An Erasmus+ youth exchange "Key 2 Inclusion" took place on 25 July - 2 August, 2017 in Portugal
Youth Exchange ‘’Key 2 Inclusion’’ was organized in Porto, Portugal during July 25- August 2, 2017. It aimed to raise awareness regarding following issues, such as healthy lifestyle, development of eating habits, physical and health competencies. Youngsters from Georgia, Portugal, Albania, and Turkey came across together to exchange their cultural backgrounds and implement ideas about above-mentioned topics.
Partner Organizations discussed different topics before the youth exchange and came up with a common set of problems as well as the whole theme of the project. It was clear that the most important problems on their local level were: unhealthy lifestyle and social exclusion. Due to this statistics and problems project created a platform for 32 youngsters to discuss their health, different diseases, the meaning of sports activities, examples of social inclusion and exclusion and develop skills, which later help them to lead a healthy lifestyle. During the project, youngsters implemented different activities related to healthy lifestyle, as well as the cultural life of the city.
First day was mainly dedicated to arrivals and informal introductions.
Second day was led by Georgian and Portuguese Groups. The first half of the day was dedicated to sports activities, general introductions of the project. Participants got acquainted with each other. They used different elements of non-formal and informal education. Teambuilding was very positive as well as motivating for all participants. With all of this small discussions were held throughout the day regarding expectations and intercultural communications. Also city game helped participants to easily get used to the new environment and each other. One of the most important elements of the day was intercultural evening, it was hosted by Georgian and Portuguese Groups.
Third day was led by Turkish Group. It started with sports activities. The whole day was dedicated to Healthy Eating. In terms of project Turkish Group made a presentation about eating habits, healthy food, and nutrition. They used different materials ( power point, videos and etc. ) It was very effective and visible for all participants. After that, participants have done several tasks individually and workshops with their team members. The intercultural evening was hosted by Turkish and Albanian Groups.
Fourth day was dedicated to cultural trip around the Porto. Groups have visited Museum of Modern Art “Serralves”. It was a real cultural journey for all of them. They have seen not only the sightseeings of the city but also get known to local people and their way of leaving.
This was especially effective for other youngsters because they get hyped and wanted to participate in this kind of projects as well. The fourth group made TRUE/FALCE games including different myths about the healthy lifestyle. It was very surprising to people and they told it would be a memorable experience for them. Fifth Group made a survey, they conducted interviews with approximately 150 people. The main idea of this was to investigate whether people exercise in Porto or not. The survey revealed that as a gap between poor and rich people is extremely high it’s very hard to middle class to exercise normally. It was clear cut that people mostly pay attention to diets and their daily menu than to sports activities or physical exercise. This was an absolutely fulfilling experience for not only participants but also local people. Firstly they were very happy to see different nations were interested in their problems and daily life and secondly they exchanged new ideas with each other.
Sixth day was led by Georgian Group. Participants have made projects about the healthy lifestyle. They came up with innovative ideas and wanted to implement them on their local or international ones. They mainly focused on practical issues, e.g how to implement theoretical knowledge into the daily life, how to change their eating habits. At the of the working process, they presented their projects and set up small discussion about them.
Seventh day was dedicated to creating different project materials, such as booklets, flyers, healthy calendar and video. It was a visible debriefing of the project. Participants enjoyed the process, They were divided into the key groups. Firstly they planned their daily schedule and followed that.It was good for time management as well. After their presentations, it was high time to do evaluations and report the whole project. After that project gave the floor to the Closing ceremony, which was mostly informal and perfectly closed youth exchange,, KEY 2 INCLUSION’’.
Report by the participants
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