LIFE+ | YE Your food, your impact DAY 1

32 participants from five different countries arrived at Sevlievo, Bulgaria on the project "Your food is your impact".

The day started with a welcome meeting and introducing the topic and meeting each other

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LIFE+ | Erasmus+ training course "GO ENTREPRENEUR, GO GREEN" in Coimbra, Portugal

Youth of the Future, a Portuguese NGO, had the lovely opportunity to host an Erasmus+ Training course. This took place between the 27th of October until the 4th of November, hosting participants from Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Latvia, Turkey as well as from Portugal. The project was about Green Entrepreneurship, and took place in Coimbra. The project not only taught and affirmed definitions and expressions regarding the theme of Green Entrepreneurship, but also served to inform the participants methods of funding, start-up culture as well as tools of sustainability.

One of the most successful activities was a debate between two teams. The two teams were given a phrase, often triggering, about green methods and sustainability, and said teams were given ample time to argue. This was fascinating, as often participants had to argue for positions they didn’t actually believe, which made everyone understand other points of you on the same topic.

Another popular activity was actually creating participants own start-ups and asking 3 business “angels” for funding. This was in fact a reference to the American TV Show “Shark Tank”, whereby the investors would be given equity, in exchange of funding. This turned out to be a very realistic activity, because the conversation didn’t stop at just the idea and the initial funding, but also how the company was intended to grow 3 to 5 years later as well. Advertising channels and target groups were also discussed, which made the activity that much more believable.

When asked if the participants became more aware about Green Entrepreneurship Antonis, a Cypriot participant, had the following to say. “After these past few days of learning and being part of this seminar i can surely say that green entrepreneurship has been an eye opener for me to say the least after so many useful activities and lectures we have received. This has enabled me to really take the theory we have learned into practice within my own country and even all of EU. For example the idea of our green Entrepreneurship can with a little push actually be reality. For me Green Entrepreneurship is not about just saving the environment. If implemented correctly green Entrepreneurship can really disturb our markets and make us to think twice about onboarding practices and products that are not sustainable and damage our planets fading health. Green Entrepreneurship will and is the change we need in this everlasting planet and markets to re-align our values with sustainable products that will not comprise mine the next generation right to a planet that is thriving, not dying.”

Aleksandrs, a Latvian participant was asked what he felt to have learnt about green entrepreneurship. He promptly responded with “I learned, that if you want to think green, than you should think worldwide, because every country have their limitations, experiences and tasks. Also I learned, that being green starts with small things - recycling, save energy and resources, and so on. Also I learned that people are very picky so your business ideas should be very considerate and thought thru. Also that green means a lot of things -sustainability, attitude, work ethic, helping nature and more.

During the activities we had the opportunity to improve lots of skills as Iliana told us “I improved the most my social skills like networking, team playing and balance between work and party. I also moved slightly past my public speech anxiety and learned to work in collective of international people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds".

After the project everyone, in numerous ways, improved their selves in many aspects and enriched their knowledge. We can actually say that after taking part in the activities we are more aware about what entrepreneurship and sustainability means and how they can be applied to a real situations and this will be something useful to know in our lifetime to be more aware about the world around us.

LIFE+ | YE "Skills for Alternative Network Approach (S.A.N.A.)" in Brolo, Sicily

How to fight the cyberbullying?

Hello everyone,

We are the Bulgarian group that participated in the "Skills for Alternative Network Approach" project, which took place in Brolo, Sicily on June 14-21, 2022. Our names are Maria, Christian, Nikola, Bozhidara, Katerina and Marian. Several other countries took part in the project - Greece, Romania, Spain, Portugal and Italy. All participants in the project were mainly concerned with finding various solutions regarding cyber security, cyber crime and cyber bullying.

Each group, whether gathered by nationality or made up of participants from different countries, dealt daily with given examples or real events that happened to ourselves, a loved one, a friend or a relative. We've learned that despite the shame and the worriness, the best way to deal with cyberbullying is to share with friends and family and, with their help, report the problem to the authorities. When we have the support of our family, online "stalkers" have less of a chance to harm or denigrate us. There are also various websites to help us recognize how to most accurately and quickly recognize if someone around us is a victim of cyberbullying. Some of them are unicef.org, stopbullying.gov, imamproblem.com.

Various cases were touched upon, such as harassment at work, at school, on the street and even during a party with friends. All of them were represented by us, the participants, through scenes that we presented to the other participants. There we also learned how to better distinguish fake news from real ones and how to be more vigilant when informing ourselves about a case. It helped us see how a victim can be unfairly blamed and how a bully can be portrayed as a victim to an audience just by changing a few words.

A very important topic that was discussed during the "Skills for Alternative Network Approach" project was how to make the right decisions and try to deal with the bully on the Internet. How to protect ourselves or the people around us without becoming violent. This can be done by protecting our social media accounts well, by not sharing personal information with people we don't trust, and by not being so trusting of strangers. We can protect our friends and family by talking more often about the importance of the problem and supporting them in a difficult time like being a victim of a cybercriminal.

What we learned during the project is extremely important for us, the young people, as this is our daily routine. We have a daily presence on the internet and we need to know that it is a place where we can have fun, share interesting and important moments of our personal life, but we also must know that there are people who are not there with the same goal as us. They are trying to steal our identity, our personal data and our peace of mind. Be informed is what we want to teach the others!

The Bulgarian squad against cyberbullying is ready to help in any situation. 😊

More photos from the project can be found here: PHOTOS

Bulgarian translation:

Kaк да се преборим с кибертормоза?

Здравейте, ние сме българската група, която все участие в проекта “Skills for Alternative Network Approach”, който се състоя в Броло, Сицилия през 14-21 юни 2022 година. Ние се казваме Мария, Кристиян, Никола, Божидара, Катерина и Мариян. В проекта участие взеха и няколко други държави – Гърция, Румъния, Испания, Португалия и Италия. Всички участници в проекта се занимавахме основно с намирането на различни решения относно киберсигурността, киберпрестъпността и кибертормоза.

Всяка група, дали събрана по националност или съставена от участници от различни държави, се занимаваше ежедневно с дадени примери или реални случки, които са се случвали на самите нас, наш близък, приятел или роднина. Научихме, че въпреки срама и притеснението, най-добрият начин да се справим с кибертормоза е да споделим с приятели и семейството си и с тяхна помощ да уведомим властите за проблема. Когато имаме подкрепа от наши близки, онлайн „преследвачите“ имат по-малък шанс да ни навредят или да ни злепоставят. Има също така и различни сайтове, които да ни помогнат да разпознаем как най-точно и бързо да разпознаем ако някой около нас е жертва на кибертормоз. Някои от тях са unicef.org, stopbullying.gov, imamproblem.com.

Бяха засегнати различни казуси като тормоз на работното място, в училище, на улицата и по време на парти с приятели. Всички те бяха представени от нас, участниците, чрез сцени, които представихме пред останалите участници. Там се научихме и как да различаваме по-добре фалшивите новини от истинските и как да бъдем по-бдителни, когато се информираме за дадена случка. Това ни помогна да видим как жертва може да бъде обвинена несправедливо и как насилник може да бъде представен като жертва пред аудиторията само чрез смяна на няколко думи.

Много важна тема, която се засегна по време на проекта “Skills for Alternative Network Approach” беше и това как да вземем правилни решения и сами да опитаме да се справим с насилника в интернет пространството. Как сами да се защитаваме без и ние да ставаме насилници. Това може да стане като защитим добре акаунтите си в социалните мрежи, като не споделяме лична информация с хора, на които нямаме доверие и като не сме толкова доверчиви към непознати. Можем да защитим хората около нас като по-често говорим за важността на проблема и ги подкрепяме в труден момент като това да бъдем жертва на киберпрестъпник.

Наученото по време на проекта е от изключителна важност за нас младите, тъй като това е нашето ежедневие. Ние присъстваме в интернет ежедневно и трябва да знаем, че това е място, на което можем да се забавляваме, да споделяме интересни и важни за нас моменти от личния си живот, но също така трябва да знаем и че има хора, които не са там със същата цел като нас. Те се опитват да откраднат самоличността ни, нашите лични данни и спокойствието ни. Бъдете информирани!

Българският отряд за бързо реагиране срещу кибертормоз е насреща да помогне във всяка ситуация. 😊

Снимки от проекта може да откриете ТУК