Building Skills Through Inclusion – Partnership Building Seminar in Romania

The first main activity of the Erasmus+ Youth multi-activity project Building Skills Through Inclusion, coordinated by Babilon Travel NGO and funded by the European Union, is a partnership building seminar in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, starting on August 26 and ending on September 1, 2018 (travel days included).

OBJECTIVES:

• Strength the collaboration between partners and establish some common working models on inclusion of people with disabilities;
• Develop capacities of youth workers about inclusion practices and how they can put such practices and involve people with disabilities in mobility projects in their daily work;
• Develop a manual / code of good practices for youth workers how inclusion of people with disabilities is possible and how to motivate people with disabilities to be active citizens;
• Share and learn from the experiences and practices of each other;
• Prepare the next stages of the project, the training course;
• Make plans for common future projects on inclusion.

PARTICIPANTS:

The PBS brings together 20 youth workers and representatives of organizations (4 from each partner) to share experiences, to learn from each other, to collect and develop their best practices.

The participants, with and without disabilities, should be age 18+ and active in the partner organizations:

• 5 youth workers, 1 from each partner organization, fully disabled, such as blind or wheelchairs, who need accompanying person to enable them participate equally in the seminar, as well as support them during travel and free time and personal care;
• 15 non-disabled youth workers;
• 5 accompanying persons, 1 from each partner organization, helping the disabled participants.

The selection of all participants will be based on common application forms, motivation of youth workers and young people. Each partner organization is responsible to identify and select participants by a set of common criteria. Identification will be through local contacts, team members and local partners.

Youth workers selection criteria:

• Citizens or legal residents of Albania, Kosovo, Portugal, Romania or Serbia;
• Age 18+;
• Active in the sending organization;
• Working with youth, preferable 6 months experience with youth with disabilities and with fewer opportunities;
• Open to the needs and desires of youth; with and without disabilities;
• Ready to share their personal and professional experience;
• Able to use English as a working language, since this is the official language of the project;
• Ready to attend all the activities of the partnership building seminar;
• Willing to disseminate the results among their co-workers, on their own/institution’s webpage, on their Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, Instagram, etc.;
• Ready to organize and participate to two local workshops, after the seminar.

Participants will have the opportunity to contribute at any session they prefer too, as well as to organize the “Laboratory of Insights”, for which there will be 2 dedicated evenings, where participants will work together in smaller groups to present different non-formal activities they know and would like to share with others.

During the intercultural evenings, participants will be asked to bring and present pieces of their culture (music, food, dance, data, pictures, collages, etc.) in an inclusive way.

All project activities are based on non-formal education methods and tools (working groups, debriefings, free discussions, role plays, workshops, teambuilding exercises, games, energizers, reflections, study visits, presentations etc.), which encourage active participation of each participant in the sessions. The whole learning methodology will be adapted to the needs of all the participants and will be inclusive with regard of the disabled ones. Facilitators will choose those methods and tools, which involve equally and actively each participant.

THE VENUE:

A city of lights, a city of the future, always different, always unpredictable, proudly flaunting its cultural and artistic diversity, Cluj-Napoca does not cease to amaze. Hidden in the heart of Transylvania, the city is the kind of place you cannot help falling in love with. The huge progress made in the last decades, as well as its ability to keep its traditions and local charm  alive,  stand  as  proof  that  Cluj-Napoca  deserves  its honorable spot along other European locations, such as Prague, Vienna and Berlin.

With a rich, complex history and legends, which make it the dream destination for mystery lovers, the Transylvanian city shows an interesting evolution over the centuries, which contributes to the diversity and multiculturalism that characterizes it today.

Attested for the first time almost 2000 years ago, the city became an important Roman colony. The settlement, known then by the name of Napoca, survives the Dark Ages of the migrations and reappears in annals in 1173, to be devastated, just a century later, by a Tatar army. Not long after that, it becomes known as Klausenburg, one of the seven Saxonsettlements from Transylvania which are surrounded by walls and which gave the province its original name: Siebenbürgen.

In 1918, as Transylvania becomes part of Romania, Cluj is a prosperous, modern settlement that continues its development throughout the interwar period. The city receives the name it bears today, Cluj-Napoca, in 1974.

The Transylvanian city is currently in a constant state of improvement, adopting European values and practices and proving that it deserves all the appreciation it has gained. With more than 300.000 inhabitants and over 100.000 students, Cluj-Napoca has the biggest University in Romania.

TRAVEL   REIMBURSEMENT:

According to the rules within the Erasmus+ Programme, financed by the European Union, we will reimburse the travel costs on the basis of the cheapest and most effective possibilities, 2nd class railway tickets, APEX-flights etc., accompanied by the receipt of complete and original tickets, invoices, bills, receipts, boarding cards etc. All the travel tickets have to be bought after receiving confirmation from the coordinator. Participants are expected to arrive to Cluj-Napoca, Romania on 26^th of August 2018. The departure will be on 1^st of September 2018, after breakfast. In case some participants want to  spend 1-2 extra days in Romania, prior  to  or  after  the   event, we  need  to  consult  it  with our National Agency. For any advice on that, do not hesitate to contact us. We cannot offer accommodation for these extra days.

We will reimburse travel costs, by bank transfer, within 45 days after receiving all the original travel   documents, after dissemination and filling out the Mobility Tool questionnaire. The maximum reimbursements:

• Serbia 180 Euro;
• Albania 275 Euro;
• Kosovo 275 Euro;
• Portugal 360 Euro;
• Romania 0 Euro;

PROJECT COORDINATOR:

Asociatia Babilon Travel, Romania.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

• Autonomia e Descoberta CRL – Portugal;
• AzBuki – Serbia;
• Infinit – Kosovo;
• Projekte Vullnetare Nderkombetare – Albania.

The selection of participants, through an application form, is open until July 20, 2018 and the results will be anounced on July 21, 2018.

The complete info pack for participants can be downloaded from the link below:

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