The idea for youth exchange ‘Green & Sustainable Youth’ came from several young people who are actively involved in ecological actions e.g. global ‘School Strike for Climate’, local actions of recycling, upcycling, or various educational environmental events. These young people met through the Erasmus+ Programme and found out that there is one particular issue of their interest – sustainability. They agreed that they want to increase their knowledge and understanding of environmental and economical sustainability, discuss environmental and sustainable issues with their peers and work on ideas tackling issues in their communities and countries with a goal to educate themselves towards a greener and more sustainable tomorrow.

Sustainability includes many issues and aspects including sustainable development, Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations, strategies for Sustainable Development on the micro and macro level, ecology policies, innovations for sustainable development, indicators for monitoring and measurement of sustainable development, eco design and sustainability at home.

We aim to focus on the following aspects during youth exchange:

Sustainable development: the participants will learn about the definition, concept and meaning of sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals;

Best practices for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and living more sustainable life; -sustainability in daily life and at home: the participants will take a critical look at their lifestyle and identify concrete steps leading to more sustainable living in terms of energy consumption, consumption of material resources;

Increasing environmental awareness and environmentally responsible behaviour through local and international actions based on ideas developed during youth exchange.

The main goal of youth exchange ‘Green & Sustainable Youth’ is to increase environmental awareness and environmentally responsible behaviour of the participants of youth exchange and indirectly of young people from their communities and/or reached through online dissemination activities and local follow up events.

Objectives of youth exchange ‘Green & Sustainable Youth’:

– To increase knowledge on sustainability: the concept, meaning;
– To exchange good practices on sustainability focusing on youth;
– To inspire participants to live more sustainable lifestyle;
– To raise knowledge on Erasmus + Programme, project management;
– To provide space for developing new projects, initiatives encouraging young people to live greener and sustainable life;
– To strengthen partnerships between the organizations and to create a base for future cooperation.

✔ Young people in age 18 to 25 residence of participant’s countries;
✔ With a strong interest in the key topic of the project – sustainability;
✔ With strong interest to share, to learn from their peers and to transfer
lessons learned into their daily practices;
✔ Able to communicate in English and open to work in mix-national teams in non-formal education settings;
✔ Ready to take part in preparatory meetings, YE itself and actively contribute to visibility, dissemination and follow up activities.

Part of the participants will be with fewer opportunities, coming from backgrounds with geographical and economic obstacles, these young people want to participate in international mobility project because it provides them an opportunity to gain new competencies and work on themselves.

Group leaders profile

Group leaders will be selected by each organization. Group leader is expected to be a person with previous experiences in youth work and Erasmus+ Programme who is ready to facilitate the project activities and provide support to the participants during whole project, especially during implementation phase abroad, but also during preparation and follow up period. Group leaders will be involved in selection of the participants that will be done by participating organizations.

✔ Learning by doing method
✔ Ice-breakers and team building games to get to know each other.
✔ Workshops will leave room for guided but controversial discussions.
✔ Simulation games will allow identifying current challenges of non-formal education and showing possible measures that strengthen them. These sessions will provide the participants with concrete ideas that can be implemented in their local communities, thus ensuring an important multiplier effect.

Participants will be lodged in the Olde Vechte Mansion in Ommen Netherlands. https://oldevechte.com/accommodation/ the mansion is equipped with:

• 16 Bedrooms, 48 beds
  – Training room, up to 50 people (64m²)
  – Team room (connected to the training room)
  – Large cozy living room
  – 2 Terrasses + Private forest (suitable for outdoor activities)
  – Fully equipped kitchen
  – Wi-Fi connection
  – Table tennis
  – Volleyball court
  – Large trampoline

During the activity the participants will be provided with three meals per day. Please inform us in the application form about your food habits and needs (fast, vegetarian, vegan, food allergies)!

Alcohol is not wanted in the place and area!!!

Ommen is a municipality and a Hanseatic city in the eastern Netherlands. It is located in the Vecht valley of the Salland region in Overijssel. Historical records first name Ommen in the early 12th century and it was officially founded as a city in 1248. The municipality had a population of 17,813.

Because Ommen is a rural municipality, tourism and agriculture are the pillars of the local economy. The forests and hilly heathlands of Ommen attract many nature-seeking visitors. The city of Ommen has several hotels and in the surrounding area there are fifteen campgrounds. Gilwell Ada’s Hoeve on the left bank of the Vecht was the first Scouting campground in the Netherlands. Ommen also has a small marina.

Ommen is famous for its Bissing fair and markets. These yearly markets have been organised on the second Tuesday of July since at least 1557. The Bissing lasted three days from Monday till Wednesday. Its success was based on the wide array of products on offer and a relaxation of excises and regulation on alcoholic consumption, attracting merchants and consumers to Ommen from far and wide. Nowadays the Bissing has become a major tourist attraction, lasting for five consecutive Wednesdays after the initial market and comprising a wide array of ceremonies, fairs, concerts, funfairs and activities.

How to get to the Netherlands?

By plane: you can check for cheap flights here:

WIZZ AIR: https://wizzair.com/#/
Ryanair: https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/
Easy Jet: https://www.easyjet.com/en

How to reach the Venue?
Every participant is responsible for finding a way to reach the destination.
Here are some tips:
1. Fly to one of the following airports:
– Groningen Airport (GRQ);
– Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS);
– Eindhoven Airport (EIN).
2. Catch public transport to Ommen Central Station.
3. Walk or catch a bus to the venue.
Use Google Maps for more precise planning.
Please note that only public transport is subject to reimbursement. If you travel by airplane only economy class, TAXI is not covered. Please consult us!
YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO LEAVE PROJECT ONE DAY EARLY TO CATCH YOUR FLIGHT OR BUS. PLEASE BUY YOUR TICKETS ACCORDING TO PROJECT’S DATE.
We need you to buy round trip tickets, and send us a copy by email before arriving here, so our accountant knows, and adjust the budget.
We advise you to buy your tickets as soon as possible, so that it fits in our limited budget for 100% reimbursement.
We kindly ask you to save all documents (Original tickets, boarding passes, invoices or bills with the ticket price) which are related to your travel, since the documentation background is obligatory for reimbursement. We kindly please you to buy all the tickets for the travel for both directions – return tickets (plane tickets, train tickets, bus tickets and etc.), because we will be able to reimburse only REAL EXPENSES (made expenses). IMPORTANT: We cannot refund any travel costs done by TAXI.
After sending tickets and boarding cards, participants will receive the  reimbursement of their travel costs. Travel (flights, other means of transport) expenses are compensated (up to 100%), based on the actual expenses incurred and the distance from your location of residence to the location of the project. These distances must be calculated using the distance calculator supported by the European Commission. We only send money to the sender organization and sender organization will pay to participants.
We are not able to reimburse missing tickets!!!
Please note if you buy your tickets in a currency other than EUROs, we will convert to EUROs according to the exchange rates from the official European Commission web-site: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/graphs/inforeuro.html
Participants must travel from the country of the sending organization, and back. Following the guidelines of the Erasmus + programme the travel back must be realized by the participants on direct way within a maximum of 2 days.
IMPORTANT: Traveling sometimes requires an additional day for catching a flight and staying for an additional night at the city airport. We are aware of such situations, but organizers can’t cover this cost, it is participants’ own cost too. For that reason, we recommend you to use hostels http://www.hostelworld.com/ or friends https://www.couchsurfing.org/

Budget travel cost
Spain: 275€

NOTE:

✔ The cost given is a limit in total PER PERSON, for both ways.
✔ PLEASE REMEMBER THAT ACCORDING TO ERASMUS+ RULES MONEY
FOR TRAVEL WILL BE REIMBURSED ACCORDING TO THE REAL COST
YOU SPENT, up to the amount given above per country, but not more (
which means that if you spend less – you will be reimbursed the money you
actually spent or if you spend more – you will get only limit)
✔ Before buying your ticket, please remember your cost limits, EVERYTHING THAT WILL BE MORE THAN THE LIMIT WILL BE YOUR OWN COST.
✔ Before booking the flight, please, make travel arrangements CONFIRMATION with us!

✔ Passport or ID
✔ Comfortable clothes for the activities.
✔ Please bring clothes according to the season as well and check the weather channels.
✔ Towels and personal care products: shampoo, toothpaste etc.
✔ Camera, laptop etc.
✔ Pills and medicines
✔ Positive attitude

Health and travel insurance:

PLEASE, WHEN COMING TO NETHERLANDS, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A VALID EUROPEAN HEALTH INSURANCE CARD WITH YOU OR PRIVATE INSURANCE. ALSO, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU NOTIFY US OF ANY HEALTH RISK OR POSSIBLY NECESSARY MEDICINES, SPECIAL FOOD ARRANGEMENTS (AS VEGETARIANS, VEGANS, INTOLERANCES) … AND SO ON.

✔ Intercultural evening – Participants are expected to create interesting, interactive and creative intercultural evening. The intercultural evening gives you a unique opportunity in a creative way to promote your country and culture. Show us what you eat, drink, what are your traditions, music, culture, stereotypes
✔ Find interesting videos / games / exercises / educational activities related with the topic.
✔ NGO Market – The project will include a session when you will have a possibility to present your organizations, share good practices as work on ideas for the future. Thus, we would like to ask you to prepare interactive presentation of your organization. Feel free to bring promotional materials of your organization, videos etc…
✔ Morning/Afternoon Energizers: We would be really happy if each group prepare some energizers to increase the group energy
✔ Wherever possible, take your laptops, digital cameras, smartphones and tablets – we will be doing some multimedia work that requires mobile equipment!

All the participants will be expected to be present and active in all the activities, unless being ill. Unauthorized absence from the activities and workshops won’t be tolerated. Stress, nerves and bad mood is prohibited everywhere. Bring your best mood and a big smile with you and keep it through the exchange! Prepare for fun!

Participants Task: It’s very important to care for the schedule time, be kind, respect, be positive, destroy the borders, have maximum fun, be cheerful and try to be part of the solution.