Into the Wild Go Outdoors 1-9 July 2017, Georgia Because in the end, you won t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain. Jack Kerouac
Description of the Project: Into the Wild is an outdoor youth exchange that takes place in Samtkhe-Javakheti Region, Georgia during the period of 1st to 9th of July, 2017. The project brings together 30 youngsters from 6 countries in order to To promote the healthy lifestyle and develop the attitude of living responsibly in nature among young people by involving them in building and maintaining an outdoor camp in a wild natural environment. Youth exchange will provide a context where participants will be involved in managing an outdoor camp in the wild nature. During 6 days of outdoor and 2 days of indoor activities, the young people will experience living sustainable, healthy way. Eating local organic food cooked outdoors on the fire by themselves, face various group challenges, discuss the topic of the healthy and sustainable lifestyle and respectful coexistence with the natural environment around them. One of the results of the youth exchange will be an outdoor cookbook prepared and designed by the participants based on their outdoor cooking experience. Program of the youth exchange will be practical, based on "Learning by Doing," following the principles of an outdoor education, experiential learning, and nonformal education. The natural environment will bring an extra value in the learning process of the participants and enhance the process of internalizing the learning and directly applying it in practice.
Aim & Objectives The youth exchange aims to promote a healthy lifestyle and develop an attitude of living responsibly in nature among young people by involving them in building and maintaining an outdoor camp in a wild natural environment. The project sets the following objectives: - To boost responsible and respectful attitude towards nature, thereby increase environmental awareness and sustainable behavior. - To boost participants soft skills, such as communication, cooperation, teamwork, flexibility & adaptability. - To develop useful basic hard skills, such as orienteering, first aid, crisis response, outdoor cooking, etc. by involving participants in international youth outdoor camp management. - To introduce an outdoor education as an efficient methodology for alternative learning and personal development of young people. - To raise cultural awareness among participants through sharing cuisine and customs of outdoor living which are typical for each country. - To foster intercultural communication, acceptance of differences among young people from diverse backgrounds by creating a respectful environment and interdependent context for them. - To create a tangible material, which will be spread and disseminated by the young people and partner organizations throughout their local and international networks, which will be an outdoor cookbook created by the participants, based on their outdoor experience.
Participants' Profile Participants of Into the Wild youth exchange are young people coming from urban and suburban areas, who doesn t have much opportunities/time to spend time in nature. As this is a youth exchange, we are ready to involve those young people who don't have any specific background, education or skills and who might be facing the results of coming from marginalized communities, such as low education, lack of opportunities, unemployment, discrimination due to the cultural and social reasons etc. The main criteria for their selection will be their motivation and enthusiasm. Participants should be young people between 18-30, (preferably 18-25 in order not to have too big age gap.) We think that this age group is more open towards new inspirations and need more opportunities for communication with the pairs from other countries. We are also open to involving younger participants (15-18) after the agreement with the group leader from the particular country. The participants will be selected by the partner organizations, who know the background and needs of the youngsters from their countries the best. Each partner organization should select 1 group leader, who has experience in youth work and preferably some background of participating in international projects, and 4 participants, in total 5 persons. Partners are expected to send the list of the selected participants to the project coordinators by 1st of May. The working language of the project will be English, but as this is a youth exchange the participants do not have to be fluent in it. The group leaders should be able to provide a language support to those, whose English is weaker. The partners are also asked to keep a gender balance of their groups.
Travel to the Venue: None of the participant country residents require visa for Georgia, so there is no need for you to make any measures in this regard. Please just make sure you take your international passport with you while travelling... :) You are expected to arrive to Tbilisi, capital of Georgia no later than 13:00 p.m. on 1st of July, and depart no earlier than 17:00 p.m. on 9th of July. Exceptions should be agreed with the organizers in advance. If you plan to visit some other places in Georgia, or meet your friends, you can arrive 2 days earlier or leave 2 days later after the project. Transportation from Tbilisi to the venue of the project and back will be provided by the organizers. We strongly advise to purchase the tickets ASAP in order to fit into your travel reimbursement limit, since July is a high touristic season, usually prices of the tickets are very high. In case of further questions please feel free to contact the organizers.!note: Please note, that the project doesn't cover travel insurance costs. Therefore participants are strictly asked to obtain travel insurance during the visit to Georgia. Reimbursement: During the project your accommodation, food and all the other project related expenses are covered by Erasmus+ programme. Reimbursement of your travel costs will be done according to rules and procedures of the programme. You will be reimbursed your travel costs from your home city to the venue and back during the project in cash, as soon as we receive all the originals of your travel documents from you. Reimbursement will only be done upon presentation of all (including return tickets) original tickets, receipts/invoices and boarding passes.! Note: Please remember to bring the original invoices with you there will be no reimbursement without the original invoices. Travel reimbursement limits for participants from each country are given below: - Norway - 400 EUR - Czech Republic, Italy, Estonia & Denmark - 270 EUR!Note: Please note, that for your own comfort transportation from Tbilisi to the project venue will be arranged by the organizers, although the transportation cost on this route will be deducted from your travel cost.
Preparation: Please be prepared for the project outdoors for any kind of weather conditions. The weather in this region of Georgia in July is usually around 25-35degrees, but be prepared for various climate changes (the sun, the wind, rainy days and cold nights.) Below there is a list of the things, make sure you don't forget anything: - Comfortable rucksack for hiking, at least 60 liters big. - Sleeping bag and sleeping pad. - Warm clothes, fleece or woolen sweaters, etc. as well as summer clothes. - The wind and rainproof jackets and pants. - HIKING SHOES (Proper shoes are very important!!!) - Waterproof cases for your gadgets. - Lots of socks, preferably warm/woolen together with thin summer ones. - Sun cap or headscarf. - Sunglasses and sun creme. - Loose and comfortable indoor clothes & shoes. - Swimming costume and towel. - Toiletbag with the things you need inside. - Box of PRIVATE medicines, in case you need any specific medication. (Otherwise, there will be a general first aid kit during the whole project.) - Pocket light/head Flash.! Tents are provided! But if you want to bring your own feel free to do so.!!! Warning: Surprisingly, There will be no internet during the camping, as we will be staying in nature. Participants will be provided with the phone number of the hosting coordinator in case of emergency calls from family & friends.
Safety: During the project, the first 2 and last day participants will be accommodated in a hotel. The rest 5 days we will be staying in a wild nature. We will build our camp ourselves, will be sleeping in tents, will cook, wash and do different workshops and activities there. "Safety comes first" - therefore the organizers will ensure the safety on the highest level possible by taking measures before and during the main activity, (this paragraph is one of them.) Namely: - There will always be the first aid kit around, with a person able to provide the first aid. - There will be a possibility of using an ambulance 24/7 in case of emergency. - There will be a car beside the camp available for using any time if needed. - Most of the time there will be a local guide with us, who knows the area well and can provide support if needed. - Participants will be told about the basic camp rules and safety issues from the very beginning. (Such as what to do in case of thunder, fire, hail, etc.) - Group leaders will always be there to make sure everything goes smooth and safe. Yet, no outdoor program in the world can guarantee 100% safety in the field. Spending time outdoors in a beautiful nature is a pleasure for body and soul, but its cost might be different hazards that usually come with it. Participant signing up for this project should be aware of having a higher risk of mainly physical and possibly psychological damage in outdoors. (Rather than in "usual" urban areas.) Possible risks include: - Physical/mechanical damages; (Twisted ankle, scratching body, slipping on the wet stone and hitting head on the ground, etc.) - Health problems; (Catching a cold after a rainy night, getting burned by the sun, intoxication by food, etc.) - Possible personal issues/anxiety; (For those who doesn't feel comfortable with basic conditions, possible bad weather, etc. Especially for the ones who has never tried living in an outdoor camp before,.) (Though, not to be understood wrong, we very much welcome the first time campers especially! :) ) - Other hazards, that come countless in outdoors. It's very important that a person signing up for this youth exchange realizes that the participation is at their own risk. Therefore, in the application form that comes together with this info pack, you are asked to tick the box by which you confirm that you had been informed by the organizers about the higher possible hazards (mentioned above) and you agree to participate in the project at your own risk. What's more, in order to minimize all the risks, it is STRICTLY REQUIRED to mention in the application form if a participant has any allergies, food intolerances, needs a specific medication, etc. This will be absolutely confidential, only for the safety reasons and it will enable the organizers to take needed measures and prepare themselves better for possible challenges.
Contact Person: Marit Moberg Shokkin Group Norge marit@shokkin.org https://shokkingroupnorge.wordpress.com/ Contact Person: Ucha Burduli Youth Association DRONI uchaburduli@gmail.com http://droniyouth.org/ "This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein" All the images used in this document had been taken during Erasmus+ training course "LTTC - On the Way to Learn" held in Georgia in September 2016. Credits to its participants.