Our association is a partner in the Discover Europe Heritage project.

About the project:

• Project title: Discover European Heritage
• Programme: Erasmus+
• Call type:  Youth Exchange (KA152-YOU)
• Project duration: 01.01.2024 - 31.12.2024
• Youth Exchange duration: 8-17. August 2024
• Place: Balatonszemes, Hungary
• Coordinator and participating countries: The bettermaking Ifjúsági Alapítvány (Hungary), Romania, Spain, Czechia, Poland
• Project objectives:
  • Participants to learn about their own national culture and European culture by learning from each other,
  • To learn about the methodology of the story trail and how it helps them to present their culture,
  • To learn about folk songs, folk tales, folk dances and traditions of Romanian, Spanish, Hungarian, Czech and Polish cultures.

Project activities:

• In order to create a safe space, the first and second day of the exchange consisted of familiarization and team-building games, rule-making and discussions on expectations, fears and learning objectives, led by the national teams, with partners and facilitators providing support when needed.
• The evenings were always about reflecting on the learning journey, and after dinner each evening a different nation presented its culture, dance, food, etc. When it was not an international evening, the young people could play board games or sew eco-bags.
• On the second day of the mobility, the young people created their own story, which helped them to get to know each other better, but also prepared them a bit for story thinking. After that, they were introduced to Dan Harmon's story circle theory and then continued with story weaving, where they developed their improvisation skills and creativity.
• From the third day of the exchange, the young people experienced what a story trail is like, what its elements are, and then discussed together what they had learnt. Then, from the following days onwards, they created their own fairytale trail, presenting who brought what folktales, folk traditions, folk songs and folk dances, and discussing how they could combine and use these elements.
• On the fifth day, there was a mid-term evaluation of the youth exchange, where participants gave feedback on the whole process, their experiences and their lived experiences.
• During the first half of the sixth, seventh and eighth days, participants tried out each other’s fairytale trails.
• At the end of the mobility, the learning outcomes were summarized, the Youthpass process and the dissemination plan were drawn up, followed by a farewell and the end of the youth exchange.

The project was funded by the European Union.