The Project Presentation

The Cayrus project was co-financed by the European Union in the contest of the Erasmus + Program. It involved about 60 youth participants from the EU member States or from Countries partners of the Erasmus + Programme and it has been implemented by 11 youth NGOs from 8 countries, member states of EU (DE,IT, ES, PT, IR)  and partner countries of the Erasmus + Program.

Cayrus highlighted the use of the arts to promote awareness and inspire creative activism on behalf of human rights.

It pursuited the following objectives:

• stimulate a greater understanding and responsiveness to social and cultural diversity;
• to enhance professional and management capacities and skills of youth organisations through new approaches to organisational development and professionalisation of staff, especially with new media;
• enhance the international dimension of education and training, creating new opportunities for transnational cooperation and mobility of youth workers among Programme and Partner-Countries.

The Project central event was a Living Peace Festival in El Cairo (4-6 of May 2015).

The program involved presenting examples of creative use of different media – film, photography, graphic novels, and music – to engage larger and more diverse audiences and inspire them to imagine and carry out new forms of human rights activism and features. In particular, while partners of Western Europe have already a lot of skills in EU project management and own a “know-how” experience in developing an NGO, this is a strong lack in western Balkans youth organizations which need to improve their capacities in order to carry out more structured project and face the challenges of economic crysis.

On the other side, western Balkans NGOs and informal groups are very engaged in the field of intercultural dialogue and inclusion on minorities, supporting the role of the States, and can give an important contribution in ideas and methodologies to build-up relevant and efficient projects in this field also in western europe, where the increasing number of migrants and the re-born of nationalism and intollerance has generated new challenges for the peaceful cohexistence of communities.

The project was oriented to members of youth-led NGOs who wanted to find a professional future in the social field, students engaged in human rights education and youth workers who desired to develop useful skills in new media:it it involved about 60 participants.

Following activities has been implemented:

1. Youth exchange where participants shared their experiences on the field of intercultural dialogue;
2. Training Course about EU project management, EU strategies/funding opportunities for youth in pre-accession phase countriestrainings had a concrete and modern approach, showing how new media can play a role in youth participation, taking full advantage in the realization of their purposes.

Regarding expected impact and results, at national level these NGOs aimed to become positive model to inspire civil society actions, becoming themselves trainers for other groups and influencing political decision-makers in carrying out youth policies.
At European level, the relationships built during the project helped to develop an international network of NGOs which can work together in the next years to carry out projects in the education field and contribute to accelerate the ongoing process of cooperation with Mediterranean Countries.