CERIDES has successfully hosted the second out of the three Focus Groups of KA2 ERASMUS+ Project: EM-CITY ‘Emergency Management by Communities’ Interaction Through Youth’ on the 19th of May 2023. The 1st Focus Group took place on the 13th of July 2022 (more information to be found here).
EM-CITY devoted to following its epistemological approach of Action Research continues to collect data from the stakeholders who have the main role in forming the outputs of the project. After the analysis of the results of the 1st Focus Group which took place in all partner countries (CCI Greece, INNOGO Turkey, EPC Italy and CERIDES Cyprus) and a semi structured questionnaire answered by 232 participants from the above countries the project has managed to form its website and conclude to the framework of its 4 Training Modules, aspired to train Young people to act as “interactive bridges” in Emergency Situations.
The goal of the Second Focus Group (FG) was threefold.
For Local Authorities and Stakeholders from the Emergency Management to:
- Acknowledge the results of the project thus far and how their own contribution formed the next steps of the project;
- Interact with each other, build a relationship and set common future goals;
- Give their input so that they are directly involved in the development of the 4 Training Modules of the project. This practically means that 2 Young People from each partner country will develop one of the 4 Training Modules in their own unique way (with the help of the consortium) and then train in a synchronous way, 25 young people from each country including CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) within a 12-18hours holistic Emergency Management module course and with the supervision of 5 ‘Observers’ (meaning experienced stakeholders).
The specific next steps of the project can be seen in the graph that follows:
The main authorities of Cyprus e.g representatives from Civil Defense, Fire Representatives (EMAK), Volunteers (ETEA), other First Responders such as Scouts and Emergency Management Trainers along 2 of the young people who have participated in the LTTA of EM CITY project were present.
The intrinsic motivation shown by all participants in the 2nd Focus Group and their willingness to be part of the next steps of the project aspires us that we are a step closer to reaching our ultimate goal which is to educate young people regardless of their nationality, language and religion, on their roles during emergency situations; to act as “interactive bridges” between different parties in the process of emergency management, build communication channels among the stakeholders and local communities.
Source: European University Cyprus I CERIDES (https://bit.ly/3q4l2Dp)