«Y-EU-oth for social entrepreneurship» is a youth exchange of Youth Dynamics that will organised in Agros between 20-28/5/2022. In the project will take part 42 young people and group leaders from 6 EU countries.

The youth exchange project which aims to gather young people and empower them with social entrepreneurial attitudes and mindset. Over the past two decades, the citizen sector has discovered what the business sector learned long ago:
There is nothing as powerful as a new idea in the hands of a first-class entrepreneur. This is more important now than ever given the current context concerning young migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Europe. The frustration and disempowerment of the disadvantaged youth in general and these young migrants and asylum seekers in particular can breed low self-esteem, low motivation, cynicism and radicalization. Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to move in different directions. Social entrepreneurs often seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to changing the direction of their field. They are visionaries, but also realists, and are ultimately concerned with the practical implementation of their vision above all else.
The aim of this YE is to create awareness about social economy & social enterprises, appreciate the role of social entrepreneurship and inspire participants to create a vision where their passion and desire for change meets selfemployability.

• Understand what social entrepreneurship is and its relation to sustainable development.
  – Explore different social enterprise approaches and identify different models through showcasing and local study visits.
  – Learn about the social impact of social enterprises.
  – Create a social enterprise business plan.
  – Explore Erasmus+ for entrepreneurial education and source of social enterprises starting point.
  – Acquire practical tools for social entrepreneurs (needs analysis using the ‘problem tree method’, business plan development
  – Through the ‘business model canvas’, pitching tools.
  – Develop competencies, necessary for social entrepreneurs, such as cooperation, risk taking, sense of initiative, leadership,
  – Communication, teamwork, creative thinking and innovation for idea generation and problem solving.

Participants should be responsible youngsters, aged between 16 – 30 years. They should have an interest in the topic and be willing to learn and be motivated to share experiences with others. They should also be able to work in English since the working language of this Project will be English. Gender balance and group diversity in terms of different social and cultural backgrounds should be taken into consideration.

Unit costs of your travel expenses (see table below) will be covered by the organizers with the support of ERASMUS+ programme. In order to receive this money for transportation, please keep ALL original invoices, tickets, boarding-passes or any other transport document. The money will be reimbursed after submitting all the original documents via bank transfer, upon completion of the Mobility Tool+ by group leaders. There is a participation fee of 20 EUR to cover for extra costs and 2 day trips to other cities of Cyprus and other organizational costs

Spain: 500€

Travel costs from home to the venue of the project and return. Please note: only cheapest means of transport/fares are subject to reimbursement. All amounts are expressed in Euros. The above amount is 30 euro less than the official travel costs of ERASMUS+. The reason we deducted this 30 EUR is because in the travel cost we should calculate the transfer from the airport to the venue, which costs approximately 15 EUR each way. It is a private coach hire, and depends also on the arrival/departure time, waiting time in case of a delay etc

Important:

If you want you can come to Cyprus 1-2 days earlier or leave 1-2 later after the end of the project or on APV. Of course you have to cover this extra cost for accommodation and food by your own.

Very important:

ALL participants must travel from their home country to Cyprus. We can not host people who come from a different country and not from their home country. Of course you can flight from a different country but your trip must start from your country. As an example a person from Romania can go to Greece by bus or train and take a flight from Greece to Cyprus. But we need also the bus or train tickets which confirm that he start he’s journey from he’s country.

It is the participant’s responsibility to have a travel health insurance or a European Health Card. The European Health Card is accepted in every country within the European Union, can be obtained for free and is valid for 1 year.

More info at:

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=559

Participants will be lodged in a hotel, centrally located in Agros, a beautiful village in the heart of Cyprus.Agros is a village in Limassol district, built amphitheatrically among high mountains. Its population is 800 people and it is one of the most interesting villages in Cyprus and Pitsillia area. Historical and cultural sites are kept in a natural environment of extraordinary beauty with the village maintaining the customs and its traditional character. The love for work and the progressiveness characterise its inhabitants. The village’s modern roads make it a connection point between the cities of Nicosia and Limassol and the mountain of Troodos. Its main production line consists of grapes, garden products, fruit of excellent quality, soutzoukos, traditional type smoked products (sausages, lountza, choiromeri), traditional sweets and marmalades. Its inhabitants are also into tourism business (hotels, tourist apartments, inns, traditional coffee shops, taverns and bars.). More info at www.agros.org.cy Agros is called the «ROZE village» as you can find a special kind of beautiful and fragrant roses. The locals use them to produce the famous rose water.

Rose water is produced from “rodi damaskini” which is a special cultivation of roses. These roses have a beautiful scent and they are the most adequate for the production of rose water. Every May in Agros we have the «Roze Festival» at the peak of roze blossom. The festival offer a choice of functions, activities, displays and demonstrations that delight anyone appreciating nature’s beauty.

Participants will be lodged in youth hostel in Agros, a beautiful village in the heart of Cyprus (www.agros.org.cy). The hostel offers double and triple rooms, bathrooms and balconies offering views to Troodos Mountain.

Climate
The average daytime temperature in May is around 250C and you are advised to bring warm clothes as during the night, the temperature drops down, During May the weather is fresh.

Entry to the island

Larnaca airport is the nearest to the venue. Cyprus has a second airport situated in Paphos, however transportation between Paphos and the venue is more difficult.

Important:

Ercan is an airport in the Northern part of Cyprus, which is occupied by Turkey, and it is considered to be an illegal airport, not belonging to the Republic of Cyprus. Therefore, the European Union cannot cover travel expenses between any country and that airport. This is not our personal opinion, but a policy of Cyprus Republic that we have to respect. Therefore, we are asking you to book your flights with the cheapest flights from one of the 2 legal airports of Cyprus.

Coming to the venue of the project (Agros village)

When you arrive in Larnaca or in Paphos airport, we will arrange a bus to pick you up from there and bring you to Agros village. The trip from airport to the venue of the project will take about 1.5 hour.

As hosting organization, we made our best to rethink about our project, local activities and accommodation in order to comply with the standards of the new normal. Your mobility experience is redesigned by considering Cypriot regulations and heath / safety recommendations from the European Union and World Health Organization. Please read below mentioned regulations which is prepared for your maximum safety and comfort during your stay in Cyprus:

We will use cleaning and disinfecting protocols to clean rooms after participants depart from activities rooms, with particular attention paid to high-touch items. The youth will be welcomed in already cleaned and disinfected rooms.
– We do not give the participants’ privacy information to third parties.
– The participant is required to have the insurance in order, also travel insurance in case of quarantine or travel suspension due to COVID-19 measures.
– Before activity participants are recommended to avoid public events and gatherings due to COVID-19 remaining danger.
– We keep safe distance indoors and outdoors, maintain hand hygiene and wear masks.
– Accommodation of participants is more space to ensure more personal space.
– Participants will maintain the “group bubble” during the activity for more safety.
– We recommend taking direct flights to Cyprus and back if is possible.
– We recommend you to buy flexible tickets or cancellation insurance
– Hydroalcoholic gel at your disposal in various areas of the house and office where the activities mainly will take place.
– If a participant develops respiratory symptoms, they will be isolated and tested for COVID-19. The group will continue working normally. If COVID test returns positive, the group will be isolated and tested for COVID. We follow the national guidelines to ensure safety of participants and staff.

In order to protect themselves and others, it is necessary that participants pay attention to the prescribed safety measures:
– In closed spaces it is recommended to wear a mask and maintain physical distance;
– In open spaces it is necessary to maintain the required physical distance;
– It is necessary to cover mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezeing;
– It is necessary to wash hands often after being in a public place, or after blowing nose, coughing, or sneezing.
– The host will take all necessary preventive measures in accordance with the current epidemiological situation caused by the COVID-19 virus.

In this official Cyprus webpage you can read all the important information guidelines, announcements, press releases and updates about travel restrictions and countries categorized according to their epidemiological situation:
– https://www.pio.gov.cy/coronavirus/eng
– https://www.pio.gov.cy/coronavirus/eng/categories/en-fly
Also in order to fly to Cyprus you must register in Cyprus flight pass portal within 48 hours before the commencement of your travel from the Country of Origin to the Republic of Cyprus (either direct flight or via intermediate Countries).
• https://cyprusflightpass.gov.cy/
Since 1st of March 2022 the vaccinated people from EU don’t need any test to enter Cyprus.
Non vaccinated people will need Rapid test 24 hours or PCR 72 hours before their flight.

In order for everybody to have a really good time, we would like you to bring some things which we believe are important for the participation of all the participants and for the success of the Youth Exchange.
– Necessary documents such as passports, travel documents, etc.
– Comfortable clothes and shoes
– Towels
– Personal care products, such as shower gel, shampoo, comb, etc.
– Hair dryer
– AC power (Power adapter)
– cameras, laptops and other equipment making life and work easier;
– information about your country (books, brochures, posters, postcards, video, PowerPoint presentation, music, etc.);
– information about the organization you come from (brochures, PowerPoint presentation, video, etc.);
– Some traditional stuff – a typical taste: food/drink, music, flag of your country for the intercultural evening
– Medicine, if you regularly take any
– Money (Some of the partner countries of the project are using euro)
– And above all bring joy and lots of positive energy !!
– Endless amounts of good mood and motivation for work and leisure!
– Positive attitude, desire to learn and meet cool new people! 🙂

Important:

• Cyprus has the 240 volt/50 Hz 3 pin electricity plus – so you will definitely need adaptors.
• Cyrpus currency: Euro
• Cyrpus Time Zone: GMT +2

• The project is funded within the frames of ERASMUS+ program. So all costs are covered:
  – Travel cost up to the travel limit according the distance calculator of EU
  – Food and accommodation