Achieving Tomorrow, Today Erasmus Project

Project Title

Achieving Tomorrow, Today

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Social dialogue; Environment and climate change; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

In this time of challenges posed by climate change, financial instability and cultural clashes, youth all over the world feel the urge of joining forces together to act. They want change and they want it now.
‘Achieving Tomorrow, Today’ is a project that addresses this need and aims to form a competent generation of young people with the right skills and tools to reach their goals. In a world where it is easy to feel alone and crushed by difficulties, youth need to connect and gather together to find their full potential and become effective leaders, engaged both in grassroot activism and on the socio-political level by participating in public debate.

Youth spontaneously wish to explore their identities, they strive to understand the contribution they can provide to the world and discover their potential in regards to that. Yet too often youth experience a sense of exclusion from society, labelled as “not ready yet” to participate in civic debate and are often put on hold with the phrase “the future belongs to the youth.” On the contrary, we believe that the present belongs to the youth and this generation can prove itself as effective young leaders and leave their positive mark in the world today. This project is the expression of such a belief.

Thus the aim of this project is to engage, connect and empower young people in order to create a strong community of effective leaders and change makers. This aim will be achieved through the following objectives:
1. Fostering skills and leadership competences in young people through workshops and youth-led civic actions in the field, encouraging them to join and create collective initiatives to shape the change they want to see in society.
2. Create an international platform for exchanging ideas, good practices and project examples towards the achievement of international policies and goals, such as the European Youth Goals and Sustainable Development Goals, by organising an international youth Summit and providing a framework to test solutions and ideas through local activities.
3. Exploring the environment’s cross sectoral impact on the quality of life; and support Youth Goal #10 ‘Sustainable Green Europe’ by engaging participants in debates and providing volunteering opportunities in this field, empowering young people to act as agents for environmental development.
4. Strengthening our organisational capacity through the formation of a competent community of young European leaders and providing opportunities for involvement and participation in innovative projects and ideas.

This project aims to engage European citizens, aged 15-30, who desire to effect change in society, the motivation to take leadership in their local communities, the commitment to act locally but think globally, and the openness to be accepting and welcoming to others. We purposefully engage in our projects a substantial number of youth experiencing one or several disadvantages with the aim of introducing them to an inclusive and supportive community.

The project will be designed, implemented and evaluated by, with and for youth. It will involve a team of 41 youth activists from Europe who, for nine months, will explore the theme collaboratively, in theory and practice.

The activities of the project are:
Local activities (February – October 2020):
25+ Civic engagement activities distributed among the partner countries divided into three main categories:
– ‘Capacity Development’: activities aimed towards the development of skills, knowledge, awareness and confidence.
– ‘Social Service’: Advocacy for socially relevant issues and voluntary service with particular focus on people with fewer opportunities (for example homeless, differently abled, refugees amongst others).
– ‘Environmental initiatives’: Advocacy for environmental care and implementation of sustainable and ecological practices (such as tree planting initiatives, public cleanups and supporting local administrations in enforcing green policies).

Summit (18 – 26 July 2020): This is a unique intercultural exchange experience, which gathers 300 participants from all the partner countries for a week long engaging programme. The youth will have the chance to foster their knowledge, skills and attitudes through various workshops, interactive talks, sharing groups, and a high level panel. As a platform for peer-to-peer exchange, the Summit offers opportunities for dialogue between youth from different socio-cultural backgrounds.

This project will enhance the sense of ownership and responsibility of the youth’s actions through concrete activities aimed to explore the individual’s potential. Participants will be empowered by developing their competencies for citizenship, advocacy, project management and leadership. By increasing the youth’s participation and contribution, AYUDH will expand its organisational capacity and competence evolving into a more ambitious organisation thus benefiting a wider European society.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 32460 Eur

Project Coordinator

AYUDH Europe e.V. & Country: DE

Project Partners

• AYUDH France
• AYUDH Netherlands
• AYUDH Spain
• AYUDH Belgium
• AYUDH Greece
• AYUDH Denmark
• AYUDH Italy