An Erasmus+ youth exchange "Change Lab" took place on 11-18 March 2017 in Cyprus
Cyprus is famous for its resorts, but not only. . .
Thanks to the Erasmus+ youth exchange “Change Lab” which was organized in small Cypriot village – Agros, where 40 young people from 5 different countries became more familiar with Cyprus, social entrepreneurship, social inclusion, Erasmus+ youth opportunities and different cultures. This amazing opportunity brought together youth from Cyprus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Georgia and Ukraine to share and extend their knowledge on above mentioned topics.
The core working topic of the project was social entrepreneurship. So youth who came to enjoy Cypriot sun baths, but also learnt more about social business, how to become entrepreneurs, how SEs work in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Georgia and Ukraine, how to plan own enterprise, how to use it as a tool for social inclusion,as well as, participants exchanged their experiences about Erasmus+ Program and different opportunities for youth.
During the week between 11th and 18th of March young Ukrainians, Georgians, Hungarians, Cypriots and Bulgarians had time to get to know each other (first of all). Through different exercises and energizers they created trustful powerful team, which explored Agros in small international groups with creative tasks such as making proposal to local person, taking photos with a cat, motorbike, with hotel and etc.
The participants explored the topic of Social enterprise, shared own experiences and visions on SE, received a lot of theory about the topic and its connection to socially excluded youth, debated about social innovations and social impact in connection with SEs, as well as, they became familiar with connected concepts such as changemakers, entrepreneur, venture philanthropy and etc. After theory participants came closer to practice to see how in reality social enterprise work. The participants explored social enterprises such as Green dot in Nicosia and AGROS Natural Mineral water factory. They were given chance to ask the questions, find out challenges that SE faced during start up, how SE overcame difficulties and reached current level. On the same day, participants also visited Erasmus+ Info Day in Frederik University in Nicosia and met Pan Cyprian Volunteerism Coordinative Council in Limassol. After all they were give some time to explore first tiny streets and great walls of Nicosia, and later beautiful Limassol.
The participants had time for planning own social business and unique opportunity to present own idea to investor in one minute. For spreading that useful information which participants received during the Youth Exchange, they decided to make informational leaflets about Social Enterprise and how to start own SEs.
Among all these serious information youth found time to present their own cultures on international evenings. They used this space for presentations in creative way: songs, dances, some interesting facts about countries and cultures, traditions and rituals, and tasty cuisine.
So the experience gained during one week was very different, vary and multicultural. We hope that will be unforgettable and useful for all participants and other stakeholders.
Report by the participants
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