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The President of garagErasmus Foundation Francesco Capp? calls for a United Europe able to have a common reaction to the Coronavirus crisis in a letter addressed to our community.

He urges Europe "to protect and stay close to the weakest, preserving its different cultures and at the same time a modern democracy able to take the opportunities of a new world".

garagErasmus Foundation adheres to the #NonLasciamoIndietroNessuno / #LeaveNoManBehind campaign, a crowdfunding campaign launched on 10 March 2020 to raise money to help Italian health authorities fighting the impact of Coronavirus.

Collected funds are donated on a running basis to hospitals facing the greatest difficulties, to support an adequate response to the containment of the epidemic and to the world of research. So far the campaign has raised 389.690?, but more money is needed to face this exceptional emergency!

As a result of our experience in Colombia last autumn, garagErasmus is pleased to announce that we count on our first American gE4Cities on board: gE4Medellin: welcome on board!

The Italian Language and Culture Center in Medellin decided to join our professional network for the Erasmus Generation to invest their energy working in innovative projects strenghtening links between Colombia and Europe.

garagErasmus4Medellin''s main goals are to promote mobility in Europe, develop promotional events on gE''s advantages, invite Colombian universities & entrepreneurs to join the project and its benefits, developing strategic partnerships to send students and professionals to Europe enlarging gE''s family and facilitate lifes and experiences of students.

We are proud to see that our friends at WE AfriHug keep their activities to empower youth, provide capacity building and foster synergies between African and European Institutions in African countries!
 
During the last weeks WE AfriHug has been offering training sessions focusing on project management, public speaking, social change, crowdfunding, proposals'' writing and Erasmus+ opportunities for Universities, NGOs and Individuals in Benin (VIDEO), Togo (VIDEO) and Nigeria.

WE AfriHug is a project of Youthmakers Hub co-funded by ESAA. Its promoter Konstantinos Maragkos won the first edition of our Golden Laissez Passer award in 2018. Besides Togo, Benin and Nigeria, WE AfriHug has so far been implemented also in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria & Sahrawi Refugee Camps, training a total of 3,219 students and university staff in thirteen universities, 210 youth workers, and 73 NGOs.

Next Friday 9 May 2020 (Europe Day) garagErasmus will organise two virtual debates on the successes and expectations from the European Union''s flagship programme.
 

PANEL 1 (11.00h CET) | Erasmus+ Future Perspectives
How will Coronavirus affect current mobility schemes? Updates on the future 2021-2027 Erasmus+ programme. Debate with:
Sara Pagliai, Erasmus+ National Agency / INDIRE (Italy)
To?i Caro, Head of the International Research Project Office at the University of Deusto

Voice your demands on how the European Union should solve the current Coronavirus crisis, reflect your wishes on tomorrow''s Europe: send us your short messages addressed to EU leaders on...

• ?How should Europe react to the current Coronavirus crisis?
• What tools should it use and what measures should it adopt to mitigate the health and economic consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic?
• What are your expectations and why do you think the European Union could offer effective solutions to the crisis?
• How would you change Europe to give a better answer to this crisis?

We will collect all your messages and spread them through a communication campaign among the Erasmus Generation using our social media channels.

Nigeria was the third country for WE AfriHug 2020. The team was planning to continue to Cameroon and Chad but COVID-19 had other plans.

During the stay in Nigeria, the WE AfriHug team partnered with the Impact Foundation for Youths Development and The Bridge Leadership Foundation, both in Calabar, Cross River State. The Bridge Leadership Foundation hosted the team to participate in a Tweetchat on "Capacity Building and Collaboration for Social Change" with hashtags #SocialChange2020 and #TBLFSocialChange.

Additionally, Hit Fm Studio Calabar hosted the team to share their experiences about social change in 2020. The 2020 Social Change Masterclass Programme started successfully but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, the team was repatriated with the help of the European Commission, the Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Alliance, the French Embassy and the French consulate in Nigeria and Air France from Lagos through Paris to Athens.

The LockedDown is a global survey aimed at university staff and students to assess how the measures taken to fight the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the educational process, professional opportunities and wellbeing. The survey is also open to the general public and is available in 15 languages.
 
This action is led by the London School of Economics and Political Science - Health Policy and Healthbit, in collaboration with a growing number of universities from across the world. The University of Deusto, through the Interdisciplinary Research Platform on Ageing and Wellbeing, has been actively involved since the early stages of this initiative, which will help putting together a comprehensive data set of the global pandemic experience in the university community.

As the European Youth Event (EYE 2020) had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the European Parliament presents a special online edition of the event including different activities organised in digital formats.

The EYE Online will offer young people from all over the European Union and beyond a unique opportunity to virtually meet and inspire each other, share their stories and exchange their views with experts, decision-makers, activists and influencers. All activities will be streamed on Facebook Live of the European Youth Event.

?On 21 October 2020, despite the current COVID-19 outbreak all around Europe, garagErasmus organised the fourth edition of the "International Talents Match - 10 minutes to convince the recruiter". The event took place on Zoom and it was organised in cooperation with the University of Pisa.

garagErasmus is fully aware of the importance of initiatives promoting employability of young international talents, especially during this crisis moment, and this is the reason why we made the effort to adapt this successful format to the global current necessities.

The main goal of the International Talents Match is to provide more opportunities for young, international-mindset students in order to find their dream job and emphasize the importance of an international experience in job search. This is the reason why gE Foundation invited recruiters from three IT companies -Experis Italy, Zerynth and Sintra Consulting- which kindly participated in our event in order to find perfect candidates for open vacancies. Companies and candidates were given the opportunity to meet for 10 minutes, and each international talent had to convince the recruiter to call him/her back for a full interview without the constraints of a classic interview.

During the last editions of the International Talents Match, four out of ten participates were called back again by a recruiter for a full professional interview.

  On the occasion of the #ErasmusDays 2020, members of our local groups in Poland (gE4Silesia), Italy (gE4Bologna), Belgium (gE4Brussels) & Greece (gE4Athens) told us the reasons why and how we should keep going on Erasmus.

This year garagErasmus organized a testimonials campaign on reasons why and how we should keep going on Erasmus exchanges. International mobility is one of the most-affected sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Erasmus Generation has especially suffered the consequences of the pandemic on mobility restrictions. This is the reason why we considered necessary to motivate all the sectors involved in international exchanges to share their experiences and opinion to their peers and show that no epidemic could stop mobility exchanges: innovation capacity and creativity are key to overcome current obstacles.

Hosting an intern is not just beneficial for him/her, providing the trainee with an amazing opportunity to learn about life and work in your country, to raise his/her employability within the European labour market and to promote his/her professional self-awareness, but it also brings different benefits to your organization as well!

Do you meet all the criteria to host an intern without any single cost?  Our multidisciplinary pool of young talents & innovators will bring a fresh attitude, new ideas & ultimate skills to your organisation. 

The SEND Mobility Consortium is looking for private or public organizations/enterprises/companies, Higher Education Institutions and research Institutes operating in the Social Innovation field to cooperate within "UNIVERSITIES FOR EU PROJECTS".

Don't forget to register your organization profile on SEND Mobility Platform to be part of Social Innovation!

  Last summer the DIGI-Sporting project completed the first of its phases with very interesting results and, above all, a vast amount of useful information for sports clubs and other sports entities.

The consortium of entities that make up the project is already working on its Phase 2, which aims at designing a continuous training curriculum for the use of new technologies in clubs, and to develop a pilot course.

All this information has been captured in a comprehensive book published in open access, where it is presented in detail: download it here!

  The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered her first "State of the Union Address" before the European Parliament on 16 September 2020, presenting her vision of a Europe to emerge stronger from the pandemic and point the way to a new vitality.

The Europe Direct Centre of the University of Siena and Rome Innovation, operating at Formez PA, are promoting a Public Consultation aiming at collecting citizens'' opinions and expectations on the State of the Union 2020 speech, in line with the indications laid down in the Lisbon Treaty, putting the citizens back at the heart of the European Union and its institutions, promoting a European democracy offering citizens the opportunity to take an interest and participate in the functioning and development of the EU.

  Promoted by GFE - Giovent? Federalista Europea / JEF Italy, the #IoStoConIlPE social media campaign aims at supporting the European Parliament in the negotiations for the next MFF and the so-called Recovery Plan (#NextGenerationEU).

The European Parliament has the duty & the right to express itself on the next EU budget, maintaining an adequate amount of resources for programmes that member states want to reduce. Erasmus+ cuts proposed in the last European Council meeting in July 2020 -far below the previous Parliament''s vows to x3 its budget- should be redressed. And they should not be an option if we want to make the #ErasmusGeneration to play a decisive role in the crisis recovery.

We invite you to post your own picture with a symbol of Europe on social media, using the hashtag #ioStoConIlPE! 

The Lifelong Learning Platform is organising the 10th edition of the LLLWeek on 1-4 December! This year it will be dedicated to "Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Societies"! What does it mean for education to be sustainable, and how can we achieve this goal?

Debates will focus on the role of civil society organisations working in education to foster sustainable societies! The Lifelong Learning Platform will assess its contribution to environmentally and socially sustainable education systems and to creating more inclusive societies.

Come debate together with national, European and international representatives, experts, academics, civil society representatives, and much more.! Check out the programme and register here.

• Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness (in the fields of school education, vocational education and training, and higher education): projects aiming at equipping education and training systems to face the challenges presented by the recent sudden shift to online and distance learning.
• Partnerships for Creativity (in the fields of youth, school education and adult education) aiming to engage organisations in the fields of formal, informal and non-formal education, together with those from the creative and cultural sectors to stimulate European awareness and empower people of current and future generations to be successful innovators in their local environment.

gE4Tuscany is born to support territorial development of the region of Tuscany with innovative ideas and projects and to build up and develop networks of actors between social entrepreneurs, innovators, business leaders, policy makers and activists. Its team believes in the power and potential of youth to create solutions to the most pressing challenges of our time.

gE4Tuscany plans to organize transformative trainings, hackathons, incubators, networking events for aspiring entrepreneurs and change-makers, as well as inter-generational leadership, team-building and change management programmes for organisations periodically. By doing so they strive to co-create a global movement that unleashes the potential of people, enabling them to take action for a fairer society in which people care and respect themselves, others and the environment.

During the pandemic period, garagErasmus has not stopped working hard and -as many other civil society organisations in Europe- we have been pushed to move our activities into online formats.

This is the reason why we also decided to completely renew our website using a more intuitive and user-friendly format that allows us to present who we are, what we stand for and what we do in a clearer way.

garagErasmus Foundation and the Italian National Agency Erasmus+ Indire are really glad to announce our common project: THE + OF ERASMUS! 

The + of Erasmus is turning a period of great difficulties into an opportunity to improve the Erasmus experience through activities addressed to all the incoming students in Italy and Italian outgoing students that unequivocally underline the value of the studies and internships carried out thanks to the Erasmus+ programme.

Its first activity took place on 22 December 2020. Over 160 participants joined the introductory session of the Accelerator, an initiative aiming at teaching the Italian language & traditions powered by the Dante Alighieri Language Institute of Recanati.

Over 65 people took part in the IYE-LABs project Final Conference on 15 December 2020. Under the title "Volunteering in times of a pandemic: IYE-LABs experience flattening the curve & future steps", this online event presented the results of the project to other organisations working in the volunteering for the social inclusion and youth fields -at the local, national, European and international levels- and policy & decision-makers.

garagErasmus Foundation -together with all the other partners of the IYE-LABs project- would like to express its gratitude to everyone who made this final event possible, and also to all the people who took part in all the phases of the project.

On Friday 11 December 2020 negotiations for a political agreement between the European Parliament and the EU Member States were concluded with an agreement that will dedicate over ?26bn to the new generation of the Erasmus+ programme.

The new Erasmus+ programme will be more inclusive, more international, more digital and greener, and will intend at mobilising all sectors for economic recovery and growth.

  The Italian Erasmus+ National Agency INDIRE just launched its new Instagram account (follow @Erasmus_INDIRE) with the #ScattaErasmus photo contest, addressed to the whole Erasmus Generation. 

We invite you to post your Erasmus picture using #scattaErasmus hashtag by 15 January!

Discover the new version of the European Youth Portal in line with the latest digital trends and views of young people expressed during the consultations across the EU!

This portal offers young people information on opportunities in Europe and beyond, explore initiatives to learn, work and volunteer and find ways to make your voice heard as a European citizen in 28 different languages!