Dates: 5 – 15  September 2016

Venue: Taevaskoja, Estonia

Organizer NGO: Noorte Ettevõtlikkuse Arendamise Ühing

Project Description

EU Member States are currently dealing with a difficult time – every day thousand of people are escaping the war zones and coming to Europe hoping to find a safer place where to live. Last year, 1,321,560 people requested asylum in the European Union countries (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911) and more people have come to Europe illegally.

We know these people as refugees and the situation as the refugee crisis. In particular, this concept has been widely made known in the media, which are recorded on the basis of the crisis and which shapes our opinion about the situation. Young people are also affected by the refugee crisis – for example, media creates a vision to us that when refugees arrive to our country soon we will lose our nation and motherland.

The “RSVP YES” goals were:

– To increase awareness about the refugee crisis.

– To develop youngster’s ability to argue about the topic relying on trustworthy information and to respect different opinions.

– Improving attitudes to others and the differences we all have.

– Developing International cooperation and teamwork-skills.

During the project activities, participants worked in International groups so they could improve their teamwork-skills besides with tolerance and self-expression skills. Since there were several workshops and group exercises through-out the project, the participants had an excellent opportunity to work together and communicate with the youth with different background. This both expanded their knowledge of other cultures and enhanced the chances of future collaboration.

By the end of the project, participants prepared a short film to share what young people across the Europe think about the refugee crisis and the current situation in Europe.

In this youth exchange project, there was 38 participants from seven countries (Estonia, Turkey, Romania, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria).

Project “RSVP YES” is funded from Erasmus+ Estonian National Agency. Project is organized by Noorte Ettevõtlikkuse Arendamise Ühing (Youth Entrepreneurship Development Association) which is a non-profit organization established in early 2014, aimed the youth entrepreneurship development and support of the after school and work activities (including international youth projects).