Transnational cooperation on youth organizations and working conditions Erasmus Project

Project Title

Transnational cooperation on youth organizations and working conditions

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy)

Project Summary

In June 25 young apprentices from the construction sector in Denmark visited their young colleges in Liverpool, UK. The aim was to learn from each other, exchange experiences, get inspiration on organizing the youth and to improve the skills and possibilities for apprentices to use their democratic rights and citizensship locally, nationally and within the EU.

The project was arranged and carried out by volunteer apprentices who are active in the Danish organization for apprentices: BJMF Ungdom. In that sense a part of the project was that young apprentices mobilized their colleagues to participate in the project.
The project was not a part of the formal education system. The participants are all apprentices or young construction workers. The age was 16-30.

The theme of the project and the cooperation was work safety and working environment in the construction sector. During the 4 day long transnational meeting, the young apprentices from Denmark and UK discussed and compared working environment and work safety on constructionsites. The Danish delegation visited construction sites, visited a the union offices, got a presentation about the work safety in Liverpool from workers, and the union UCATT and got the possibility to compare the situations in the two countries. During preperation and follow up we focused on how to impact policy in the EU.

As it is today, we see a lot of travelling and exchange within the EU among high school students and university students. But among the young people attenting vocational schools, very few take part in these possibilities. This is both a shame for the youth that choose the vocational educations but it also represents a problem within the EU. Is it certain parts of the population that benefit from the open boarders in the EU? Is it a certian type of people who travel, visit the neighbour countries and start to feel like EU citizens. One of the aims of this project was to make a connection between young apprentices in the construction sector in Denmark and UK. This project gave the young participants from both countries an experience that they have a lot in common with the youth in other EU countries.
The participants discussed work safety and working environment in the two countries during the transnational meeting. They learned about the EU rules and regulations and gained knowledge about how the EU affects their everyday working life and how they can use their democratic rights to influence on the EU legislation. The program contained workshops and seminars where the participants planned the future cooperation and activities.

The project period was 11 months and included prepatory meetings for participants, the big transnational meeting and following activities and dissemination.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 20025 Eur

Project Coordinator

BJMF Ungdom & Country: DK

Project Partners

• UCATT