Culture is Richness

Eurodesk VCO

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Organisation:

Eurodesk VCO

Country:

Italy

About organisation:

The local Eurodesk Verbania has been active for 18 years and is coordinated by Vedogiovane, a social cooperative for over 15 years.During the years of activity of the Eurodesk point, a network of municipalities and local institutions, that supported the service aiming to introduce local young people from rural areas to gain some first European mobility experience. This network of municipalities encouraged us, with the support of administrators of small mountain municipalities, who recognized the importance of enhancing Erasmus+ exchanges in order to bring even geographically isolated children closer to a European dimension. Furthermore, the mobility abroad allows us to network young people from different municipalities in our province, who, traveling together to a common European destination, overcome the small but large logistical problems that still create a barrier between them even to the simple sharing of local projects.

Contact person:

Francesca Bellomo: [email protected]

Title of the project

Culture is Richness

Start date:

June 1, 2023

End date:

December 1, 2023

Source of funding:

The project “Culture is richness” was suppported by the Cerv European programme - “Action network of twinned towns”. We decided to join the Cerv European programme because of the presence of a twinning committee that has been very active for several years within the municipality of Verbania, which allowed the city to participate in several twinning with other European cities. We wanted to deepen the european ties with some of these cities by creating some common projects in European dimension.

Objectives:

The project developed some town twinning activities in the hosting town of Verbania, Italy.The aim of the twinning was fostering youth participation toward the engagement and inclusion of youth from rural areas in Italy and Germany through outdoor education,as a strategy for new actions to support chances for well being and socialization of the European citizens.The project took place in Verbania,in the Piedmont region, Italy, a rural area very rich in natural resources,landscapes, and cultural background.Verbania hosted about 50 young Germans thanks to the participation of Italian families who offered to welcome them into their homes.Most of the young Germans were high school students, but the group was accompanied by a small group of adults representing the Mindelheim twinning committee that collaborated with the Verbania twinning committee for the realization of this project.A wide set of actions was developed to promote different approaches towards a better use of outdoor education to foster the active participation and cultural awareness of the citizens, also supporting intergenerational solidarity between youth and adult citizens. The program of the town twinning international meeting hosted in Verbania,included seminars, working groups and an outdoor treasure hunt throughout the monuments and buildings of Verbania,to discover the history of the city and by playing some traditional games(native games both German and Italian) to create a moment of cultural exchange.

Why does it correspond to the thematic category:

The project valued creative resources and skills of the local young people involved in the town twinning and led to the creation and implementation of specific outdoor educational programs, with special regard to an outdoor treasure hunt in the town designed to support the town twinning participants to learn more about the respective cultures, as well as their common european identity. The project provided young people suffering from geographical isolation with an intense and enriching intercultural learning experience, as well as some chances to develop active participation experiences for future actions through some creative activities in witch mixed group, formed by both italian and german people, were called to discover each other cultures by helping and discussing with both parties. The positive outcome of this activity, based on a non formal educational approach, was achievable by using the resources of youth local volunteers to support the development and the sustainability of the town twinning links between the italian town of Verbania and the German town of Mindelheim.

The impact the initiative had on young people and the local community:

The project supported the inclusion of disadvantaged young people suffering from geographical isolation. Project actions were aimed at supporting the empowerment of the active participation skills of young people in rural areas by supporting their active commitment as promoters of socio-educational and youth entertainment process for the benefit of other peer ages and the entire community. The project contributed to improving the inclusion, cultural exchange and social aggregation dynamics in place in the territory of the Vco Province and to exploit the potential of the naturalistic, landscape and cultural resources of the rural area as a tool to foster the awareness of the young people about their cultural roots and about the european identity - It helped young people in rural areas to develop and to start ideas for european project, with special regard to erasmus youth exchanges and esc solidarity initiatives that can be connected to socio-cultural animation in favor of other young people, also applicable to strengthen the cooperation links between their respective towns of Verbania and Mindheleim. The project in fact also had an impact on the training of the participants to be ready to start several local and european projects alone or in collaboration with other local stakeholders, with particular reference to the social and socio-educational services available in their area, including local Eurodesk services. The hospitality of the young German people in the Italian fa

How it ensured the visibility and promotion of Eurodesk:

The events of the Mindelheim-Verbania town twinning international meeting were included among the events of the European campaign "Time To Move", the informational campaign aimed at young people, created by the Eurodesk network in Europe with the support of the European Commission, to raise awareness of the opportunities for active European citizenship, as well as the opportunities of study, work, internship, volunteering abroad. The event was previously advertised through the local news to share the project on a large scale and allow the participation of anyone who wanted to support the initiative. This has allowed Eurodesk to make itself known in the province. The project was inaugurated upon the arrival of the guests through a welcome press conference at Teatro Maggiore in Verbania, and then promoted throughout the stay of the German young people. The informational campaign was based on the sharing through the Eurodesk Italy’s Instagram and Facebook accounts of photographic material from the activities, articles from local newspapers and in Mindelheim through all the social media accounts of the partner associations of the project.

How it respected the green principles:

The project valued creative resources and skills of the local young people passionate about outdoor and environmental education and led to the creation and implementation of specific outdoor educational games. Specifically a treasure hunt was developed in the town, connecting the best natural resources, landscapes, and urban spaces in the city of Verbania, (hosting town for the town twinning). The project provides young people with personal or family difficulties and facing psychological diseases with an intense and enriching environmental educational process as well as some chances to develop active participation experiences for future actions of non formal education, using the resources of youth work in the frame of outdoor education. The debate on environmental sustainability was subsequently highlighted by activities of reflection and the discussion of today’s environmental issues; on the prevention and any action that could be taken to become more aware and sustainable European citizens. The entire project has been carried out with the utmost attention to the environment and everything related to environmental sustainability and in line with the topics covered during the project, through the use of separate waste collection during the entire event and by paying attention to the waste of materials that the activities could have brought.

The project developed some town twinning activities in the hosting town of Verbania, Italy.The aim of the twinning was fostering youth participation toward the engagement and inclusion of youth from rural areas in Italy and Germany through outdoor education,as a strategy for new actions to support chances for well being and socialization of the European citizens.
The project took place in Verbania,in the Piedmont region, Italy, a rural area very rich in natural resources,landscapes, and cultural background.Verbania hosted about 50 young Germans thanks to the participation of Italian families who offered to welcome them into their homes.Most of the young Germans were high school students, but the group was accompanied by a small group of adults representing the Mindelheim twinning committee that collaborated with the Verbania twinning committee for the realization of this project.A wide set of actions was developed to promote different approaches towards a better use of outdoor education to foster the active participation and cultural awareness of the citizens, also supporting intergenerational solidarity between youth and adult citizens.
The program of the town twinning international meeting hosted in Verbania,included seminars, working groups and an outdoor treasure hunt throughout the monuments and buildings of Verbania,to discover the history of the city and by playing some traditional games(native games both German and Italian) to create a moment of cultural exchange.