Reflecting on 2024: A Year of Growth and Impact of European Association “World-Our Home”
European Association “World-Our Home” activities are supported by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission, within the framework of the Erasmus + program.
Summarizing the results of the work of European Association “World-Our Home” in 2024, we must say that the organization has been very active this year, the projects have been implemented, the activities have been organized for young people and youth workers, the organization has strengthened its capacity and formed the strategic activity, as well as it promoted the European awareness, solidarity and international cooperation among young people. The organization is located in Rezekne, and it has been working in the field of youth and culture at the European level for 25 years, during that time many local and European projects have been implemented for the inhabitants of Rezekne, Latvia and Europe. Some of the main tasks of the organization are to promote the integration of youth into the united Europe, to develop young people’s skills and competences, to promote personal and professional growth, as well as to develop European awareness.
European voluntary work through European Solidarity Corps programme, European youth projects, online and face-to-face seminars, conferences, non-formal education and experience exchange events were implemented in 2024 with the support of Erasmus + program of the European Commission and within the framework of the “Youth Code” project. In addition, the organization offered the opportunity to learn foreign languages, give the information about European programs and EU Youth Strategy and Youth policy. EA “World-Our Home” is one of the most active implementers of European youth projects in Latvia.
In 2024 EA “World-Our Home” implemented various European projects:
– At the beginning of February 2024, the representatives from European Association “World-Our Home” participated in the Eurodesk training for youth workers in Riga, Latvia.
– In February 2024 the Youth Forum was organized in Rezekne to look back on what has been accomplished during the year 2023.
– In February 2024 EA “World-Our Home” organized the set of workshops for young people to promote youth participation in the European Parliament elections 2024.
-EA “World-Our Home” participated in CERV project “Don`t Call it Change”, and the project was successfully finished in July 2024.
– In April 2024 European Association “World-Our Home” organized the Erasmus+ youth worker mobility project – the seminar “Be Active – Be European” in Rezekne, Latvia. 35 participants from 8 European countries participated in the project – Latvia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Greece, Czech Republic and Poland.
– European Association “World-Our Home” organized the participation event which was held on the 10th of April in Rezekne City Council.
– In April 2024 European Association “World-Our Home” participated in the Erasmus+ project “Forward Together” with the theme “Harnessing Digital Transformation for Inclusive and Sustainable Non-Formal Learning” in Kalamata, Greece.
– In April 2024 European Association “World-Our Home” participated in the Erasmus+ Study Visit program, “EcoVenture: Exploring Green Businesses in Action” in Bitola, North Macedonia.
– In April and May2024 EA “World-Our Home” continued to organize the set of workshops for young people to promote youth participation in the European Parliament elections 2024.
– European Association „World-Our Home” celebrated European Day In Rezekne, Latvia. We celebrated this day on the 9th of May 2024 with the local young people, children, volunteers and all interested people. Our European Solidarity Corps volunteer Sevcan Bozkurt from Turkey was one of the speakers where she did a speech about Erasmus+ and Erasmus Solidarity Corps.
– In May 2024 we gathered at Centro Sociale Montanari in Italy, Bologna for an impactful conference under our DOCC (Don’t Call it Change) project. This event brought together passionate voices and organizations dedicated to addressing the climate crisis.
– In May 2024 Dissemination events were organized in the framework of CERV project “Don`t call it change”.
– in June 2024 European Association “World-Our Home” participated in the Youth exchange project “Earth, Wind and Fire” in Oldenburg, Germany.
– In July 2024 European Association “World-Our Home” participated in the Erasmus+ training course “Outdoor for All” in Italy.
-In July 2024 European Association “World-Our Home” participated in European People Festival 2024 in Aranda de Duero in Spain. Our organization is European People Festival network’s member since 2005.
— European Association “World-Our Home” participated in organizing of Children summer camp. This summer camp was organized in July 2024.
-In August 2024 European Association “World-Our Home” together with young, active and very creative young people organized Erasmus + Youth exchange “Synergy Vectors”. 36 young people from 4 European countries – Czech Republic, The North Macedonia, Italy and Latvia participated in this project.
-In September 2024 the representatives from European Association “World-Our Home” participated in the seminar “Ensuring safe and secure environment for European Solidarity Corps Volunteers” which was organized in Riga, Latvia.
-In October 2024 European Association “World-Our Home” organized the Erasmus + project “CyberPeace: Empowering Youth Against Cyberbullying” in Rezekne, Latvia. 34 participants from 10 European countries participated in the project – Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Czech Republic and North Macedonia.
-In October 2024 EA “World-Our Home” was a part of the ERASMUS+ event devoted to Erasmus + days which was organized in Rezekne, Latvia.
-In October 2024 European Association “World-Our Home” participated in the “European Solidarity Corps” annual event “Evaluation event for quality label organizations” which was organized in Adaži, Latvia by Agency of International Programs for Youth, Republic of Latvia.
-In December 2024 the organization EA “World – Our Home” participated in Youth exchange project “The Golden 20th in the 20th century. Idea of democracy in Europe” in Oldenburg, Germany.
In 2024 EA “World-Our Home” organized the statutory meetings and the general assembly to discuss the work plan for 2024 and 2025 and to plan the common projects. In 2024 the organization EA WOH coordinated the voluntary work projects in the European Solidarity Corps programme. 11 young European volunteers from Turkey, Armenia, Georgia worked in Rezekne in 2024. These young people worked in various Rezekne organizations: EA “World-Our Home” office, as well as Rezekne Pensioners’ Day Center, Rezekne Multifunctional center with disabled young people and preschool educational institution “Namiņš”. The organization EA WOH is also a sending organization to the Voluntary work projects of the European Solidarity Corps programme. This year 2 young people from Rezekne were sent to the voluntary work project in Armenia and Slovakia.
In 2024 a lot of work was done to organize successfully the local events and activities such as language courses, Open days in EA WOH, the workshops in cooperation with the Eastern Latvia Creative Services Center “Zeimuls”, the participation event “Coffee with Politicians”, “Erasmus+ Days”, International Youth Day and other activities.
In 2024 EA “World-Our Home” continued to work as Eurodesk information center in Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia.
This year EA “World-Our Home” organized and focused on various activities for young people in order to promote young people’s knowledge about Europe, European institutions and invite young people to participate in the European Parliament elections 2024.
Thank you to everyone who is interested in youth work, the “Erasmus +” program, European languages, who participates in our local and international youth non-formal education projects.
The new year 2025 will definitely bring new strength and new opportunities to us and to you. We invite all interested organizations and individual persons to cooperate with us! We wish everyone health, luck, happiness and strength!
European Association “World – Our Home” TEAM
