Banca dati dei progetti dei PSR

FENIX is a Leader Transnational Cooperation (TNC) youth project which supports both local and international development activity by young people living in the countryside.

Varsinais-Suomen jokivarsikumppanit (Marttila, Finland)

Young people are often interested to get in touch with similar-aged persons in other countries, but have no knowledge of the opportunities available, nor experience of participation in youth-based international activities. Many LAGs in the Baltic Member States do, however, target youth and transnational cooperation (TNC) in their local development strategies and the FENIX project aimed to acquaint rural youngsters with the exciting opportunities for TNC that the Leader approach offers to them.

The overall aim of the project was to capitalise upon young people’s desire to establish long-lasting international contacts with other youngsters from abroad. Specific objectives were to help rural youngsters to: 1) better get to know their own areas; ii) visit FENIX villages abroad to compare the cultural background and local services with those of their own villages, and; 3) engage with local and international development activities.

Throughout the project young people have: a) developed presentations, joint websites and Facebook groups; b) produced short films about their own area, their interests and activities; c) prepared 3 transnational events (bringing together around 80 youngsters / event from 4 partner areas in 3 EU Member States), and; d) carried responsibility for implementing parts of the programme of these transnational events, including workshops (drama, dance, arts and crafts), sports activities and festivals.

Young people hosted and introduced groups of foreign visitors to their own areas. Research and other work, which they undertook to prepare for the reception of visitors, prompted them to look at their own neighbourhood from a different perspective - that of their visitor’s! Thus, they made new discoveries and their sense of belonging often transformed into pride. For those youngsters that had never travelled before - nor had ever made contacts abroad before - the project was a "mind-opener".

Between project events, transnational relations between the youngsters gained momentum. They made frequent use of the FENIX website to keep in touch - posting photos, films and exchanging thoughts. Planning and implementation tasks were transferred to the youngsters to enhance their project ownership and the next step could involve establishment of a FENIX steering group comprising young people from each of the participating rural areas.

Documentation of past transnational FENIX events is available in the events section of FENIX website

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https://fenixyouth.com

Taina Simola

taina.simola@jokivarsi.org

+358 440 674434

English, Finnish