TAEUS (Take a walk on the EU side)

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Ingalicia

Organisation:

Ingalicia

Country:

Spain

About organisation:

Ingalicia was founded in 2007 to promote a spirit and community integration and to foster European culture awareness among the youth. Ingalicia is presented at local level as a tool to assist and support the implementation of non-formal education courses and improving knowledge of European labour system practices. We organise courses, visits and meetings, European events for public agencies on policies concerning youth, mobility, sports, local economic development , culture and cooperation with developing countries. We believe that transnational experience could offer young people the opportunity to grow within a European dimension through their personal and professional skills, so that they could become main actors of the European future. Since its foundation, the association has participated in various advocacy and promotion of European mobility and its members have large mobility experience as trainers.

Title of the project

TAEUS (Take a walk on the EU side)

Start date:

1/11/2021

End date:

1/11/2022

Objectives:

Take a walk on the EU side is an innovative educational itinerary aimed at promoting and developing principles of active citizenship through research activities and monitoring of cohesion funds. The project allows developing digital, civic and social skills, as well as improving communication skills and acquiring statistical skills, helping participants (through the use of tools such as journalistic techniques) to know and disseminate how cohesion funds intervene in the places where they live. The project allows dealing with civic education, developing digital skills but also communication skills, as well as transversal skills such as critical sense, problem solving and teamwork. In this way, on the one hand, young people will follow a training itinerary that will offer them the opportunity to learn by doing and be the protagonists of learning, and on the other, local communities will be able to benefit from this initiative thanks to their collaboration with young people themselves, as well as the materials and results produced during the development of the activities. The methodology used in this project is based on challenge-based learning, through the resolution of challenges and gamification. The project is developed and implemented by four trainers and its theoretical and practical content is based on a MOOC, an online course in an open format, in which both the participating students and their teachers actively participate.

Why the project was: empowering young people, adapting to changing realities, or thinking out of the box:

“TAEUS” empowered the participants on several levels. They became more aware of their opportunities and rights as European citizens. They undertook a non-formal learning itinerary that allowed them to: discover the projects funded in their territory and participate in a civic monitoring activity. The young people developed the research in autonomy, choosing the topic they wanted to investigate and putting into action a field research, dividing the roles in each team, making periodical reports and writing informative articles and explanatory videos. The teams met representatives of the public institutions and engineering and architectural experts who worked on the construction of the project of interest. In addition, they interviewed the local community to find out the real impact of each project. The participants were able to carry out invaluable research work, raising awareness of the role of European institutions in society and the value and impact of European funds at local level. This project also allowed them to develop soft skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, communication, conflict resolution and all these soft skills will help them become more adapted to changing realities. Finally, the participants developed concrete proposals on how cohesion funds could be used in their communities, presenting their ideas in front of the high-calibre professionals of the European Commission, this action encouraged them to think out of the box.

How the project was inclusive:

One of the main objectives of our project is in line with Eurodesk's priority which is to encourage the participation of young people to become active citizens. Our participants undertook a non-formal itinerary in which they researched about the investment of funding funds in their immediate environment, as well as to come up with solutions and answers to problems that could be subsidised with these funds. In addition, we had the opportunity to gather all of us in a big online event, inviting policy makers and representatives of the Spanish delegation of the European Parliament and the European Commission, as well as the National Youth Institute (INJUVE) and to have the presence of the Eurodesk Brussels liaison, as Ingalicia is a Eurodesk Local Point. Finally, in September 2022 we travelled to Madrid and Brussels to meet with representatives of the European Parliament and the European Commission, as well as the Spanish National Youth Institute (INJUVE). In Brussels, we prepared a visit to Eurodesk Brussels, where the young winners had a space to tell their results of the investigations they carried out and receive their participation certification, because for our association it is important to give visibility to the space where ideas are incubated and developed to inspire young people to develop their potential.

Green aspect:

We incorporated green practices through an environmentally-friendly approach, and particularly through the implementation of the following actions: promoting sustainable means of transport, in terms of green travel in any case in which it is a possible option (to exemplify this, the winning classes from Badajoz and A Coruña travelled by train to the European Parliament in Madrid) and fostering environmentally responsible behaviours during the implementation of the project. For instance, during the implementation of the project, the youngsters were able to develop competences and to foster a behavioural change, raising awareness for sustainable consumption habits and lifestyles. During meetings, activities, and other events, recycling will be mandatory and there weren’t be use of non-reusable plastics. Instead, reusable or recyclable options will be chosen (e.g. recycled materials for the onsite meeting, glass and ceramic instead of plastic bottles and plates, and so on). We also reduced the production of dissemination materials to the essential (e.g. order only one item per person at most, favour online dissemination instead of printing flyers, and so on) and promoted the use of sustainable practices.

How the project has given a European dimension to your event and ensured the visibility and promotion of Eurodesk?

One of the main objectives of our project is in line with Eurodesk's priority which is to encourage the participation of young people to become active citizens. Our participants undertook a non-formal itinerary in which they researched about the investment of funding funds in their immediate environment, as well as to come up with solutions and answers to problems that could be subsidised with these funds. In addition, we had the opportunity to gather all of us in a big online event, inviting policy makers and representatives of the Spanish delegation of the European Parliament and the European Commission, as well as the National Youth Institute (INJUVE) and to have the presence of the Eurodesk Brussels liaison, as Ingalicia is a Eurodesk Local Point. Finally, in September 2022 we travelled to Madrid and Brussels to meet with representatives of the European Parliament and the European Commission, as well as the Spanish National Youth Institute (INJUVE). In Brussels, we prepared a visit to Eurodesk Brussels, where the young winners had a space to tell their results of the investigations they carried out and receive their participation certification, because for our association it is important to give visibility to the space where ideas are incubated and developed to inspire young people to develop their potential.

Impact:

With this project we have obtained great results. In total 400 students were involved, 25 teachers and 10 schools, in addition to the support of the Eurodesk Spain network and the province of A Coruña, a local post of Europe Direct, we got visibility in the EU cohesion policy using social networks and the active participation of young people in their schools and in their social and family communities, a very positive point because this project transcended to the other social levels of the participants. The participants understood the objectives of the project and the activities and tasks to be carried out, showing interest and curiosity for the research techniques, as well as for the funds to be investigated. These activities allowed them to improve their communication skills, civic education, critical sense and teamwork. Thus, on the one hand, the young people followed a training itinerary that allowed them to be the protagonists of the learning process, and on the other hand, the local communities benefited from this initiative thanks to their collaboration with the young people themselves. We consider the Project a success since, after the promotion, we have received a lot of (32) expressions of interest from institutes, public institutions and third sector organisations. We have received a total of 25 applications from teams of young researchers and more than 500 young candidates. You can see all the project's results achieved at this link taeuscohesion.eu .