This youth exchange was inspired by the participants in Share Your Story! Youth exchange we hosted at Catfarm in June 2018. Participants often asked questions about the garden at Catfarm, how we grow our food, and how we get food from locals to cook meals. We realized that many things are unknown to youth, that their connection to nature is missing, and that they are curious about how food is produced and what journey it takes to end up on the table. So, we decided to come together and brainstorm opportunities to organize the youth exchange that will raise awareness about the food we eat, as well as share practices we have at Catfarm (we have a big vegetable garden and we grow our own food) to inspire future generations to eat healthier and lead a healthier lifestyle.
With this youth exchange, we want not only to share food cultures of different countries, but also to open dialogue about “What does it mean to eat healthy? How is the food we eat produced? What is healthy for us?” We will debate and provoke critical thought so participants can form their own opinions on the topic. We will discuss food production through gardening, processing, trade, and food waste, involving different stakeholders to gain different perspectives on healthy food. We will also explore climate change and how it is affected by the way we eat.
In addition, with this youth exchange, we will test the "Zero CO2" travel model we are developing to introduce to the Erasmus+ world, fostering sustainable travel and mindful use of various modes of transport. We will introduce our white paper to the National Agency and, later, to a wider circle of youth organizations across Europe.
This youth exchange will focus on learning by doing. We will visit both places where food is produced unsustainably and aquaponic, urban, permaculture, and other farmers who follow environmentally friendly approaches. In addition, participants will try growing their own food, creating a beautiful, lush garden together. This garden will be available at Catfarm for future participants in youth exchanges and will inspire all visitors to Catfarm to live a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle.
The youth exchange is going to achieve the following specific objectives:
- Raise awareness of gardening and healthy food, and foster critical reflection on the exchange topic.
- Share food cultures, exchange international perspectives about the topic, develop intercultural competence, understanding of different cultures, and appreciation of diversity;
- Improve social and civic competence of participating youth;
- Foster communication among youth and environmental stakeholders;
- Develop a sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, and encourage young people to become more active in their communities as part of follow-up and beyond.
- Strengthen cooperation and inspire future projects between the partner organization and youth from partner organizations;
Activities
Type of Activity: KA1 Erasmus plus Youth Exchange;
Venue: Catfarm, Poussan, France;
Planned Dates: 1-12 September 2019 (excluding 2 travel days);
Countries involved: The Netherlands, France, Spain, Greece, and Italy.
The youth exchange will include 35 motivated young people aged 14 to 25. For this project, the youth will come from different backgrounds; what unites them is an interest in the topic and a desire to make a change in their communities.
We have preliminarily agreed on the profile of the participants we expect to choose for this youth exchange:
- Motivated to participate;
- Have no or very little experience of participating in international youth exchanges;
- Interest in the topic and eagerness to experiment with gardening and growing one's own food;
- Eager to share their food cultures and exchange with other participants;
- Interested in developing competencies such as intercultural competence, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, and social and civic competencies.
Impact
The project is designed to impact not only the group of young people but also a wide range of stakeholders and the wider public.
Participants will learn about positive attitudes and receive practical recommendations for implementing them in daily life, even beyond the youth exchange.
The project will impact the Catfarm community and also the local community in Poussan, which is rarely exposed to internationals and different cultures. We will invite locals to our events and share our cultural cuisines with them.
In addition, we want to develop practices to impact other youth exchanges organized within Erasmus+ to encourage responsible travel and low CO2 emissions. We are developing a white paper on "Zero CO2," and this youth exchange will serve as a model to showcase what is possible and what we recommend to make an Erasmus+ youth exchange sustainable and environmentally friendly.
We expect this impact to occur not only locally during the exchange but also in the participants' communities and internationally. We expect the youth from this youth exchange to organize and create new youth exchanges with other European countries.
Coordinator: Stichting Adventures of the Valparaiso
• Start date 01-05-2019 • End date 31-10-2019
• ANAZITITES THEATROU 🇬🇷 Greece • Asociación de los Estados Generales de los Estudiantes de Europa - Burgos 🇪🇸 Spain • Catfarm Education 🇫🇷 France • Twoplustwo 🇮🇹 Italy
2019-1-NL02-KA105-002460