We aim to encourage youth to participate actively in their communities by providing them the skills needed. They will be trained on abilities about living in a global, intercultural and diverse society and on technical competences to create initiatives for the development of their areas. This will be possible thanks to local workshops and international experiences that will promote their personal and professional profiles allowing among them a exchange of good practices and peer learning.

Logroño, La Rioja (smallest region of Spain) for the participation of youth from all the region.

La Rioja is a rural area with a capital of 150.000 inhabitants and plenty of small towns or villages where the rest of the people lives. It is mainly dedicated to the agriculture offering limited opportunities for youth development and their employability. There are not concrete channels or programmes for youth participation on their communities as active citizens and it exists a lack of mobility opportunities abroad to get to know other realities or bringing innovations to the region (even more limited due to the nowadays Covid-19 crisis that have damage EU citizenship spirit on the region and states solidarity). Young people need to be encourage to participate on their communities, require tools to be actively involved and need to be seen as promoters of the change as heirs the society.

Our target group will be youth (18-30 years old). As La Rioja is a rural area based on agriculture with a substantial migrant population, it includes descendants of migrants, people with basic studies, facing economic difficulties and geographical barriers, etc. All these people will our target as active citizens and promoters of the change by involving them on the project activities or on the potential youth initiatives of those taking part on it. This will extensible to others during the international events of the project involving people from other countries. All the participants of the project will be capacitated on cooperative and intercultural initiatives (by the project or the other partners involved) that they would need to design involving other social groups from their areas.

Stage 0 (08-11/20): CIVIC EUROPE support
S1(01-03/21): Preparation and design of activities
S2 (04-05/21): Promotion, visibility and recruitment
S3 (06-07/21): Implementation of the workshops (20h. for 20 people) on intercultural, global and social issues with non formal education (ex. dynamics, theatre of the oppressed, escape rooms etc.)
S4 (07/21): Preparation of the international event and recruitment
S5 (07-08/21): International event (25 people, 6 days) in La Rioja and implementation of the other projects of Gantalcalá abroad on which project participants will be enrolled
S7 (09-10/21): Workshop about youth initiatives development (8h. for 20 people)
S8 (11/21): Awarding and Implementation of the best youth initiatives
S9 (12/21): Evaluation dissemination and reporting

We expect that thanks to our project:
*A training pathway could have been created to be replicated in the future again towards our youth empowerment and active participation
*The number of young people participating on youth projects abroad has increased (on projects of Gantalcalá or volunteering services abroad of other local NGOs)
*A network of active young people has been composed. They could act as both, inspiration for other young people and as coaches or facilitators on future editions of the workshops for other young people
*The convivence, environment and interculturality of the region has been improved and, especially, of the communities on which the youth initiatives have taken place
*La Rioja has been recognized as a place to host and carry out youth international events

Promotes youth participation on communities to discover their needs.
Develops the capacities of youth as active citizens on a global world thanks to workshops about interculturality, assertiveness, empathy, etc. and non formal techniques.
Allows youth to participate on international activities to put in practice and reflect about all they have been trained about and bring ideas to their communities.
Involves other foreign communities coming to La Rioja in a transnational cooperation and the exchange of ideas with them (thanks to a seminar with participants from IT, PO and SI).
Offers technical workshops to empower youth and allow them to create ideas to face their local communities challenges together with other social groups (offering also economic support for the best initiatives).

The mission and vision of Gantalcalá is to support the youth sector and promote the use of open materials to develop youth capacities towards a better world. Personally, I have enjoyed international opportunities and local intercultural actions (with and without Gantalcalá) and I consider that they were really enriching so others should also have them.
Due to the globalization, our diverse society and some extreme thought flows, we find the need to create a future society able to share ideas and life in community with values such as respect, tolerance, solidarity, etc. but involving all its members (leaving no one behind). We think that having an international experience make young people more open, emphatic, respectful, etc. This is why the idea is important for me and for Gantalcalá.

Personnel cost 11380 EUR
Equipment 500 EUR
2*Awards 600 EUR
Communication and visibility 1340 EUR
Materials for the workshops 500 EUR
Local and international travels 6520 EUR
Food support 25*40*6 = 6000 EUR
Materials for the international event 500 EUR
Indirect cost (electricity, post, phone, etc.) 1920 EUR

We would like to get feedback and advice from CIVIC EUROPE in order to improve and develop our idea, especially on: communication and dissemination of results and channels, projects sustainability, youth democratic or participation engagement.