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Supported by Erasmus + Programme

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Open Digital Europe

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Out of the Box International develops a tailor made open data model and policies based on open digital environment which is transparent, accountable and secured.

Social Businesses

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Out of the Box International works with already existing hubs, various local and national stakeholders and social entrepreneurs in order to further develop and promote successful social entrepreneurship policies and practices.

Solidarity Europe

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Out of the Box International delivers expertise in the field of cohesive policies by using cross-sectorial approach and non-formal  education, in a global perspective.

European Project

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Out of the Box International  works further to enhance current cooperation in South East Europe region and actively supports the integration of all European countries in common European project.

The YUPAD Check-in

May 25, 2023

The YUPAD project is now officially halfway through implementation, and with the interim report submitted, the time has come to check in with the main results achieved so far.

During the last days of May 2022, the consortia successfully implemented the YUPAD Fair of Good Practices, in which the partners and stakeholders from Europe had a chance to see and interact with the best practices of Youth Participatory Budgeting in Europe. The best practices from the partnership were drawn from the YUPAD recipes, a research publication in which the partners outline the best cases. Following up the event, the partners released the good practices as the YUPAD cookbook, a set of videos in which the participatory budgeting best practices are explained. All of the videos are now available on the YUPAD YouTube Channel (hyperlink to https://www.youtube.com/@yupad-lt4bx).

At the same time, the partners worked on the other outputs of the project: the YUPAD Curricula for Educators and Policymakers, The YUPAD Bees Methodology (for Young People) and the YUPAD Calculator, a big data survey which enables Young people to practice and implement participatory budget from idea generation to execution. The outputs are available on the YUPAD Website (hyperlink to https://yupadproject.net/). At the same time, the partners have developed the YUPAD platform for big data (hyperlink to https://yupad.net/). The platform, with the integrated YUPAD calculator, is now in the process of testing with the Young People by partners from Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Latvia and Serbia).

So what next? As of now, the YUPAD Consortia is now in the Capacity Building Stage, which will be marked by training in the 6 implementing countries for Young People, Educators and Local Authorities, and the final training for the Union of the Baltic Cities policymaking representatives. At the same time, the sustainability partners from Poland and Belgium are in the process of communication and dissemination activities, as well as sustainability work, which encompasses campaigning, advocacy plans, development of the YUPAD Brief and the initiation of the YUPAD Community of Practice. Stay tuned for our announcements of events in which you could get involved!

OTB is on the lead and implementing the project with 9 partners: Union of the Baltic Cities (Poland), CESIE (Italy), CSI (Cyprus), SÜDWIND (Austria), RD IKSD (Latvia), OPENS (Serbia), IED (Greece), XWHY and VYTAUTAS MAGNUS University (Lithuania).

The project is funded by the Erasmus+ program and will last a total of 24 months.

Why Out of the Box International

The seemingly ever-lasting depression of European economies has shaken the very foundations of many European societies. The shear rate of unemployment in Europe and the omnipresent environmental crisis coupled with the often frustratingly slow process of decision making in the EU, are calling for civil society actors to step in and fill the void.

In the aftermath of the 2008. economic crisis, the apprehension of falling under the spell of apathy of economic depression across the continent has not been easy to shake off. However, pinpointing the culprits for the current state of affairs on any particular EU decision maker is not the answer. Nonetheless, the fact remains that the current approach to the economic and environmental crisis hasn’t yet shown the affected citizens the light at the end of the tunnel.

As representatives of the civil society we feel the need to make our voice heard in the midst of the current debate on economic crisis. Being a social enterprise we offer new and feasible ideas in education and community work, creative cross-sectorial cooperation among different actors and strong networking coalitions to turn these dire economic challenges into possibilities through social entrepreneurship initiatives which aim at benefiting wide range of citizens, particularly vulnerable groups and those affected by the economic crisis.

Social entrepreneurship is a simple concept that has been put into practice by civil society actors for the benefit of a specific social group or people, and this is precisely what we want: to create projects and initiatives with fresh ideas in different policies, educational programs or tools, support businesses, empower cultural initiatives and offer different solutions to individuals, corporate bodies, everybody who believe that we can have more Creative, Innovative and Cohesive Europe.

 

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