Social Youth Development, K.A.NE., is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation active in the fields of Youth, Social Inclusion, Education, Vocational Training and Culture.
K.A.NE. was founded in 2008 in Kalamata, Greece. The organisation’s main objectives are to foster youth motivation for active citizenship, and to support personal and professional development of people through educational activities, especially targeting people at risk or facing social exclusion, young people in general and adult/vet learners.
Social Youth Development, K.A.NE., was created with basic motive the promotion of youth mobility as well as the promotion and development of the volunteer and life long learning concept. Its main purpose is the development of the sense of social contribution and solidarity in various sectors, which a provincial city such as Kalamata, needs. Our aim is also our motivation for working with volunteering, as volunteering projects is offering us the opportunity to support actions and projects for the local youth and create an intercultural environment in the local community that, coming in direct contact with the international volunteers and participating in the activities that they support, becomes more open and develops a sense of understanding and tolerance towards the differences.
Since 2008, K.A.NE. has hosted, in the framework of the Youth in Action programme, over 300 volunteers from Europe and outside of it and has send over 80 people from Greece abroad in both short and long term projects (lasting from 1 to 12 months). K.A.NE. hosted in total over 600 youth learners and sent over 250 Greek youth in training courses and seminars abroad.
K.A.NE.’s preparatory actions began in 2008 with the creation of Youth Centre of Kalamata. Youth Centre of Kalamata is a structure that has more than 5500 registered active members. The Youth Centre is organising more than 100 long term workshops and training courses per year on a daily basis. The members of the Youth Centre are mainly between the ages of 15-35 from different target groups. Its main achievement is the inclusion and the integration of people with special needs, immigrants, refugees and Roma people in the local community, as well as the combatting of the NEETs phenomenon through youth work and vocational training.
One of the results of the work of Youth Centre of Kalamata is the creation of the organisation's Volunteer Network, which is constantly enriched with new people. This Network includes 150 local volunteers, 25 local civil society organisations and 18 international volunteers. K.A.NE. is an accredited coordinating, hosting and sending organization within the Erasmus+ European Voluntary Service scheme. K.A.NE. hosts and trains, through an integrated system, more than 40 volunteers coming from all over Europe per year. K.A.NE. is one of the oldest EVS hosting organisations in Greece with more than 200 successful long-term and short-term projects.
In the following years, K.A.NE. has expanded its activities offering services to Youth at Social exclusion, young offenders and unemployed people through weekly counselling and training. In this context, the Kalamata Street Festival was created, a Festival that aims to offer the opportunity to people to express themselves through street art with the aim to foster social inclusion and respect in diversity. The Kalamata Street Festival is being organised every year since 2009 and hosting each time more than 12.000 audience and more than 200 artists from all over the world.
One of the strongest assets of the organisation the development of a strong network across Europe, through which there have been designing and implementing Research & Educational Programmes in the context of European and national programmes (Erasmus+, Life Long Learning, EAA Grants, EFM etc.). Additionally, K.A.NE. is the head of the EU network “ALTIUS” with members in 13 countries.
K.A.NE. has designed and implemented several training projects in the framework of Youth in Action, Grundtvig, Erasmus+ and self-organised training services.
The last step to establish K.A.NE. as an integrated Centre for Non-Formal Education & Training and certified Vocational Training Center – VET (KEDIVIM 1) by the Greek National Accreditation Organization (EOPPEP), a process that verifies the organization as an institution for professional development of both beneficiaries and professionals. Its experience in the VET field has led to the hosting of several groups of VET learners from around Europe. Until today, we have hosted more than 60 international students and adults in different vocational training projects.
Through its involvement in education, research, volunteerism, prevention and raising awareness, K.A.NE. has managed to achieve the following goals:
- Support social vulnerable groups, provide them specialized services, educational interventions, as well as an holistic approach for a quality living
- Development of innovative tools through the conduction of European Research projects and the creation of a network with other European Institutions
- Training professionals in the field of education according to current needs
- Cooperation with other entities, creation of a social network aiming to ensure constant development
- Raising awareness to the community through educational and instructional events (conferences, seminars, workshops, festive events)
At the VET sector K.A.NE. holds long experience in cooperating with local VET schools, organising info days, training sessions and free-time activities. More than 60 students are involved in long term and short term vocational training activities.
K.A.NE.’s runs an info centre for local youth. The aim of the info centre is to assist young people to find volunteering, training and educational opportunities as well as to prepare them for mobility activities in other EU countries.
