How Young Europan Ambassadors and participants of international projects talk about youth mobility in the format of a Human library in Kharkiv

On February 24, 80 young people in Kharkiv tried the new way of discovering international mobility opportunities.
The name of event "Human Library: International Mobility".
The Kharkiv cultural center Gilel become a place of pleasant and informal communication with people who have already participated in a variety of international programs, projects and exchanges. Its take three hours.

About the format of the Human library

The Human library works similar to a regular library. Anyone interested can come and "read" an interesting "Human book".

In the Human Library, "Human books" are people, and "readers" are visitors who are open to active communication and are ready to look at ordinary things at another (new) angle.

Here under "reading" meant - communication. Every "reader" had half an hour of time listening to the story of the "Human books" and asking questions.

Reading sessions with all "Human books" are held in parallel.

An important rule of the "Human library" format is the condition - the reader's sessions are always less than the invited "Human books". Such a condition motivates "readers" to prioritize and understand that they don't have time to speak with all "Human books".

It teaches you understand with whom and why you want to talk, this allows you to speak only with important for you people or find the courage and desire to discover a completely new "Human book", a person with whom in reality you not dare to talk.

About what we talked with "Human books"?

There were three reader sessions and eleven "Human books":

EVS volunteer (long-term EVS in Estonia). Katya shared her own experience of year volunteering in Estonia and the impressions she had from participating in the Au Pair program in Norway, where she lived for 2 years.
The traveler and founder of travel-media Taras spoke about search low-cost tickets and opportunities, since that he has already visited 47 countries. After that, he founded the "True Trip" media and a resource for non-formal education - Informal "O".
About adventure journey in Spain spoke Sergei, in the role of the Human book "Pilgrim El Kamino de Santiago"
Svetlana, as Unformal Auditor of Non-formal Education, introduced of a good-practice education manifesto in Kharkiv and about the development of theportal uncontinuous study of SuHaRi and its role for the youth of Kharkiv.
Lolita, the Coordinator of the Youth trips to Israel, told how to get to Israel free of charge and what places to visit in this country.
James participant of AIESEC program from Indonesia told about the sustainable development and basic principles of Zero waste, and also shared the impressions of his participation in the exchange project.
Victor, as the book "OPPORTUNITIES AND VOLUNTEERING", spoke about participation in projects of national mobility and international exchange of Erasmus + in Spain. Victor loves and enjoys life and, of course, uses his opportunities as youngster. At the Human library, he told how person with a disability participate in various trainings and projects.

Three Human books were combined with the theme " Young Europan Ambassadors".

Denys, Iryna and Liza talked about the personal history of the participation in the project, the EU Neighbors Young European Ambassadors. So, Denys concentrated on a trip to Brussels for 91 UAH., Lisa told about the programs that are better than "Work & Travel", and Iryna told about opportunities for young people with a degree in Law.

Break: Euroquiz and Eurodesk presentation

At the break between sessions guests:

played an online quiz game, which was created by analogy to the Euroquiz. The winner got a yellow cap with the EU emblem.
learned about the platform Eurodesk - a youth information network, officially recognized as the organization of support for Erasmus +.
received information brochure with Eurodesk, EU Neighbors with key events in the EU-Ukraine partnership and the Guide "How to choose a training course?".
met with each other drank coffee / tea and ate cookies, shared impressions from read "Human books".

Discussion with Young Europan Ambassadors

At the end of the 3 rd session there was a concluding discussion with the Young Europan Ambassadors Denys Ganzha, Yelyzaveta Markova and Iryna Pozhydaieva. I was the moderator of the discussion - Liudmyla Nikitina, the organizer of the Human Library and the project participant in the Young Europan Ambassadors in 2018-2019.

Visitors found out:

The Young European Ambassadors project is part of the Young European Neighborhood Network, which is being implemented by the EU Eastern Partnership countries project.

The mission of theYoung Europan Ambassadors is to communicate with the youth of the European Union and the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), exchange experience, discuss issues related to youth, share best practices and work together for a better future.

The project is being implemented for the third year running from 2016. More than 350 young people from EU countries and the Eastern Partnership are already Young Europan Ambassadors.

Ambassadors can become young people from the countries of the European Union and the Eastern Partnership countries, aged 16-25, who are fluent in English, who are energetically charged with enthusiasm. In addition to the main conditions, candidates should be interested in issues and events in the EU, as well as partnerships between the EU and their countries.

The main tasks, activities and challenges of the Young Europan Ambassadors:

Participation in online and dialogue activities of the project
Representation of the youth of their countries both inside the country and abroad at meetings, embassy events, discussions, forums, etc.
Exchange of experience, discussion of issues relevant to youth.
Exchange of best practices and cooperation together for the better future of their countries and the region as a whole.

Ambassadors can implement projects interest to them, examples of which are the Modeling of the Council of Europe which took place in December 2018, or the Day of the Environment in Lviv with the landing of trees was carried out in the summer.

Follow the publications and announcements in the social networks of the pages of the EU neighbors east and Human Library Kharkiv. We have a lot of interesting things.

For reference

The project "Human Library" is being implemented in Kharkiv for the 3rd year and teaches young people to be open and tolerant.

Those wishing to perceive knowledge in the field of Ukraine-EU relations are participating in the Euroquiz. It's is an all-Ukrainian quiz about Europe and the European Union from 5 thematic areas. Answer the questions and get valuable prizes.

Join the # 10yearchallenge and remember important events in Ukraine's EU relations to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Eastern Partnership.

Eurodesk is an international nonprofit association, one of the most complete and accessible sources of free information for young people on the opportunities for international mobility in education.