With the “Beacon of Values” project, a small-scale strategic partnership project of the Erasmus+ programme approved by the Cyprus National Agency, we wish to create and develop a tangible, transferable tool that will be used mainly by educators and youth workers in schools, educational institutions and NGOs, to create learning activities aiming to promote, communicate and enhance active citizenship and common values in everyday life, in order to formulate attitudes and skills to combat xenophobia, racism and discrimination, using creative, innovative and non-formal education methods and activities.
As a final product and result the project Beacon of Values offers with free access the Publication “Beacon of Values Toolbox” It contains the curriculume of the six day training of Multipiers as well as the curriculum of local workshops implemeneted by the multipiers in the 3 participating countries of Cyprus, Romania an Germany. Ages of participants from 5-75. The publication is in 4 languages: English, Greek, Romanian and German.
The project will focus on non-formal learning methodology, placing the participants in the center of the learning process, relying on their interest and motivation for a profound and multi-level learning approach and emphasizing their own responsibility for learning. The end-results will be the Curriculum for the Training of Multipliers in 4 languages (English, German, Greek, Romanian), the Beacon of Values Tool Box in 4 languages and 15 youth workers and educators trained as multipliers.
We expect that the project will have the effect of a continuous stimulation of learning and evolving. Moreover, we plan to create a chain of exchange in terms of expertise, skills, ideas and perspectives in the field of youth education, as the participants will act as multipliers of the project in their home countries and local communities.
The project is implemented by Politistiko Ergastiri Ayion Omoloyiton, Cyprus (https://politistiko-ergastiri.org/) in partnership with Pro Vobis – National Resource Center for Volunteering, Romania (http://www.provobis.ro/) and Die Europäische Jugendbildungs- und Jugendbegegnungsstätte Weimar (EJBW), Germany (Europäische Jugendbildungs- und Jugendbegegnungsstätte Weimar), from 01/11/2021 until 01/05/2023, and funded by the European Union within the Erasmus+ Programme (https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/), Small-scale Strategic Partnerships, under the contract number: 2021-1-CY02-KA210-YOU-000029970.
KICK-OFF MEETING AND LAUNCH OF THE PROJECT
The Kick-Off Meeting, the first transnational project meeting, took place in Weimar, Germany on 18th-20th of May 2022, hosted by EJBW (https://www.ejbweimar.de/). All three partners met to start off the planning and preparation for the project. To find out more about the start of the project read the article below and check out the photos!!!
CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
If you are interested to be part of this project, check out the Call for Participants below!
Beacon of Values Training Course
The Beacon of Values Training Course took place in Weimar, Germany on 19th-26th of June 2022, hosted by EJBW (https://www.ejbweimar.de/). During the training, (youth) educators and youth workers from Cyprus, Romania and Germany worked together with the guidance of the two facilitators, Corina Pintea from Romania and Panayiotis Theodorou from Cyprus. To find out more read the article below and check out the photos!!! Additionally, you can watch the video below with the testimonies of the participants regarding their experience!
Transnational Project Meeting in Cluj-Napoca
Beginning of February 2023 Politistiko Ergastiri Ayion Omoloyiton (Cyprus), in collaboration with its long time now partners, Pro Vobis (Romania) and EJBW (Germany) met in winter fairytale like Cluj-Napoca, Romania for an intermediate project meeting in the frame of the project “Beacon of Values”, a small-scale strategic partnership approved by the Cyprus National Agency and funded by the Erasmus+ programme.
The main focus of this meeting was the review of the previous activities such as the implemented training of multipliers in Germany (June 2022) and the local workshops in Romania, Cyprus and Germany, that were facilitated by the training participants. The partners shared insights from the seven already implemented local workshops, revealing an unexpected diversity of target groups and different ways in which values were debated by participants ranging from primary school teachers and pupils, to teenagers, students and youth workers. A huge role played the so called “Values Toolbox” created by EJBW, which was used, adapted and translated into the different contexts.
Further the team was working on the finalisation of the project outcomes, specifically a comprehensive training curriculum and a compendium of session outlines in four languages (English, Romanian, Greek and German), available soon for practitioners from all over Europe in the field of youth work & civic education.
Until the end of the project in June 2023 there are a few more steps to take as the finalisation of local workshops as well as the implementation of the closing & evaluation meeting in Cyprus, at the end of May 2023.
About the partnership & the project
The three partners, Politistiko Ergastiri Ayion Omoloyiton (https://politistiko-ergastiri.org/), Pro Vobis – National Resource Center for Volunteering (http://www.provobis.ro/) and European Youth Education and Youth Meeting Center / Europäische Jugendbildungs-und Jugendbegegnungsstätte Weimar (EJBW) (www.ejbweimar.de), are working together on this project with the purpose of creating and developing a tangible, transferable tool that can be used, mainly by educators and youth workers, in schools, educational institutions and NGOs, to create workshops that aim to promote, communicate and enhance common values and active citizenship in everyday life. The goal of these workshops is to formulate attitudes and skills to combat xenophobia, racism and discrimination, using creative, innovative and non-formal education methods and activities.
The project is inspired by the results and materials of the project “Demokratische Kompetenzen im Diskurs entwickeln”, titled “WERTzeugtasche” by the European Youth Education and Youth Meeting Center (EJBW)”, which was funded in the frame of the federal program “Initiative Demokratie stärken” by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ).
The Partner Organisations
