner organisations have so far agreed on the main forms of the follow-up:
1. the follow-up workshops (which had already been agreed upon with the participants during their workshops). The follow-up workshops will have the following features:
- they will be conducted with the same group of participants as during the workshops, but the participants will be able to invite their friends, relatives or other people interested to hear about the outcomes of the project.
- the S-LAROPA team will present the youth exchange and its results as well as the outcomes of the research in individual countries
- presentation of the website of the exchange
- the S-LAROPA team will provide answers to the participants’ questions which they had during the workshops
- the S-LAROPA team will present other possibilities of involvement of young people in similar projects like S-LAROPA and introduce other possibilities of the Youth in Action Programme, such as the European Voluntary Service, etc.
2. presentation noticeboard in all participating institutions with info about the exchange, research results, info about the Youth in Action Programme, etc.
3. information article in the local newspaper and – if possible – interview in the local TV
during this phase, each S-LAROPA team will decide upon the final form of the follow-up workshops, presentation noticeboards and information in the local press. Each S-LAROPA team is flexible within this general structure and can choose to run the follow-up activities the way they wish. The youth leaders will act as facilitators of this process.
Each S-LAROPA team will agree on:
- methods used in their follow-up workshop and approach to the whole follow-up workshop
- division of roles : e.g. young people running the workshops, support and logistics persons, people responsible for contact with the schools, youth centres and town and community meetings, people responsible for contact with the local media, person writing the article for the local press, people responsible for the design and updating of the presentation noticeboard)
- time schedule of the follow-up workshops
- contact with the schools, youth centres and town and community meetings
- presentation of the follow-up activities in the local mass media
- contact with the other S-LAROPA teams
The teams will be in constant touch via MSN and Skype and will inform each other about the progress of the follow-up activities
PHASE 13: Running follow-up activities after the youth exchange (August, September)
Each team will run approximately 10 follow-up workhops at local schools, youth centres and community centres. Since the participants can bring with them other young people interested to hear about the project, we hope to reach around 250 young people from their community directly and approximately 600 young people indirectly. The local media will be invited to the workshops and will be informed about the results of the research. The time of the follow-up workshops will be arranged so that the S-LAROPA teams can take advantage of the last weeks of the school year at schools, and for workshops at youth centres and community centres of the summer holidays)
The teams will be in constant touch via MSN and Skype and will inform each other about the progress of the workshops
Each team will search contact with the local town authorities to present the outcomes of the project to the them
Each team will send info about their follow-up actitivies together with the outcomes of it (e.g. newspaper article, photos, interview recordings, etc.) to the Chilean S-LAROPA teams which will process all this information on the website
PHASE 14: Evaluation of the whole project (last week of September)
Each S-LAROPA team will organise the last meeting where they will evaluate the project as such, their cooperation within the team and within all international teams
The young people will look into the skills, knowledge and abilities which they have gained during the project.
Learning diaries will also be used as a tool for overall evaluation.
filling-in and evaluation post-questionnaire that will be used in measuring the impact of the project
Each team will send the information from their evaluation meeting to the other teams to share it with them
Possibilities for further cooperation will be discussed