Western Balkan School Exchange Scheme – Superschools 2.0
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO)
Beneficiaries:
Ministry of Interior (MoI);
Ministry of Education and Sport (MoES);
Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MoHSP);
Ministry of Finance (MoF);
Albanian Institute of Transport (AIT);
General Directorate for Road Transport Services (DPSHTRR);
The Traffic/Road Police (TP);
The Emergency services (QKUM);
Academics/Universities;
NGOs.
04.2024 - 09.2026
Overall Objective
The overall objective is: “To increase skills and knowledge of young people in the Western Balkans by enhancing education systems and promoting cooperation in the region”. Implementation of Superschools exchange scheme.
The ultimate goal is to create a sustainable, user-friendly, efficient, impact-oriented and regionally recognisable scheme for secondary school exchanges that will contribute to reconciliation efforts in the Western Balkans region.
Supporting 300 teachers coming from 180 secondary schools to develop intercultural competences and implement 180 youth exchanges in local communities which will support the development of intercultural competence of 2 600 young people taking part in them.
Summary of the Project
Superschools exchange scheme is continuation of the first phase of Superschools 1.0, a regional secondary school exchange scheme that aims to support the peace-building and reconciliation processes in the Western Balkans through school to school partnerships.
These school partnerships, the Superschools partnerships, are formed between two secondary schools from two different RYCO Contracting Parties. The partnerships work together to ensure successful design and implementation of the Superschools projects.
Central part of each Superschools project is Superschools youth exchange and each partner takes lead over organizing one youth exchange in their own local communities, therefore, there are two youth exchanges per partnership, in total.
Superschools youth exchange is a short term learning mobility of young people accompanied by the staff members representing secondary schools participating in the Superschools programme with aim to offer opportunities for regional cooperation and gaining intercultural competencies as a basis for reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts in the region.
Within the new Superschools 2.0. the idea is to bring together 2 600 young people through two open calls (3rd and 4th Superschools open calls) and support 90 Superschools bilateral partnerships. The exchanges will be carried out by 360 teachers that will have their capacities to design and implement quality youth exchanges improved through Superschools program.
RYCO with the implementing partner GIZ, aims to further develop the Superschools exchange scheme based on the lessons learned from the previous two calls, further customize the scheme to accommodate the needs and capacities of schools, on one hand, and meet RYCO program objectives, on the other hand. The ultimate goal is to create a sustainable, user-friendly, efficient, impact-oriented and regionally recognisable scheme for secondary school exchanges that will contribute to reconciliation efforts in the Western Balkan region.
The scheme has two LOTs:
First LOT – Establishment of partnerships. Here the main idea is to support building new partnerships or support to reinforcing the existing partnerships forged within the Superschools program. Eligible to apply with this strand will be new partnerships (between schools that have never been selected before), partnerships with a new partner or previous partnerships in need for further support.
Second LOT – Support the sustainability of partnerships. Here the main idea is to support existing partnerships which have demonstrated their quality and have shown potential to tackle RYCO thematic areas and local impact within the previous calls.
This new phase aims to have a greater focus on implementing the concept of homestays as they have proven ability for securing a more impactful exchange experience for the students. In addition the homestays allow the whole family to go through an intercultural experience. 92% of young people from the partnership that has implemented the homestays concept within the 2nd Superschools open call and who responded to our questionnaire on homestays believe that the homestays component is an added value to the Superschools exchanges in which they took part in.
In addition 77% and 23% of parents who responded said they strongly agree and agree with this statement “I believe that staying with a family from a different intercultural background provides a more in-depth understanding of their culture and a better overall intercultural experience.” For this reason the homestays will be promoted and encouraged throughout the programme, starting from the application phase. For politically sensitive or disadvantaged area partnerships, implementing homestays may be challenging and could lead to withdrawal from the program. Therefore, we will handle homestays on a case-by-case basis. Superschools 2.0 projec is committed to enriching and expanding the capacity building opportunities available to schools. This involves a comprehensive approach, offering a diverse array of capacity building activities both in-person and online.
Additionally, the project aim to recognise and empower teachers who have previously engaged in Superschools projects, enabling them to become effective multipliers. Their efforts will be acknowledged through showcasing and awarding Superschools best practices, highlighting their pivotal role in our initiatives.
Furthermore, forging strategic partnerships with high school student unions across the region to enhance our impact, particularly in youth participation and engagement. These unions, as representatives of high school students, provide a relevant and legitimate voice in addressing youth-related issues. Collaborating with them not only strengthens our outreach to potential applicants but also fosters regional cooperation and the sharing of best practices, aligning with RYCO’s objectives.
Moreover, the collaboration with relevant government institutions continues as we strive to create enabling environments for the implementation of school exchange projects. The project is particularly focused on improving the validation of teachers’ acquired learning outcomes and enhancing recognition of the value of the Superschools programme.To create a regionally recognisable scheme, investing significant efforts in promoting Superschools results.
RYCO will provide support to schools in designing local outreach activities, strengthening their communication capacities and maximizing their reach.
Activities
Each call will approximately last for 13 months and be divided in 5 phases:
1st the Application phase that will cover the aspects of launching of the call, promotion of the call and closing the registration. This phase will approximately last for one and half months. Within the promotion of the call the following activities will be organised:
– Info sessions organised by Local Program Officers (LPOs) and with participation of high school student union representatives. Within each call at least three info sessions (in person and online) will be organised on CP level.
– Motivation sessions carried out by the teachers’ multipliers. Following each call 13 multipliers will be selected, and their task would be to organize motivation sessions for at least 12 teachers coming from 3 different schools.
– Promotion of the call through communication channels of respective Ministries and high school student unions primarily, as well as through other channels available to local branch offices.
– Promo campaigns through our social media, that will design and carry out different visibility activities.
2nd the Selection phase will last for three months and will cover the aspect of the assessment of diversity of the partnership and the schools, programmatic potential and local impact of the submitted ideas. The assessment will be performed by the Selection Committee and the selected partnerships will be endorsed by the RYCO Governing Board.
3rd the Capacity building phase will last for approximately two and a half months and will focus on building the program and management capacity of the schools to develop and implement quality youth exchange projects. The capacity building phase will integrate several important aspects/activities:
– Mentorship process or the process of design of agendas is envisaged as tailor made support provided to school teachers and conducted by LPOs. Methodologically and programmatically sound youth exchange agendas are the desired output of this process. Nevertheless, its key goal is to provide methodological guidance and teaching coordinators how the process of design of youth exchange programs should look like and what aspects it should incorporate so the final output is tailored to set objectives, needs of young people, context in which exchange should take place. The support that the multipliers- teachers will receive in this phase will be dedicated to design of the workshops that they will need to organise.
– Teachers training is a 4-day regional training organised for the teachers from the selected partnership (1 teacher per school) with the aim to improve their competences to tackle RYCO thematic areas and implement regional youth exchange projects. The training will be designed to offer in-depth knowledge of RYCO thematic areas and also allow enhancing of intercultural understanding and offer opportunity for regional cooperation among 90 teachers. The training will have different strands depending on the LOT the teachers belong to and if they are multipliers.
– Online sessions will offer a range of activities aimed at familiarizing teachers with the methodologies and different approaches to dealing with RYCO thematic areas and working with youth (for example sport for peacebuilding, gender mainstreaming etc). Here concrete examples of best practices and tools that RYCO and HSUs have developed will be shared along with the know-how from the local level. The topics that these sessions will cover will be agreed based on the interest of the teachers and the programmatic priorities that RYCO seeks to see covered.
Results
Output 1: 2600 young people will take part in 180 youth exchanges in their local communities organised by 180 secondary schools with addition of 3600 young people that will be reached through 180 local outreach activities that will be organised by the schools.
Output 2: Improving capacities of 180 schools and 300 teachers to develop and implement quality projects on youth exchange.
This measure will contribute to the following indicators:
1.1 Number of young people who are engaged in youth exchanges;
1.2 Percentage of young people who are engaged disaggregated by sex, out of which 45-55 % women;
1.3. Number of young people reached indirectly, through local outreach activities organised by schools;
1.4 Number of teachers who are engaged in organising youth exchanges in their local communities;
1.5 Number of secondary schools supported within the Superschools exchange scheme.
2.1 Number of quality agendas created by schools and the end of the capacity building phase;
2.2 Number and percent of teachers self-reporting improvement in their capacities to develop and implement quality projects on youth exchange using a scale from 1-5;
2.3 Participation Rate: The number/percentage of teachers who attended capacity-building activities;
2.4. Percentage of teachers who are engaged disaggregated by sex, out of which 50-55 % women.
