At the beginning of July, 50 youngsters from Greece, Spain, and Slovenia participated for one week in the second youth exchange of the Erasmus+ project “Challenge the Future” in Cazalla de la Sierra, Spain.
Participants of the youth exchange carry out formative and educational activities while also becoming familiar with the Sierra Morena Sevillana region and different cultures, habits, and customs.They also considered environmental issues and the consequences of climate change, as well as the challenges of social exclusion.In particular, they reflected on which groups are socially excluded in different countries, how this phenomenon appears, and what solutions or ideas could address these social problems.
During the exchange, the participants got to know the environment, strengthening their knowledge of the English language and interacting with peers from other countries. Among other things, they also explored the beauty of Andalucía and Seville’s Sierra Morena, visited the Cerro del Hierro, the source of the Hueznar river and its waterfalls, and observed the fossils of creatures that lived in the mentioned area in the past, typical plants and went for a dip in the beach of San Nicolás del Puerto.
The youth exchange participants were greeted by the Mayor of Cazalla – Sotero Martin, who opened the doors of the Town Hall and urged them to enjoy their experience in the town where they resided together for one week.
Mónica, a representative of UNICEF in Andalusia, came to talk about the Child-Friendly Cities Initiative, a program that UNICEF is developing in 192 countries. Cazalla de la Sierra is part of the program, and thanks to the efforts of its Youth Worker – Monte and its colleagues, the youngsters learned about the good practices that are taking place there.
The youth exchange held in Spain by our Spanish partner – Amigos de Europa is part of a series of 3 youth exchanges incorporated within the Erasmus+ project “Challenge the Future”, code 2020-2-SI02-KA105-015634, and aims to help youth to youth upgrade their knowledge, learn about a new culture and environment, expand their geographical knowledge and learn some new vocabulary.
The exchange program also includes a lot of cross-curricular integration, as it covers 3 areas (environment, technology and interculturalism). Since children and young people cannot afford longer and different trips with their own families within their own resources, we want to enable them to do so. With the program, we also want to upgrade the skills of socialising, behaving and getting to know new cultures and young people, and thus enable them to master this themselves in their adult life.
Social skills are one of the most important skills that open the door to children and young people in the future: finding a job, making new relationships, friendships, starting a family and the like.
Participants in the exchange will be adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17, mostly coming from disadvantaged and socially and economically poorer backgrounds and families, where poor parenting competencies also prevail. These young people therefore face daily difficulties in learning and achieving school success and are at increased risk of dropping out.
For each exchange we have chosen our own thematic set: technology, environment and interculturalism. These are the 3 most important areas that young people need to be aware of in the future. The next YE will be held in Karditsa, Greece in September and it will have a main theme of interculturalism.
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