The Youth in Action Programme, now called the Erasmus+ Youth Programme, aims to give the young people shaping the future of the European Union active citizenship, unity and tolerance. The programme gives young people aged 13-30 opportunities for mobility, non-formal learning, learning by developing an intercultural language, and building social networks. In other words, what you can't learn at school is here!
The projects, open to all young people from the EU programme countries and from partner countries including Turkey, cover cultural development, volunteering, democracy and entrepreneurship. Project types are funded according to the number of participants, activities and timing. Until now, 150 thousand young people have been supported in more than 8 thousand projects every year. Since 2014, projects in similar areas have been supported by Erasmus+.
Project writers aside, participants are supported for accommodation, travel and visa costs too. So apart from a small participant fee (which also varies from country to country), you pay nothing. For example, on the programme we joined, we had no costs apart from 30% of our plane tickets. Accommodation, food and drink were covered by the organisation.
Right here we go back to the first days of becoming BernAnıl! We joined the programme in Vilnius; it was our first trip abroad together. With this project, which we joined while at university, we spent a wonderful two weeks in nature🌾
Programme Tips
For those who are curious, we'll go into detail on these EU-supported volunteer programmes; let's leave a few tips here:
- Projects are planned in areas set by the European Union, like health, education, transport and democracy. Developing in these areas creates a perfect learning opportunity outside school.
- These aren't academic projects; there are projects planned around social responsibility or raising awareness. So they shouldn't be confused with Erasmus; in fact, if you have Erasmus in mind and it feels too long, we'd say give Youth in Action a chance too!
- Compared with programmes like Erasmus, there are options you can complete in a shorter time. A note for those who don't dare a whole semester.
- Depending on how the project goes, everyone shares their skills and goes home with new ones. You might teach someone to dance, and you might learn to cook. So many skills gained!
- Your accommodation, transport and food costs are covered by the project team.
- Volunteering is the key!
- Lots of fun, and many friends from different countries on top..
Worth a try, isn't it?!
If you want to find a project and join this lovely experience too: click here or here .
For detailed information in Turkish about Erasmus+, please go here.