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Project DEISY - The Development of European Values for Inclusive Society I has now come to an end. This project enabled MEH to host 4 volunteers from Spain, Italy and Ireland who had the opportunity to take part in solidarity activities, local projects and to make positive changes whilst engaging with the local community in Liverpool. They strengthened their skills and developed values of citizenship, solidarity, equality and tolerance while working on different Erasmus+ project within a multicultural environment. We thank them all for their active involvement and contribution at MEH and we wish them the best for their future projects!

Over the past 2 years, the partners of the KA2 Mobility+ project have cooperated and collaborated in order to successfully achieve the main objective of the project: To enable adult education workers to raise awareness and support their beneficiaries to participate in mobility projects. To do this, the project created innovative, interactive and user-friendly tools. These tools are as follows: The Guide - Information and Orientation to improve adult education workers' knowledge of mobility programmes and projects. The Competence Manual for adult education professionals, which will help them to understand and explain the key competences to their beneficiaries. The Portfolio - Build your international mobility project to help adult education workers link the needs and expectations of their beneficiaries in order to achieve competence building, accompanied by an educational video. The Guide - Valorisation Workshop to monitor the effectiveness of the follow-up of participants after the return from mobility projects and to reinforce the benefits of international mobility for adult education workers. These four tools are complementary and have been designed to help adult education workers to provide optimal, inclusive and pedagogical support to their international mobility participants. The project has had an impact on different target audiences at different levels: Adult education professionals are involved, trained and empowered to support future international mobility participants. Future international mobility participants receive personalised support in order to be well oriented and prepared to benefit from the mobility experience in terms of professional and personal skills and experience. The impact has been on the degree of added value that the development of strong active partnerships between the sending organisations and their network of adult educators will bring to the partner organisations. This has strengthened their cooperation and contribution to the proper orientation and support of the beneficiaries in the adult education sector. Thus, the Mobility+ cooperation project can be considered successful and the tools created will contribute to guarantee the smooth running of the support of the participants in international mobility. The good cooperation between the partners allows the project to be closed under good conditions. A big thank you to all of you for the work accomplished, and we look forward to meeting again on new projects, whatever they may be. For more information contact: Joe Hemington joehemington@expandinghorizons.co.uk Maïlys Joubert mailys.joubert@adice.asso.fr

Presentation to the EU Parliament of the Project “CyberIncluding Goes Europe” From 11th - 15th July, 7 participants from the UK had an opportunity to present the legislative proposal "Bullying, cyberbullying and hate speech: phenomena to prevent and fight", together with 4 other partner Organisations to the European Parliament. Despite not being part of the EU we still feel united in diversity with our European friends under the common cause of cyber bullying advocacy. It has been both a pleasure and privilege to take a transnational approach with young people to advocate changes that disproportionately affect the youth. We, as young people, understand that cyber bullying is an important social issue and we felt accomplished to be able to share our thoughts on the phenomenon. We are hoping to get somewhere with what we have shared and hope to make a change for the younger generations within Europe. Some of us have struggled with bullying before and this topic hits close to home, so it is important for us to be heard. From a personal experience, bullying affects your confidence, well-being and spirit. We don’t want other young people to go through the turmoils some of us have experienced without consequences towards the bully. Having the tragic realisation that we can no longer take part in European projects is extremely disheartening as we feel that we have made changes in the right direction and we wish to continue to do so. However, we look to the future with great hope, knowing that the EU has young representatives who strongly advocate for future policies. We would like to think that this is not a goodbye, rather a Bon Voyage! Authors: Anja Marojević, Sabin Mares, Sana Gubari, Rodolfo III Abedejos, Ellie Leacy, Annabelle Marsden, Samarh Gubar

< Back Anna Bellan Transnational Programme Manager Anna is the Transnational Programme Manager responsible for Youth and Migration at MEH. She designs, manages, delivers and evaluates programmes and projects at local and international level. As a sociologist, she masters techniques and tools of Social Research and has insight into multicultural contexts through her international work experiences. As a trainer of youth and adults she strongly believes in maieutic approaches and involves learners through creative and interactive learning experiences. Anna has strong interest in topics such as human rights, gender equality, youth development, sustainability, intercultural dialogue and social inclusion, and liaise with other stakeholders on coordinated advocacy campaigns. annabellan@expandinghorizons.co.uk

< Back Basma, 26, Egypt Basma, 26, came to Liverpool all the way from Egypt and has enjoyed her stay so far. European Voluntary Service (EVS) is a great way to get valuable working experience abroad. Merseyside Expanding Horizons offers opportunities for people to participate in EVS, by sending and hosting volunteers. ​ What made you apply to a European Voluntary Service (EVS) project? I applied for EVS project in Europe for many reasons. First is the cultural exchange and volunteering concept. Second, I want to develop my communication skills and technical skills through working with an international organisation like MEH. Why have you decided to get an internship abroad? I want to get an experience from a European work environment, especially because I come from Egypt so I want to gain new experiences and skills and to develop my career path working in the youth field and volunteering. MEH works in an international context with different employees around the world: how do you find yourself in this context? Which are the differences that you noticed most between England culture and your home country? I am motivated to work in multicultural environment so volunteering with MEH is very suitable for me. I come from a Mediterranean African country so the culture here is totally different from my own. I am gaining new habits and I enjoy the English traditions for example their habit of drinking a lot tea and infrastructure of UK, especially Liverpool. What is the thing you are missing most about your home country? Family and friends, but I chat with them online daily. What is the thing you like most and the thing you would like to change about Liverpool? ​ The thing I would like to change is absolutely the weather, because Egypt is very sunny the whole year. I love very much the museums and all the sightseeing’s. Describe MEH in 3 words. Multicultural, helpful, professional. Do you think that your experience in MEH has changed something in your being? (Professional and unprofessional point of view) Yes of course, I’d say I’ve gained a lot of technical and communicational skills which will help me to improve my career and life. Also the experience with MEH has met my expectations and I have developed the skills of proposal writing and many technical skills. Also the work spirit is amazing and I get support from everybody on the team. Do you think that your experience in MEH will be useful in a future? (Personal point of view) Yes, MEH gave me a lot of support to join the team and to get this EVS opportunity, especially in UK. Also working in the multicultural environment has given me self-confidence and experience. When I return to my country I will have a lot of experiences and memories for sure. Previous Next

< Back Cinzia, 25, Italy European Voluntary Service (EVS) is a great way to get valuable working experience abroad. Merseyside Expanding Horizons offers opportunities for people to participate in EVS, by sending and hosting volunteers. This article is part of the series, where we share the stories of these brave volunteers and interns, who have moved to Liverpool from other countries. Cinzia, one of our Italian team members started working with MEH in November 2018. What made you apply to a European Voluntary Service (EVS) project? After my studies I wanted to do something that I have never done before. I was not ready to enter the world of work, so I decided to do something alternative, something that would give me the opportunity to improve my work skills but also to grow from a personal point of view. Why have you decided to get an internship abroad? ​ I wanted to challenge myself. After my studies in Germany I was not ready to go back home and I was looking for some opportunities abroad in order to acquire some experience and to improve my English. MEH works in an international context with different employees around the world: how do you find yourself in this context? Which are the differences that you noticed most between England culture and your home country? I have always wanted to live abroad and experience new cultures, environments and meet new people. Before coming to the UK, I did a Master in European Politics where I met classmates from all over the world. I really loved exchanging ideas, opinions and habits, because they help you to think more about yourself and to gain a different perspective of the world. It was literally a personal growth and I feel that working at MEH is giving me the same opportunities. What is the thing you are missing most about your home country? Food and nice weather of course! My family also, which has always been a great support for my trips and adventures abroad even if they would love me to go back home. What is the thing you like most and the thing you would like to change about Liverpool? I love Liverpool because there are many things to do and because the environment is really multicultural. People here are very friendly and easy to talk with (even if sometimes they are impossible to understand because of their scouse accent!) If I could change something about Liverpool it would definitely be the cleanliness of the city, because sometimes it is really dirty. Describe MEH in 3 words. Flexible, multicultural, broad. Do you think that your experience in MEH has changed something in your being? (Professional and unprofessional point of view) MEH has definitely changed me. During these months I have learnt new skills and qualities that I did not even know to have and it has been teaching me a lot about my future dreams and dream job. I have also learnt about my strengths and weaknesses, and how to overcome them. ​ Working at MEH is sometimes a challenge; many deadlines, many projects, but it is also rewarding when working with the community and with young people. Indeed, feeling like you can make a difference on something and someone other than yourself is rewarding. Do you think that your experience in MEH will be useful in a future? (Personal point of view) For sure. MEH is helping me to enhance my confidence and self-esteem, encouraging me to do more and to overcome my fears. All the skills that I am learning here are helping me to clarify my ideas about my future job career. Previous Next