In short
- Every young person deserves an equal chance to learn, travel and meet other cultures. This plan is how we work towards that from 2026 to 2028.
- Over half of the young people in our exchanges so far had fewer opportunities. We want to keep it that way, and reach further.
- We focus on four things: a well-prepared team, more inclusive partners, communication that reaches everyone, and more young people with fewer opportunities taking part.
- We set concrete targets and check them after every project and at our annual meeting.
We believe every young person deserves an equal chance to learn, grow and meet people from other cultures. This strategy explains where we stand on inclusion, what we want to achieve between 2026 and 2028, and how we will get there.
Where we are now
Elemdiar was founded in 2023 to give young people from rural Harghita, young people from the Hungarian minority and young people from families with fewer means the chances they rarely get. Inclusion has been part of every project since then. This is our first written inclusion strategy.
What our first three youth exchanges show:
- 56 of the 109 young people who took part in Involve to Evolve, Entrepreneurial Skill and Voice of Democracy were young people with fewer opportunities: just over half, as we planned.
- The barriers they faced were mostly economic (22 young people), social (14), cultural (11) and geographical (8); one young person faced discrimination.
- The groups were gender-balanced: 55 young women and 54 young men.
- No participant with a disability has taken part yet. This is something we want to change.
What we already do in every exchange:
- We keep about half the places for young people with fewer opportunities, and who they are stays private between the team and the group leaders.
- We talk one to one with each of them before the exchange, to understand what they need.
- Partners buy travel tickets directly, so nobody has to pay first and wait to be paid back, and we organise transport from isolated villages to the meeting point.
- We prepare everyone together: intercultural preparation, the programme, what to expect.
- During the exchange, group leaders check in every day and a team member offers one-to-one mentoring.
- Language buddies help anyone who is less confident in English, and key terms are explained in advance.
- Menus are adapted to everyone's diet.
- After the exchange, group leaders stay in touch until everyone is back in their routine.
How young people are involved: the idea for our first project came from a young person in our community, and in every project some young people helped plan it before taking part. Participants run the dissemination events back home, and several have become volunteers.
We know that inclusion is never finished. It needs constant reflection, learning and improvement.
Our strengths and challenges
| Strengths | A proven record: about half of every group were young people with fewer opportunities. A concrete set of support measures that works. Deep roots in a rural, multi-ethnic county. A team whose members took part in youth exchanges themselves. Partners in six countries. |
| Weaknesses | A small team of three. No experience yet with participants with disabilities, and no checks of venue accessibility so far. No formal inclusion training for the team. Few written procedures. Little funding outside Erasmus+. |
| Opportunities | Erasmus+ inclusion support, which can fund extra costs for participants and organisations. Local activities that reach young people who cannot or will not travel. Partners with experience in inclusion. Our contacts with parents, teachers and schools in the community. |
| Threats | Uncertain funding, as not every application is approved. Long distances and travel costs from rural areas. Fear of speaking English. Stigma around being labelled as having "fewer opportunities". Unequal access to the internet and devices. |
Our mission and goals
Our mission is to give young people from rural Harghita, from the Hungarian minority and from families with fewer means the space, tools and support to shape their own ideas, and to take part fully in everything we do.
"Young people with fewer opportunities" is the Erasmus+ term for people who face obstacles to taking part, such as disability, health problems, low income, educational difficulties, discrimination or living in a remote area. Our Non-Discrimination Policy explains this in more detail.
This strategy follows the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Inclusion and Diversity Strategy. Our goals are:
- Diversity and representation: welcome young people from all backgrounds and keep a balanced mix in every project.
- Accessibility: find and remove what stops people from taking part, and offer practical, language, financial or emotional support where needed.
- Equal opportunities: create fair spaces where everyone can learn, contribute and grow, whatever their experience or situation.
- Cultural sensitivity: build understanding and respect between cultures and communities, challenge stereotypes and encourage empathy.
- Inclusive learning: design activities that invite open dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect.
- Youth involvement: involve young people in every stage, from designing a project to evaluating it, so that their voices guide our decisions.
What we will focus on
- A well-prepared team. Our team, group leaders and facilitators learn inclusive practice, including how to welcome young people with disabilities.
- More inclusive partners. We work with more organisations that support young people facing barriers, so we can reach groups we do not reach today.
- Communication that reaches everyone. Our calls and information are easy to understand and available in the languages of our community.
- More young people with fewer opportunities. We keep at least half the places for them, at home and abroad, and open our activities to young people with disabilities.
Our targets
| Action area | What we will do | How we will measure it | By when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. A well-prepared team | Inclusion training for the board and our regular facilitators and group leaders | All three board members trained; at least one session a year for group leaders | End of 2026 |
| 2. More inclusive partners | New partnerships with organisations that support young people with fewer opportunities or with disabilities | At least 2 new partners (we have worked with 7 partner organisations so far) | End of 2027 |
| 3. Communication for everyone | Calls for participants in Romanian and Hungarian, in plain language, plus personal outreach through parents, teachers and schools | Every call published this way | From 2026, checked every year |
| 4. More young people with fewer opportunities | Keep at least half the places for them in every exchange we host and every group we send, and make our activities ready for participants with disabilities | At least 50% in every group (51% so far); accessibility checked for every venue; first participant with a disability welcomed | Every year; accessibility by end of 2027 |
How we will make it happen
We build inclusion into every stage of our projects: planning, delivery, evaluation and sharing results. In practice we:
- include inclusion goals and the Erasmus+ inclusion support budget in every project we submit;
- look at inclusion in the needs analysis of every new project;
- have an inclusion lead, Adrian Vîlcan, who follows this strategy and reports on it to the board;
- share practical resources with our partners and facilitators;
- ask participants, parents and teachers what would make it easier to take part.
How we check our progress
- After every project: we look at who took part, what barriers they faced and what worked, and we write it in the project's final report.
- At our annual meeting: we review the targets above with a simple traffic light (on track, at risk or delayed) and decide what to change.
- All the time: feedback forms and group discussions with participants and partners.
What we learn from your feedback goes directly into our next steps.
The laws and policies behind this strategy
This strategy follows the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Inclusion and Diversity Strategy and EU rules on equality and non-discrimination, including:
- the Racial Equality Directive (2000/43/EC);
- the Gender Equality Directive (2006/54/EC);
- the Employment Equality Framework Directive (2000/78/EC);
- the Directive on equal treatment of self-employed men and women (2010/41/EU);
- the Web Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102);
- the European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882).
Our commitment
For us, inclusion is not just a policy, it is a way of working. We want every young person who comes to Elemdiar to feel valued, capable and able to grow. Together with our partners, participants and community, we want to help build a Europe where diversity is not just accepted, but celebrated.
Questions?
Write to us at [email protected].