Our mentor support

INTRODUCTION TO THE MENTOR SUPPORT TEAM

DO YOU NEED MENTORING AND SUPPORT TO CREATE YOUR YOUTH EXCHANGE IN AN ECOVILLAGE?

We honour your courage and enthusiasm, as our network, Yes to Sustainability, was built around the very same flame you are carrying with you: young people wanting to have an empowering and life-changing experience in an ecovillage in an accessible way!

We know sometimes the process can seem difficult or scary, and our team of mentors is here to help you navigate through doubts and challenges of creating your Youth Exchange funded by Erasmus+. We are all people like you, with our own mentors to be grateful for. And you can reach out to us to understand what kind of support we can offer you according to your specific needs!

Examples include support with:

  • Finding partners from within our network
  • Finding an ecovillage or ecoproject hosting the project as a venue
  • Understanding better what is a youth exchange from Erasmus+ (KA152), how it works and how to submit a quality project
  • Finding a team to write your project with
  • Solving doubts about different project sections (preparation phase, agreements, inclusion aspects, design of the activity, economic sustainability and drafting the budget, and much more) through online calls
  • Facilitating group dynamics within your project team (decision making, emotional management, inquiry and creative process, celebration!)
  • Proofreading the application draft before submission and more….

How can I get support from a YTS mentor?

  1. Send an email to mentoringyts@gmail.com describing at least the answers to the following questions:
  • Which deadline would you like to apply for?
  • In which country? In which language are you going to work and in which language are you going to submit the project?
  • How many people is your group?
  • Can you write a text of around 2000 characters to describe the project idea?
  • What kind of support do you need?

The mentor will support your team to get a successful youth exchange!

We’ll forward the mentee request to our mentors and find out which one could suit your needs the best. If you want, in the email you can express a preference for being mentored by one of our mentors in particular. Anyway, we will have to check their availability. 

We’ll put you in contact with a mentor we propose you collaborate with

From that moment on, you’ll find your own specific agreement between mentor and mentees, including how many meetings you’ll have, what you are going to work on, how you are going to communicate and the economic part. Usually, our mentors ask for a percentage or a donation from a range (200-500€) of the approved project budget, but please make sure you agree this transparently from the beginning according to your mentoring needs. 

CONTACT US

Our Team

Simone Cesaro
Mentor

Simone Cesaro (he/him) was born in Italy. Active and activist in the ecovillage movement in Europe, he is working in the field of Erasmus+ funded mobilities in the field of youth since 2019. He discovered ecovillages and EU projects in Spain with Asociación Sol y Tierra, RIE (Iberian Ecovillage Network) and Sunseed Desert Technology. Since 2024 is a Council member of RIVE (Italian Ecovillage Network) and Mentoring Coordinator of Yes to Sustainability.
Working languages: Italian, English and Spanish
Expertise & Focus: Writing, coordinating and facilitating KA152 (youth exchanges) and KA153 (mobilities for youth workers). Experience with European Solidarity Corps individual volunteering project and quality label, and with the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme.
Passionate topics: community building, Non Violent Communication, Group facilitation and group dynamics, social justice, conflict transformation, permaculture.
Collaboration & Availability: I am available to mentor if I receive the request at least 60 days before the deadline. I have a flexible working time, we can communicate through Telegram, online calls, asynchronous editing of documents, according to your needs. 
Proposed contribution: A percentage of the approved unallocated budget (between 1 and 3%) , to be agreed with the mentee according to the project’s approved budget.
 Quick communication: Telegram, email, phone call and SMS 🙂 (I don’t have Whatsapp!!!)

Silvia Corna
Mentor

Silvia Corna is a multilingual professional fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English, with additional proficiency in French and Portuguese. She specializes in Erasmus+ KA1 projects, focusing on Youth Exchanges and Training Courses.

Her areas of expertise include nature connection, permaculture, agroecology, community building, authentic expression, and traditional ecological knowledge. She employs a learning-by-doing methodology, guiding participants through hands-on experiences and providing continuous feedback on applications. Additionally, she offers feedback calls to support project development.

The financial aspects of her engagement are flexible, with economic proposals tailored to align with project needs and budget.

Eponine Sels
Mentor and Trainer

Eponine Sels is grow up in Belgium. She is now living for 10 years in the ecovillage of Zajezova in Slovakia. She started as a youth worker being involved for more than ten years in the educational movement for young people “Les Scouts” in Belgium. She gets inspired by the values that scouting is promoting and keeps empowering young people with skills to create a better world. After getting a degree in Agricultural Sciences, she is following her childhood dream to become a farmer. For the last 7 years, she is the supervisor and coordinator of ESC volunteers at Ekokomunita Sekier, a small scale permaculture farm. She has experience working with Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps projects.

Working languages: French and English

Expertise & Focus: writing, coordinating and facilitating KA152 (youth exchanges) and KA153 (mobilities for youth workers). Experience with European Solidarity Corps individual volunteering project and quality label.

Passionate topics: permaculture, simple living, community building, nature connection, environmental education and photography

Collaboration & Availability: 1-3 months before Erasmus+ deadlines. I am available to mentor if I receive the request at least 60 days before the deadline. I have a flexible working time.

Proposed contribution: A percentage of the approved unallocated budget (between 1 and 3%), to be agreed with the mentee according to the project’s approved budget or a fixed amount (€200-500), depending on project scope.

Communication: Telegram, email, phone call and SMS

Mali Boomkens
Mentor and Trainer

Mali Boomkens is an experienced project evaluator and mentor, specializing in KA152, KA153, KA210, and KA220. She has worked as an external evaluator for the Dutch National Agency and has hands-on experience writing KA153 projects.

Expertise & Focus: She supports KA152 and KA153 project design and writing, offering KA2 guidance from an evaluator’s perspective. Her key topics include nature connection, environmental education, social permaculture, regenerative living, embodiment, community building, and conflict resolution tools (e.g., NVC, dragon dreaming, theater of the oppressed).

Collaboration & Availability: Mali is flexible 1-2 months before Erasmus+ deadlines and prefers daytime work, with evening calls if needed. She offers 1-1.5 hour calls and recommends an initial meeting at least 1.5 months before deadlines.

Communication & FeesPayment: Either 1% of project budget or a fixed amount (€200-500), depending on project scope. Quick communication: Signal/Telegram; email for key updates.

Eva Vitorović
Mentor

Eva is one of the founders of Zeleno Doba (Green Age), a sustainability-focused youth association in Serbia, and a long-time collaborator of the Yes to Sustainability network. With a background in international education and community-based youth work, she brings a rich mix of local action and global learning.

She’s a certified permaculture designer and teacher, with a special love for social permaculture, creative education, and rural youth empowerment. For Eva, project writing is more than paperwork — it’s a chance to co-design meaningful, grounded experiences that reflect real values and needs.

Working languages: English, Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian
Experience: Writing, implementing and facilitating KA1 (youth exchanges & mobility of youth workers)
Focus: Sustainability, permaculture, social permaculture, rural development, youth participation, non-formal education, creative arts & community building

Collaboration & Availability:
Available for mentoring via Zoom, Telegram, or Email — mornings or early afternoons (CET).

Contribution model:
My mentoring follows the fair share ethic: no upfront fee. If your project gets approved, you choose a contribution between 5%, 7%, or 10% of the project grant, based on your group’s capacity and satisfaction. If it’s not approved, we rework and reapply together.

Rosanna Bellomo
Mentor and Trainer

Rosanna Bellomo is an experienced facilitator, trainer, project writer, and coordinator with 10 years in Erasmus+. She specializes in youth exchanges and training courses on sustainability, ecology, active citizenship, activism, and advocacy. Since 2019, she has written, facilitated, and organized 25+ successful projects across Italy, Spain, Poland, Latvia, Albania, Turkey, and Morocco. She has worked as a campaign coordinator for Parley for the Oceans and Greenpeace Italia and co-founded MOH APS (Bari, Italy) and the Clean Up Italia network (70+ organizations). She also supports international youth environmental teams like GYBN and YOUNGO and has been a YTS mentor since 2023.

Work Preferences

Focus Areas: KA152, KA153, KA210, training courses, and youth exchanges.
Tools: Google Docs (applications), Zoom/Jitsi (meetings), WhatsApp/Telegram (instant communication)
Availability: Wed–Sat, 14:00–21:00

Maria Luisa Garachana
Mentor and Trainer

Since I can remember myself, I dreamed of creating a different world, where it wasn’t always mandatory to work in the same place, to earn a salary that would allow me to pay. I studied Occupational Therapy, and specialized in psychiatry. In the beginning, I combined my passion for taking care of people, with my philosophy of a self-sufficient life, in community and in union with nature. For the last eight years, I have travelled and lived in various communities, and I have devoted my life to showing that another world is possible. For this, in the last six years I have been professionally dedicated to developing projects within the Erasmus + program, to finance training focused on this purpose, personal, community, sustainable and artistic growth.

Elizabeta Z Jovanovska
Mentor and Trainer

Elizabeta Z. Jovanovska is a seasoned professional with 15 years of experience in project design, implementation, facilitation, training, and mentoring within KA1 and KA2 projects.This year, she is focusing on KA2 initiatives related to life skills, environment, ecology, transition, work that reconnects, radical imagination, future design, eco-arts, authentic relating, permaculture, and human-centered design.She offers mentoring, facilitation, training, and strategic advice, adapting her support to the needs of organizations and specific project scopes. Collaboration can be virtual or in-person, with a strong emphasis on co-design and effective project management.

Baldesca Moner
Mentor and Trainer

Baldesca is a project manager and a facilitator. She has a background as project manager in start-up companies and international R&D projects in the field of renewable energy and sustainability. She holds two master’s degrees in industrial engineering and energy systems. She is also a certified yoga teacher and moon dancer. She studied nutrition, healing and women’s empowerment from different traditions and communities around the world. In the past 6 years, Baldesca has lived and worked at Ängsbacka, a community, retreat and festival centre in Sweden covering different festival management roles, managing Erasmus + projects and facilitating dance workshops and circles. At the moment, she is also part of an emerging ecovillage in Spain.

Katja Štemberger
Mentor and Trainer

Katja has a background in Civil engineering, sustainable tourism and social work with marginal groups. Her passion towards nature, humans and inclusivity escalated further after her acquaintance with permaculture and the ecovillage movement. She is active as a Permaculture and regenerative holistic designer, mentor, facilitator, teacher and project coordinator. Her motivation is empowering on a national, regional and international level through personal and common growth connecting with nature whisper.