According to Youth 2013 CBOS report, more than half of the respondents believe they can only rely on yourself these days and only 28 per cent think it is more important to have collaboration skills. Furthermore, the 2013 Social Diagnosis suggests that youth aged 15-18 is the least socially sensitive group of all.
Formal education provisions must be improved to teach youth to function in a democratic system and help develop organising and social skills. The PISA 2013 study confirms that youth in Poland score very high in general education but very low on enterprise, coping in the face of new challenges and social skills.
The goal of the project was to develop several dozen youth leaders aged 15-18 so that they implement community initiatives and involve their peers.
The Crank (Korba) Project developed 56 such youth leaders (52 in the Silesia Province and 4 in Reykjavik); they gained skills that are essential in community projects, i.e. skills to assess local needs, coordinate projects, managing a team, recruiting partners and fundraising.
Participants of the Crank Project attended a series of training sessions and workshops on social and management skills (e.g. Leadership TakeOff, Leader Toolbox) and uses peer mentoring and a 7-month tutoring to support project implementation and personal development.
Fifty five community projects were implemented including concerts, workshops, fund-raising campaigns, videos, publications, debates, international meetings and sports events. There were nearly 13,000 beneficiaries and 234 youth volunteers.
The project was implemented in partnership with Association ProjektPolska.is from Iceland. The partner was responsible for recruiting participants in Iceland, management part of the youth exchange, delivering workshops for participants and co-ordinating the Icelandic team.