Marilena Maragkou - Mind the Gap

What was the added value to ESAA of your project?
I firmly believe that “Mind the Gap” project added value to ESAA as its objectives go along with the priorities of the association. Through the project, more Youth learn about Erasmus+ and mobility opportunities, more Youth built their Capacity with the necessary tools for the 21st Century in order to be competitive enough to apply for Erasmus+ opportunities and last but not least policymakers got engaged to support Youth actions.

What did you like the most about your project?
The excitement of the participants, their willingness to develop skills, their interest to explore opportunities through Erasmus+ and their passion to get out of their comfort zone. I believe that “Mind the Gap” was a motivation for many Youth to grab and compete for Erasmus+ opportunities.

What are the biggest achievements?
The results of the project were quite impressive and the numbers higher than predicted. According to the project proposal, the estimated target was 100 beneficiaries. However, at the end of the project the project managed to reach 200 beneficiaries! After analysing the data of the evaluation questionnaires: 100% of the participants stated that the organization of the workshop was really good, 96,9% of the participants stated that the content of the workshop was useful, 100% of the participants stated that trainers were well informed about the topics. 100% of the participants stated that they would like to attend similar workshops, which is a huge success!

Ella Bastian - Get to know your causes

What was the added value to ESAA of your project?
I think the added value of this ESAA project is the fact that we were able to raise awareness of ESAA and various causes that they support, such as social inclusion to a diverse range of people who will take the knowledge that they have gained back to their own communities, spread the word and, therefore creating a chain link of awareness.

What did you like the most about your project?
The things that I liked most about this project were the engagement rate and amount of participation from the people attending. Participants started the event with very little knowledge of topics such as social inclusion and education advocacy, but by the end of the project they were making pledges and were extremely motivated to carry out their own actions to help educate others.

What are the biggest achievements?
I think that one of the biggest achievements of this project is the fact that every participant got the opportunity to network with individuals of a similar mindset. Also, each participant created an action plan which detailed how they would implement what they have learnt further down the line.

Gevorg Harutyunyan - Edu Van Hub

What was the added value to ESAA of your project?
Firstly, I would like to mention that ESAA wasn´t known to people in many places, especially rural places where our workshops have been conducted.The project had well-thought-out marketing plan so we could effectively promote the organization both on virtual and on real platforms (TV/Radio interviews,presentations in different cities, articles, photo-stories,flags, car stickers etc.).
Secondly, the project contributed to the ESAA goals and aims: to increase the knowledge of Erasmus+, to facilitate access to Erasmus+ and to increase social inclusion, empowerment, and participation.
Thirdly, the project gave the volunteers of ESAA an opportunity to participate in the project.

What did you like the most about your project?
It could sound controversial but: challenges. It was quite challenging to travel for so many kilometers, to pass, so many border-controls and, to meet so many policemen who kept us back for some time and asked many questions. It wasn’t easy to do a project about the media literacy, because many people living in post-soviet countries (especially in rural areas) don’t pay enough attention of its proper use. Those challenges made the project even more valuable and meaningful. Surely, me and my team gained a great experience and became more flexible and motivated to organize different kinds of educational projects. The best moment was to realize that those challenges were overcome and, the project was successfully implemented and had a strong impact.

What are the biggest achievements?
We could raise awareness about the importance of media literacy. The project had a multiple-effect and, because of the quality workshops and the creative idea of promoting media literacy through non-formal education, we got a huge amount of youngsters interested in volunteering and promoting the project:
- 150 teenage participants (socially disadvantaged youth) were involved and trained
- Presentation of the project in 8 cities (Milano,Vienna, Moscow, Yerevan, Bonn, Malaga, Kyiv, Brussels)
- More than 50 local and international articles/interviews/vlogs/blogs about the project
- Online platform where young people can get mentorship, find educational opportunites, exchange ideas etc.

Rosalia Marchese - E-all-E

What was the added value to ESAA of your project?
The project "Erasmus for all, all for Erasmus" (E-all-E) supported the development of a printed and online guide provided to young people to support their mobility and awareness on EU funded opportunities. Moreover, thanks to the international meetings and seminars, we managed to develop a strong community of young people and youth workers to become beneficiaries and active members of the EU and ESAA.

What did you like the most about your project?
Supporting people and experiencing once more their strong interest in getting active, in mobilizing and in raising empowerment through open views and hearts.

What are the biggest achievements?
In terms of tangible products, the mobility guide was a big success both in Italy and Armenia while also being published online.
The project also had strong achievements in terms of human contacts: quality networking, raised competences and knowledge, project management.

Simone Papa - Welcome days

What was the added value to ESAA of your project?
The added values to the ESAA project were the possibility to work with a brand recognized at European level that gave us more credibility, the economic resources which let the project to be based in a place already known from international students into the city and the chance to expand the visibility of all organizations involved.

What did you like the most about your project?
To see newcomer students being involved in most of our actions; helping and seeing them creating their new lives.

What are the biggest achievements?
The biggest achievement was to unite a lot of local and non-local organizations under one umbrella, working and developing new strategies for the next one.

Konstantinos Maragkos - WE AfriHug 2020

What was the contribution of ESAA in your project´s execution?
ESAA Projects Team is there always to support, consult and solve unexpected problems. I very much appreciate the significant contribution for the smooth implementation of the project.

What was your main achievement at the end of your project?
There are short and long term achievements. Short term: Hundreds of people empowered with useful skills and organizations have build capacity for successful applications. Long term: Through WE AfriHug, University Staff and students but also youth workers get the opportunity to experience Erasmus+ mobility between Africa and Europe.

What motivated you to apply to the ESAA projects scheme?
The nature of the call fitted with our project, which promotes Erasmus+ opportunities in Africa.

What do you find most interesting while executing your ESAA project?
Executing an ESAA project means results-oriented teamwork, responsibility and determination.

Carlos Gutierrez - A short film to make the male chauvinistic violence visible

What was the added value to ESAA of your project?
We think our project made more visible the everyday struggles which women have to face when it comes to male chauvinist violence. This also happens in international mobilities and it is an issue that we, as volunteers, should be aware of. If there were any doubts about this, our project confirmed it.

What did you like the most about your project?
It was a pleasure for us to work alongside the Erasmus students, as well as being able to share our experiences with this issue and learn from them. We are sure that the creation of our short film is an experience that none of us will ever forget.

What are the biggest achievements?
Our short film had a great impact, not only in Spain, but also in other countries thanks to other ESN sections, international students sharing it with their friends and families and, of course, ESAA. It surely surpassed the number of views that we were expecting and also created debates and conversations about the issue. We are very proud of all the work and effort that all the students and volunteers put into this project and it was very worth it.