KA1 - Learning Mobility of Individuals / Youth Exchanges - Programme Countries Venue: "Sport Hotel", Liepaja, Latvia Date: 16.04.2016. - 24.04.2016. Countries involved: Latvia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Italy, Lithuania and Poland. Youth Exchange ”Unity in Diversity” was initiated by a group of young people from Latvia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia during the training in Serbia. Organizer of the project is Organisation of regional development and social initiatives "Perspektiva" who promotes active involvement of young people in both political and regional development planning processes in their municipalities and promotes local cultural heritage. Context of the project and the main idea was to work on fostering mutual understanding between the people from different countries by promoting country’s culture and customs, trough introducing the traditional music, songs, dances, clothes and food. With this project we wanted to fill the void between our countries and learn more about similarities and differences between our cultures. This project was exploring cultural diversity through cultural heritage such as folk music, songs, traditional clothes and foods. It offered young people a multicultural environment in which they were living and working together, and explored music, traditions, food, traditional clothes, cultures of each of the countries involved. Thus, multiculturalism and cultural diversity were put as central elements of this youth exchange. This Youth Exchange gave opportunity to our participants of: • Networking with organizations from different countries; • Creating a group that blends by their culture and customs; • Introducing a larger number of other young people with the idea of cultural diversity. The goal of this project was to gather young people from different countries and to promote what can be found in common, so they could find similarities among them and feel as one. The main aim of this project was to involve young people into process of inter cultural learning on different music, clothes, tradition, culture and food. Objectives of the Youth Exchange were the following: • To foster mutual understanding between people trough their rapprochement, • Transferring European culture, • Promoting European values, • Strenghtening the feeling of being part of the European Community, • Promoting culture and healthy lifestyle in the country life, • Promoting ERASMUS + Programme among a larger number of young people from local communities. Project gathered 30 participants aged 13-29 years – 5 participants per country, including 2 participants with fewer opportunities per country coming from a disadvantaged or rural area and/or facing economic difficulties. There were also participants with the background of national minorities who had extra priority according to agreement with other partner organizations, as well as immigrants. The activities of the Youth Exchange included team building, different informal education sessions, practical sessions, and study visits. The working methods were based on non-formal learning and group work. This included team organization, practical presentation, discussions, group work on preparing food, data collecting and summarizing. The workshops were filled with active dialogs, games and various methods, all in order to get to know the richness of our cultures. The non-formal education workshops covered the topics of prejudices and stereotypes, inter cultural learning and others. Participants were aimed to develop the group cohesion and building personal improvement of the young participants as individuals. It is expected that these activities will contribute towards development of young people interpersonal skills such as team work, communication skills, inter cultural cooperation etc. They are also aimed at supporting young people as active and responsible social citizens, particularly in the European context.