Participation registration open until June 8th

Europe needs more young social entrepreneurs right now who can discard traditional practices to tackle enormous social problems. Young people have great potential in developing solutions to address local social challenges. In this project, we aim to increase the competences of young people from Sweden, Romania and Turkey on social entrepreneurship in a local and intercultural environment, and gain knowledge and motivation to become the engines of social change by initiating social entrepreneurship projects.

The exchange will take place between the 8th and 17th of July in Hästveda, and will bring 36 participants from the 3 countries. As a participant, you will rediscover the meaning of entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, green entrepreneurship and other related entrepreneurship terminology and tools. You will come together with young people from other countries and seek solutions and create new entrepreneurship ideas and projects together.

The profile required for participants is:

• Young people between 18-25 years old.
• You want to develop social entrepreneurship projects that could solve the social problems in your society.
• You have basic English communication skills.
• You are interested in questions of local development challenges.
• You have high motivation to participate in all phases of the project, from preparation to follow up.

Participants will be chosen via de following application form (until June 8th): https://forms.gle/uWyuPB3D7qQWcdySA.

Profile, commitments and motivation will be considered in the selection. Priorities will be given to young people with fewer opportunities and to those who will be in an Erasmus+ project and in Sweden for the first time. Please don’t buy your travel tickets before you get a confirmation of your participation.

Visa and insurance costs

Only Turkish participants will need a visa to enter Sweden. Although the Swedish Embassy or Consulate do not require a visa cost for Erasmus+ projects, you should take into consideration the time needed to acquire a visa. If participation is cancelled due to visa problems no reimbursement of costs will be applied. Participants cover travel insurance and medical insurance costs.

Project venue and accommodation

The project and accommodation will both take place in Hästveda ProQvi learning center, in Hässleholms municipality. Arrival day is July 8th and departure day is July 17th, but you can come to Sweden up to 2 days before and leave up to 2 days after.

How to get there

Closest airport is Copenhagen Airport CPH, Kastrup. From the airport there is a train connection to Hässleholm central station. From Hässleholms central station to Hästveda goes the local train. The venue is about 150m from the train station. Do not book trains yet, we will send more information depending on your arrival times.

There is also an airport in Malmö, but only local buses that take time are going from there. Contact us if you are flying to Malmö.

Travel costs are covered up to 260 euro per person + 50 euro that cover the purchase of a summer card to travel free in Skåne County until 15/8 (Skanetrafiken app).

In order to better organize and prepare for welcoming you all, please write us an email detailing your travel itineraries.

Accommodation

You will be accommodated in Hästveda ProQvi learning center. Participants will share their rooms with other people (2-8 people in one room). Cleaning of rooms and shared spaces will be done by the participants.

Food will be cooked by participants themselves in the groups. It will be mostly vegetarian.

Any special needs or conditions that require special care must be communicated to the organizers prior to booking the tickets. We will do our best to try to meet your needs. The house is not adjusted for wheelchairs, we’re sorry about it.

Financial issues

Participants of the project will be reimbursed their travel expenses according to the table below, based on real cost and visa cost upon presentation of supporting documents. Food will be provided by the organizers. Reimbursement will be sent to the sending organization’s (or one of the participants’ upon a written mandate from the rest of the group) bank account, within a month after the end of the youth exchange.

Important:

• Please choose the cheapest travel possible. Taxi costs are not covered.
• We need all your receipts, tickets and boarding passes. After the project, you should send us all the tickets and boarding passes of the travel back home (scanned by email and originals by post).
• Book your return ticket before coming to the project.
• Please print all your travel documents before arriving.
• Early arrivals or late departures will be responsibility of the participant. In case of longer stays (more than 2 days after) or indirect travel (holidays, etc.) there is no chance of reimbursement.

Alcohol and Drug policy

Please do not bring alcohol or drug to the youth exchange. 

Timetables, program and free time

Timetables for the youth exchange will be send 3 weeks before the activity. There will be no free day booked within the program of the exchange if you wish to explore the environments and cities around.

Tasks for participants

• “Challenges of young people in my Reality” presentation: Each group will prepare 20 minutes presentations challenges of young people in their local/country. 
• Intercultural night: Present your country on the intercultural evening, some foods, posters, games, music…
• Short Articles: The participants will be asked to write short articles about their experience in the youth exchange and post. This can be published on the various newspapers, newsletters, websites etc.
• Partner organisations will be in touch with local TV and radio stations and keep them updated with youth exchange.

Remember to bring:

1) A short description of the organization in English for the presentation to other participants and/or photos, brochures, newspapers or anything that can present activities of your organization;

2) Medicine and health insurance (+optional travel insurance);

3) Original tickets and invoices, train tickets, boarding passes, bus tickets etc. which will be fundamental for the reimbursement;

4) Warm and comfortable clothes and shoes adequate for the season of the year. Sweden is usually warm in summer (18-23C) but nights can be a bit chilly (around 14C).

Notes:

• The youth exchange will produce a tutorial video for a business plan in social entrepreneurship. It will be disseminated through partners’ and participants networks, social media and projects.
• Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship 101 – It will be a 1-hour Zoom meeting where participants will have an introduction to the project. The session will provide an overview of the sector and its potential for change lives. It will be four weeks before the youth exchange so participants can prepare much better and have a higher motivation for the youth exchange.

Communication

Please use the below email and join the Facebook and WhatsApp groups.

Email address: bi.bridgeinitiative@gmail.com

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/499479958804682

Whatsapp group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/GbXOnfwCOAtHmgjKUvApdQ

Youthpass

All participants will receive Youthpass certificates. Youthpass is a part of the European Commission’s strategy to foster the recognition of non-formal learning. As a tool to document and recognise learning outcomes, it puts policy into practice and practice into policy: While creating their Youthpass Certificate, the participants of the projects have the possibility to describe what they have done in their project and which competences they have acquired. Thus, Youthpass supports the reflection upon the personal non-formal learning process and outcomes.