Heroes Journey:

  • Empower rural youth to shape public life through local and international events.
  • Connect young people with seasoned civil society experts via job shadowing and mentoring to boost their administrative and project skills.
  • Fuel journey through monthly stipends and lasting impact projects through strategic partnerships.

Act 1

Into the rabbit hole! (12 Bilateral Trainings & 3 Series of Job Shadowing)

Act 2

Growing strong together! (Long-Term Bilateral Mentoring Programs)

Act 3

Outreach for new adventures! (International Training Course in Erfurt)

Our Partners

FACK e.V.

Altenburg, Thuringia, Germany

Youth-Led Association Engaging 1,000 Young People Annually in the FACKtory Youth-Led Building

APS La Fenice

Tortona, Piemonte, Italy

Youth Center in a Rural Region of Italy. Volunteer-Led, and established in 2012

FJT Botosani

Newcomer to these formats, working with young people at the local level, creating youth initiatives

CGE Erfurt e.V.

Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany

Migrant-Led NGO working with Non-Formal Education Globally for 20 Years

APS Strauss

Mussomeli, Sicilia, Italy 

Founded in 1999, an established European mobility and capacity-building NGO in South-Italy

FITT

Umbrella NGO for 30 Youth Organisations in West-Romania

Act 1: Job Shadowing

To support the three bilateral-pairings to understand each-others’ contexts and create personal learning opportunities for young staff and volunteers, we coordinated three sets of Job Shadowing between our partners. 

Round One

From FACK e.V. to CGE Erfurt e.V.

  • between 23-30.03.24
  • aimed to provide FACK staff with practical experience in European project management, non-formal education, and international youth work. It involved observing daily tasks, participating in project-development, and reflecting on the learning experience with CGE mentors
Round Two

From APS La Fenice to Strauss

  • between 8 – 28.11.23
  • offered training sessions on various aspects of youth work, followed by opportunities to collaborate with the organization’s team on ongoing projects.
Round Three

From FJT to FITT

  • between 10.03-23.03
  • focused on acquiring knowledge about the European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus+ Key Action 1, with an emphasis on training courses and youth exchange. The program included participating in welcoming sessions for ESC volunteers, assisting in training course preparation and implementation, and engaging in daily feedback and evaluation sessions.

Act 1: Bilateral Trainings

The partners collaborated in Bilateral-Pairings to Exchange Trainings on Areas Identified based on the Needs of the Pair

Set One - Germany

  • Financial Systems and Upscaling Approaches
  • Organizational Development and Methodologies
  • International Project Development & Capacity Building
  • Local Project Development

Set Two - Italy

  • Roles of volunteers in organisational development 
  • Understand Needs of Volunteers
  • SWOT Analysis in the context of Volunteering 
  • The G.R.O.W Method & How to Apply it in Local Contexts

Set Three - Romania

  • Building Foundations and Community Insights
  • Exploring Non-Formal Education & Youth-led Projects
  • Strengthening Outreach and Creativity
  • Youth Empowerment and Future Collaboration

Act 2: Bilateral Mentorship

For a year, our three pairs of partners engaged in a mentorship process, building off of the Act I Activities

Act 3: Training Course

  • Dates: 25.06-02.07.2024 
  • Location: Saline 34, Erfurt
  • Pax: 18 participants, 5 La Fenice, 5 FACK, 5 FJT Botosani, 3 trainers (CGE, Strauss, FITT)
  • Focus: Sharing skills, knowledge and experience on the practical aspects of being youth work organizations, especially at the international level.