UpCycling with YOUth
27/03-05/04/2023
Youth Exchange
Kannavia, Cyprus
The youth exchange “Upcycling with YOUth “ is an educational and hands-on project regarding recycled materials and how to use them in a creative and artistic way in our daily life. The exchange took place in Kannavia village in the Nicosia district of Cyprus from the 27th of March to the 5th of April 2023 including 2 travel days. It involved 37 participants from 6 countries (Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Portugal).
Participants had the chance to discuss and reflect on environmental issues and how human behaviour affects the environment. Our aim was to inspire participants to use this experience in an entrepreneurial way. The innovative creations can lead to their future career which will also help fight unemployment and in the long run, it will improve the social crisis. With this project, we provided both theoretical and practical experience and inspired participants to explore alternative ways to employment. Thus our activities were based on hands-on workshops about recycled materials workshops with career experts and entrepreneurs, and presentations on environmental issues. We also organized entrepreneurial study visits, workshops with local practitioners and presentations and group discussions of different practices among the participating countries. To encourage intercultural dialogue and bonding we organized cultural evenings and spend time together learning the basics of each other’s music, dance, and language. We organized a one-day exhibition of our products and activities to disseminate results and exchange ideas with the local community. Using social media, we maintained a platform of shared practices for facilitating dissemination in our home countries and encouraging future collaborations.
Objectives:
- Developing the competences of young people from different countries on different handy crafts techniques which use recycled materials;
- To plan and implement the new working method’s experimented with in order to increase the use of recycled materials in youth work;
- To identify, develop and consolidate specific and essential skills for youth workers, social workers, youth leaders, and volunteers in non-formal education with youth groups where they use recycled materials;
- To inform participants about the potential of European youth programmes in developing workshops which promote the use of recycled materials (European Union and Council of Europe);
- Development of the interpersonal and inter-cultural skills of the participants;
- To share their own experience in using recycled materials in Youth activities.
