SAFEPATH is an Erasmus+ Youth project dedicated to building safety awareness and practical skills among young people who hike and take part in outdoor activities across Europe. It responds to a clear gap: while more and more young people are drawn to hiking and outdoor sports, many lack the risk-management skills needed to handle the challenges these activities bring, which can lead to serious injuries or worse.
The project combines safety training, leadership development, and environmental awareness in the context of hiking and mountain activities. It brings together four organisations from Türkiye, Austria, Slovakia and North Macedonia, each contributing different expertise — from technical mountaineering and hiking safety to youth work, inclusion, and volunteer engagement.
Project Goals:
SAFEPATH seeks to:
- Equip young people with the knowledge and skills for safe, responsible hiking, including navigation, risk assessment, first aid and emergency response
- Train a new generation of hiking leaders able to run safe outdoor activities in their own countries
- Strengthen the social inclusion of disadvantaged young people through outdoor sports
- Build partner organisations’ capacity to run international youth activities
- Establish a lasting international network for knowledge-sharing on hiking safety
- Promote environmentally responsible, sustainable hiking practices, including Leave No Trace principles
Key Activities
SAFEPATH is built around one international training course followed by local hiking activities in each partner country, translating what’s learned internationally into direct community impact.
International Training Course – Slovakia
At the heart of the project is a 7-day international training course, hosted by OTI Slovakia in the Low Tatras, bringing together participants from all four partner countries to build expertise in navigation, mountain first aid, risk management and crisis response. Sessions combine theory with hands-on practice: map and compass work, GPS route planning, first-aid drills, and a full-day hike that puts everything into practice on real terrain.
The course draws on the host organisation’s technical mountaineering and hiking-safety expertise, alongside contributions from Austrian and Turkish partners on eco-friendly hiking, first aid, and youth inclusion. Participants who complete the course receive a certificate and return home ready to lead safe hiking activities in their own communities
Local Hiking Activities
Following the training, each partner organisation runs its own local hiking activities, led by the newly trained leaders and involving young people from their own communities. These activities take place in Slovakia, Austria, Türkiye and North Macedonia, putting the skills from the international training into direct practice while extending the project’s reach to a much wider group of young people beyond the initial participants.
Project Results and Resources
SAFEPATH aims to leave behind resources and a network that outlast the project itself:
- A group of trained hiking and safety leaders in each partner country, certified through the training course
- Short instructional and highlight videos from local hiking activities, documenting safety practices for wider sharing
- A lasting international network connecting hiking-safety practitioners and youth organisations across the four countries
- Practical safety and navigation know-how shared through Erasmus+ platforms (SALTO Youth, EPALE, Erasmus+ Project Results Platform) and each partner’s own channels
Results and materials will be shared openly with youth organisations, hiking clubs, and the wider public, so that the impact continues well beyond the project’s duration.
Partners
- Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA) — Istanbul, Türkiye (coordinator)
- OTI Slovakia — Nitra, Slovakia
- Verein für aktiv Leben und Bildung (ACTIVE) — Vienna, Austria
- Turkish Youth Club — Gostivar, North Macedonia
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.