I’m writing this post halfway through the project.

I took part in a project where we learned about the knight’s code of honor. The participating countries were Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Cyprus, and Finland.

We learned to live like real knights. We fought with swords, performed acts of chivalry, and learned how to write a project proposal.

All I can say is that it’s awesome—I want to keep going with this theme and never give up!

#JSPA #iespejasjauniesiem #nonformaleducation #ErasmusPlus #youthexchange #rebornofthephoenix #activeparticipation #immersiveroleplay #altrealitylv #osmtjcyprus #animamundiEE

In addition to learning about other cultures, this project also gave us the opportunity to discover new sides of ourselves, become aware of our own limitations, and overcome our fears. During the reflection sessions held every evening, I repeatedly saw with my own eyes how much participating in this project meant to the people here, as they wholeheartedly immersed themselves in challenging activities in order to better understand themselves.

Personally, my favorite part of the project was the fencing sessions, which included both individual and team-based challenges. These sessions helped me improve my swordsmanship, learn new techniques, and master the correct way to use and hold a large shield.

I'm glad I got to this project. It was a great experience that I will definitely remember for a long time.

The document remains available as an open learning resource for participants, partner organisations and future White Phoenix activities.

2025 | WHITE PHOENIX — LATVIA & CYPRUS

The first two stages focused on personal development, group learning, trust, cooperation, intercultural experience and the practical principles needed to create a safe, respectful and inclusive learning community.

Result: White Phoenix Code of Conduct 2025

How do we behave and cooperate with each other?

↓

2026 | REBORN OF THE PHOENIX — PART I & PART II

The next stage expanded the learning process from practical principles of cooperation towards a deeper exploration of shared values, inclusion, responsibility, active citizenship and participation.

Result: White Phoenix Charter 2026

What do we believe in? Which values and principles unite our learning community?

↓

Phoenix Manifesto 2026

What position do young people take regarding participation, inclusion, responsibility and active citizenship?

↓

5 Erasmus+ Project Ideas

How can values and ideas be transformed into concrete action?

The pathway therefore develops through a simple progression:

EXPERIENCE → PRINCIPLES → VALUES → POSITION → ACTION

This progression is not a closed curriculum. It is a developing educational process that can continue to evolve through future participants, partner organisations and Erasmus+ activities.

This Padlet is the shared public learning and resource space of the White Phoenix pathway.

Here you can explore the results and experience developed through the 2025 and 2026 Erasmus+ activities, including:

• White Phoenix youth exchanges and their learning processes
• White Phoenix Code of Conduct 2025
• White Phoenix Charter 2026
• Phoenix Manifesto 2026
• participant-created Erasmus+ project ideas
• learning and reflection materials
• Erasmus+ project development resources
• participant experiences and dissemination activities
• partner contributions and follow-up activities

The platform is designed not only to preserve project results, but to make them accessible, reusable and open for further development.

Participants can return to the materials after the mobility, continue developing their project ideas and use the Erasmus+ resources available here. Partner organisations can use and adapt the accumulated experience in their future youth work.

The platform will continue to grow together with future White Phoenix activities.

White Phoenix 2025 in Latvia was the first stage of the White Phoenix learning journey.

Through non-formal education, experiential learning, teamwork, reflection, outdoor activities, creative methods and intercultural learning, young people explored identity, personal strengths, trust, cooperation, responsibility and their relationships with others.

The project created a safe international learning environment where participants could experience challenges, reflect on them together and gradually develop their ability to communicate, cooperate, take responsibility and support others.

Rather than introducing a ready-made White Phoenix philosophy, the Latvia stage created the shared experience from which the White Phoenix approach could begin to develop.

The learning journey continued later in 2025 through the second White Phoenix youth exchange in Cyprus.

• identity and self-awareness
• personal strengths and limitations
• trust and cooperation
• communication and teamwork
• responsibility and leadership
• personal and shared values
• inclusion and respect for diversity
• intercultural dialogue
• resilience and overcoming challenges
• reflection and learning from experience

Learning was built around experience: do → experience → reflect → understand → try again.

White Phoenix Latvia was based on non-formal and experiential education.

Participants learned through practical challenges, teamwork, outdoor learning, role-play and simulation, creative activities, discussions, storytelling, individual and group reflection, peer learning and intercultural exchange.

The activities were designed not simply to discuss values and personal development, but to create situations in which participants could experience them in practice and reflect on what those experiences meant.

Daily reflection supported participants in recognising their learning and connecting project experiences with their lives beyond the youth exchange.

Latvia was the beginning, not the conclusion.

The experiences, questions and learning generated during the first youth exchange became a foundation for the next stage of White Phoenix in Cyprus later in 2025.

Some participants continued their learning journey, while new participants brought new experiences and perspectives.

This combination of continuity and openness became an important feature of the developing White Phoenix pathway.

White Phoenix 2025 in Cyprus continued the learning journey that began in Latvia.

The second youth exchange created a new international learning environment in which previous experience met new participants, perspectives and challenges.

Through experiential and non-formal learning, participants continued exploring identity, trust, cooperation, responsibility, values, inclusion, intercultural dialogue and their role within a community.

Some young people brought experience from the previous White Phoenix activity, while others joined the journey for the first time. This allowed previous learning to be shared without turning it into a fixed model: new participants were equally encouraged to question, contribute and shape the common experience.

Cyprus therefore became the second stage of the developing White Phoenix pathway and helped transform individual experiences from the two youth exchanges into shared practical principles for living, learning and cooperating together.

• identity and self-awareness
• personal and shared values
• trust and mutual support
• responsibility for oneself and others
• communication and conflict resolution
• cooperation and leadership
• inclusion and diversity
• intercultural understanding
• personal choice and consequences
• participation in a learning community
• reflection and learning from experience

The focus gradually moved from “What am I experiencing?” towards “How do we create a community in which different people can learn, cooperate and grow together?”

Participants learned through teamwork, practical challenges, outdoor learning, simulations and role-play, creative activities, storytelling, intercultural exchange, peer learning, discussions and structured individual and group reflection.

Previous participants were encouraged to share experience and support others, while new participants brought different perspectives and challenged the group to reconsider familiar ideas.

Reflection remained an essential part of the process: participants were encouraged not only to complete activities, but to understand what they had learned about themselves, other people and cooperation within a diverse international community.

Through cooperation, challenges, reflection and everyday life together, recurring questions became increasingly visible:

How do we want to treat each other?
What helps people feel safe and included?
What responsibilities do we have towards the group?
How can we disagree while maintaining respect?
How can experienced participants support newcomers without speaking for them?

These experiences created the foundation for the White Phoenix Code of Conduct 2025 — a practical expression of how members of the learning community agreed to behave, cooperate and take responsibility for the shared learning environment.

It grew out of participants’ practical experience of living, learning, cooperating and overcoming challenges together in an international and diverse learning community.

During the two youth exchanges, participants repeatedly explored questions of trust, respect, inclusion, communication, personal responsibility, boundaries, mutual support and cooperation. Reflection on these experiences gradually helped identify practical principles that could support a safe, respectful and inclusive learning environment.

The Code of Conduct brings these principles together in a shared document.

It answers a simple but important question:

How do we want to behave towards each other when we learn, cooperate and live together?

The Code is not a declaration of ideology and does not define what members of the White Phoenix community must believe. Its purpose is practical: to support respectful interaction, shared responsibility and a safe learning environment.

The Code of Conduct was not the starting point of White Phoenix 2025. It was a result of the learning process.

Experiences from the Latvia and Cyprus youth exchanges, group discussions, reflection, cooperation, challenges and everyday situations provided the material from which common principles could be identified and formulated.

The process followed a simple progression:

EXPERIENCE → REFLECTION → SHARED UNDERSTANDING → PRACTICAL PRINCIPLES

In this way, the Code preserves part of the collective learning generated during White Phoenix 2025 and makes it available for future participants and partner organisations.

How do we behave and cooperate with each other?

But the experience of 2025 opened another question:

Why do these principles matter? What values stand behind them?

This question became one of the starting points for the next stage of the learning pathway — Reborn of the Phoenix 2026.

In 2026, participants moved from reflecting on practical principles of interaction towards exploring the shared values and principles that could unite a diverse learning community.

This process would lead to the development of the White Phoenix Charter 2026.

Reborn of the Phoenix 2026 — Part I opened a new stage of the White Phoenix learning pathway.

Building on the experience of White Phoenix 2025, the youth exchange brought together returning and new participants and expanded the learning community through the involvement of new partner organisations.

While the 2025 pathway had resulted in the White Phoenix Code of Conduct 2025, focusing on practical principles of respectful, safe and inclusive interaction, Reborn of the Phoenix invited participants to go one step further.

The central question became:

What values stand behind the way we choose to live, learn, cooperate and take responsibility together?

Through non-formal education, experiential learning, dialogue, reflection, peer learning and international cooperation, participants explored values, inclusion, responsibility, solidarity, participation and their role within a diverse European learning community.

Part I therefore marked a transition from shared experience and practical principles towards the conscious exploration of shared values.

During Part I, participants explored questions such as:

• What values guide my choices?
• Which values can we share despite our differences?
• What does responsibility mean in practice?
• What does inclusion require from each of us?
• How can diversity strengthen a community?
• What does solidarity mean beyond words?
• How do freedom and responsibility relate to each other?
• How can young people participate meaningfully in their communities?
• Which principles can unite people without requiring them to think alike?

The purpose was not to find one “correct” answer, but to create a space where different experiences and perspectives could meet through dialogue, reflection and cooperation.

The learning process combined experiential and non-formal education with structured reflection and participant-led exploration.

Methods included:

• experiential learning
• teamwork and cooperative challenges
• small-group discussions
• simulations and role-play
• storytelling and metaphor-based learning
• outdoor learning
• intercultural learning
• peer learning and peer support
• individual and group reflection
• value exploration and moral dilemmas
• creative tasks and collaborative decision-making

Participants were encouraged to connect concrete experiences with broader questions about values, responsibility, inclusion and participation.

The White Phoenix Code of Conduct 2025 provided one of the starting points for the learning process.

Participants revisited practical principles developed from the 2025 experience and began asking what values and ideas stood behind them.

The process moved from:

How do we behave towards each other?
↓
Why do these principles matter?
↓
Which values do they express?
↓
Which values and principles can unite a diverse White Phoenix learning community?

Through discussion, reflection and collaborative work, participants began developing the White Phoenix Charter 2026.

The Charter was therefore not presented to participants as a finished document. It emerged through a process of questioning, discussion, comparison of perspectives and collective formulation.

Part I created the foundation and working material that would be further reviewed, tested and developed during Part II.

By the end of Part I, participants had strengthened their:

Knowledge — understanding of personal and shared values, inclusion, diversity, solidarity, responsibility, participation, intercultural dialogue and European values.

Skills — communication, active listening, teamwork, reflection, dialogue, critical thinking, expressing and defending ideas respectfully, collaborative decision-making and working in an intercultural environment.

Attitudes — openness to different perspectives, respect for diversity, personal responsibility, mutual trust, willingness to participate and readiness to contribute to a shared learning community.

Participants also gained practical experience in transforming individual reflections and group discussions into shared principles and collectively created content.

These learning outcomes became the foundation for the next stage of Reborn of the Phoenix.

Explore the learning process, participant reflections, collaborative work and results created during Reborn of the Phoenix 2026 — Part I.

The materials below document the journey from individual experience and dialogue towards the first shared formulations of the White Phoenix Charter 2026.

Participants returned to the questions, ideas and shared values explored during the first mobility and examined how these could be translated into responsibility, active participation and concrete action.

The learning process moved through three interconnected questions:

What values and principles unite us?
What position do we take as young people?
How can we transform our values and ideas into action?

Part II combined reflection, dialogue, collaborative decision-making, peer learning and practical project development.

This process led to the finalisation of the White Phoenix Charter 2026, the development of the Phoenix Manifesto 2026, and the creation of five Erasmus+ project ideas by participants.

Participants revisited the values and principles they had previously explored, reflected on them from new perspectives and examined how they worked in practice within a diverse international group.

Ideas were discussed, questioned, reformulated and developed through collaborative work.

Returning to the same questions in a new learning environment allowed participants to move beyond first impressions and develop a more conscious understanding of responsibility, inclusion, solidarity and participation.

The two-stage structure therefore supported progression rather than repetition:

EXPERIENCE → REFLECTION → REVISITING → DEEPER UNDERSTANDING → APPLICATION

Work on the White Phoenix Charter began during Part I through the exploration of values and principles behind the practical experience of the White Phoenix learning community.

During Part II, participants returned to this material, discussed different formulations, compared perspectives and further developed the shared principles.

Through this collaborative process, the White Phoenix Charter 2026 was completed.

The Charter answers the question:

What do we believe in, and which values and principles can unite us despite our differences?

It does not require participants to share identical opinions. Instead, it identifies common values and principles that can support cooperation, inclusion, responsibility and participation within a diverse learning community.

Identifying shared values was not the end of the process.

Participants were invited to consider what these values mean when applied to the world around them:

What does responsibility require from us?
What does active citizenship mean in everyday life?
What prevents young people from participating?
What does meaningful inclusion look like?
What are we prepared to take responsibility for?

These reflections became the basis for the Phoenix Manifesto 2026.

While the Charter expresses the values and principles that unite the White Phoenix learning community, the Manifesto expresses the participants’ position regarding active citizenship, inclusion, responsibility and participation.

In this way, the learning process moved from:

VALUES → POSITION

Participants worked in teams to develop five Erasmus+ project ideas inspired by the needs, values and issues explored during the White Phoenix learning journey.

They learned how to move from:

NEED → OBJECTIVE → TARGET GROUP → ACTIVITIES → EXPECTED RESULTS → IMPACT

The process introduced participants to practical elements of Erasmus+ project development and encouraged them to think not only as participants in international activities, but also as potential initiators of future youth projects.

The five ideas are not presented as guaranteed future funded projects. They are participant-created concepts that can be further developed, adapted and potentially transformed into future initiatives.

Participants continue to have access to Erasmus+ project-development resources through the shared White Phoenix Padlet, allowing work on these ideas to continue beyond the physical mobility.

Knowledge — understanding of active citizenship, inclusion, participation, solidarity, European values, youth initiatives and Erasmus+ opportunities.

Skills — communication, teamwork, leadership, critical thinking, argumentation, collaborative decision-making, problem-solving, initiative, project idea development and presenting ideas to others.

Attitudes — responsibility, openness to diversity, confidence to participate, willingness to take initiative and belief in their ability to contribute to their communities.

A particularly important development was the transition from discussing social and personal questions towards asking:

“What can we do about it?”

Participants were encouraged to see themselves not only as beneficiaries of Erasmus+ opportunities, but as young people capable of contributing ideas, initiating activities and participating in the development of their communities.

Part II brought together the different levels of the White Phoenix learning journey:

SHARED EXPERIENCE → PRINCIPLES → VALUES → POSITION → ACTION

The results created through this process continue to be available through the White Phoenix Padlet and can be used by participants, partner organisations and future White Phoenix activities.

It expresses the shared values and principles identified through participants’ experience, dialogue, reflection and collaborative work.

The Charter answers the question:

What do we believe in, and which values and principles can unite us while respecting our differences?

The Charter is not a set of behavioural rules and does not require participants to share identical opinions. It provides a common value-based reference point for a diverse learning community built on inclusion, responsibility, solidarity, participation and mutual respect.

It represents the next step in the development of the White Phoenix learning pathway: from the practical principles expressed in the Code of Conduct 2025 towards a deeper understanding of the values behind them.

Its development began during Reborn of the Phoenix 2026 — Part I, when participants explored the values behind cooperation, inclusion, responsibility and participation.

Through individual reflection, small-group work, dialogue, value exploration and collaborative decision-making, participants generated ideas and working formulations for the Charter.

During Part II, these ideas were revisited, discussed, compared and refined. Different perspectives were considered and the shared principles were developed into the final White Phoenix Charter 2026.

The process itself was an important learning experience: participants practised listening, expressing their views, negotiating meaning, respecting disagreement and finding common ground without eliminating diversity.

What do these values mean when we look beyond our learning community and towards the society around us?

If we value inclusion, participation, solidarity and responsibility, what position do we take as young people — and what responsibilities are we prepared to accept?

This question became the foundation for the next participant-created result:

Phoenix Manifesto 2026.

The distinction is important:

Code of Conduct 2025 — How do we behave?
White Phoenix Charter 2026 — What do we believe in?
Phoenix Manifesto 2026 — What position do we take?

The next step is to transform this position into possible action.

It represents the next step after the White Phoenix Charter.

While the Charter identifies the values and principles that can unite a diverse learning community, the Manifesto asks what these values mean when young people look at their role in the wider community and society.

It focuses on four interconnected areas:

active citizenship • inclusion • responsibility • participation

The Manifesto asks:

What position do we take?
What responsibilities are we prepared to accept?
Where can young people make a difference?
How can values become meaningful participation?

The Manifesto does not speak on behalf of all young people, Erasmus+ or the European Union. It reflects the ideas, discussions and perspectives developed by participants through the Reborn of the Phoenix 2026 learning process.

FROM VALUES TO POSITION. FROM POSITION TO ACTION.

PAGE 1 — WE CHOOSE TO PARTICIPATE

We are not only participants in projects.
We are participants in society.

We come from different countries, cultures, communities and personal realities. We do not have the same experiences, opportunities or opinions — and we do not need to.

What connects us is the willingness to listen, to learn from one another and to take responsibility for the communities of which we are part.

The White Phoenix Charter helped us ask what values can unite us.

Now we ask a different question:

What are we prepared to do with those values?

WE CHOOSE PARTICIPATION

We believe young people should have the possibility not only to be heard, but to participate meaningfully in decisions and initiatives that affect their lives.

Participation begins when we stop seeing ourselves only as recipients of opportunities and recognise that we can also create them.

WE CHOOSE INCLUSION

Inclusion is more than inviting everyone into the same room.

It means recognising that people begin from different circumstances and may need different forms of support to participate equally.

We choose to notice barriers, listen to different experiences and help create spaces where diversity is not merely tolerated but respected as a source of learning.

WE CHOOSE RESPONSIBILITY

Freedom gives us choices. Responsibility asks what we do with them.

We take responsibility for our words, our decisions, our impact on other people and our contribution to the communities around us.

Responsibility also means being willing to act when something can be improved instead of always waiting for someone else to change it.

WE CHOOSE DIALOGUE

We will not always agree.

Difference does not have to become division.

We choose curiosity instead of immediate judgement, dialogue instead of hostility and the courage to question both others and ourselves.

Listening is also a form of participation.

PAGE 2 — VALUES BECOME ACTION

WE CHOOSE SOLIDARITY

Solidarity begins when another person's challenge stops being only “their problem”.

It does not mean speaking for others or deciding what they need.

It means standing beside people, listening, cooperating and creating possibilities together.

WE CHOOSE TO TAKE INITIATIVE

We do not need to wait until we become older, more experienced or more powerful before contributing something meaningful.

A conversation can become an idea.
An idea can become a team.
A team can become an initiative.
An initiative can change a community.

We allow ourselves to begin.

WE CHOOSE TO LEARN THROUGH ACTION

Not every idea will work.

Participation also means experimenting, making mistakes, reflecting, adapting and trying again.

We see learning not as something that happens only in classrooms, but as something created through experience, cooperation, challenge and reflection.

WE CHOOSE TO BUILD BRIDGES

Our differences in language, culture, background and experience do not prevent cooperation.

They can make cooperation richer.

International experiences remind us that many challenges cross borders — and that solutions can also be created across borders.

We choose cooperation over isolation.

WE CHOOSE TO TURN VALUES INTO ACTION

A Charter can describe our values.
A Manifesto can express our position.

But neither is enough without action.

For this reason, our next question is not only:

“What do we believe?”

It is:

“What can we do?”

During Reborn of the Phoenix 2026, this question became the starting point for participant-created Erasmus+ project ideas.

We want to continue asking questions, developing ideas, creating partnerships and finding ways to participate in our communities.

We do not claim to have all the answers.
We choose not to stop asking the questions.

We do not wait for someone else to build the future for us.
We choose to participate in creating it.

PHOENIX MANIFESTO 2026

PRINCIPLES → VALUES → POSITION → ACTION

Created through the learning, dialogue and collaborative work of participants of Reborn of the Phoenix 2026.

During Reborn of the Phoenix 2026 — Part II, participants were challenged to take the next step:

How can the values and issues we have explored become concrete youth action?

Working in teams, participants identified issues relevant to young people and transformed them into five Erasmus+ project ideas.

The purpose was not to produce five ready-to-submit applications. The project-development process was itself a learning experience through which participants could explore how an idea becomes a structured initiative.

The five concepts therefore represent both tangible project results and evidence of participants’ learning.

They demonstrate the final stage of the White Phoenix progression:

PRINCIPLES → VALUES → POSITION → ACTION

1. NEED
What problem, challenge or opportunity do we see?

2. TARGET GROUP
Who is affected and who should be involved?

3. OBJECTIVE
What change would we like to contribute to?

4. ACTIVITIES
What could young people actually do?

5. RESULTS
What could participants and communities gain?

6. EUROPEAN DIMENSION
Why could international cooperation add value?

7. NEXT STEPS
What would be needed to develop the idea further?

Participants could use Erasmus+ project-development materials available in the shared White Phoenix Padlet and receive support while structuring their ideas.

The emphasis remained on participant ownership: facilitators supported the process, but the project concepts were developed by the young people themselves.

THE CHALLENGE / NEED

Tourism and outdoor recreation can have a negative impact on natural environments when visitors leave waste in forests, camping areas and around lakes.

The participants identified harmful tourism as an environmental challenge that young people can help address through awareness-raising and practical community action.

At the same time, young people interested in fire performance need opportunities to exchange skills, develop confidence and learn from peers from different European countries.

TARGET GROUP

Young people from different European countries who are interested in fire performance, creative arts, environmental action and public awareness activities.

The project could involve both young people with previous fire-show experience and beginners interested in learning this form of creative expression.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

To bring together young people from different European countries to exchange creative skills, develop confidence and use artistic expression as a tool for raising awareness about harmful tourism and environmental responsibility.

WHAT COULD WE DO?

• international exchange of fire-performance skills and experience
• workshops with experienced fire artists
• fire-performance safety training
• environmental workshops on harmful tourism and protection of local ecosystems
• clean-up activities around forests, lakes and camping areas
• development of environmental awareness messages
• public fire performances connected with environmental themes
• distribution of participant-created awareness materials
• social media communication about responsible tourism
• reflection on how art can contribute to social and environmental change

EXPECTED RESULTS

Participants could:

• improve their creative and fire-performance skills;
• develop greater confidence in public performance;
• increase their understanding of environmental responsibility and harmful tourism;
• improve teamwork and intercultural communication skills;
• gain practical experience in environmental action;
• learn how creative expression can be used for public awareness;
• become more confident in initiating similar activities in their own communities.

Local communities could benefit from cleaner natural areas and increased awareness of responsible behaviour in forests, camping areas and around water bodies.

EUROPEAN DIMENSION

Environmental responsibility and sustainable tourism are shared challenges that cross national borders.

Bringing together young people from different European countries would allow participants to compare experiences, exchange creative practices and explore how environmental awareness can be promoted in different cultural contexts.

The project would demonstrate how international youth cooperation can connect creativity, environmental responsibility and community participation.

VALUES BEHIND THE IDEA

Responsibility • Participation • Solidarity • Creativity • Cooperation • Environmental Awareness

CONNECTION TO WHITE PHOENIX

This project idea represents the White Phoenix transition from values to action.

Environmental responsibility becomes more than a value when young people choose to act on it.

Participants propose combining creativity, international cooperation, public participation and practical environmental action to respond to a problem they consider important.

The idea reflects one of the central questions of the Phoenix Manifesto 2026:

“What can we do?”

Instead of remaining only participants in an Erasmus+ activity, young people begin to imagine themselves as initiators capable of creating activities for their communities.

NEXT STEP

This concept was developed by participants during Reborn of the Phoenix 2026.

It is an initial project idea rather than a completed Erasmus+ application. Further development would require needs analysis, partner involvement, detailed activity planning, risk management, safeguarding measures and a realistic implementation plan.

The idea can continue to be developed using the Erasmus+ project-development resources available through the White Phoenix Padlet.

THE CHALLENGE / NEED

Coastal pollution is a shared environmental challenge that cannot be addressed by one community or one country alone.

Participants identified pollution of the Baltic Sea and its coastal areas as an issue that directly affects nature, local communities and future generations.

They proposed bringing young people from Baltic countries together to research the problem, exchange national experiences and take practical action to protect coastal environments.

TARGET GROUP

Young people from Baltic countries interested in environmental protection, sustainability, community action and international cooperation.

The project would aim to create an inclusive learning environment where young people with different social, cultural and personal backgrounds can participate and contribute equally.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

To bring young people from Baltic countries together to explore coastal pollution, exchange knowledge and experience, take practical environmental action and develop ways of encouraging more responsible behaviour towards the Baltic Sea and its coastal areas.

WHAT COULD WE DO?

• research coastal pollution and its possible causes before the mobility
• meet environmental experts and learn from existing research
• exchange experiences and environmental practices from participating countries
• explore coastal areas through educational expeditions
• organise practical coastal clean-up activities
• collect and analyse information about pollution found in different locations
• develop ideas for more responsible behaviour in coastal areas
• create digital awareness materials and campaigns
• share project experience with local communities
• jointly develop recommendations or strategies for future environmental action

EXPECTED RESULTS

Participants could:

• increase their understanding of coastal pollution and environmental responsibility;
• develop practical experience in environmental action;
• improve research, observation and basic data-analysis skills;
• strengthen teamwork and intercultural communication;
• learn from environmental experiences in other Baltic countries;
• develop digital communication and awareness-raising skills;
• become more confident in initiating environmental activities in their own communities.

Local communities could benefit from visible environmental actions, cleaner coastal areas and increased awareness of responsible behaviour towards coastal ecosystems.

EUROPEAN DIMENSION

The Baltic Sea connects countries, communities and ecosystems across national borders. Environmental problems affecting it are therefore shared challenges that benefit from international cooperation.

Bringing young people from different Baltic countries together would allow them to compare local realities, exchange practices and explore how individual and community responsibility can contribute to a common environmental challenge.

The project would demonstrate a simple European principle:

a shared environment requires shared responsibility.

VALUES BEHIND THE IDEA

Responsibility • Solidarity • Cooperation • Inclusion • Participation • Sustainability

CONNECTION TO WHITE PHOENIX

This project idea reflects the White Phoenix transition from shared values to shared responsibility and action.

The White Phoenix Charter asks which values can unite people despite their differences. The Phoenix Manifesto takes the next step by asking what responsibility those values create.

In this project idea, participants apply that logic to a real environmental challenge.

Environmental responsibility becomes practical action through coastal clean-ups.

Inclusion becomes equal participation of young people with different backgrounds.

European cooperation becomes shared responsibility for an environment that crosses national borders.

Participation becomes initiative, as young people research the problem, communicate with communities and develop possible responses themselves.

The project therefore answers one of the central White Phoenix questions:

“What can we do together about something that matters to us?”

NEXT STEP

This concept was developed by participants during Reborn of the Phoenix 2026.

It is an initial project idea rather than a completed Erasmus+ application. Further development could include a more detailed needs analysis, involvement of environmental experts and local communities, identification of partner regions, development of research and clean-up methods, and clearer indicators for measuring environmental and educational impact.

Participants can continue developing the idea using the Erasmus+ project-development resources available through the White Phoenix Padlet.

Creative Voices for an Inclusive and Sustainable Society

THE CHALLENGE / NEED

Young people do not always recognise that active citizenship can take many forms.

Civic participation is often associated mainly with formal political processes such as voting, while many young people — including those who are not yet old enough to vote — may feel that they have limited possibilities to express their position or influence the society around them.

At the same time, social issues such as discrimination, poverty, inequality and migration affect communities across Europe and require spaces where young people can explore, discuss and communicate their perspectives.

Art can provide such a space.

Through performance, visual art, music, poetry, crafts and other creative forms, young people can express ideas, start conversations and draw attention to issues that matter to them.

TARGET GROUP

Young people from different European countries who are interested in creativity, social issues and active participation.

The project would be particularly accessible to young people who may not identify themselves as “activists” or feel comfortable participating through traditional political or public formats, but who are willing to express themselves through creative methods.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

To help young people explore their civic position and discover creative expression as a meaningful form of participation and public dialogue.

WHAT COULD WE DO?

• explore different meanings and forms of active citizenship
• discuss social issues relevant to participating countries
• exchange examples of how art has been used to communicate social messages
• creative workshops in visual art, performance, poetry, music, storytelling and crafts
• intercultural discussions about discrimination, inequality, poverty and migration
• workshops on freedom of expression, respectful communication and responsibility
• small-group creation of participant-led artistic works addressing selected social issues
• presentation or exhibition of the creative works to a local audience
• creation of digital versions of selected works for social media dissemination
• reflection on the possibilities and limitations of art as a form of civic participation

EXPECTED RESULTS

Participants could:

• develop a better understanding of active citizenship;
• become more aware of their own civic position;
• learn different ways of expressing ideas through creativity;
• strengthen communication and self-expression skills;
• develop confidence in communicating their views publicly;
• improve intercultural dialogue and teamwork skills;
• explore social issues from different European perspectives;
• experience art as a possible tool for participation and dialogue.

Tangible result: a collection of participant-created artistic works communicating different perspectives on social issues selected by the young people.

EUROPEAN DIMENSION

Discrimination, inequality, poverty and migration are not limited to one country, although young people may experience and understand them differently depending on their social and cultural context.

An international youth exchange would allow participants to compare these perspectives and discover both differences and shared concerns.

Art can become a common language through which young people communicate across linguistic, cultural and national boundaries.

The European dimension therefore comes not from producing one common opinion, but from creating dialogue between different perspectives.

VALUES BEHIND THE IDEA

Participation • Freedom of Expression • Inclusion • Diversity • Dialogue • Creativity • Responsibility

CONNECTION TO WHITE PHOENIX

This project idea directly develops the White Phoenix transition from values to position and from position to participation.

The White Phoenix Charter 2026 asks which values and principles can unite people while respecting their differences.

The Phoenix Manifesto 2026 asks what position young people are prepared to take and how they can participate in the world around them.

This project idea proposes art as one possible answer.

Young people do not have to wait until they have formal political power before expressing what matters to them. Creativity can become a space for questioning, communicating, listening and starting public dialogue.

At the same time, White Phoenix does not require participants to express the same position. Different artistic works may communicate different perspectives.

What connects them is the willingness to:

THINK → EXPRESS → LISTEN → DIALOGUE → PARTICIPATE

NEXT STEP

This concept was developed by participants during Reborn of the Phoenix 2026.

It is an initial project idea rather than a completed Erasmus+ application.

Further development could include identifying the specific needs of the target group, selecting the artistic formats, involving relevant artists or youth workers, defining safeguarding principles for discussing sensitive social issues, identifying possible public presentation spaces and developing methods for evaluating learning and community impact.

Participants can continue developing the concept using the Erasmus+ project-development resources available through the White Phoenix Padlet.

Independence, Community & Sustainable Living

THE CHALLENGE / NEED

Modern everyday life provides young people with many forms of comfort, technology and support, but it does not always create opportunities to practise independence, practical responsibility and cooperation.

Young people may have limited experience of organising everyday life together, making collective decisions, preparing food, managing shared resources or taking responsibility for the wellbeing of a temporary community.

Participants proposed creating an international learning experience in which young people temporarily step outside their usual routines and explore a simpler, more self-reliant and environmentally conscious way of living.

Scandinavian history and selected elements of historical everyday life would provide the creative setting for this experience — not as an attempt to recreate the past exactly, but as a way to explore contemporary questions about independence, responsibility, community and our relationship with nature.

TARGET GROUP

Young people from different European countries interested in outdoor learning, history, intercultural exchange, practical skills and sustainable living.

The project should remain accessible to participants with different levels of physical ability, outdoor experience and previous international experience. Activities would therefore be adapted so that participation does not depend on previous survival or camping skills.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

To help young people develop independence, responsibility, cooperation and environmental awareness through an international experiential-learning programme inspired by historical Scandinavian community life and adapted to contemporary youth work.

THE CENTRAL QUESTION

How much do we really need — and what happens when we become responsible for creating everyday life together?

WHAT COULD WE DO?

• temporarily reduce unnecessary use of digital devices and technology
• organise everyday community life together
• prepare meals and share responsibility for common spaces
• learn basic outdoor and practical living skills
• explore responsible use of natural resources
• learn about Scandinavian history and everyday life through workshops and experiential activities
• explore traditional crafts, storytelling, food and cultural practices
• complete cooperative outdoor challenges
• practise collective decision-making and conflict resolution
• compare historical and contemporary ideas of community and responsibility
• organise intercultural evenings where participants share their own cultures
• reflect daily on independence, comfort, consumption, responsibility and cooperation

EXPECTED RESULTS

Participants could:

• develop greater independence and practical everyday-life skills;
• strengthen teamwork and collective decision-making;
• become more aware of their own consumption habits;
• explore the relationship between personal freedom and responsibility;
• develop confidence in dealing with unfamiliar situations;
• improve intercultural communication and English-language skills;
• gain knowledge of Scandinavian history and culture;
• develop greater appreciation of cooperation and shared responsibility;
• reflect on how historical societies and contemporary communities respond differently to basic human needs.

Participants could also gain experience of turning an unusual interest or personal idea into a possible international youth initiative.

EUROPEAN DIMENSION

The project would bring together young people from different European backgrounds to experience the same temporary community while bringing different cultural habits, expectations and perspectives into it.

Scandinavian history would provide one cultural starting point, but intercultural learning would extend beyond Scandinavia: participants would compare historical practices with their own cultures and contemporary ways of living.

The project could therefore explore a broader European question:

How can people with different backgrounds build a community and take responsibility for shared life together?

VALUES BEHIND THE IDEA

Responsibility • Cooperation • Sustainability • Independence • Solidarity • Intercultural Dialogue • Community

CONNECTION TO WHITE PHOENIX

Call of the North transforms White Phoenix values into an experiential challenge.

The White Phoenix Charter explores values such as responsibility, cooperation, inclusion and respect. The Phoenix Manifesto asks what happens when young people choose to act according to these values.

Call of the North places these questions into everyday life.

When some familiar comforts are temporarily removed, values stop being abstract words.

Responsibility means preparing food when others depend on you.

Cooperation means solving problems together.

Sustainability means questioning what we consume and what we actually need.

Solidarity means supporting someone who finds the experience more difficult than you do.

Participation means helping to shape the community rather than waiting for somebody else to organise everything.

The project therefore asks:

Can we practise the values we say we believe in?

NEXT STEP

This concept was developed by participants during Reborn of the Phoenix 2026 and has been further structured as an initial Erasmus+ project concept.

Before becoming a possible project proposal, it would require further development of its inclusion strategy, accessibility, risk assessment, outdoor safety procedures, historical-learning methods, environmental practices and learning-outcome evaluation.

Particular attention should be given to ensuring that outdoor challenges remain educational, voluntary, safe and adaptable to participants with different needs and abilities.

THE GREEN KNIGHT

From Waste to Social Action

Developed by the Cyprus Team

THE CHALLENGE

Environmental problems are often discussed as something too large for an individual young person to influence.

Waste, overconsumption and unsustainable everyday habits are visible in European communities, while young people — particularly those living in rural and peripheral areas — may have fewer opportunities to participate in practical environmental initiatives and community decision-making.

THE GREEN KNIGHT responds to this challenge by transforming sustainability from an abstract topic into practical youth action.

Instead of another one-off clean-up campaign, the project proposes a learning cycle in which young people observe a problem, act together, transform waste creatively, communicate a public message, reflect on their responsibility and initiate further action in their communities.

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MAIN OBJECTIVE

To empower young people to become active agents of environmental and social change by combining circular-economy practices, creative expression, community participation and non-formal learning.

THE CENTRAL QUESTION

What does responsibility for the world around us look like when it becomes action?

WHAT COULD WE DO?

• explore waste and consumption patterns in local communities;
• learn practical principles of circular economy, reuse and upcycling;
• carry out safe community-based eco-actions;
• transform collected and reused materials into symbolic eco-art;
• co-create the Waste Dragon, Green Knight and Hermit installations;
• use storytelling and art to communicate environmental messages without blaming people;
• cooperate with residents, municipalities and local stakeholders;
• create youth-led digital stories and awareness materials;
• reflect on the relationship between personal choices and collective responsibility;
• develop small environmental actions that participants can replicate after returning home.

THE WASTE DRAGON
What are we feeding?

The Dragon represents the consequences of uncontrolled consumption. Every unnecessary object, disposable habit and irresponsible choice can make the Dragon bigger.

THE HERMIT
What do we really need?

The Hermit represents reflection, simplicity and the ability to distinguish needs from endless consumption.

THE GREEN KNIGHT
What are we willing to protect?

The Green Knight represents the moment when awareness becomes responsibility and responsibility becomes action.

EXPECTED LEARNING

Participants develop:

• environmental and circular-economy competences;
• initiative and active citizenship;
• teamwork and shared responsibility;
• creative and critical thinking;
• intercultural communication;
• project planning and problem-solving skills;
• responsible digital communication;
• greater confidence in their ability to influence their communities.

The project aims to create a shift from environmental awareness to environmental agency: from understanding that a problem exists to recognising that young people can organise practical responses to it.

THE GREEN KNIGHT represents one possible practical continuation of the White Phoenix Learning Pathway.

The White Phoenix Charter helps young people identify the values they consider important.

The Phoenix Manifesto moves from personal values towards a question of responsibility: what can young people actually do when the world around them requires change?

THE GREEN KNIGHT applies this question to environmental responsibility.

It explores a simple principle:

Values become meaningful when they influence our choices. Responsibility becomes meaningful when it leads to action.

Sustainability therefore becomes more than an environmental topic. It becomes an exercise in citizenship.

Participants are invited to ask:

What am I responsible for?
What are we responsible for together?
What can I change in my own behaviour?
What can we change as a community?

In this sense, becoming a Green Knight does not mean becoming a fictional hero. It means becoming a young person who is willing to notice a problem, reflect on it, cooperate with others and take responsibility for changing something within their reach.

THE GREEN KNIGHT turns White Phoenix values into environmental action.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT STATUS

The original concept of THE GREEN KNIGHT was developed by the Cyprus youth team and transformed into a full Erasmus+ KA152-YOU Youth Exchange proposal.

The proposal was submitted to the Cyprus National Agency in the 2026 Round 1 and received 89/100 points in the external quality assessment. It was placed on the reserve list due to the available funding and ranking of applications.

The evaluation confirmed the project's strong relevance to Erasmus+ Youth, its clear connection between activities and learning outcomes, its environmental and inclusion dimensions and the appropriateness of its non-formal learning methods.

During the Reborn of the Phoenix 2026 learning process, the project was further reflected upon as a practical application of White Phoenix values — connecting responsibility, participation and solidarity with environmental action.