I am Ready.

I am READY will be a youth exchange that will be implemented in Murter, Croatia in the period between 14- 23 May 2016. It will gather 42 participants, young unemployed people from  6 countries who are interested in the development of creative skills as a door to their future employment. Youngsters from Croatia, Macedonia, Portugal, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria will unite their creative minds and will take part in creative workshops about dancing – Latin dances, art workshops, jewellery making workshops, photography workshops, will broaden their knowledge in the area of how to create a good CV, how to write a good motivation letter, how to act on a job interview. They will learn on what is needed to start a small start-up business, listen to successful stories, and they will be able to use their full creative potential during the creative workshops in an area where they have interest and talents.

After high school in some cases and after university youngsters become part of the group job seekers. And they are the most vulnerable group with the highest percentage of unemployment. They come out of school with theoretical knowledge and in few cases with practical which for the labour market is not enough. Formal school curriculum often does not offer preparation to face the employers. And if they want to succeed, they need to be ready. This project is designed for their needs and will give the selected youngsters a chance to be ready to face the labour market. During the exchange workshops on how to create a competitive CV, how to write the right motivation letter, how to act and what to do on a job interview, practical role-play of a job interview will allow these youngsters to get ready, to find out where to search for jobs; or simply by learning and doing they will experience what it is like to be a job-seeker. This project will as well, in the later stage, encourage, empower and motivate this group of participants to think about how they can start their own business and how they can create their job opportunity by simply exploring their full creative potential.  In many cases, young people face a lack of motivation and encouragement, but also lack of knowledge on how talents/interests/hobbies/crafts can turn into a job opportunity and a small start-up business. This project will address this issue and allow youngsters to learn how they can succeed in the area they have a talent in.

Using non-formal methods of working, team-building, creative thinking, self-learning participants will work on the development of their talents and interest, learning more about how to face the world of employers. Educative workshops on topic how to create a competitive CV, write a good motivation letter, experience a job interview will be implemented in the framework of this exchange. As last result participants will practice their presentation and organizational skills and will organize an event in the local community local fair where results from the creative workshops will be presented to the local community in form of art pieces created, photos taken and developed, hand made jewellery made and dancing performance. Local students will learn more about other countries, about how youngsters are trying to create their carriers, ways to fight unemployment. Participants will also create a booklet whose main target group will be all young unemployed people all over Europe, booklet that will help them in the process of creating competitive CV and motivation letter, how to deal with a job interview, and practical exercise and examples of how to develop a business idea from a talent you possess. Youngsters will have fun and learn at the same time, gain skills, knowledge, will learn about other cultures, learn to recognize diversity, to accept it, learn to respect each other. Filmed material from this experience will be published in the form of a DVD movie.

Objectives of the project are: to involve 42 youngsters in practice of creative knowledge/talents to create and open a door for a job opportunity dance, photography, art, jewellery making; to promote personal development of new leaders and help them become more confident and self knowledgeable; practice leadership and management behaviour with 42 youngsters by using role-play and case studies methods of learning and to empower youngsters to implement the gain knowledge; broaden participants knowledge and to give practical examples of where to search for job opportunities; practice writing of representative Curriculum Vitae and Motivation Letter; promote European diversity through promoting different cultures and develop mutual understanding, tolerance, respect between participants coming from different social, political, religious, background.

GOALS: Involve 42 young people in creative knowledge/talent practices to create and open doors for business opportunities in dance, photography, art, jewellery making; promote the personal development of new leaders and help them become self-confident and self-educated; Practice the leadership and leadership skills of 42 young people using role-playing and practical examples, teaching methods and empowering young people to implement their knowledge; expand participants' knowledge and provide practical examples of how and where to look for employment opportunities; practice writing a resume and cover letter; to promote European diversity by promoting different cultures and developing mutual understanding, tolerance, respect between participants who come from different social, political and religious backgrounds.

USERS: A group of 42 young people aged 18 to 30 from 6 European countries.

PARTNERS: Creator Kumanovo from Macedonia, Vigilance 2000 from Bulgaria, Experimentaculo from Portugal, Konya Youth Center from Turkey.

DONORS: Agency for Mobility and EU Programs.

DURATION: January 4 - August 4, 2016.

BUDGET: 21.350,00 eur.