Active Youth Planet (AYp) is a climate-focused team of Active Youth Association (AY) – a for-purpose organisation working with youth and communities in need in Lithuania and across borders.

• AYp mission is to educate people about sustainability and better choices for the climate
• AYp vision is to lead the change in climate-friendly behaviour (of citizens, NGOs, businesses) and policies in Lithuania

AY has been actively involved in local and international (youth) projects since 2014. Up until now, the organization has successfully implemented (getting just the highest scores from the evaluators) more than 60 separate project actions on its own (and several times that as a partner). What is more, our NGO has built up a large partnership network worldwide (more than 700 organisations) and belongs to Lithuania’s Youth Board (LiJOT) (a platform for dialogue with decision-makers). All of that can be used for the current project.

In whatever activity we carry out, we follow our 3 core principles:

1. Sustainability – seeking sustainable impact over the long-term
2. Compassion – being open & compassionate to target groups & other stakeholders
3. Can-do attitude – seeing opportunities rather than problems

Surely, it’s easy to list these values on paper and a lot harder to follow them through in real life.

That is why we focus extensively on having the right team for every project. The people we will be working with (in the current project) are professionals with relevant experience and a record of success (whether in youth work and/or environment/climate fields). We also rely on a deep pool of volunteers (over 1000) and potential partners to ensure: 1) the project’s implementation goes smoothly; 2) the dissemination efforts reach the specified target groups.

The projects AYp takes on, as a rule, focus on demanding and sensitive issues (e.g. plastic waste). Hence, we look forward to the challenges offered by the current project.

Active Youth Association has lengthy experience in running Erasmus+ projects. Therefore, we know how to chip in at all the steps of the project, starting with the application itself and finishing with result dissemination. We have carried out projects that have focused on ecology, cycling, food waste and others (see below).

Sustainable development is our greatest aspiration and non-formal education is a key to promoting it. AYp is encouraging young people to take action and lead eco-lifestyle by:

• raising awareness and building capacity among youth on climate change;
• Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour;
• enhancing international cooperation and knowledge-sharing among organisations;
• strengthening the participation of youth in environmental and climate decision-making processes.

A few concrete examples:

• Launching the first mobile climate museum in the Baltics (within EUKI framework)
• Erasmus+ youth exchange “Eco-Friendly Europe”, united young adults to tackle/address environmental problems that are acute in the participating countries. Participants were discussing and searching for solutions for making our lives more sustainable and friendlier to the environment.
• Erasmus+ youth exchange “Cycle and the City” mission was to promote cycling as a healthy, sustainable and fun alternative to cars.
• Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the field of youth “Save The Ocean” has a goal to take a small step towards better habits & a cleaner ocean. It raises awareness about existing issues and involves youth in the creation of a sustainable world
• Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the field of youth  “The Circle of Fashion” – The project aim is to introduce people to sustainable/ethical fashion, conscious clothing and to show possible ways to protect the environment.
• Erasmus+ KA205 “Wear(e)able” supports the wave of commitment by young people and focuses on environmental protection with the issue of sustainable clothing. 
• A platform for sustainable events and travelling – Tvariau.lt
• F*CK CO2 platform – it’s a platform that allows you to donate to a project that reduces our CO2 footprint by hundreds of thousands of kilograms.

Our aim is, by definition, to not just address the issue, but also inform the local communities about 1) the benefits of such projects; and 2) the seriousness of the issues being brought to light. For that reason, AYp pays attention to every detail and carries out the full spectrum of activities – from early research to implementation and result dissemination. Such an approach & competencies are relevant for any project.

The key people involved in this application are Gediminas Kondrackis (board member of AY), Klaudija Samulevičiūtė (leader of AY Planet) & Stan Karmyšov (a world-class youth trainer). They are accompanied by other staff of the association, who all have international experience.

Gediminas is a board member of AY and Baltics Sustainability Awards Changemaker (of 2022). He has experience in all 1) finance-related; 2) organizational; and 3) legal matters. Mr. Gediminas has contributed to many international & local projects (more than 50). In his work, Mr. Gediminas focuses on NFE methods and is constantly updating his knowledge, which will be very important for the current projects as well. He is also able to build online platforms, automate emailing, use professional software, such as Photoshop & much more. This is an asset for any project team. Mr. Gediminas holds a BSc degree in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Klaudija is the AY Planed team lead and is also an experienced project manager (worked with different kinds of projects inside & outside of Active Youth for 5 years). Klaudija has managed more than 10 projects in Active Youth, some smaller and some bigger projects. Most of those projects were focused on the integration of refugees, and migrants through different kinds of tools. She also wrote & implemented a few projects by herself, those projects were focused on sustainability, climate change, and sustainable fashion.  Right now Klaudija is leading a team and providing guidance to her team. Delegating the work and overseeing progress towards goals, coaching team members when needed. Klaudija is supper passionate about human rights, social entrepreneurship & leadership.

Stan is a youth worker and trainer/facilitator. He has extensive experience in the field of non-formal education (more than 20 projects so far both as a facilitator and coordinator). Stanislav has been a coordinator of more than 20 youth exchanges and training courses for youth workers. He is coordinating the project Community Seniors Involve international which aims to re-integrate older generations into societies by involving them in activities with youth, increasing a sense of belonging. He has been working with senior citizens in the health centers, organizing different activities to combat the loneliness and exclusion of older generations. Moreover, he has experience in studying and working in multicultural environments, thus, he knows how to approach and communicate with culturally diverse persons.

Our staff are young leaders, who developed during their studies & life in different European countries. This has not only given them a strong (formal and non-formal) educational basis but has also taught them how to communicate with people coming from different cultural and social backgrounds.

The key staff involved have been part of all the previous activities of the association. Therefore, they have the necessary knowledge to chip into the current project as well.

Through their other endeavours, they have:

• Led seminars for youth about Eco-friendly living
• Educated youth about Erasmus+ & ESC opportunities 
• Organized international competitions, social inclusion events of foreigners to the local community, and several sports events encouraging a healthy lifestyle.
• In addition, they have participated in previous ‘Youth in Action’ & Erasmus+ youth exchanges, training courses about ecological sustainability and other environmental initiatives.

All of this has given them a range of skills and competencies usable for the current project.

Active Youth Health is a mental & physical health focused team of Active Youth Association (AY) – a for-purpose organization working with youth and communities in need in Lithuania and across borders. 

AY cooperates with organisations of a similar profile from all over Europe (more than 700 organisations) to organize events and trainings using non-formal education (including sport) as a powerful instrument to encourage youth to take an active part in society. We are integrating youngsters into the multinational environment and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

• We seek to prove that physical activity is not only healthy but is the most powerful tool for inclusion and we wish to make sport accessible to everyone disregarding age, gender, wealth, experience, religion, race or background.
• Our vision is to engrave the idea that sports are not about medals. It is about personal glory and growth and being a part of a like-minded team and a united community.

In general, our key goals are:

1. helping the underprivileged in Lithuania and other EU countries to be better integrated into society and get access to all public facilities;
2. to help young people to build new cooperation for sports/mental health initiatives, increase the needed skills for that and motivation for volunteering; 
3. enhance the self-esteem of the underprivileged (e.g. disabled); digital & multilingualism skills, social awareness, tolerance and other important values;
4. facilitate cooperation between different Lithuanian sports organisations, NGOs, youth workers, and sports trainers;
5. raise awareness of the importance of health-enhancing physical activity through different sports; 
6. raise awareness about the importance of taking good care of your mental health. 

In whatever activity we carry out, we follow our 4 core principles: 1) dedication – meaning that we give our 100% and more; 2) openness – we work with – and for the public; 3) positivity – we see opportunities rather than problems; and 4) enthusiasm – we want to change our surroundings for the better. Surely, it’s easy to list these values on paper and a lot harder to follow them through in real.

That is why we focus extensively on having the right team for every project. The people we will be working with (in the current project) are professionals with relevant experience and a record of success (whether in youth work and/or sports). We also rely on a deep pool of volunteers (over 1000) and potential partners to ensure: 1) the project’s implementation goes smoothly; 2) the dissemination efforts reach the specified target groups.

Active Youth Association has lengthy experience in running youth projects (sport, ESC, and others). Up until now, the organization has successfully implemented (getting just the highest scores from the evaluators) more than 6o separate project actions on its own (and several times that as a partner). One of the main AY priorities is a healthy lifestyle and well-being of the society. For this reason, experience gained through our past projects will be used for the current project since Active Youth Association pays attention to every detail and carries out the full spectrum of activities.

Some concrete examples of projects related to physical health, sports & inclusion:

• Erasmus+ Big Collaborative Sports project – “Empowerment Through Sports” aimed to create contact between different social groups by using sports as a tool in order to foster social inclusion and make young people understand how minority discrimination works and how to counteract this.
• Erasmus+ Small Collaborative Sports project – “Capoeira Connects Europe” with the main aim to encourage people to engage with their own cultural heritage and to discover all forms of it around the world, thus increasing tolerance, empathy, reducing social exclusion of vulnerable and disadvantaged youth and promoting active and healthy lifestyle.
• Partners in an Erasmus+ Small Collaborative Sports project “Social A.C.T. – Active Cycling Team” which focuses on promoting cycling and motivating to practice physical activity as an integral part of everyday life.
• “Sport Without Boundaries” – the project aimed to increase volunteerism and physical activity of disadvantaged groups living across Europe. 
• “SPORTIFICATION” was aimed at increasing, promoting and encouraging participation of young people across the EU in sports and PA activities. 
• “Sport as an Equal Playground” aims to bring sports closer to young people with fewer opportunities, who are at a disadvantage compared to their peers.
• “RaceAbility” – the aim of the project is to design and develop sports initiatives in terms of obstacle courses for young adults, with a view to increase the inclusion of young adults in an innovative way.

Some concrete examples of projects related to mental health:

• The main aim of our project “Get Well Together” is to increase the mental well-being of marginalized young people who face more discrimination and exclusion due to Covid-19 through youth work.
• “A Beautiful Mind“ project contributed to the promotion of human rights by increasing the knowledge about mental health between the youngsters and the public overall. 
• “Be Kind to Your Mind” with the core goal being to increase knowledge about mental health between youngsters and the general public. 
• “Mind full, or Mindful?” aims to raise awareness about mental health among youth and make it one of the top priorities.
• “Dance Against Stressful Situations” – aims to develop a creative approach that may act in the long-term to benefit young people and their well-being while tackling the negative impacts of the current crisis.
• We are also involved in the project “Confident Me” where we work on improving young people’s self-confidence. We work on training and supporting teachers from all around Lithuania, for they can later implement activities in their classrooms.

In fact, we have been organizing many different free-of-charge events/seminars/open practices for people of any age within Lithuania. E.g. yoga, dancing sessions, 3×3 basketball championships, 6×6 football championships, public sports management & marketing seminars for sports management students, sports managers and simple sports enthusiasts.

The key people involved in this application are Gediminas Kondrackis (board member of AY), Kamilė Kucharskaitė (leader of AY Health) & Stan Karmyšov (a world-class youth trainer). They are accompanied by other staff of the association, who all have international experience.

Gediminas is a board member of AY and Baltics Sustainability Awards Changemaker (of 2022). He has experience in all 1) finance-related; 2) organizational; and 3) legal matters. Mr. Gediminas has contributed to many international & local projects (more than 50). In his work, Mr. Gediminas focuses on NFE methods and is constantly updating his knowledge, which will be very important for the current projects as well. He is also able to build online platforms, automate emailing, use professional software, such as Photoshop & much more. This is an asset for any project team. Mr. Gediminas holds a BSc degree in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Kamilė focuses solely on health-themed (sports & mental health) projects in Active Youth. Kamile is responsible for the smooth implementation of the team’s projects and support for project managers. She has been working as an operations assistant and insurance partner division assistant before joining Active Youth organization. Previous roles taught discipline, time management, and problem-solving which are very useful in a present role. A Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Communication program ensures that internationally implemented projects are being taken care of in the right way and that communication between partner organizations is smooth and efficient.  Kamile runs the whole team with the belief that new ideas, support, and communication are the key.

Stan is a youth worker and trainer/facilitator. He has extensive experience in the field of non-formal education (more than 20 projects so far both as a facilitator and coordinator). Stanislav has been a coordinator of more than 20 youth exchanges and training courses for youth workers. He is coordinating the project Community Seniors Involve international which aims to re-integrate older generations into societies by involving them in activities with youth, increasing a sense of belonging. He has been working with senior citizens in the health centers, organizing different activities to combat the loneliness and exclusion of older generations. Moreover, he has experience in studying and working in multicultural environments, thus, he knows how to approach and communicate with culturally diverse persons.

They are accompanied by other staff of the association, who all have international experience. They are young leaders, who developed during their studies & life in Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, USA, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Croatia, Lithuania and Latvia. This has not only given them a strong educational basis but has also taught them how to communicate with people coming from different cultural and social backgrounds.

Not to mention that by being professional and open for discussions the team has gathered a big trustworthy group of international and local partners. The managers working in this team are also invited into international conferences, forums and international alliances of like-minded people. We, of course, also offer help in project writing and execution, we are mentors and mentees, we organise and we follow. 

Active Youth Human is a human rights, equality & equity focused team of Active Youth Association (AY) – a for-purpose organisation working with youth and communities in need in Lithuania and across borders.

We think that everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. The ability to live and work without prejudice is a fundamental right, regardless of your background identity and experiences.

AY Human vision is a world where diverse people are ensured equity and embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Our key goals are:

• To educate ourselves, our friends, family and the people we work with on stereotypes, human rights and social issues.
• To advocate for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.
• To use the intersectional approach in our work, so the opportunities we create would be for all people

AY has been actively involved in local and international (youth) projects since 2014. Up until now, the organization has successfully implemented (getting just the highest scores from the evaluators) more than 60 separate project actions on its own (and several times that as a partner). What is more, our NGO has built up a large partnership network worldwide (more than 700 organisations) and belongs to Lithuania’s Youth Board (LiJOT) (a platform for dialogue with decision-makers). All of that can be used for the current project.

In whatever activity we carry out, we follow our 3 core principles:

1. Sustainability – seeking sustainable impact over the long-term
2. Compassion – being open & compassionate to target groups & other stakeholders
3. Can-do attitude – seeing opportunities rather than problems

That is why we focus extensively on having the right team for every project. The people we will be working with (in the current project) are professionals with relevant experience and a record of success. We also rely on a deep pool of volunteers (over 1000) and potential partners to ensure: 1) the project’s implementation goes smoothly; 2) the dissemination efforts reach the specified target groups.

The projects AY takes on, as a rule, focus on demanding and sensitive issues (e.g. discrimination, refugees). Hence, we look forward to the challenges offered by the current project.

Active Youth Association has lengthy experience in running Erasmus+ projects. Therefore, we know how to chip in at all the steps of the project, starting with the application itself and finishing with result dissemination.  We have carried out projects that have focused on human rights, hate speech, tolerance, and other.

AY Is fighting the issue of discrimination and defending human rights through non-formal education activities.

Some concrete examples:

• “Community: Seniors Involved” aimed to boost youngsters’ empathy, respect and social responsibility concerning older generations, as well as help to tackle the problem of elderly isolation.
• “Capoeira Connects Community” was organised to ensure a continuous and successful social integration of refugees through martial art – capoeira.
• “Young (Ex-)offenders’ Support” – aims to foster employability of young ex-offenders by providing employers, youth/social workers & career specialists with tools to teach, guide & employ this vulnerable group.
• “Lifeboat” aims to contribute to a more equal intercultural and inclusive environment within the youth local communities and involve young refugees/immigrants/asylum-seekers through new innovative methodologies.
• “Silence Hides Violence” – aims to provide knowledge on domestic violence against women & its forms to provide guidelines on how to recognize and speak about it if violence occurs.
• “A Safe Place” – aims to address the widespread phenomenon of domestic violence in the Baltics and, more specifically, aims to support women who are increasingly victims of violence during the ongoing worldwide pandemic.
• “Let’s Turn Discrimination into Tolerance!” youth exchange project was organized in order to spread tolerance for various minorities (sexual, gender, religious, ethnic, etc.) among European youth.
• “Make Love Speech” gathered 30 youth workers to discuss about existing problems of hate speech, racism, and discrimination. It even turned into the movement in Lithuania.

What is more, Active Youth Association cooperates with other European NGOs and international organizations in hosting and helping others host youth activities in a number of countries, promote cultural diversity and contribute to the positive social changes in the European continent.

Our aim is, by definition, to not just address the issue, but also inform the local communities about 1) the benefits of such projects; and 2) the seriousness of the issues being brought to light. For that reason, AY pays attention to every detail and carries out the full spectrum of activities. From early research to implementation to later stages of result dissemination. Such approach & competences are relevant for any project.

The key people involved in this application are Gediminas Kondrackis (board member of AY), Inga Vederyte (leader of AY Human) & Stan Karmyšov (a world-class youth trainer). They are accompanied by other staff of the association, who all have international experience.

Gediminas is a board member of AY and Baltics Sustainability Awards Changemaker (of 2022). He has experience in all 1) finance-related; 2) organizational; and 3) legal matters. Mr. Gediminas has contributed to many international & local projects (more than 50). In his work, Mr. Gediminas focuses on NFE methods and is constantly updating his knowledge, which will be very important for the current projects as well. He is also able to build online platforms, automate emailing, use professional software, such as Photoshop & much more. This is an asset for any project team. Mr. Gediminas holds a BSc degree in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Inga is the Team Lead at Active Youth Human, where she supervises a group of Project Managers working on various human rights projects. She successfully overlooks around 12 international long-term projects at a time and has extensive experience in writing projects for several different Funds. Inga’s passion and focus are on women’s rights and the prevention of domestic violence, as well as the integration of migrants/refugees and (ex)offenders into society. She has experience leading workshops and training, organizing human rights-themed events and conferences, delivering speeches during webinars and podcasts, and working with youth workers and youth. Her background having a Bachelor of Psychology (Lithuania) and a Leadership & Management Diploma (Australia) enables her abilities to successfully oversee a team and collaborate, and form partnerships with partners and stakeholders internationally.

Stan is a youth worker and trainer/facilitator. He has extensive experience in the field of non-formal education (more than 20 projects so far both as a facilitator and coordinator). Stanislav has been a coordinator of more than 20 youth exchanges and training courses for youth workers. He is coordinating the project Community Seniors Involve international which aims to re-integrate older generations into societies by involving them in activities with youth, increasing a sense of belonging. He has been working with senior citizens in the health centers, organizing different activities to combat the loneliness and exclusion of older generations. Moreover, he has experience in studying and working in multicultural environments, thus, he knows how to approach and communicate with culturally diverse persons.

Our staff are young leaders, who developed during their studies & life in Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, USA, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Lithuania and Latvia. This has not only given them a strong educational basis but has also taught them how to communicate with people coming from different cultural and social backgrounds.

Through their other endeavors, they have:

• Led seminars for youth about Eco-friendly living
• Educated youth about Erasmus+ & ESC opportunities
• Organized international competitions, social inclusion events of foreigners to the local community, and several sports events encouraging a healthy lifestyle.
• In addition, they have participated in previous ‘Youth in Action’ & Erasmus+ youth exchanges, training courses about ecological sustainability and other environmental initiatives.

Active Youth Association (AY) is a for-purpose organisation working with youth and communities in need in Lithuania and beyond. We have extensive experience in non-formal education, as well as a range of other topics. Most important among which are sustainability, inclusion & human rights, citizenship & participation.

• Vision: an open society where everyone can realize their potential, critically address challenges, and adapt to a changing world with courage and creativity.
• Mission: educate and empower people to acquire skills relevant to today’s modern world and advocate the need to change & adapt while influencing the future.

Goal objectives:

• Provide opportunities: organize trainings to enhance people’s skills that are needed to develop their career path.
• Empower beneficiaries to boost their self-esteem & find comfort in the unknown.
• Make a positive impact in the EU policy areas and raise awareness of societal adaptation in the changing world while creating new initiatives and building networks.

AY has been actively involved in local and international (youth) projects since the very start of its existence. Up until now, the organization has successfully implemented (getting just the highest scores from the evaluators) more than 70 separate project actions on its own (and several times that as a partner). What is more, our NGO has built up a large partnership network all over Europe (more than 700 organisations) and belongs to Lithuania’s Youth Board (LiJOT) (a platform for dialogue with decision-makers). All that can be used for the current project.

In whatever activity we carry out, we follow our 3 core principles:

1. Sustainability – seeking sustainable impact over the long-term
2. Compassion – being open & compassionate to target groups & other stakeholders
3. Can-do attitude – seeing opportunities rather than problems

That is why we focus extensively on having the right team for every project. The people we will be working with (in the current project) are professionals with relevant experience and a record of success (whether in youth work, digital space and/or media). We also rely on a deep pool of volunteers (over 1000) and potential partners to ensure: 1) the project’s implementation goes smoothly; 2) the dissemination efforts reach the specified target groups.

The projects AY takes on, as a rule, focus on demanding and sensitive issues. Hence, we look forward to the challenges offered by the current project.

Active Youth Association has lengthy experience in running Erasmus+ projects. Therefore, we know how to chip in at all the steps of the project, starting with the application itself and finishing with result dissemination.  We have carried out projects that have focused on development opportunities, digital tools, research methods, active citizenship and others.

Some concrete examples relevant to youth development:

• “YEES!”  project focuses on establishing connections between relevant sectors and jointly working on increasing employment and employability of youth, creating services and mechanisms that foster local activity level for youth employment and employability.
• “FSC” – project’s overarching objective is to align vocational education and training (VET) with labor market demands. In addition, the project aims to innovate VET with an interactive online application for creating a personal learning journey tailored to the contemporary labor market, which will transform users into holistic new workers.
• “Work-fever“- the objective is to improve youth skills that are likely to be in high demand in the post-coronavirus world.
• The project “Rebuild” was created to enhance the skills of underrepresented young people by providing them with the tools needed to foster innovative forms of civic participation, constructive dialogue, and awareness-raising campaigning.
  

Some concrete examples relevant to digital tools & development:

• “Transforming Covid-19 into an Opportunity” is a project aimed to help youngsters that are affected by Covid-19 by supporting young people in their search for jobs in digital spaces.
• “More Than Reliable Online Education” is a project aimed to support youth centers and youth workers by responding to the issues they have encountered during the COVID-19 situation and provide them with tools to enhance their ability to effectively work with youth and in their communities
• “Communities Driving Change” – the project focuses on empowering citizens by providing them with digital tools to express their needs and opinions.
• Our training course “Let’s Digitalise Youth Organisations” growed digital communication professionals, who could effectively communicate with youth and help NGOs be more visible in the EU.
• We have created online courses for NGOs to make them work more professionally. All the material was created by youth workers that gained digital skills by participating in training courses, Erasmus+ virtual exchanges. 

Some concrete examples relevant to active participation & citizenship:

• “CONTINUE” is supporting young people suffering from social exclusion to tackle the specific challenges of post-COVID times in terms of staying connected and integrated into European communities.
• “FRIDAY” is a project which aim to increase the knowledge of young people about environmental issues; encourage the active participation of young people in the European environmental process and to raise young people’s awareness of the importance of taking action against climate change.
• “Democracy through Dialogue not Conflict” included an international meeting of politicians and youth in the Foreign Affairs’ Ministry of Lithuania. During the meeting, the ways for Eastern Partnership youth to get involved were analysed and best ideas shortlisted.
• A project about civil society “Tavo balsas” took 2 years. The aim of it was to encourage partnerships between public administrations and the local community by creating an inclusive society that uses creativity, motivation and their competencies.

What is more, Active Youth Association cooperates with other European NGOs and international organizations in hosting and helping others host youth activities in a number of countries, promote cultural diversity and contribute to the positive social changes in the European continent.

Apart from organizing youth exchanges and trainings, our association is also involved in educational activities for little kids, cultural events, blood donations, clothes donations to needy children, sport competitions, quizzes, discussions on themes that are interesting for youth, and other projects aimed to help youngsters, support and facilitate their creative initiatives.

Moreover, during the global health crisis that was caused by Covid-19, AY created a platform (Coronahelpers.lt) which streamlined the search and registration of volunteers who are able to help in the fight with this virus.

The key people involved in this application are Gediminas Kondrackis (board member of AY), Otilija Ruseckaitė (leader of Youth Development) & Stan Karmyšov (a world-class youth trainer). They are accompanied by other staff of the association, who all have international experience.

Gediminas is a board member of AY and Baltics Sustainability Awards Changemaker (of 2022). He has experience in all 1) finance-related; 2) organizational; and 3) legal matters. Mr. Gediminas has contributed to many international & local projects (more than 50). In his work, Mr. Gediminas focuses on NFE methods and is constantly updating his knowledge, which will be very important for the current projects as well. He is also able to build online platforms, automate emailing, use professional software, such as Photoshop & much more. This is an asset for any project team. Mr. Gediminas holds a BSc degree in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Otilija studied International Business and Communication at ISM university. This program gave her skills regarding international work and multicultural communication. She was also actively involved in university volunteering activities (member of the Students’ Association) and volunteered at ESN ISM for several years. For a few years, she was responsible for Capacity Building projects in Active Youth with topics such as mental health, startups, and the employability of youth. She conducted surveys, made research, created methodologies, and organized local events and international mobilities. Currently, she is a team lead of the Youth Development team which consists of KA1, KA2, and Capacity Building projects. She monitors more than 15 projects to ensure that all the activities are implemented on time in order to achieve project goals.

Stan is a youth worker and trainer/facilitator. He has extensive experience in the field of non-formal education (more than 20 projects so far both as a facilitator and coordinator). Stanislav has been a coordinator of more than 20 youth exchanges and training courses for youth workers. He is coordinating the project Community Seniors Involve international which aims to re-integrate older generations into societies by involving them in activities with youth, increasing a sense of belonging. He has been working with senior citizens in the health centers, organizing different activities to combat the loneliness and exclusion of older generations. Moreover, he has experience in studying and working in multicultural environments, thus, he knows how to approach and communicate with culturally diverse persons.

Our staff are young leaders, who developed during their studies & life in Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, USA, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Lithuania and Latvia. This has not only given them a strong educational basis but has also taught them how to communicate with people coming from different cultural and social backgrounds.

Through their other endeavors, they have led seminars for youth to develop their entrepreneurial skills (Lithuania), educating children about studies abroad (Lithuania, the Netherlands), worked as animators in youth clubs (Denmark), organized international student competitions and study fairs, social inclusion programs of foreign students to the local community, youth university exchanges (Latvia), and other (internationally). In addition, they have participated in previous ‘Youth in Action’ & Erasmus+ projects themselves, courses about NFE methods, human rights initiatives, and activities supporting Ukraine during the “Euromaidan” events. All of this has given them a range of skills and competencies usable for a project like this one.