The period from 16 till 23rd October, was a unique learning experience and a great opportunity for 56 motivated young people coming from 7 countries of Europe: Sweden, Macedonia, Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Poland and Slovakia to be part of the youth exchange “Volunteer for social inclusion” with an aim to dive deeper into the topic of volunteerism and explore its power for tackling social inclusion.

Participants gathered in Sweden and through different non-formal working methods explored the topic of volunteerism, shared their volunteering experiences and got themselves familiar with the ESC program. Participants were exploring all the benefits of volunteering and supporting social inclusion through it.

The sessions were designed in order to engage participants to interact, to boost their creativity and critical thinking skills and develop/improve some competences, such as: organisation and communication skills, digital competence, teamwork and leadership skills etc.

The youth exchange “Volunteering for social inclusion” also focused on the intercultural dimension, thus each night, participants had an opportunity to organize intercultural nights and present their countries, dance some traditional dances, taste traditional food, learn some words in foreign languages etc.

Participants improved their digital skills as well, namely, they worked on creating a practical online booklet with tips, articles, resources on volunteering in English and content for project website and social media.

The next challenge that participants will take will be the implementation of voluntary initiatives in their communities in order to tackle some issues relevant to them and their peers.