Fundacja Ambasadorzy Pomysłów. Ambassadors of Ideas

Fundacja Ambasadorzy Pomysłów. Ambassadors of Ideas is the legal form and continuation of the informal group vision and activities IDEA (Inspired by Diversity, Empowerement & Adventurous Spirit), from Leszno, Poland; which started by the initiative of an active group of parents, youth workers and young people willing to learn from each other and from European experiences and practices. We also have trainers in the youth field, youth leaders, pedagogues, psychologists and psychotherapists who have been working in supporting young people at local and regional level, as well as working at European level delivering training for youth workers, teachers, educators and young people in topics related with active participation, youth work, European mobility, creative thinking, emotional management, communication, positive psychology, well being and project management. We have gathered together to the foundation as an attempt to join forces and learn from each other and from the skills, knowledge and competences we all have; additionally to the motivation our young people has to develop activities and take part in European projects, one of the tools used to promote participation and engagement of young people in Leszno, but also at European level. We set I.D.E.A. and Ambasadorzy Pomysłów as a form of representation which will is for young people to active participate with their peers in developing their ideas, being supported by adults, who have the knowledge and skills on diverse topics, related to the personal and professional development of youth, in topics related to their needs. Thanks to this cooperation, the adults and youth workers can also learn more and participate in training courses and other kind of projects, connected with topics set as needs of the members involved in our group. As some of the adults are also trainers, we can deliver and exchange knowledge and local, national, European and international level; promoting diversity, culture, sports, education and mobility, as tools for inclusion and participation of young people. Our aim is also to support young people in their personal and professional development, using the most diverse and efficient tools, which for now can be summed up as coaching, mentoring, educational games experiences, sports, intercultural learning, event implementation, foreign language development and self-confidence support – methods which will to empower our young people and allow them to start new ideas, develop their creative and entrepreneurial thinking. The group is set to work based on non-formal education methodology. The foundation stands upon the same principles as the informal group and they are the follow: Our goals are educational, cultural and related to sport, developed at local, regional and intercultural and european level. They are: 1) To support and promote education, active participation and learning, social inclusion and exchange of knowledge and experience among individuals; 2) The promotion of sport, wellbeing, Emotional Intelligence and mental health in a holistic approach; 3) To promote inclusion of people from different backgrounds towards development of the local society and learning from diversity; 4) The promotion and support of active citizenship and volunteering; 5) To raise awareness of European grants, its opportunities and promote social responsibility; 6) To develop tools for personal and professional development of individuals and support all ways of expression; 7) To develop partnerships between different fields of the society, different sectors of education, training and youth and establish bridges between these, enterprises, governmental and non-governmental organizations; 8) To support the development of competences among individuals relevant for civil society and labormarket, to conduct activities for the promotion of lifelong learning and establish bridges between youth, youth work, formal education, non-formal education and informal education; 9) To promote mobility as a tool for active participation and social inclusion, especially of those at risk of exclusion; 10) To support collaboration and cooperative learning between individuals and develop networking between organizations towards a bigger impact at local level; 11) To support youth empowerment, youth work, creative thinking and entrepreneurship as tools for inclusion, fight unemployment and inequality; 12) To promote ecology and sustainable development and raise awareness of natural environment, its resources and biosphere to protect it; 13) To promote freedom, Human Rights, tolerance and critical thinking to better shape future societies in a bottom-up approach; 14) To promote the learning and development of foreign languages. We work to reach our goals through local events and workshops with adults and young people, international projects, such as learning mobility projects and research of local needs in the field of youth.