Sport is a constantly developing social and economic phenomenon, with an important contribution to the strategic objectives of the European Union (http://ec.europa.eu/sport/documents/whitepaper/

whitepaper-short_en.pdf) .Schola GSB initiated a study at local and regional level in

November 2018 to initiate a fundraising campaign on involving young people in sports and outdoor activities. The results of the centralized study in February 2019 are worrying and show us that 48% of young people in the Valcea region do not carry out sport activities and 77% do not participate in any outdoor activity. Due to this phenomenon, young people have acquired an inappropriate behavior for their age. This behavior was noticed as well as by parents and teachers. The main reason is that the local community does not offer alternative leisure opportunities for young people and does not offer any opportunity for spending free time doing sports and outdoor activities. In this context, we initiated this ESC project to offer an alternative to spend leisure time for young people from local communities

in Valcea County. The project “Sport for Solidarity” aims to promote solidarity as a value through voluntary activities, ensuring the involvement of young people with reduced opportunities from Valcea community in solidarity activities, which will help to strengthen the cohesion, solidarity and democracy in Europe.

In the short term, the project aims to facilitate participation in a volunteering internship for 8 young people with reduced opportunities from participating countries and partner countries. The 8 volunteers will develop volunteering activities to promote solidarity, active citizenship and active participation in the life of the local community.

In the long term, the project aims to promote solidarity as a human value among young people from Valcea community and to motivate young people from local communities to participate in

volunteering solidarity activities in order to support local communities. In the long run, it will be

created the basis of a cycling sports competition and also a street running competition called “The Dragasani Tour”. The 8 volunteers will lay the foundations for these sport competitions and will involve the local community in organizing this competition.

The specific objectives of the project are:

O1: Participation of 8 volunteers with reduced opportunities at a 6-month volunteering internship to promote solidarity, sport and outdoor movement.

O2: Promoting feelings of tolerance and respect for diversity through sporting activities.

O3: Promoting social inclusion, active participation and a healthy lifestyle through sports and outdoor activities.

O4: Establishment of a network of organizations that will provide examples of good practice in

implementing sports activities for young people.