South and North meet through Sport
Project Context
Year
Scope
More Info
- Country of the applicant: Malta
- Countries of the partner organisations: Malta, Slovenia
Project Context
Year
Scope
More Info
- Country of the applicant: Malta
- Countries of the partner organisations: Malta, Slovenia
Lead Organisation Information
Name of the lead organisation
Type of the lead organisation
Funding
- Type (public, private, etc): Public
- Name of the funding programme: Erasmus+, KA1 Learning Mobility of Individuals, Mobility of learners and staff, Youth mobility
- Amount: 16.741 EUR
Type of activity
Sector
Sport and Physical Activities
Description of the initiative
- The project involved a group of 40 young people (20 Maltese and 20 from Slovenia) together with 6 group leaders who came together in the city of Ptuj (Slovenia) to implement a youth exchange project between 7th to 14th September 2015. The Youth partcipants were swimmers and waterpolo players (athletes of the club). The purpose to give Eu opportunities, EU networking and youth development.
- The objectives of this project were to enable young people to interact with each other, exchange best practices and experiences, and take part in practical activities through learning mobility. These objectives can be listed as follows: 1. Exchange good practices; 2. Promote active participation of youths through sport; 3. Promote the value of tolerance and an inclusive society; 4. Promote the principle of the free movement of persons in the EU. 5. Promoting entrepreneurship amongst young people.
- Through this project, young people were given the opportunity to meet like-minded people who were also interested in sport in order to carry out a number of activities together and learn from each other. The activities listed in theactivity programme can be grouped as follows:
- Ice breaking activities at the start of the project in oder to get to know each other better;
- Presentations delivering information about each other;
- Discussions about a number of topics;
- Visits to other clubs/associations in order to get a better idea of how they organisations operate;
- Talks from people who are considered experts in their field;
- Hands on experiences such as drafting a business plan;
- Evaluation sessions.
Beneficiaries Information
Profile
- Administrator
- Athlete
- Coach
- NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 40 young people (20 Maltese and 20 from Slovenia) + 6 group leaders
- FURTHER INFO: The participants in this project were young people with an interest in sport. This youth exchange aimed towards those youths who have a passion for sport and who seek to explore new opportunities which go beyond their personal or country’s limitations.
- The participants that were chosen for this youth exchange project were affiliated with the applicant organisation and are young people who would like to further their knowledge in sport and gain more knowledge about the opportunities that this sector has to offer in other EU Member States and its added value that may provide to European citizenship.
- The project targets youths within the age limits set by the youth exchange project, and the selected participants were between 16 and 25 years of age. During the selection process, consideration was given to the applicants’ experience and involvement with the applicant organisation, age, interest in sport, and other factors, like motivation towards meeting people from another country and to learn about their views and culture, and being able to discuss, listen and co-operate in learning. A similar approach was adopted by the hosting organisation when selecting participants for this youth exchange.
- In order to select participants, the applicant organisation published a document with a set of questions which were answered and submitted to the Sirens administration for review. Sirens then selected 20 young people based on the answers submitted. Among the questions that had to be answered by prospective participants were:
1 – Why do you wish to take part in the youth exchange?
2 – What are your expectations?
3 – How do you think this youth exchange can provide an added value to you? - Consequent to the selection procedure, participants were brought together to work on the Activity Programme and the funding application. In addition, 3 youths participants chosen to take part in this project were also asked to work together with the administrative support team to complete the project. application. The completion of this application was a team effort together with the Slovenian partner, and this has given us a sense of ownership of the project.
About The Mobility Experience
Country visited & duration
- Country(ies) visited: Slovenia (Ptuj and Maribor 7 to 14 September 2015)
- Duration: 8 days
Factors of success
- Quality of the partnership
- Clear learning outcomes
- Willingness from both sending and host organisations to share expertise
- The project learning outcomes can be defined as such:
- Develop a common European language through sports and other events;
- Enjoy the benefit of outdoor activities, adopt a positive attitude to challenges, and embrace healthy behaviour;
- Gain personal confidence and self-esteem through taking on challenges and achieving success;
- Developing self-awareness and social skills;
- Become aware of the diversity in European culture, history and even traditional national sports;
- Broaden our horizons and become open to a wider range of employment opportunities, our rights within the European Union, and other grants we can benefit of in the future;
- Develop entrepreneurial skills;
- Understand better the needs of vulnerable groups particularly in the field of sport;
- Adopt positive attitudes towards others;
- Learn more about new mobilities opportunities for young people;
- Develop new key communication skills,problem-solving skills, and leadership and teamwork capabilities;
- Increased motivation for taking part in future non-formal opportunities.
- The competences and skills gained through this project were not simply related to sport, but they were also linked to other issues such as diversity in culture and awareness of employment opportunities in the EU.
Barriers identified
- The main issue encountered -especially as this was a large number of young people- was to ensure active participation by all youths. The latter issue was solved as during the youth exchange several activities were held in smaller groups and the regular changing of participants in the groups. When the leaders saw that some participants were not participating actively one-to-one sessions were held in private so as to address any issues and/or problems. The group leaders also sought to encourage the active participation of the youths at all times.
Testimonial from the organiser
“Team work and cooperation were two important factors in this youth exchange, and we were also trained to work as part of a team where communication is key. In fact enhancing our communication skills was another feature of this project. Thanks the discussions in our activity programme, we had the opportunity to express ourselves in front of the rest of the group and listen to what our peers had to say in order to exchange good practices and learn from each other’s experiences in the various fields of ‘Operations of the respective clubs’, ‘Youth development’, ‘Coaching best practices’ and ‘Formal and informal training’.We also believed that working in a team produced a positive learning outcome because it enabled us to experience what was required to coordinate the work and ideas with other individuals, and how one can reach a compromise in cases of disagreement or when there are divergent ideas of how things should be done.
Employability is also another important topic on the EU agenda, and we are also very much interested in acquiring knowledge about the job opportunities that exist within the EU. The discussion which we had on employment opportunities (in the field of Sport) helped us acquire a better understanding of certain concepts in order to enhance our employment opportunities and our entrepreneurial skills.
The right of freedom of movement provides a wide spectrum of opportunities for young people looking for a job, and job mobility is a concept that has to be exploited further. It was very interesting to discuss this topic with our Slovenian partners and learn about the job prospects that one may find in Slovenia and the rest of the EU. We were also provided with information about the situation in Malta and the opportunities that exist in the field of sport.
Last but not least, we created a stronger bond with our Slovenian partners as we got the opportunity to get to know each other more. Finally, we have gained a lot by being directly involved in the completion of this application form, as we became familiar with the priorities and objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme and gained knowledge on how to design project proposal that is structured and competitive.”
Arthur Perici – Project Leader and Sirens ASC Secretary
Testimonial from a participant
“We had the opportunity to discuss our ideas and opinions together, and thus learn from each other’s’ experiences. We also got the opportunity to voice our opinions in front of a group of people and this strengthen our self-confidence, and it empowered us further to believe more in ourselves and in our potential. The project provided us the oportunity to get a wider understanding of the following topics – Health and wellbeing EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education. We would strongly encourage other youths and organisations to embark on EU projects. From our positive experience we recommend as such to maximise EU opportunities for individual and organisation benefits.”
Emma Tanti, Daniel Sammut, and Jeremy Bugeja participants from Malta
Contact
- Name of the contact person: Arthur Perici
- Email: artperici72@gmail.com
- Phone number:+356 795 760 72
- Organisation Website: www.sirensasc.com
Other important information and feedback about the good practice
- There will be a replicate: the Slovenian partner organisation intends to apply for another youth exchange, following the implementation of this project, so that a number of Slovene youths will come to Malta.