Reclaim the Neighbourhood
International exchange
Reclaim The Neighbourhood is a project that aims to work with youngsters in cities which have been facing or will face drastic changes due to deep industrial transitions, that affect their traditional benchmarks, long-established lifestyles and conceptions of work.
We’re a team of youth workers from across Europe, that explore tools and methods to encourage youngsters to take an active role in their local communities. Coming from Spain, UK, Ukraine, Germany, Republic of Moldova and Georgia, we strive to empower young people to build trans-European friendships and cooperation by sharing working methods and exploring local resources.
Young people in our neighbourhoods are not seen as key actors in developing the community and the city itself, so by redefining the traditional learning approach, our team intends to have their voices heard. Our non-formal education instruments will help them to get the courage and inspiration to reshape the environment they live in and to create new opportunities.
The project believes that cooperation among partners with different experiences can provide the youngsters with new perspectives and approaches to similar problems rising from industrial transitions. It plans to be an ongoing process adapted to each country, through which we will reach youngsters with different needs and help them extend their horizons.
In October 2021 the Artistanis and friends visited Eastern Ukraine for the "Reclame your Neighbourhood" Erasmus + Youth program: "Active and participative Citizenship of Youth in Post-Industrial Urban Areas”.
During the seven days, the team got to take part in a cultural exchange programme with a group of 37 young people from Ukraine, Georgia, Germany, Moldova, Spain and the UK.
From visiting abandoned buildings, walking around coal mines, discovering and sharing new recipes, developping and creating creative workshops for the local community, and most importantly building strong friendships the international group deepen its understanding of the obstacles to overcome and will to open to other cultures.
