Together we can R.E.A.C.H. (Recover European Ancient Cultural Heritage) 2 was the second chapter of a Youth Exchange funded by Erasmus+ program carried out in Mileto from 20 to 28th September 2018.
The project was born from the analysis made by a group of young people, that shows the decrease of new handcraft enterprises in the last 3 years but at the same time, recent studies show that the employment of handcraft jobs will increase in the next 10 years and they will be the most wanted jobs. Customs and craft will become through the new technologies excellent instruments of growth and innovation. Analyzing the problem, the reason why there is no appeal on those jobs is that they are handjobs, old ones and therefore less attractive for the young generation.
The project was carried out by the Civitas Mileto Team with a huge enthusiasm and with the collaborations of the partners from Germany, Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Romania and Spain. In some of these countries the youth unemployment is really high, but at the same time there is a strong employment potential that comes from tradition, culture and handcraft jobs. The goals of the project “Together we can REACH 2” was to change the negative perception that handcraft jobs have, recover and protect ancient craft, transferring skills and knowledge to the new generations with the goal to build training paths, employment and entrepreneurship in the cultural heritage field.
During the Youth Exchange, the young participants have developed through non formal activities knowledge and skills that are really important for employment, civil and social aspects. The participants learnt how important traditions are in their community and how they can create new job opportunities using the cultural heritage. They have developed the ability to evaluate and put into practice new ideas that will give them more confidence to face new paths and to carry out new projects. During the youth exchange the 40 young participants had the opportunity to know the rich history of Mileto visiting the museum, the cathedral and the archaeological park and then working in teams to create modernisation and innovation plans to increase the tourism in the Norman capital. Obviously during the project the participants have got leisure time visiting the awesome coast of Gods, spending there the whole day and enjoying the famous and the gorgeous sunset in Tropea.
The City Council has welcomed the Erasmus group, giving them some tastes of typical products of Calabria and then giving them participation certificates.
