Connection
Youth Exchange on communication, emotional intelligence & well-being through methods of Nonviolent Communication, mindfulness, and embodied learning
When: 12 – 22/03/2026 (including travel days)
Where: Statek Habří, Moravecké Pavlovice, Czech Republic
For whom: 30 young people from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, and Ukraine
“The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to sten. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention… A loving silence often as far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.”
– Rachel Naomi Remen
Main info
Connection is a 9-day Youth Exchange focused on enhancing interpersonal communication, self-awareness, and emotional resilience. We will support young people and youth workers in learning tools to foster authentic connection with themselves and others.
The project is designed to be inclusive, creative and participatory – with participants co-creating parts of the program, contributing to a digital workbook and learning module, and leading local dissemination activities after the exchange.
The learning journey is structured around daily themes such as:
- Presence and Self-Awareness
- Observing without Judgement and Emotional Literacy
- Needs Awareness and Self-Compassion
- Empathy, Conflict Transformation and Feedback
- Authentic Expression and Open-hearted Communication
We use the following non-formal and experiential methods:
- Nonviolent Communication (Marshall Rosenberg)
- Mindfulness and Meditation (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
- Self-Compassion (Kristin Neff)
- Embodied Movement & Contact Improvisation
- Journaling & Self-Reflection Practices
- Improvisation & Play for Integration
Residents of:
- Czech Republic
- Ukraine
- Poland
- Italy
- Bulgaria
As a participant:
- 18–30 years old
- Interested in emotional intelligence, mental well-being and communication
- Willing to participate actively and reflect on your inner processes
- Committed to engage in follow-up activities (e.g., workshop, podcast, local talk)
- Priority will be given to participants with fewer opportunities
As a group leader:
- 18+ years old
- Ready to come one day earlier (11/3/2026)
- Experienced in youth work, facilitation or community organizing
- Responsible for preparing national group, supporting them during YE, and facilitating daily reflection groups
- Involved in the co-creation of the program and dissemination
- You will take a full part in the whole programme
- You will fill all the evaluation forms 1 month after the project and an impact form 3 months after the project
- You will implement 1 national event or create a product (podcast, etc.) to disseminate the learning from the project
- You will support development of new learning modules for digital tool supporting individual well-being: https://hope.czechinspire.eu/
- You will support development and spreading of Booklet with activities from the project
- Submit a brief testimonial
Write a short social media reflection, crediting Erasmus+
Only after fulfilling all those conditions, you will be eligible for a travel reimbursement.
- start with filling the application form.
- every partner organization (see below) will select 5 participants + 1 group leader to take part in the programme.
- if you are selected, you will receive a Confirmation Letter with more information regarding your participation. ONLY then you can start managing your travel arrangements and booking your tickets!
- if you have any questions, please contact us on an email info@czechinspire.eu
Learning Process & Programme
- Day 1 | Welcome, setting group values, goal-setting activities
- Day 2 | Mindfulness, presence, journaling, group movement
- Day 3 | Feelings and needs, speed-dating with emotions
- Day 4 | Self-compassion, body-based exploration of care
- Day 5 | Empathy, buddy practice, active listening labs
- Day 6 | Conflict transformation, dissolving enemy images
- Day 7 | Authentic expression, feedback in NVC style
- Day 8 | Gratitude shower, collective sharing, creative integration
- Day 9 | Next steps, Youthpass, closure & celebration
This might be adapted according to the community’s needs on the ground
* This is a plan but it will most probably change according the current needs of the group. Thus, you have an idea what is coming, but nothing is written in stone.
- Program is fully vegetarian
- Program is without alcohol
- you will be helping with cooking (and learning on plant-based cooking in the process, under the guidance of our vegan-chief)
In this project, we aim to guide you to find a way how to sustain a balance in your life. This inspires us to create a project, where we want to build a community and communicate even before the project. This might be challenging, as the group formation is dynamic, but our idea is the following:
Before the Youth Exchange, we would like to meet you in 1-2 online meetings (approximately a month and a week before the YE) where we will set out the framework for learning – you will have the opportunity to observe the patterns in your daily lives that bring you out of balance. Further, we will introduce the digital tool supporting individual well-being https://bit.ly/HOPEtool, which will be later improved by the whole group during the Balance project. We will encourage you to test it even before the YE, so we will be better prepared for designing the improvements. Lastly, we will start building our small Balance on-line community on Facebook.
After the Youth Exchange (as written in the Main info) you will be working on improving the HOPE tool – using it for 1 month, sharing it with at least 2 people, and filling in the evaluation form. Apart from this, we would like to maintain contact to support you in implementing the changes, that you will name during the project, into your life. This will happen through communication in a Facebook group, which will be created before the YE, and through online meetings that are planned to happen several months after the YE: Though this will be a voluntary part of the project, we would be happy if we could create this continuation together!
Accommodation – Statek Habří
The venue is a pension in the Vysočina region. Forest is nearby, there is a pool, stand-alone studio.
Rooms will be from 4 to 8 people. The rooms are equipped with bedsheets.
Website (in Czech).
- There will be 3 meals a day + 2 coffee breaks. The food provided during the program will be an environmentally-conscious vegetarian diet cooked by our amazing vegan chef who will be happy to provide you with information on sustainable and healthy cooking.
- Before the project, we will ask you about your special diet or allergies to arrange your needs in time.
- There are no shops nearby, please bring all the necessary stuff with you.
- In case of need, we can do shopping from time to time, based on availability of our shopping crew.
- Be at Křížanov (district Žďár nad Sázavou) on 13/05/2024 at 18:00. You will be picked-up from there by bus.
- For traveling in Czech Republic, you can use this website: https://idos.idnes.cz/en/vlakyautobusymhdvse/spojeni/
Good tip:
It can be difficult to pronounce names of Czech cities. Put the names on a paper and show it to people! They will try to help.
Travel Reimbursement
The project is co-financed by the Erasmus+ programme.
The costs of the programme, including meals, accommodation, and travel costs (according to the maximum amount of money allowed per country) will be covered by the Erasmus+ programme. Please contact your sending organisation to learn more about the financial details, and how to arrange the booking of your travel tickets.
Very important!
The travel expenses will be reimbursed on the basis of tickets, bookings and invoices, so remember to keep them all with you!
Erasmus+ calculated maximum amount of travel reimbursement you can receive based on the distance band.
Ukrainian, and Lithuanian participants are obliged to travel green, meaning you are not allowed to travel by plane. Given amount of reimbursement is valid only if this condition is kept.
€320 Lithuania, Ukraine
€275 Poland
€23 Czech Republic
- If you are paying any fee to your sending organization, we don’t ask for any extra fee.
- If you are send for free, we ask you to pay a €30 participation fee. It will be send to your sending organization to cover their administration hours.
- If you can’t afford to pay any fee, that’s ok. Simply contact your partner organization or Project Supervisor (info@czechinspire.eu), and they will support you by discussing alternatives (i.e. you help us photos during the project, instead of the fee). We want to make participation open for everybody. All we care about is to have involved and motivated people.
Partner organisations
Project's Team
Tereza Juráková
Embodied movement facilitator
Embodied movement facilitator, nature admirer, and dancer.
I am a wind that blows in many directions. Started as a molecular biologist, then switched to product manager of online services, and of course in the meantime, I became a dancer, and photographer, and spent a lot of time outside (tracking wild animals, for instance).
I am interested in discovering and sharing how we can learn from our bodies and improve our lives based on this learning. And learning to percieve the poetry of the movement. I will guide you back to your bodies while perceiving nature, and each other.
t.jurakova@gmail.com
+420 608 934 192
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Vojtěch Žák
Project supervisor
I am a trainer, facilitator, coach, storyteller, and writer.
The main topics I am focused on are the labor market, social inclusion (mainly of the LGBT+ spectrum), and personal development. The main methods I use are storytelling, coaching, systemic work, body movement, art, gamification, and LARP.
I went from a career as a journalist and marketing specialist to becoming a coach, facilitator, and trainer. I have worked for 6 years as a scout leader and later participated in the EVS program at Olde Vechte Foundation in the Netherlands.
info@czechinspire.eu
+420 775 636 658
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Michal Filípek
Kitchen and sustainability facilitator
Plant-based chef, low-waste lifestyle geek and sustainability lover.
From studying French language and literature to Erasmus+ cooking. Long story short, I like cooking more.
I can share with you my experiences in the kitchen, including several years working in a restaurant. My method is simple – everyone can cook.
I believe that a sustainable lifestyle is not a matter of being perfect but implementing small steps into your everyday life. During this project, you will have a chance to experience many of these little steps and see which one is working for you. I will be there to support you!
mifilipek@gmail.com
+421 902 400 626
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