R.E.T.E Star

R.E.T.E. Star was created to strengthen the skills and capacities of the organisations within the Giosef Italy network, starting from the training needs identified by local branches and staff during the Palermo Assembly in 2024. The project is rooted in the awareness that the third sector can only become more effective, inclusive and sustainable by investing in training, innovation and stronger organisational capacity.

Retreating Beauty

Retreating Beauty Erasmus+ Youth Exchange – KA1 – Mobility of Young People 2023-3-IT03-KA153-YOU-000172534 AN OVERVIEW Today’s young people grow up immersed in social, aesthetic and relational norms that deeply influence how they perceive their bodies, relationships, consent, and self-worth. Ideals of beauty, romantic expectations, and gender roles are often internalised automatically, without adequate space to question them. Retreating Beauty – What We Hide, What We Hold, What We Choose was created to provide a safe, experiential, and reflective space where young people from different cultural backgrounds can critically explore these themes using non-formal education methodologies, embodied practices, dialogue and creativity. The project promotes awareness, empathy and interdependence, encouraging participants to recognise and respect their own boundaries and those of others, and to actively contribute to building social spaces that are more inclusive, respectful and care-oriented. PROJECT OBJECTIVES Deconstruct dominant beauty norms: critically analyse aesthetic, bodily and relational norms, understanding who they include and exclude. Strengthen a culture of consent: explore consent as a continuous, negotiated and relational process, both verbally and physically. Develop awareness of personal boundaries: recognise, communicate and respect limits and needs in diverse social and cultural contexts. Promote empathy and solidarity: cultivate trust, listening and interdependence through experiential and reflective practices. Co-create safer, inclusive spaces: develop shared principles and practices to foster environments rooted in respect, care, and collective responsibility. OUTPUT Personal growth and critical awareness: participants gain tools to read and question social norms related to beauty, bodies, consent and relationships. Relational and communication skills: increased ability to express needs, limits and consent, and recognise them in others. Shared embodied and reflective experiences: practices that strengthen trust, empathy and group belonging. Guidelines for safer spaces: principles and practices co-created by participants to bring back to their local contexts. Long-term impact: increased active engagement in promoting inclusive and care-oriented communities. Time June 2026 Where Palermo Beneficiaries Young Europeans aged 18 to 30 funding KA150-YOU – Erasmus accreditation in youth: 2024-1-IT03-KA150-YOU-000280449 INFOPACK HERE Partners

Flavours without Borders

Flavours without Borders Cooking For Change AN OVERVIEW This project will use cooking and culinary traditions as a non-formal learning tool to promote social inclusion, intercultural dialogue, sustainability, and youth empowerment. Through hands-on activities, participants will explore how food can connect cultures, build community, and inspire responsible habits. Throughout the project, young people will engage in collaborative cooking sessions, cultural nights, and visits to local Italian food producers, allowing them to discover local traditions while sharing their own culinary heritage. They will gain practical cooking skills, teamwork experience, and creative methods they will be able to apply in future community initiatives. The project will also promote sustainable and healthy cooking practices by raising awareness about food waste reduction, responsible consumption, and the value of seasonal and local ingredients. By involving participants in planning menus, co-facilitating workshops, and shaping activities, the project will strengthen youth leadership, initiative, and a sense of ownership. Overall, the project will empower young people to use gastronomy as a tool for social impact in their personal, professional, and community lives. PROJECT OBJECTIVES Use cooking and culinary traditions as a non-formal learning tool to promote social inclusion, intercultural dialogue, sustainability, youth empowerment, and awareness of food waste, while equipping participants with practical skills for personal, professional, and community use. Foster inclusion and cultural exchange; Connect participants with Italian food traditions; Empower youth to use gastronomy for social impact; Promote sustainable and healthy practices; Strengthen youth leadership; OUTPUT Culinary Competence: Ability to prepare and present dishes with a focus on healthy, sustainable, and innovative cooking practices; Intercultural Competence: Enhanced understanding, appreciation, and empathy for diverse food traditions and cultural perspectives; Sustainability Awareness: Knowledge and practical skills in reducing food waste, promoting responsible consumption, and adopting environmentally conscious practices; Soft Skills: Strengthened teamwork, leadership, creativity, communication, and public speaking abilities. Digital and Collaborative Skills: Experience in co-creating a “Cookbook of Cultures” and producing digital storytelling materials to document and share project outcomes. Time June 2026 Where Casapesenna Beneficiaries Young people aged between 18 and 26 years old. funding KA150-YOU – Erasmus accreditation in youth: 2024-1-IT03-KA150-YOU-000280449 Download Infopack Partners

Common Things

Common Things Empowering Youth in Areas Impacted by Organised Crime AN OVERVIEW Common Things is a Training Course hosted by GIOSEF Italy and designed to explore how youth work can reveal, understand, and challenge the visible and invisible dynamics of organised crime — the “common things” that communities experience every day but often choose not to see. The project title reflects the contrast between what is ordinary and what is hidden. Just as in popular culture, where underlying layers reshape reality, organised crime and corrupt systems act both openly and underground. Recognising these patterns helps youth workers transform awareness into action — promoting justice, democratic participation, and the protection of common goods. PROJECT OBJECTIVES Strengthen youth work as a tool for legality, democracy, and social justice. Promote civic responsibility and a shared culture of common goods. Foster Euro-Mediterranean cooperation on youth participation. Explore visible and invisible structures connected to organised crime. Analyse how confiscated assets can be centres of community regeneration. Develop new educational tools promoting legality and activism. Enhance youth workers’ capacities in non-formal education. Promote solidarity, inclusion, and democratic participation. Learning Outcomes Participants will acquire: Knowledge: civic structures, anti-mafia history, corruption dynamics Skills: storytelling, facilitation, tool creation, critical thinking Foster Euro- Attitudes: participation, intercultural sensitivity, civic responsibility Link with Erasmus+ Priorities Inclusion & diversity Participation in democratic life Sustainable community development Digital transformation (The Upside Common campaign Sustainable community development Digital transformation (The Upside Common campaign) Time 24-31 May 2026 7 days Where Palermo – Italy Beneficiaries 28 youth workers funding KA150-YOU – Erasmus accreditation in youth: 2024-1-IT03-KA150-YOU-000280449 Download Infopack Partners

Crew Beyond Borders

Crew Beyond Borders Adventure-Based Learning Methods for Youth Work AN OVERVIEW Crew Beyond Borders – Adventure-Based Learning Methods for Youth Work is an international training course held aboard the Helena, a sailing boat equipped for non-formal education, navigating the waters of the Mediterranean. Framed within the Erasmus+ Programme and aimed at youth workers, the project explores and promotes adventure-based learning as a powerful and innovative methodology in the field of European youth work. PROJECT OBJECTIVES Its main goal is to develop soft skills and provide new educational tools by immersing participants in an intensive, hands-on experience where sailing, cooperation, physical challenge, and shared responsibility become drivers of personal and professional growth. The unique setting of the sailboat enables participants to engage in a non-traditional learning environment, fostering reflection on leadership, communication, sustainability, and intercultural understanding. Objective 1: To critically explore and validate adventure-based learning as a transformative pedagogical approach within non-formal youth work. To deepen the participants’ understanding of experiential education theory, with a specific focus on adventure-based learning and its historical and epistemological underpinnings. To analyse the pedagogical potential of risk, physical challenge, and uncertainty in fostering reflective learning and identity development. To co-create a shared educational framework that integrates adventure-based learning into broader youth work strategies across diverse socio-cultural contexts. Objective 2: To enhance the personal and professional competences of youth workers by embedding experiential and embodied learning practices into their educational methodologies. To facilitate critical self-reflection on the educator’s role, positionality, and relational dynamics within participatory and immersive learning environments. To develop key transversal competences—such as adaptive leadership, emotional intelligence, and resilience—through embodied practice and group-based challenges. To strengthen participants’ capacity to design, facilitate and assess competence-based learning pathways grounded in real-life, experiential processes. Objective 3: To foster intercultural learning, global citizenship, and transnational cooperation by creating a mobile and situated educational space that transcends traditional institutional boundaries. To activate meaningful intercultural dialogue through shared physical experiences, narrative practices, and collaborative problem-solving at sea. To position the sailing journey as a metaphor and method for rethinking educational spaces as fluid, horizontal, and co-created. To promote sustainable cross-border cooperation among youth organisations through the development of common pedagogical values, mutual recognition of competences, and long-term project planning. OUTPUT From a knowledge perspective, participants will develop a solid conceptual understanding of adventure-based learning within the broader field of experiential and non-formal education. They will be introduced to the pedagogical roots of this methodology, its applications in diverse youth work settings, and its connections to transformative learning theories. In terms of skills, the project focuses on promoting transversal and pedagogical skills essential for contemporary youth work. These include the ability to facilitate group processes in unconventional contexts, design experiential learning activities with clear educational outcomes, manage risk and emotional safety, and lead structured reflection and debriefing sessions. Regarding attitudes, the immersive and collective nature of life on board is designed to encourage openness, humility, and an ethic of care. Participants are invited to re-negotiate their roles not only as educators but also as learners and co-creators of the experience. Attitudes of curiosity, empathy, intercultural sensitivity, and environmental awareness are intentionally cultivated throughout the journey, creating a safe but challenging space for inner and relational development. Finally, the behaviours developed during the course are expected to extend beyond the project itself. Participants will practice responsibility, initiative, and sustained engagement in collective tasks such as navigation, cooking, cleaning, and facilitating onboard activities. These behaviours—anchored in shared living, mutual trust, and real-time feedback—support the internalisation of collaborative practices that can be transferred to the participants’ everyday work with young people, especially in contexts where traditional education fails to engage or empower. INFOPACK HERE Time July 2026 – March 20278 Months Where Helsinki, Finlandia Beneficiaries Young people aged between 18 and 30, Youth workers and trainers. funding KA150-YOU – Erasmus accreditation in youth: 2024-1-IT03-KA150-YOU-000280449 Partners Unglingasmiðjur Stígur og Tröð – Youth Centre Villa Elba – Potrafimy – InterMediaKT – BokraSawa – Yupi

Training Course for Regenerative Organizations

Natacha attended a training course in Croatia on organizational regeneration, exploring sustainable practices and new tools to innovate work in NGOs.

Letter from Aveiro

My name is Benedetta Freda, I’m 22 years old, I’m Italian, and I’m currently in Aveiro, Portugal, where I’m participating in a European Solidarity Corps volunteer project.

RISE – Reclaiming Influence for Social Empowerment

RISE – Reclaiming Influence for Social Empowerment is an Erasmus+ project that promotes youth participation and social empowerment. Through training activities, exchanges, and meetings with policymakers, the project provides tools to understand and address power dynamics, develop advocacy campaigns, and build youth activism networks. RISE takes place in Italy and France, involving 150 young people in a journey of active citizenship and leadership.

Green Athletes

Green Athletes is a 12-month Erasmus+ project taking place between Casapesenna (Italy) and the northern coast of Portugal. It involves Italian and Portuguese young people in activities focused on environmental sustainability through sports. The project is funded under the Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges (KA152-YOU) program, aiming to promote inclusion, active citizenship, and environmental protection.

Erasmus accreditation in youth

Erasmus accreditation in youth KA150-YOU – Erasmus accreditation in youth (KA150-YOU) AN OVERVIEW GIOSEF Italy is accredited for the Erasmus+ KA150 Youth programme, a strategic opportunity that allows us to continue our commitment to youth work, particularly through youth mobility and youth worker training activities. With this accreditation, we can respond more effectively to the needs of young people and contribute to their personal and professional growth. Accreditation Objectives Improving the Quality of Youth WorkGIOSEF Italy supports an innovative vision of non-formal and informal education, making activities increasingly inclusive and participatory. Initiatives take place in areas facing social and economic challenges, such as Casapesenna and Palermo, with a focus on social inclusion and the promotion of a culture of legality. Promoting Inclusion and Active CitizenshipWe support young people, especially those from vulnerable backgrounds, through educational and social activities that encourage their active participation in democratic life. The KA1 accreditation allows us to reach new groups of young people with fewer opportunities. Fostering International CooperationYouth mobility activities and international exchanges are essential for promoting intercultural dialogue and cooperation among young people from different countries. GIOSEF is committed to strengthening social cohesion in the Euro-Mediterranean area. Activities Supported by the Programme in the Youth Sector Youth Exchanges (Learner Mobility KA153):Activities that promote learning and growth among young people through direct contact with peers from other cultures. The aim is to promote intercultural education and cooperation between youth groups from different geographical areas. Mobility for Youth Workers (Staff Mobility KA152):Continuing education for youth workers, preparing them to manage the challenges and opportunities in youth work more effectively. Activities will be held both nationally (Casapesenna and Palermo) and internationally, with the opportunity to develop skills and share experiences with other professionals in the field. How to Participate andSupport the KA150 Programme The activities supported by KA150 accreditation are open to young people and youth workers from different backgrounds. GIOSEF Italy organises annual information sessions and specific training to support participation in Erasmus+ activities and to train youth workers. We are also a point of reference for local organizations and youth networks that wish to connect with the opportunities offered by European programs. In particular, GIOSEF is committed to mentoring less experienced organizations in the field of Erasmus+ programs, ensuring their inclusion in international activities. Contact us Where are we located? Giosef in Palermo At the coworking space of FILT CGIL in Palermo, at Via Roma No. 62. Giosef in Casapaesenna Via Raffaello Traversa IV, Casapesenna in the province of Caserta. News Updates on ongoing projects and dissemination activities. Erasmus + Lettera da Aveiro Recenti Lettera da Aveiro RISE è il nuovo progetto Erasmus+ per rafforzare la partecipazione giovanile APERTA la call per volontari… Read Article