End of the mission in Lecce for 4 volunteers from Pas-de-Calais

Published the 9 January 2025

After 6 months in Lecce in the framework of a voluntary service, 4 young people from Pas-de-Calais are ready to come back to France to share the results of their experience of international mobility.

This action was implemented in the framework of an international mobility project addressing young people, organised between partners of the European Straits Initiative: Mob’Inclus project.

This project, with two parts, started in 2017 with a professional internship for a dozen of young people from Pas-de-Calais, in the field of hotel and catering in the province of Lecce (Italy). The second part of the project, which started in 2018, aimed to send 10 young people from Pas-de-Calais in other European Straits Initiative partners’ territories in the framework of a voluntary service abroad.

After a few immersion days in Pas-de-Calais, as well as a preparation for departure to better understand the practical and intercultural challenges that they will have to face during this first experience of international mobility and to become more professional, Manon, Corentin, Etienne and Yassine thus flew away for Lecce last July.

There, they have participated to awareness raising of tourists on culture and heritage of Lecce, welcoming tourists as part of Theutra, the association in charge of tourism information points of the city. During the 6 months they spent in Lecce, they were able to participate to several projects with the tourism information point, especially the creation of a French version of the audio-guide for French-speaking tourists to have access to all the historic and cultural elements available during their visit of the castle of Lecce.

Beside these missions, which were the opportunity for the young volunteers to develop their citizen involvement and their professional behavior, this Italian experience was, for most of them, their first experience of life in autonomy. Deal with their housing, their every-day life, share housing: as many situations that were useful to develop their sense of initiative and sense of responsibilities.

The length of this trip abroad, 6 months, was a good opportunity to be immersed in the Italian culture, to travel in several regions of the country and to refine their projects for the future, such as one of the volunteers who seized the opportunity to create a photo exhibition.

When they will be back in Pas-de-Calais, in a few days, the volunteers will be accompanied to take stock of their engagement so as this experience can be useful and help the rest of their life path. This path will be organized with the help of insertion services of Pas-de-Calais County Council, so as each volunteer, whatever is his or her ambitions are (resumption of studies, job search, volunteering…), can benefit from this experience in the long term.