Throughout the INCLUSION! project, several international meetings were held in order to carry out the project objectives. These were the Preparation Meeting in Berlin, the 1st Youth Exchange in Berlin, the online Youth Exchange, and the 2nd Youth Exchange in Athens.
Preparation Meeting (Berlin, Germany)
On 23 to 26 June 2019, YEPP EUROPE hosted the planning meeting for the International project “Inclusion! Actions across boundaries”. 20 trainers and coordinators from 11 European countries (Germany, UK, Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal) met to discuss the planning of two international youth exchanges in Berlin (October 2019) and Athens (September 2021), as well as the local INCLUSION projects and the Photo and Art Challenge and exhibitions in 11 countries.
Youth Exchange I (Berlin, Germany)
On 27 October to 2 November 2019, YEPP EUROPE hosted a youth exchange with 70 young people and youth workers from Germany, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, UK, Ireland and Bosnia & Herzegovina (11 countries in total) on the topic inclusion of disadvantaged groups in their communities.
The activities ranged from treasure hunt through Berlin and creativity workshops to intensive workshop sessions on community mapping, idea development, idea pitching and stakeholder involvement.
The project was followed-up by local inclusion projects, an online youth exchange, a second face-to-face Youth Exchange in Greece, as well as a Photo and Art Challenge and exhibitions and community events in 11 countries.
Online Youth Exchange
On 26 – 27 November 2020, due to the pandemic restrictions, an online youth exchange was held through Zoom. This consisted of several learning activities and sessions. Around 25 people attended the online youth exchange. The aim was to share updates on each country’s local inclusion projects, discuss challenges and achievements throughout the project so far, and inspire each other through insights and stories. During this project, participants also created action plans to help them implement their local inclusion project in the next months.
Youth Exchange II (Athens, Greece)
From 10 – 16 September 2021, around 30 young people and youth workers from 6 countries met for the second youth exchange of the INCLUSION project. The focus was on young people’s best practice and experience gained during the implementation of the local inclusion projects. They presented their projects and reported on what worked and what was challenging. The programme of the youth exchange also catered to practical skills development in organising a photo exhibition and community event, using arts for storytelling, drafting sustainability plan for local projects, networking and advocacy work involving policy makers. The activity ended with presentations of stories and pictures of the international INCLUSION Photo and Art Challenge.