What is STAR?
The STAR: Story Tours Alternative Roots project, is a collaborative initiative involving six associations over a period of 30 months. The primary objectives are to enhance organizational and management skills, foster meaningful collaborations between participating countries, create impactful youth programs, and teach participants crucial skills such as budget control, time management, and effective project execution.
The motivation behind STAR stems from the lack of opportunities for young people to engage meaningfully with different cultures and environments. By promoting social inclusion, the program aims to help participants develop leadership skills, understand diverse cultures, and prepare for their future roles. The project enhances partnerships and NGO capacity for impactful youth programs using a digital, inclusive, and sustainable approach. It focuses on developing project management skills, fostering collaboration among partner organizations, researching educational walking tours as a youth development tool, and advocating for policy change.
The associations participating in this project include SCI Italia, SCI Catalunya, Space for Sustainable Development from Jordan, Projekte Vullnetare Nderkombetare from Albania, Center For Intercultural Dialogue Association from North Macedonia, and Volonterski Centar Vojvodine from Serbia.
STAR is funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme and supported by Agenzia Nazionale per i Giovani
Anisa’s Experience
Anisa, a volunteer from Albania, is participating in the STAR project through a three-week job shadowing experience at SCI Italia. Here’s a glimpse into her journey:
I studied Journalism and Communication and worked as a news reporter in national media for almost two years before transitioning to an account manager role in a marketing agency. I joined the STAR project as part of a job shadowing initiative. My sending association is PVN Albania, while SCI Italia is hosting me. I am here to learn about the organization’s operations, the work culture, and how activities are conducted.
The job shadowing experiences are part of the project STAR: Story Tours Alternative Roots. In total there will be three people involved in this kind of activity: me, at SCI Italia, a participant from Serbia at SCI Catalunya and a participant from Jordan at CID Macedonia. I discovered this project because a friend recommended it to me, and I was particularly interested in the film festival aspect of the program due to my personal interest in movies and cinema.
Initially, I thought the commitment was for one week but later discovered it was three weeks long. Despite my initial doubts, my genuine interest and excitement for the opportunity led me to participate.
Being in Rome has been a great experience. I visited the city last year and made some connections that contributed to my positive feelings about returning. I saw this as a challenge to meet new people and engage in cultural exchanges. Meeting people from around the world and learning about their cultures has been fascinating. It’s interesting to see different perspectives, which helps expand my own views.
I aimed to meet new people and challenge myself, as I am not easily adaptable and need time to adjust. This experience is pushing me to be more involved and overcome my fear of being surrounded by people. I’m learning to host activities in a different cultural context, expanding my network, and possibly setting the stage for future collaborations. It’s always good to meet people from various fields and countries because you never know where these connections might lead. I want to challenge myself and grow, and this project is helping me do just that.
