Youth Exchange
Homemade Home
Slovenia
WWW.MC-BREZICE.SI
Title: Homemade Home
Date and Venue: July (8th-17th) 2013 at the Youth Centre and Youth Hostel Brežice
APV: May 2013
Participants: 4 participants per country + group leader
We are looking for participants from the ages 18 to 25 from to participate in this Youth Exchange.
The participants we’re looking for need to be highly motivated and interested in the topic and also
show interest in the field of photography, theatre, painting/drawing, creative writing and music.
Working Conditions:
Accommodation, board and programme costs will be financed through
the European Commission Youth in Action Programme. Travel costs will be reimbursed up to 70%.
Working language: English
Organizer: Mladinski Center Brežice / Youth Centre Brežice, NA Slovenia, Youth in Action
Summary:
The multilateral youth exchange will be hosted by the Youth Centre Brežice, Slovenia,
and will last 10 days. During the exchange, 40 young people from 8 European countries shall acquire
valuable experiences of cooperation, intercultural dialogue and unbound creativity.
The youth exchange is going to provide a safe environment which will allow exploration and
challenging of topics related to home, homelessness, social groups, volunteering, cultural diversity,
intercultural awareness, non-formal education and will make a great effort to foster creativity and
strengthen participants’ self-esteem.
All outcomes and results of our workshops, (simulation) games and discussions concerning the main
topic shall be processed in daily arts and media workshops (photography, theatre, painting/drawing,
creative writing and music) which will lead us to have a final presentation in the end of what we
came to know about the subsistence and absence of home. Besides, the participants will be able to
identify common values and create strategies to establish a project how to give a feeling of home to
people in their home country after the youth exchange.
While bringing together people from different countries we will ensure that the interaction between
people from different cultural backgrounds can explore perceptions, attitudes and methods related
to the topic of what we feel to be our home. Together, we want to find ways to enable every
participant to feel home in the group and place he/she is situated. In this way, we want to build our
own and common home together.
No experience is needed in the field of photography, theatre, painting/drawing, creative writing, but
participants who want to apply for the music workshop, need to have basic knowledge of playing an
instrument and - if possible - bring it with them to the youth exchange. Each participant shall be
allowed to attend one workshop only.
AIMS:
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First, we aim to inspire and foster the participants to find out what their personal idea of
home is: what do I need to feel home? Where, who and when is home for me? Furthermore
by sharing their ideas and thoughts they will become aware of a wide ranged idea of home.
In this context “home” will also be considered in a wider view as in the question of how one
can feel home in Europe.
The gained awareness about the personal feeling of home we want to use for trying to
understand what it is like not to have these feelings, not to have a home. Our goal is to give
the youth an idea about what it means to have or not to have a home in order to enable
them to understand the situation of homeless, immigrants and refugees better.
In a long run, the participants will be more open minded paying more attention to different
social groups and situations. Besides, the project will enable the participants to have a closer
insight into the situation of different social groups and their needs and to see how they can
be encouraged to find their place in society and working world.
GOALS:
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To raise awareness of value and impact of a home.
To reflect on the issue connected with home and homeless through different workshops.
To increase the understanding of the own and others situation in certain circumstances.
To increase interest in work towards and with people who don’t feel home where they are.
To promote voluntary work and encourage the participants to exchange ideas and opinions
in order to gain a wider ranged view of an issue.
To give them opportunities to see international differences and similarities in culture and
society and gain new sights through the international exchange.
To encourage them to take initiative and use their creativity to change and solve problems.
Thus to promote 2013’s priorities of initiative, creativity and entrepreneurship in matters of
youth actions and to face the situation of people who struggle with unemployment and
poverty, to see what might help them in their situation. Furthermore participants will think
about their position and feeling connected to or inside the EU.
OBJECTIVES:
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To organise a 10-day youth exchange on the topic of volunteering.
To organise 5 different workshops with final results.
To include 40 young people with fewer opportunities from 8 different countries.
To get know each other’s countries and cultures.
To exchange experiences and good practices in order to create a common working plan,
quality criteria and communication tools between the participants.
To exchange ideas and gain awareness about what people need to feel home.
To understand importance, value and impact of having a home on one’s life.
To gain insight in situation of homeless, refugees, immigrants through discussions and
simulation games.
To get in touch with these social groups or with people who work with them.
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To guide and encourage participants through different activities to realise an action “making
a home” for someone after the youth exchange in their home country.
To create a platform where all participants can publish and share the actions realized in their
home country after the youth exchange
To organise the Final performance together with the participants.
ACTIVITIES:
During the planned 10 days of exchange, the participants will work in multinational groups on
different aspects of what home is and means to be (linked to persons, places, feelings, economic and
political circumstances etc.). Some days are reserved for workshops concerning the situation of
homeless, the work with and towards them as well as the situation of immigrants and refugees.
There will be daily arts and media workshops to gain new skills in the chosen field and then to
process the impressions and results of the day’s workshops on the main topic. All the activities will
lead to a final presentation through media and arts to show what they consider as most important
about home.
Through non-formal education methods, young people will discuss and share their opinions about
the topic of Home, express their views on the issue, share information about the situation in
different countries, discover possible ways to raise a feeling of Home amongst the people in their
local communities and Europe, both citizens who live in good as in rather bad conditions. Besides
participants will present their own country and culture in the way they consider it as their home and
learn about 7 other countries and homes.
In the arts and media workshops, highly qualified facilitators will share their skills with the young
people in an informal, non-authoritative way. Finally, various outcomes of the working groups will be
presented in a public performance. We have all the necessary equipment to implement the
participants’ ideas. All we require now is some motivated young people who are interested in media,
art (photography, theatre, painting/drawing, creative writing and music) and of course, in this topic.
Participants will be given a complete freedom of self-realisation through art.
Besides the new insight into the issue of having or not having a home, gaining of new skills in arts and
media, the participants will have their spare time to spend on their own interest and have fun within
the international group.
BEFORE THE YOUTH EXCHANGE:
Prior to the youth exchange Youth Centre Brežice will organise an Advance Planning Visit for all the
partner organisations. Its purpose is for the group leaders from each country to come together, get
to know each other and make further plans for the pre- and post- exchange activities. One of these
activities will be to prepare a presentation of their country to show how they consider it to be their
home country. Group leader has to be person connected with the partner organization (volunteer,
employee).
The idea for “Homemade Home” has risen out of our situation of being abroad and having left
behind what we considered as our Home before. In this new surrounding we got to know a new way
of feeling home and realized the importance of this feeling. With this experience we want to create
something new and mix the ideas of different people from different spots of Europe. Considering
that the feeling or having a home is something precious, we’re also forced to face the other side of
the coin, to think about what it means not to have or feel home. Now we want to share on the one
side the precious awareness of having a home and as well to use this awareness to help others who
are less lucky.
Contact:
Nataša Kalin
Gubčeva 10a, p.p.29
SI-8250 Brežice
Slovenia
+ 386 (0) 590 83 791
[email protected]