YOUth on AIR – local dissemination event

By 5. December 2021.Projects

November 2021

We said farewell to this year with the final activities of the project “YOUth on Air” which aims to raise the capacities of 5 NGOs from 4 European countries to use digital radio in their work. Supported by the EU’s Erasmus + program, this project brought together civil society organizations from Belgium, Northern Macedonia, Great Britain and Serbia to work together to learn how to use radio waves to plunge into things that really matter to their target groups.

 

Within this project, the partners achieved a set of goals. We have:

– developed the quality of support systems for youth activities and the capabilities of civil society organisations in the youth field through using digital radio as the main tool;

– strengthened and built, through training and exchange of good practices,  competences of young people in digital media to practice their right for freedom of expression by providing space for youngsters from different ethnic and religious backgrounds to jointly partake in a learning activity that will enhance their digital skills, knowledge and capacities.

– offered the participants of the project the chance to explore the power of digital radio and its ability to significantly advance the position of youth, as it is a medium which is not yet being used to its full potential in most communities.

When it comes to specific outputs, this project has produced the publication “Toolkit: Radio for quality youth work” (IO1) as well as a series of shows “Around Europe in 60 minutes” (IO2), 2 of which were recorded by our members on the topics of Mental Health and Youth mobility. The handbook has been designed and created by the project team based on modern forms of education such as non-formal education, active learning and new technologies and represents an innovative combination of practical and theoretical knowledge. The primary goal of this handbook is to provide guidelines for creating relevant and sustainable youth programs that will bring new perspectives, ideas, and stories to young people as well as adult learners.

 

The last activity of the project took place in late November in Lazarevac Grammar School in the form of a workshop for local youth during which we presented the show “Around Europe in 60 minutes” and the publication  “Toolkit: Radio for quality youth work”. Having presented the project to the participants, we tried to use non-formal education tools to motivate them to use radio to initiate conversations and reach solutions to issues of great importance to young people, locally, nationally, as well as internationally. Among the 15 gathered participants were experienced youth workers, but also young people who experienced non-formal education for the first time, with whom we talked about taking the next steps on the ways and approaches to reach institutions and advocate for current youth’s needs. Youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, namely youth from rural areas participated in the workshop. Furthermore, the workshop also gathered teachers and trainers working with adults so that there was transversal impact and exchange. Five participants who had previously partaken in the online training course transferred their knowledge and skills in media production to newcomers in the field and participated in an interactive quiz on radio.

It was our great pleasure to participate in this project which was supported by the Erasmus+ KA2 Programme of the European Commission.