Outdoor activities for social connectedness, cohesion and well-being of youth

Background The importance of participating in outdoor and physical activities has especially become significant when the pandemic started. The population of young people were strongly affected by the pandemic in several different ways. Social guttering is a synonym for youth and the pandemic cut that. Restricted movement and stay–home orders restricted possibilities for social life and social gathering. Social media were the only way for social interaction and in a certain sense. We build our project idea on the following three postulates: benefits from outdoor participation and activities for physical and mental health, storytelling as an approach to inner personality and self–discovery and combining them in order to support social connectivity and cohesion among youngsters. We presented the main dimensions related to outdoor activities and highlight the role of professionals and educators in creating quality outdoor play opportunities. The overall objective was to develop a program that will incorporate different tools based on outdoor activities, a nature-friendly approach and the art of storytelling as a manner for self–discovering and achieving social connectivity, social interaction, cohesion and empathy and this was achieved. Objectives The project goal is to support young people to establish and improve their social connectedness, interaction, cohesion and empathy, and improve their mental health and well–being by participating in outdoor sports activities and using the art of storytelling. The project activities led young people to step – by – step through this process, developing not just their personal skills but also their leadership and management skills, making them able to provide training and give support to other young people. Young people as our main group gained knowledge and improved skills on how to cope with social isolation and mental health issues as a result of the pandemic. Additionally, they gained experiences and skills on how to improve social connectedness, cohesion and interaction using outdoor activities using experiences gained during project activities. The educators/youth workers gained knowledge for strategies on how independently to support young people to recognize mental health issues, negative effects of social isolation, and improve personal mental health and well-being by using storytelling implemented during outdoor participation. Implementation Activities: -Launching the website -Promotion of the project. - implemented questionnaire ( collected 318 feedback from youngsters) -During the staff training in Greece, the project team define the look of the methodology and propose the framework. -The project Handbook and application were developed as planned. -We promoted the project results through the project website and partners’ websites -In the summer period of 2022 we organized the first kick-off meeting together with youth training in Shtip, North Macedonia. -In July 2022 we organized youth training in Munster Germany - During the summer and autumn of 2022, we organized different promotional activities, online and offline. -In October and November, we organized the Multiplier events- Challenge Up! – “The 30 Days Journey”; - On November 14 we presented the project application during the international event that was hosted by the International Relations Office at UGD. - In November 2022 YOB presented the results in front of future teachers. This event was organized at the Goce Delcev University in Shtip. - In December, we send the project newsletter to our Networks. Achievements Outdoor-based learning methodology - has been written to help youngsters evaluate and then set about improving, or further improving, the quality of outdoor experience and education. Project Handbook: Youth well-being and getting outdoors after Covid-19” handbook The handbook is for outdoor activities that can be used in non-formal education or in schools, from physical activities and storytelling to getting to know each other, communication, team building, trust and problem-solving games to using expedition as a tool for learning. The "30-Day Outdoor Journey" App The project application is developed to make the best of this outdoor experience based on the games in the Handbook. Youth outdoor mentors More than 20 youngsters had a chance to participate in the two trainings where they had first handed experience in organizing outdoor activities and taking into consideration the safety measures. They have become future outdoor mentors. The leaflet was prepared during the training in Germany including 10 safety recommendations for organizing an activity outdoors. The project Newsletter sums up all project activities and results and it was sent to more than 100 organizations and institutions around Europe.