KEAN- CELL OF ALTERNATIVE YOUTH ACTIVITIES

“KEAN” was founded in 2005 in Athens, Greece aiming at the design and implementation of humanitarian and socioeconomic development programs for the promotion of youth’s wellbeing across all sectors that affect a person’s quality of life and health. KEAN’s goal is to improve the lives of young people and socially vulnerable population groups, combat social exclusion and poverty, and promote a more advanced and inclusive society that fully respects the human rights of all discriminated groups, as well as the environment, while promoting volunteerism and taking full advantage of the potentials of the new technologies in reaching these goals. KEAN is a non-profit association, which operates independently of any government, and which expressly prohibits the distribution of any profit. It has branches in 3 other Greek cities, 40 paid staff, 60 official members and around 80 active volunteers. Specifically, the main purposes of the association are: 1. The provision of psychosocial support and personal and professional development services for vulnerable groups, such as the unemployed, third-country nationals (migrants, asylum seekers/refugees, displaced persons, etc.), Roma, disabled people, victims of violence and human trafficking, drug addicts, aiming at their empowerment and social inclusion. 2. The promotion of social cohesion and solidarity through active participation in the design and implementation of social programmes and actions at local, regional and EU level aimed at building more inclusive societies for the benefit of disadvantaged groups. 3. The encouragement of volunteerism by engaging and educating volunteers, esp. youth, in actions promoting values such as equality, solidarity, democracy, environmental awareness and human rights. 4. The design and implementation of innovative projects and actions that have as main objective: a) the protection and promotion of the rights of the child, the improvement of their living conditions, their cognitive/intellectual development of and the advancement of their educational performance in respect to the principle of the Best Interest of the child. b) the promotion of gender equality with emphasis on the provision of equal opportunities for participation, esp. for young girls and boys with migrant background or those who belong in other discriminated groups, such as the LGBT community. c) the implementation of various programmes for combating unemployment, promoting entrepreneurship, reducing poverty and promoting environmental protection and environmental awareness and education. To meet these objectives, a variety of services is provided in fields related to formal and non-formal education, the environment, new technologies, sports, violence and bullying, anti-discrimination, diversity and culture. In particular, the organisation’s departments undertake activities in 4 main axes of expertise: 1) Environmental protection, awareness and education. 2) Social inclusion, solidarity and human rights. 3) Employment, entrepreneurship and new technologies. 4) Well-being, sports and health. KEAN is the body responsible for the “Diversity Charter” in Greece and fights for an inclusive labor market through trainings, awareness raising activities and consultations with the world of work. It runs 3 hosting structures for unaccompanied Minors & Adults and provides a series of educational, empowering, recreational and cultural activities for its beneficiaries. It has a long-lasting experience in non-formal education, organizing an abundance of non-formal learning opportunities on different subjects of citizens’ concern. It organizes educational activities for young people, youth workers, school, adult and VET educators and learners, offering opportunities for personal, social and professional development and promoting innovative and interactive teaching methods. It organizes initiatives for digitalization of the learning process and for replacing the -one fit all- teaching methods with more effective, learner centered and up to date ones. All activities ultimately aimed at improving the standard of living of EU citizens are implemented in cooperation with other key partners at national and EU level, such as municipalities, Universities, Public Bodies, private bodies, businesses, research centers, EU and international networks and organisations or authorities and of course with other NGOs with whom we share common values. Along these lines, KEAN implements a range of activities such as educational and training workshops, scientific research and analysis, service provision and pilot testing schemes, round table discussions, volunteering activities, sport events, dissemination, visibility and awareness raising activities and other. Since its foundation in 2005, KEAN has gained substantial experience in the design and implementation of projects and activities at national and European level, esp. educational and direct support actions and projects, establishing reliable partnerships and collaborations with a range of organizations from the public and private sector. Special attention is paid to the realization of activities that support disadvantaged and vulnerable population groups in efforts to successfully fight discrimination and combat racism and violence KEAN has a sound track record in the successful management and completion of EU-funded projects and actions for youth, through the implementation of European Voluntary Service, Youth Exchanges, Training Courses and cooperation partnerships. For the implementation of all actions, effective mobilization and engagement of different social groups takes place (e,g, people with fewer opportunities, unemployed people, people at the stage of rehabilitation immigrants, etc.) owing to the organization’s active participation in various national projects that is the main access point to the targeted groups of our projects and programmes. All the activities of KEAN are fully aligned with the objectives and expected results of the ERASMUS+ programme for the new period 2021 – 2027.