Organized by Fundación CajaGranada, from 1st to 3rd of March, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian and Romanian experts met in Granada to work on the contents of the MApp My Europe project, funded by the European Union

Andreea Cosma, coordinator of the project, highlights the importance of training authentic ‘regional ambassadors’ of European culture and the experience of discovering Granada as a city of the senses

From 1st to 3rd of March, a group of European experts met in Granada to work on the contents of the mApp My Europe project, promoted by the European Union. This project aims to facilitate and promote a modern access to cultural heritage.

Once the meeting, organized by Fundación CajaGranada, was over and all the participants went back to their cities and countries- Spain, Romania, Greece and Bulgaria – the outcome is very positive, having been highly beneficial the training course on cultural and tourist guides and routes, entitled “Regional Ambassadors”.

According to Andreea Cosma, coordinator of project, “Granada is the city of the senses and we have enjoyed a wonderful experience”, highlighting the sound of the beautiful Spanish language, the fountains and the street musicians; the fascinating views of Sierra Nevada and the astonishing Alhambra.

“The group enjoyed the warm welcome of Andalusia, the affection of the Fundación CajaGranada’s organizing team, the coordinator of the training course, and the other institution cooperating with the project, the CELEI, which collaborated and covered all our needs. The program of the course has offered us the possibility of learning and enjoying the culture of Granada. In addition, the methodology used in the activities allowed us to put ourselves in the shoes of authentic ‘regional ambassadors'”

Indeed, during the three days of the European training course, attendees learned about different spaces and monuments of the city: Museo Memoria de Andalucía, Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo and the Alhambra. In addition, visits were made through the Realejo and the Albaicín.

MApp My Europe Aims

During its two years of operation the MApp My Europe project aims to achieve the following goals: training focus on young workers, development of the mAPP, an application for smartphones that will offer different attractive touristic routes for the youth, creating a website that will provide details about the project, editing a non-formal online education book on cultural heritage for trainers and teachers interested in cultural heritage activities, as well as monthly activities for general audiences: Coolt Events.

The MApp project seeks to involve institutions, organisations, stakeholders, artists, youth workers, young people, IT experts, architects, youth workers and teachers from different fields that have a connection with Cultural Heritage (history, art, technology, etc.).

In addition, mAPP my Europe fosters an active partnership between experts, teachers, youth workers, disadvantaged and young (aged 13-19), creative change-makers that are interested in cultural heritage, education, youth tourism, innovation and promotion.

We chose this target group as we would like to give visibility to the perspective of young people on creating the itineraries for the phone app and to their decisions on what the most attractive routes in their regions are. Their participation will provide not only a great intercultural experience but also the development of some soft skills, improving language and digital abilities and at the same time having the opportunity to explore new domains such as volunteering, non-formal education, cultural heritage, art and entrepreneurship.

MApp My Europe Project: Partners

The consortium implementing the mAPP My Europe project includes the following partners:

Romania: Asociatia Creative Human Development (Romania) socio coordinador del proyecto and Asociatia ARCHE House of Education and Innovation (HEI)

Bulgaria: Varna Economic development Agency (VEDA), Regional Museum of History – Dobrich and UnseenPro.

Greece: Social Youth Development KANE and The Directorate of Secondary Education of Kalamata, Peloponense Prefecture.

Spain: CELEI Centro de Lenguas, Educación Intercultural and Fundación CajaGranada

Group of the training participants