As a youth organisation, we give young people the possibility to travel and meet people from various countries so that they gain knowledge and experience which they later share with us. Contact us if you would like to know how to be a part of it.

TC “Smart Youth Work Lab”

Our Estonian team was happy to take part on a fascinating project in Romania, Bucharest. We are participants of a volunteer organisation in Estonia «Youth club Active» : Renata, Polina, Julia, Anna and Kristian. And we would like to tell about this incredible experience.

Smart Youth Work Lab

First of all, we would like to thank our organisation for giving this opportunity to travel, to get new knowledge and meet different people! And we are very grateful to a hosting organisation in Bucharest for their well-planned project, their support and endless care. The name of this project was «Digital tools». For us, it was very beneficial and we became more informed in this field. We learned a lot of new apps that we can use in a daily life and had time to try many of them. In addition to that, we listened to a popular YouTuber and even met a robot!

One of the most interesting digital tool during this project was “Action bound”. We had a very great opportunity to try this app and understand how we can use it in youth working. This app can be downloaded for iOS as well as for Android. It is very important, that there are different tasks, such as: making photo or video, quizzes, finding a spot etc. Using Action bound we can create different mobile adventures, guides. That means, we can use it in different ways, so it is suitable for each group of youth. This kind of mobile activity is very useful for non formal education, because it is very dynamic and it is not boring. In our Erasmus project we had groups of 4-5 people from different countries. So we also could communicate, have fun and share our experiences.

Also that was great way to explore Bucharest. Moreover, we had enough time to talk about our organisations. It was very useful and interesting to know something about other organisations from different countries and share our experience. Furthermore, we could also share knowledge and facts about our country on an intercultural evening. On this project we had two parts of intercultural evening. All in all, there were 8 countries on the project: Romania, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Poland, Great Britain, Ireland and Estonia. Two eves of presentations were full of different activities from traditional dance and songs to tasting an enormous amount of delicious meals and drinks of all the countries. The main aim of the project was to find out digital tools and to learn how to work with them, so almost all teams used some of them in presentations of their countries. For example, we created quizzes in Kahoot, different tasks and activities in ActionBound and watched cool videos about cultures and languages in YouTube. Intercultural evening were full of energy, smiles and happiness.

Of course, we cannot omit the fact that we always worked and had fun as a big team. People from this project are very different, and that's the reason why we became friends with people who came abroad. We all unique by ourselves but together we are a great power because we all love digital tools, youth work and want to make this world better! Thanks to all of the participants, our organisation and a huge thank you to the organisation in Bucharest!

The training course took place in Bucharest, Romania, from 15 - 23 of February 2020.

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The text was written by the participants.

TC “Rock the Gender”

Rock the Gender was a Learning Mobility Project that took place in Madrid City from 17/02/2020 to 23/02/2020 and was organized by the Euroactiva-T Association. There were 21 participants from Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain, and Tunisia.

The project's aim was to raise awareness about the importance of fighting for gender equality between men and women which is simply a matter of justice and respect for human rights, dignity and freedom.

The overall aim and specific objectives of the project included promoting an approach based on gender equality, acquisition of tools and techniques to tackle the gender issues when working with youth, promote the Erasmus + program and the learning mobility opportunities to fight against gender inequalities, creating an atmosphere of good coexistence between people who represent different cultures, as well as promoting the empowerment of young people through non-formal education.

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The text is based on a press note by the Euroactiva-T Association.

YE “Brand Yourself”

Youth exchange of Erasmus + took place on 23th - 29th of October, in Katowice, Poland. On the project our team of 4 people learned more about entrepreneurship, leadership, and even of marketing psychology.

Youth exchange of Erasmus + took place on 23th - 29th of October, in Katowice, Poland. On the project our team of 4 people learned more about entrepreneurship, leadership, and even of marketing psychology. Everyday we met different experts of various parts of entrepreneurship as social services til the public spiking. Also we had interesting workshops with them. Also, a very important part of the project was intercultural communication with youth from other countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain, Italy). The project helds cultural evenings with intercultural dances, food and interesting facts that came from different parts of Europe. We had trips to the city center of Katowice where we've visited museum, intercultural cafe and other places city's attractions. Finally we arrived back without the checking of our luggage and filled with positive emotions of such a good experience.

Text was written by a participant from Youth Club Active
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YE “Erasmus + must go on”

The Youth exchange took place from 16th-25th of October in the beautiful city of Paralimni, Cyprus. The project’s main aim was to create a song and a video, which would promote Erasmus +, because we realised how nowadays still many people (us included) discovered the amazing opportunity of Erasmus + by accident

The Youth exchange took place from 16th-25th of October in the beautiful city of Paralimni, Cyprus. The project’s main aim was to create a song and a video, which would promote Erasmus +, because we realised how nowadays still many people (us included) discovered the amazing opportunity of Erasmus + by accident. It’s important for us to change this and help within our local communities to raise awareness and visibility.  The youth exchange was divided in three different parts. It started with getting to know the different groups and participants, as well as creating a feeling for the group dynamic. After that we had the second part, where we were composing the song We had a lot of talented people on the project, but some were also quite professional in their field. They did some workshops were they told about their work and taught us about what they do. Then we were divided into groups and the work began!

In our group it was very hard to concentrate on something in particular, but fortunately our leader/mentor Andrzej helped us decide on the song and helped us with the guitar as no one of us played one. Fortunately we had a girl Emilia who played a flute, others on the other hand took cups, sticks and maracases to play. It was a great teamwork and after working on the song for two days The Song was ready!

Other teams made great songs also, but we were super proud of our own song as it was easy to sing and became the song of the project. (In our opinion 😉 )

The final part was the big live perfomance of our songs in Ayia Napa for the local community. It was really nice atmosphere and great feeling to see the final results, which we have done by ourselves.

Thank you Erasmus Plus for giving the opportunity to participate on this Youth exchange and thank you Kyriacos for making it. It was amazing!

I very much recommend others to participate in this kind of project/youth exchanges as it enables you to develop in various ways and visit another country, at the same time getting to know their culture, basically for free!

Text was written by a participant from Youth Club Active
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Youth Exchange “Gender Issues”

On the project, our Estonian team, which did not know each other very well before the project, became very close, and also became close with other participants. At the project, we learned various gender issues, about infringement of rights

On the project, our Estonian team, which did not know each other very well before the project, became very close, and also became close with other participants. At the project, we learned various gender issues, about infringement of rights. We discussed on these various topics, and then we had the most interesting part - workshops! To the extent of our interests, we separated to different workshops where we studied different topics. For example, psychology, theatrical art, music creation etc. We also had sports breaks every day and at the end of the day we had an opportunity to speak out our feelings in reflection. On this project we gained many new acquaintances, unreal experience and left our comfort zones.

Text was written by a participant from Youth Club Active Daniil Butenko

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TC“IMPACT”

In the middle of May Youth Club Active team took part in an international training course for youth workers “IMPACT” in Italy. The participating countries included Italy, Germany, Portugal, Estonia, Croatia, Spain, Slovenia, France, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus. The participants from Estonia were Darja Korjukina and Fjodor Tsebakov.

The training course was devoted to increase motivation of youth workers to work with youth at risk, specially needs and with fewer opportunities. During the course week we were able to meet with new non-formal methods for youngsters and organise own workshop. One of the interesting method was about how we can understand our talents and useful knowledge by diagram. We spent a lot of time discussing about teenagers, their problems and how we can help them and stand in society. All the participants took part in various activities and workshops organised by the team of trainers and exchanged cultural information in the evenings in a non-formal way. In the end of the course, every participant conducted a workshop of his own, receiving feedback from both the people that participated in it and the trainers, as well. Additionally, we as a team got to see the beauty of Italy, as the training course was held in a very nice resort in mountains. We have also visited the nearby lake and enjoyed talking to the locals.

The text was written by the participant from Youth Club Active

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TC “ESC first aid kit

Training course “ESC first aid kit" which took place in Iscar, Spain from 04.06-09.06.19 of June and gathered young people from different countries like countries: Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Greece, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Turkey.

We are living in a time when there are more volunteers around the world than always. Only in Europe can we find some 6168 accredited volunteer organizations. According to the latest estimates, between 22% and 23% of Europeans over the age of fifteen are involved in voluntary works, that amounts to 92-94 million Europeans. Youth workers have official guidance and national agencies to solve problems, but sometimes there are issues that are not resolved through official channels, but through forums, Facebook groups ... and this leads to a loss of time and quality of the projects. That is why it is so important to organize such training courses as training course “ESC first aid kit”, in which we had a chance to participate. So, the training took place in Iscar, Spain. And the main objective was to improve the quality of the skills of youth workers involved in volunteer's programs and thus increase the number of young people who perform voluntary service. To achieve the general objective of the course we used different methods such as various types of practical games (team-building activities, ice-breaking, games to know each other, sport games, night games, simulations games, games for trust and so on) as well as workshops, brainstorming, role games, group work and also a lot of sessions were about sharing experience and methods we use back home in our organizations. Because of the variety of countries the participants came from and not such a big amount of the same participants (on the project we had only 14 presenters of the organizations from 8 countries) during the training course we had a chance to discuss, to learn and teach a lot of materials, to solve some problems correlated with volunteering work across the Europe, as well as to soak up and comprehend the knowledge we got.

The text was written by the participant from Youth Club Active

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Y.E “PeaceMakers ”

Y.E "PeaceMakers ” which took place  in Berlin, Germany  from 06.03.19- 14.03.19. The project gathered young people from different countries like Germany, Greece, Romania, Estonia, Italy, and Spain.

In March of this year, we were participants of the project from Erasmus "Peacemakers" in Berlin. We were only 5 people in the team, were no anyone among us without the experience of participating in projects. The aim of the project was to create your own comics on one of the proposed topics. For example, xenophobia, racism, tolerance, empathy. During the project itself, there were a lot of different workshops, with the help of which we began to understand the topics for the comics. All the workshops were interactive, there was no such thing that we just sit and listen to a lecture without doing anything. There was also a day when we ourselves did classes and it was a terrific experience because in order to explain something to others you should understand it very well. In total, the exchange lasted a week and this time flew quickly, the whole thing is in the amazing atmosphere of this place. We lived in a forest called Grunewald, a calm and beautiful place, ideal for the project. In total, 8 countries participated in the exchange, all participants were very open and we quickly became attached to each other. All were set to work, so there were no problems with timing and visits to the workshops. It can be said for sure that “peacemakers” turned out to be a useful project because immersion in such topics with the help of non-formal education makes you wonder. After a while, you notice that you begin to treat people differently, with great sympathy and understanding. You put yourself in the shoes of other people and you see the world differently, there is a desire to help, and not just close your eyes and get away from the problems, because they are not connected with you. At the moment, we can say that we want to go back to Grunewald to learn something new, thanks to the cool organizers Philippe, Mateuzh, and Michael. It was very informative and warm.

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COMIC STRIP

The text was written by the participant from Youth Club Active

Y.E “Migration is our Right”

Y.E "Migration is our Right" which took place  in Berlin, Germany from 26 november  till 6 december. The project gathered young people from different countries like Germany, Greece, Romania, Estonia, Italy and Spain.

For our team the project began even before we arrived in Germany. We had several tasks that we had to complete at home to prepare ouselves for the project and warm ourselves up for the topic of human rights. Before the youth exchange our team had difficulties with understanding concept of human rights and puting this topic in some sort of boundaries, although, when we came to the project our misunderstandings were erased. At the beginning of the project all the participants were divided to sleep in yurts, keep the fire in the yurts and ,moreover, divide ourselves into cooking teams and provide meals for other participants. At first it seemed strange and hard, although, it became usual afterwards and helped everybody to break the ice. All the lectures and activities were based on non formal education, which made the sessions more interesting and easier to digest. Also the main approach to the topic was through theatre and british drama and were held by organizers of the project. In our free time we had opportunities to relax, play table tennis, go for a walk, do our own activities or even go to Berlin (which was not far from the project place). Towards the end of the project we formed a strong bond between everybody on the youth exchange and left with many good memories

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active Anne-Liis Alev

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Intercultural Learning through Sports and Outdoor Activities

Our NGO took part in youth exchange on 9-18 October 2017, in Paralimni, Cyprus. The countries were represented on this project besides Estonia were Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovenia, Serbia, Greece and of course Cyprus. The topic was about how sports and outdoors activities could help with social inclusion.

In modern world, seems like a lot of people expect difficulties with socializing and also cultural differences make it even worse. The structure of this project was challenging from it's base, as from the first day, participants had to create collectively some products as a result, so it was vital to make a successful communication with another participants. Most of activities were, where we had to modify games or sports from social inclusion perspective. Mostly group works, learning by doing and after that, mandatorily we had reflection groups, which are important part of lessons, where we discussed plusses and minuses, opinions, and what we learned during sessions. Due to big variety of activities we had, topic was illuminated in details and from different angles. A lot of participant said, that this experience was very valuable for them as, for example, they could use these games and activities in their work.

Also, were presentations and discussions about E+ programs, youthpass, evs. Participants shared their experience and gave recommendations. Special part of the project was about activities organized by participants themselves. Everybody should have pick a group and make something together to present to others. There was theater, art, music, dance and martial arts groups.

Moreover, we was introduced to another cultures. At intercultural nights participants were telling something special about countries and languages, prepared some food, sang songs and involved everybody in dances.

By feedback from participants, it could be said, that it was very unique youth exchange. As all of us was learning a lot of new different things, getting new skills and practices and at the same time, it was very entertaining. Also, hosting organization did very good job. We was living and studying in comfort and was provided with everything we required to bring to life our ideas that we had during sessions.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

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TC „Renew mode on“

From 15th of June till 21st of June on frames of Erasmus+ program in Zamore, Spain was taking place TC „Renew mode on“. In project were participating: Estonia, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Malta, Spain and France.

In this TC we established the skills/understanding and gained the tools on how to create our own youth space in our town or city. We were surprised that not everywhere you can find a youth center or organization with the same goals. For example, we had a person from Italy that didn’t have a youth space in his hometown and after TC he wrote in our FB group this: "I have sent our works to the political association with which I collaborate in my little town. They really liked it and asap we will start to work on a project for a youth center based on our works. Thanks, guys, great job."

Also, this project provided us with the necessary tools on how to be entrepreneurs at some point. We had good practices how to talk with people about the youth organizations. One of the practices was to go outside and talk with people about if they knew what Erasmus+ is. As older generation mostly didn’t hear about Erasmus+, the number of youngsters who heard about it was surprisingly high. We firmly believe that the number of people who are aware of the Erasmus+ is increasing even as we write this review.

The best part of the TC was the connection between people and cultural exchange. This presented new knowledge and also invaluable personal experience for each and every one of the participants including the trainers.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

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“First ADR Kit”

In April 2016 our "First ADR Kit" strategic partnership journey began. Different representatives of 5 partners - Estonia, Italy, Norway, Poland and United Kingdom managed the first kick-off meeting of First ADR Kit strategic partnership. It was the first step of the long-term project that is going to last for 2 years, in which we will develop new tools of teaching mediation in youth projects.

During the first meeting the founders of the strategic partnership negotiated a lot in order to plan the partnership for the next 2 years, set up the deadlines and the dates of future activities, managed to create the structure and strategy of the work, managed the communication and teamwork, came back home with new ideas, motivation and hope to keep up with such a good work.

Full article here

 

YE “Youth Empowerment = EU future”

The youth exchange was devoted to the topics of identity and the society that live in. First of all on the project we met youngsters from different countries.

The youth exchange was devoted to the topics of identity and the society that live in. First of all on the project we met youngsters from different countries. Together we learn, developed, and of course had a lot of fun. It was quite interesting to learn their cultures. However what is of bigger importance is that we bonded with our Estonian group. We discovered our similarities and valued our differences. A fascinating circumstance - as the project deepened into the topic of identity and for us it was easy to open up and talk about it because we had done a part of that before. Overall discovering yourself is something that everyone should do preferably as often as possible, as it gives you enormous knowledge and self-power, by that I mean the ability to track your actions and influence them. As of the society part of the project - interacting with others isn't always easy and the difficulty level depends a lot on a person, so when communicating with someone you have to be careful in what you say. So overall the project was huge success and would definitely recommend it to others if the same project is going to happen.

Text was written by participants from Youth Club Active

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Y.E “Let Your Dream Come True”

The project “Let Your Dream Come True” gathered young people in Turkey from 5 countries: Turkey, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Spain. Project was from 3th of August to 15th of August

For all of us it was very good experience and we would like to share about that. The aim of the project was to create a festive atmosphere for children in the hospital. Together with other countries we made toys with our own hands, sewed pillows and all this in order to carry it all to the children in the hospital. We collected toys from local people for children in the nearest city, which even more acquainted us with the culture and life of other people. We were surprised about that people, because they are so kind and open. For them was not a problem just to give toys for another people. They said that we are doing a good job and were really interested from which countries we are and what our project about. We did not have so intensive program every day, but we developed a bit how to distribute your time, because we had a lot of free time. Each of participants created own page with some motivation, drawing, with story and after we made from that a memory book for hospital. We talked about the opportunities and what is provided for kids in hospitals in another countries, child abuse and showed that problems through theatre method. Each country prepared their national games to play with kids in hospitals. We discuss why it’s important to wear medical masks and we made videos about that. For some kids it is a problem and they do not recognise for what and why the should wear it and some of them worry what other people will say. Consequently why we did it to show that it is normal situation and wearing masks could be even funny. This project was an excellent opportunity to do good deeds, but it was not just for children... This project helped to open our eyes from the other side, as well as opportunity for self-development and improvement of English language skills. We had very well prepared intercultural evenings through we learnt about other countries, tried national food, danced and even played quizzed to learnt new and to understand what we already know. In additional, we visited a lot of beautiful and new places for us and have learnt a lot of interesting and fun methods to work with a group of people. The place and food were also amazing. For us project was awesome not only because we studied something new, but also because we met a lot of crazy people, who made it that cool for us.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active Kristina Romanova

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Y.E “Ready steady activate”

Y.E “ Ready, steady activate” which took place  in Cartagena, Spain from 23 till 29 of November. The project gathered young people from different countries like Romania, Poland, Estonia, Slovakia and Spain.

The project was  about active lifestyle. There were people who one way or another connected with sport. We discussed a lot about what opportunities do we have in our countries, what is the popular sport in our countries and prevalence in schools.We are very inspired by our visit to the local school!

We shared traditional games from our countries with other participants and after we presented them and played. We were divided by 4 groups and discussed what we plan to do in the local  schools and which game to provide. We had different classes of children and all of them were so cute, so positive and we have got so much energy from them. It was unforgettable experience and we are really pleased to have met all of these unique people.

The programme of the project and food were also amazing. Organizers were open and kind and everytime helped if you have a question.

The most important thing for us  in this project was a great practice of English. After the end of the project, we noticed that English has improved markedly. Every day we talked more with all people and there was less fear.On the first day some of us were afraid to talk to everyone, but on the last day we were like a big family.

Most of all, remember how we climbed the mountain. For some of us it was the first time in our life we went hiking  in the mountains. It was not easy but useful. It was difficult, but everyone helped each other and supported. When we climbed the mountain and sat there all together and listened to music, it was incredible! Also, we liked it when we went to the maze. Because as a child I watched movies where there were the same mazes and I really wanted to go there. and now the childhood dream has come true!

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active Kristina Romanova

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TC “Youth work de­constructing violent extremism”

14.10­- 21.10 Coma Ruga, Spain. During these days very diverse international group reached Catalonia to take part in training course organised by the Association of Human Rights Educators (AHEAD) cooperating with Trajectory@.

During these days very diverse international group reached Catalonia to take part in training course organised by the Association of Human Rights Educators (AHEAD) cooperating with Trajectory@. First of all, group defined what is Violent Extremism and what are causes. Why its happening, what people get from the involvement in Violent Extremism. Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence (CPRLV) describes Violent Extremism as:•The adoption of an ideology that becomes a way of life and a framework for meaningful action for the individual;•Belief in the use of violent means to promote a cause;•The merging of ideology and violent action.As course moved forward, initiative moved towards the participants. Everybody shared their local situations. The picture was very varicolored as we had representatives from very faraway regions: Spain, Estonia, Jordan, Tunisia, Lebanon, Latvia, Italy, Turkey. It could be seen that in different areas manifestation of Violent Extremism could be very different.Participants shared their experience, approaches they use, projects they run and made several workshops.At the last part, with further diving into the topic, participants joined together and started developing their own cooperating projects which hopefully see the light very soon.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active Artemi Sint

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Y.E “RECIPES”

November, a sunny island and seven such different countries: Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Estonia. From 02.11.18-11.11.18 in Paralimni, Cyprus  was taking place YE "RECIPES".

The amazing magic of national cuisine

National food, creativity and emotion turned into Recipes. It was a gastronomic journey through the universe of national cuisines. We taught other countries to cook our classic and legendary recipes: sprat sandwiches, apple and cinnamon pies, glogg and pumpkin soup. We mixed some recipes with recipes from other countries. Even Jamie Oliver never dreamed about this food-remix. We also lead very interesting workshops on gadget-photography and on food photography. The project organizer was NECI Cyprus.

We had a free day. On this day we visited the incredibly beautiful city of Protaras. Palm trees, sun, clear water. Estonian team fell in love with Cyprus. It was a wonderful experience for all of us. We learn so much new things from national dishes of different countries and share our recipes.

Feel the atmosphere of the project and cook a national dishes!

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active Viktor Panasenko

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“I will find you”

From the 22nd till 26 th of October in Lublin, Poland was taking place seminar with elements of a study visit "I will find you". There were 27 participants from countries like Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania, Cyprus, Estonia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Hungary, Croatia

On the seminar were people from different countries and organisations who has and who has not experience in the projects, but despite of this everyone has learned something new. We had session about Erasmus+, where we discussed the topic through sharing our own good and bad examples,knowledges. We used Open space method for creating new partnerships and projects. Almost each participant had own idea of the project and people who are interested in can join this project to listen deeply the idea and ask questions. In this way, for the project we got partners. Also, we visited one of the school in Zamosc where through the method of Human Library we presented our organisations for school teachers and some organisations too. It gave opportunity to find partners, to share experience and to think about possible future cooperation. It was very short time, but very useful and productive with good people and nice atmosphere. We got new information, motivation and we hope that our written ideas of the project is not just words and they will be implemented.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

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«Brexit – WTF – Uprising Nationalism in Europe. Does the EU finally become sexy?»

From 6th to 14th April the Estonian team was participating in a Youth Exchange project (in frames of Erasmus+) which was organized by the German organization East West East Network. Project took place in Berchum, Hagen, Germany. Project topic was «Brexit - What the Fuck - Uprising Nationalism in Europe. Does the EU finally become sexy?»

The following countries participated in the project: Germany, Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine, UK, Spain, Georgia, Russia (Ekaterinburg and Sankt-Petersburg), Poland, Austria and Belarus.

During the project, we were discussing different aspects of Brexit, nationalism and patriotism, talking about what “sexy” means for us, had a session about EU history and etc.
Workshops were the main action of the project. We had 6 different workshop groups on the following topics: Street-art, Music, Video, Media, Theater and Conscious Lifestyle in Europe.
In the end of the project each workshop group was presenting their result and all these results were fantastic!

After lunch we had sport activities – time to chill or time to splash out energy. Everyone decided by themselves what they wanted to do. Activities were organized by a participant from Ekaterinburg. Also, one day we had Treasure Hunt organized by the team from Ukraine.

In the evenings (after dinner) we also had an interesting program: team-building activities, intercultural evenings, where we were presenting a country different from our own (for example, Estonia was presenting Germany, Germany was presenting Russia, etc). Also, we had a simulation game about parliament – in the end of this game three of us wrote a letter for the EU president. One day we had a tour to Hagen.

Also, every evening we had a Cafeteria – good opportunity to chill and to talk with people from different countries.

One of the days was «Free from workshops and sessions». In this day we had an opportunity to visit cities in our area, as well as some museums in these cities (Dortmund, Altena, Borchum, Essen, Oberchausen).

Some comments from participants about project:

Dariya : The project was awesome. I really liked the atmosphere where we spend this week. At the sessions I liked the way we worked: separated from our national groups and working together with people from different countries and because of this atmosphere was cool, we all were chatting, making new friends, playing games. Also, I liked that each of us had an opportunity to speak, to discuss topics, to be for or against, knowing that nobody will judge you for your opinion. Workshops were also really cool, I liked that we were learning some very serious things in a very cozy and friendly atmosphere, thanks to our leaders. I wish we could spend much more time outside, while the weather was good.
Thank you for this gorgeous week we spent together, wish we'll meet someday.

Anastassia: I liked workshop. We were deeply discussing nationalism and patriotism, defined these terms for ourselves, generated ideas, worked together for achieving the result. Also I liked wake ups and sessions where we had a lot of creative tasks. I think this project gave space to creativity and opportunity for realization of your potential, showing your talents, expressing your point of view and etc
I have warm memories about every day of the project. I can’t say what I didn’t like, because these things were very small and unimportant.

Diana: Project was very intresting and usfull.  Topics of workshops were really cool. People were very different, but all of them are freanfly and kind.  Atmosphier on the projec was great, everythink was made in friendly way, especially  workshops and resualt of them. Each of us put something of his own.

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Song from Music workshop:

TC “Laboratory of Games”

The project “ Laboratory of games “ took place in Cyprus. The main goal of the project was to learn non-formal learning skills. "learning by game." Throughout the project, we received a lot of useful information from trainers and special guests who shared their experiences with us.

The project “ Laboratory of games “ took place in Cyprus. The main goal of the project was to learn non-formal learning skills. "learning by game." Throughout the project, we received a lot of useful information from trainers and special guests who shared their experiences with us. First, the games were held for us by our coaches, giving examples. Next, we invented our own games and tried to play and learn them ourselves. Initially, we had problems with it , but we could always get support and advice from our trainers. The first days were the most difficult, because we had to listen a lot of information that we received from the trainers, so that at the end of the project we could show the experience that we received from the lessons. Our main task was to visit a school with children with disabilities and play games with them that we invented. Most participants already had experience working with children, so it was easier to cope with all our tasks with their support. I think everyone was worried, because no one knew how the children would behave, whether we manage to earn their trust and interest in the games that we invented . We wanted to do everything as well as possible and I think we did it . All children were satisfied. It was very nice to see that the games that we held for them amuse, develop , delight and reveal them. It was a great experience. The experience gained on this project will certainly be useful in the future, it will help many people in their work , to someone will simply bring new emotions and help to discover new skills in themselves.

Text was written by a participant from Youth Club Active
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TC “Forum of Changes”

During the introductory activities, I learned how important trust between people is to start working together, I realized that I sometimes take my citizen's rights for granted, which in the long run really influenced me.

During the introductory activities, I learned how important trust between people is to start working together, I realized that I sometimes take my citizen's rights for granted, which in the long run really influenced me. Work in a team, in a team much more effectively affects the productivity of all the people who enter it. I easily understood how conflict resolution works. One of the most important things I learned was how to validate my point of view through the feedback method. In recent days, we have created our own workshops, in which we have incorporated new knowledge that we acquired earlier. After each workshop, participants used the feedback method to help each group improve their workshops. We have developed various methods to improve teamwork. By dividing, dividing the total amount of work into all participants by the strength of their capabilities. In conclusion, now I can use new useful tools in my work and study, and I spent a delightful week with 24 wonderful people who helped me study and have a good time. I sincerely recommend this experience to everyone!

Text was written by a participant from Youth Club Active
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TC “Visualize the invisible”

Visualize the invisible the training course started from beautiful words “Trust the process”. We were asked to be here and live now, to leave our daily life problems in our countries and enjoy “our bubble” in beautiful Woodstone

The training course started from beautiful words “Trust the process”. We were asked to be here and live now, to leave our daily life problems in our countries and enjoy “our bubble” in beautiful Woodstone. The main goal of this Training Course is to improve self-awareness and self-confidence of youth worker so that they can support the young people that they work with and can guide them during their learning process. Trainers showed us on ourselves how in short period of time we can built a team, not just a group. They were trying to release our emotions from deep in us and show how similar are they. This training course was based on learning tool called Labour theatre. Which is not just a Theatre with audience and actors, it is something more emotional. Audience can be an actor or vice versa. There is no strict scenario. Everything is like in our unpredictable lives. While we were getting ready for performance, we experienced concepts such as resilience, confidence, vulnerability, empathy and creativity. These concepts play a big role in youth work and framed a learning process where youth workers feel commitment and inclusion by sharing and experience. That one week in Ireland make us more aware of ourselves to make conscious choices and decisions that fit with a core of our identity and goal in life.

Text was written by a participant from Youth Club Active
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Youth Exchange “Bet for you”

 

Last week we took part in a youth Exchange in Íscar, Spain. The name of the project was “Bet for you” and it was mainly focusing on modern addictions such as social media addiction, gambling, video games and porn addiction. It was actually very eye-opening experience for me as in my life I somehow don’t face these addictions, but it turned out that this is actually a big-big problem in the world nowadays.

Last week we took part in a youth Exchange in Íscar, Spain. The name of the project was “Bet for you” and it was mainly focusing on modern addictions such as social media addiction, gambling, video games and porn addiction. It was actually very eye-opening experience for me as in my life I somehow don’t face these addictions, but it turned out that this is actually a big-big problem in the world nowadays. Now I will try to pay more attention and do as much as I can to prevent close to me people from the addictions, as there are so many alternatives (which we also talked about). All in all, I have to say that the organisation of the project was on a high level, a lot of non-formal methods were used, facilitators were very professional and the program was just perfect, with a balance of rest and work. Big thanks to to both Estonian and Spanish organisations for making this experience possible!

Text was written by participants from Youth Club Active Liza Galkina

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TC “Generation NEET”

The training course “Generation NEET” took place in Saulkrasti, Latvia on 8th  – 14th of July. The project brought together 6 countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Spain, Romania and Germany. With help of various methods and in a deep intercultural input, we have explored the problem of NEET and sought possible solutions that could be applied in our countries an sending organizations.

The first day took off on an active note, when we got to know other participants with active ice breakers and name games, as well as went through a team-building activity ‘Contaminated area’. We then explored the project aims and background, established rules of behavior for the project length, and shared our expectations of the upcoming days. The first evening was concluded by the intercultural evening arranged by Estonian and Lithuanian teams.

 

The second day started on a more reflective note: we took a walk on the sea where, in pairs, we shared what we want to change in our lives, what we see as biggest challenges and what our dreams are. We then proceeded to a meditative experience, which was followed by us drawing our rivers of life and sharing in small groups. Many insights were gained during this mindful morning and many strong bonds formed among participants. The second part of the day had a focus on logic and rationality: we did SWOT analysis of ourselves in relation to job market, and brainstormed in groups what jobs and career paths could fit our profiles. On the second evening, Latvia and Germany presented their countries.

 

Third day was less busy, as we had a half-day free. But before then, in two groups we assumed the roles of employers and job seekers and went through a simulated interview process with three interviews, deep analysis of each and feedback to both interviewers and interviewees. We then learned about one of the most popular methods of elevator speech: video CV, and in small groups we brainstormed the ideas for our sample videos. In the second part of the day we could go to the town, sleep, walk by the beach, whatnot, but in the evening everyone was back to enjoy the final intercultural night by Spain and Romania.

 

The next day we got back to work: we continued working on the video CVs, which were later shared with other groups, and constructive feedback was welcome. The hosting organization EVS volunteers have paid us a visit to share the entrepreneurship ideas they are working on during their time in Latvia. Then we moved on to learning the Business Model Canvas and used it to create an idea for a modelled Business Angel meeting. Such ideas as creating organic bags from potatos, business incubator for youth from rural areas, non-formal education for NEET youngsters, and creating clothing line with local designers and supporting local communities. At the end of the activities, the Romanian team showed some theatre techniques, and the day was concluded with a group walk to the sea to enjoy the sunset.

 

Final day has started with the presentation about Erasmus+ and how the hosting organization is involved. We moved on to exploring NEET situations in our countries and sharing with other groups, as well as creating solutions that would be later implemented as a project dissemination. We concluded the day with global evaluation and reflection and a big farewell party. Quite a productive week it was, with a lot of ideas, knowledge and bonding taking place. Thanks to the organizers’ team!

The text was written by the participant from Youth Club Active

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TC “Give me a like”

Training course "Give me a like" which took place in Iscar, Spain from 17-22 of June gathered young people from different countries like Spain, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Greece, Estonia, Slovakia, and Bulgaria.

On 17-22 of June, we participated in Give me a like Training course. It took place in Iscar,
The aim of the project was to provide tools and resources to create successful dissemination plans for participants' projects. To understand how it works, how to use different platforms and how to reach the target audience. Trainers put a lot of effort to make sessions interactive and enjoyable and maintain this attitude during the whole project. After the educational lessons, we had long group works, where we implemented new knowledge and were gaining experience although we had a lot of freedom, so everybody was doing what he likes. Our main task was to promote the offline event in several steps. We created attractive and catching images, videos, memes, pages on several social networks. The event took place on the last day on this project in the square in front of the town hall. Our event consisted of several parts and for each part, there was a responsible group. The first part was the origami session, where our participants were teaching locals how to create figures from the paper. The second one was the traditional chair game, where local participants got info about the Erasmus+ program. And in the final, our participants joined local kids to have a water balloon fight. These activities brought an unusual event to the Iscar, which is a very small town, as well helped to develop our organizing and teamwork skills. In the resume, we could say, that organizers and trainers have done a great job in teaching the participants useful practical skills, which are applicable not only in youth work but as well as everyday life, in an inspiring and entertaining way that went beyond the learning sessions and kept for the whole time being there.

PHOTOS

The text was written by the participant from Youth Club Active

Seminar “Quo Vadis Europea?”

Seminar "Quo Vadis Europea?” which took place  in Berlin, Germany  from 08.02.19- 15.02.19. The project gathered young people from different countries like Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland and Portugal

In February four people from our organisation presented Estonia during several-leveled project in Berlin called “Quo Vadis Europea?”. The project aimed to strengthen solidarity among young Europeans and encourage them to take the responsibility for shaping the future of Europe. The target group of the project were youth workers and educators who run activities with youth groups.  . The project consisted of three seminars for youth leaders during which participants discussed the topic of meaning of solidarity for the future of Europe and created scenarios for activities that can be implemented with groups of young people with different backgrounds. The second seminar focused on the topic of solidarity. We discussed the reasons of lack of solidarity among young people and their interest in radical behaviors. Participants shared their expertise in work with this topic. This time we used adventure-based learning methodology connected with gamification to develop interactive learning scenarios that helped us to understand that only together we are able to match the challenges of today’s world and that solidarity both on the state level and among all citizens is a necessity for the further development of the EU. Project's organizators Piotrek Warzyszynski and Barbara Mos did a great job. It was an everyday's pleasure to wake up and do some energizers before sessions with them. It was not only very and very educative project but also a very interesting one. As usual the project is a great opportunity to meet new people from different backgrounds to get to know a lot of new things about the topic and to use them in every day life. And we are lucky that we had a chance to participate in “Quo Vadis Europea?”.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

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TC “A Deep Sense of Inclusion”. 

From 13th of July till 21st of July in Ireland was taking place YE "Stand your ground".

This is our story. A story that has become a part of our life and which changed a lot. For some of us it was the first experience, for someone not. But we know for sure that this was the best project, we had the best team, we learned a lot, we found new friends, we discovered ourselves on the new side, we became bolder and now we will not miss the opportunity to experience it again.

What do we think about this project?

Sofia..

That was my first exchange project and I can honestly say that it was amazing. I think as for my first project I’ll say that it was even ideal.

I’m still thinking about everything happened there and I’m still chatting with some friends I get from this exchange.

The experience I got is unique and I’m blessed that my first project was just so perfect. Now I’m full of inspiration and I already want to go to another Erasmus+ project.

The name of the project was “stand your ground”. Main topics that we discussed were about democracy, our country’s values and non violent ways how to solve the problems. That was the topics of our sessions, where we were divided into small groups and discussing the given question. After this we presented what we made to everyone.

Therefor we had some workshops where everyone has a right to decide to which workshop go. Themes of workshops were very interesting and if there was such a possibility I’d like to participate in to or even three workshops. I’ve chosen “social media” workshop and didn’t regret about it. It was 100% mine. Our tasks was to make short video, take pictures and make a podcast. Of course I’ve done some of this thing before but our workshop leaders told us a lot about some tricks and details of making podcast or making interview that I didn’t know. It was sometimes not so easy and took a lot of our free time to edit video or make podcast however the result we get was impressive.

It was very interesting for me to see what people from other workshops have done. And it was also very spectacular to see some people acting or making music. So this workshops were amazing and the information we got there could be very  useful for everyone of us in the future.

Of course can’t forget to say that accommodation, territory and food on this project was amazing. This place we stayed was far away from city. We used to walk around territory full of fields and beautiful German houses. The food was just speechless... I’m really blessed and thankful that they didn’t forget about vegetarians or people with some allergies. For me it was surprisingly delicious  and I always had something to eat.

The schedule we had was very well-thought-out. We had right amount of free time and right amount of some workshops or sessions. We had also some excursion days. In the first day we were visiting small town called Kleve. And despite the fact that we had there only 3 hours, we’ve found what to do there and spent there amazing time. And the other day we had excursion to Oberhausen or in the small Netherlands city called Nijmegen. I’ve chosen Oberhausen and really liked it. We were visiting big museum Gasometer and then we had for about 4 hours to spend in a shopping mall.

I really liked this project. The experience I’ve got is just unique. With help of well organized program and amazing people this project became so perfect as it is.

Stefany..
Project was really great for me and I got a lot of new experiences. Our topic was not very my side but I worked and thought a lot about it and our sessions were very interesting. People were also very cool and different. They were open-minded and I communicated with all of them. At the end we were all best friends and I didn't want to come back to Estonia. I liked a lot my workshop - media. There I learned a lot of new staff. Place where we lived was also very-very cool. It was like small village and near our buildings lived some crows and horses. I liked our Estonian team  also. We were all very nice persons with our story. We were different but all together. I miss all of you very much!!!😍🤗😘

Martin..
I really liked the camp I met new interesting people and got to learn interesting things. This was my first project. This project stayed in my because I got to know new interesting people. I got to learn talking with people in non violent way. My workshop was non violent communication and I got to learn new things from this workshop. If you will come to those projects you will find new friends around the world and you will learn new interesting things that will help you in your life. I think that people should participate in such projects because it will take them away from their everyday life and they will meet and see other people from around the world.

Gabriel..
I liked this project very much. It was new experience for me and learnt a lot. I had workshop “None violence communication “ with Pompey. I learnt how to communicate without violence with aggressive persons and how to solve conflicts. Everything was new for me, and some thing changed in my life. I became more tolerant, and violence became less in my conflicts. It was very usefull project for me. I have learnt lot of new things I have found lots of new friends and I am very happy about this! I think that everyone should participate in some project. It’s easy to find new friends and learn something new. The place was very beautiful and everyone was kind to me.

Liza..
So it was my second project. To my mind the most amazing thing were people, because I met a lot of interesting and good people from different countries and I hope that we will be in touch with someone. I was in live actions role play workshop. From this workshop I learn some new skills. For me it's important because this skills could help me in future life to solve some problems. To my mind such project it's a good way learn something new also you can find your self during the project and meet amazing people❤

Lida..
The project left unforgettable impressions. The important role was played by communication with other people, who has other mentality, culture, views and interests. At the same time it was incredibly easy to find a common language (even without knowing English.) We shared the thoughts, knowledge and experience, at the same time to get new knowledge. On the project, among all the people who were there, there was some unusual atmosphere. And it was shown in everything, everywhere you feel free and confident. I was on theatrical workshop, never would think that this mine. On arrival to home will desire to be engaged in theater. On workshop, together with positive emotions, I have gained also important knowledge. For example, what are the games for trust, emancipation and emotional charge. And also I have got experience of a performance before public. I think that similar experience will be useful to any person. Everything I recommend to go for projects, they broaden horizons.

(Text was written by participants from Youth Club Active)

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TC „I am part of it“

From 9th till 13th of Osctober our organisation was taking part in TC „I am part of it“  in Naron, Spain. In traning course was taking part 10 countries : Portugal, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Greece and Estonia.

Project was about how to be active citizenship, be active participant, explore participation methods.

Whole project was based on challenges. First our challenge was to rich venue by ourself, but 9 of us were blind.  Next our challenge was to learn all our group member names during 25 minutes. After that we had challenge – to make square being blind, in each group were 5 members.

After each challenge we had reflection. Also every evening we had self-reflection and after that we shared our emotions with our Learning Support Group members.

We explored what is a good participation and what we need for it and what will be if participation will not exist.

Also we explored different participation forms: assembly, pyramid and network. We shared our organization experience and which forms of participation we have.

Also we created our own open event for doing social input into Naron.

We started create our own project where we can involve youngsters to participate

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

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TC “Dare to Act”

From 5th of May until 12th of May in Berchum, Germany was taking place TC „Dare to Act“. In project were participated Germany, Georgia, Romania, Greece, Belarus, Moldova, Spain, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia.

It was a two-stage training course, the first part having happened in Georgia in October 2016. That one was more informative, as we learned about the types and dynamics of conflict, strategies of behavior and the ways to analyze the conflict. We were then to divide into groups and work out some actions to implement before the second stage (the Human Library event was organized as a dissemination activity by Estonian team).
And now two of Human Library team went to take part in the second stage of the project, to present event and to get to know what others have implemented. 15 different activities and all of them are very inspirational and motivational. Educational activities on a variety of topics, fundraisers, online campaigns, projects connected to art, door-to-door population surveys, and many more. Participants have gained a wide outlook on the activities, having analyzed the types, step-by-step methodology, the ways to promote the action and help it gain momentum, as well as the ways to assess the impact.
Participants have been on study visits, meeting with people who had something to share, be it what they do currently or what they have been through. Having practiced such methods as debates and forum theater, we gained a better insight on these ways as approaches to the conflict situations.
The very culmination of this part of the course was brainstorming and planning an international campaign in collaboration with the peers. Four interesting projects were planted and will hopefully be implemented in not-so-distant future. It was so very great to see many motivated and inspirational people, to exchange ideas and thoughts on life, universe and everything.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

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Training course “TRANSFORMERS: Migrants’ Transition to Participation”

11921701_736887913106360_2533659166040960365_nThis „Handbook of good practices” is the result of the “TRANSFORMERS: migrants’ transition to participation” training course for youth workers, organised by the Institute for Eastern Initiatives within the framework of Erasmus+ programme and financed by the European Commission.

YE “Power Up”

The training course “Power up” took place in 3 countries : Estonia( Vihasoo youth camp) 2.05-8.05, Armenia ( Stepanavan) 25.05-31.05 and Ireland( Waterford) 15.06-21.06 The project brought together 3 countries: Armenia, Estonia and Ireland. All of this 3 countries we have visited during this project.

The training course “Power up” took place in 3 countries : Estonia( Vihasoo youth camp) 2.05-8.05, Armenia ( Stepanavan) 25.05-31.05 and Ireland( Waterford) 15.06-21.06 The project brought together 3 countries: Armenia, Estonia and Ireland. All of this 3 countries we have visited during this project. With help of various methods and in a deep intercultural input, we have explored our own world, outplacement in society, our ability to help different types of people, and also our emotional health. The theme of the project was different for everyone: someone saw spiritual development in the topic of the project, someone physical activity, someone broadened their horizons, but in my opinion, each of us received all this knowledge in the luggage, which we subsequently carried away Each part was different, they were tied to the culture and people around us and ourselves, but in each part, we could express ourselves, conduct sessions and events, regardless of whose territory we were on. I remember this most of all, because after the project it’s nice to understand that you had a hand in its development, and shared with people around you skills that they probably did not have. We all taught each other, did better, tried to understand each other, and entered into everyone’s position, here we also got the experience of the so-called “human factor”.

Text was written by participants from Youth Club Active

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TC “Water watcher”

On 1-15 of July we participated in Youth Exchange in Szarporca, Hungary. Main aim of Water Watcher youth exchange is sensitize the participants to the local and global water problems and give practical solutions how to use sustainable the water in the day-to-day life. Additionally, the project aims to bring life to tiny remote village which is economically and socially disadvantaged.

At 1-15 of July we participated in Youth Exchange in Szarporca, Hungary. Main aim of Water Watcher youth exchange is sensitize the participants to the local and global water problems and give practical solutions how to use sustainable the water in the day-to-day life. Additionally, the project aims to bring life to tiny remote village which is economically and socially disadvantaged.

The main activities of the project are 6 different workshops. Participants were divided to well reconstruction, solar garden shower, irrigation system from rainwater, action group, textile poster group, and media workshops. The chosen workshop became main activity for the whole project. The participants were learning from their workshop leaders and completing tasks.

Julia Proniagina:

During 2 weeks we really became a part of beautiful and quiet village Szaporca. Now when we finally arrived at home it’s seems even strange to be here because we used to live in a small community in Hungary.

Speaking about workshop, all of us were doing different work which was connected with water. It was more interesting because we had opportunity to discuss about how our day was at the evening and learn something new from every workshop from each other. I was part of Textile workshop which seems like calm therapy to compare with others. We visited favorite place of locals Black river and made some photos for samples of our future picture. We worked in a small group, but it gave opportunity to create friendly atmosphere in our team so we could discuss and made divisions together. We started with cutting piace of fetter ( special material we used) for creating the whole picture of river which exactly was movable. From one side you can see beautiful and peaceful river with clean sky and green grass, but if you flip pieces to another side picture changes to polluted river with dirty soil and dark sky. Using different techniques we learned from our workshop leader we created an opportunity to educate people, to show the consequences of pollution. It wasn’t just two weeks of sewing- it was two weeks of being a part of amazing team which wanted to change world though art. As an artistic person I really enjoyed this time in Hungary. A fall in love with everything: place of the project, hosts, participants from different countries and especially our Estonian team. At the last goodbye party non of us said “Goodbye”,we said “See you”, because connection which we were lucky to create can’t break distances. I glad that I participated in this environment-friendly project and became more aware about water situations around the world.

Julia Davõdova:

“Water watcher” project was for me as a challenge. I wanted to gain some knowledge about ecology because I wasn’t so close to this topic before. This project changed my life and I became more eco-friendly. During this time I tested some life hacks how to save water. I’m definitely going to use new skills in my life and I’m also going to share my knowledge with others. “Action group” workshop opened my eyes on environmental pollution. We collected trash and I realized how much trash people just throw away on a grass and into water reservoirs. During this workshop we had opportunity to measure water pH, temperature, water hardness and nitrate and phosphate amount in water, which surrounded us (water from river, lakes, tap water and water from well). We had opportunity to measure it with professional equipment! Also we tried trashart, which opened my eyes that we can make something fantastic out of trash which we found. After collecting and washing trash, we created a sculpture witch has a deep meaning connected with pollution and the way how people destroying nature. Of course it wasn’t just a challenge, collecting trash and gaining new knowledge and skills. I met new friends and became more close with members from my team. I’m so thankful that project like this exists and I had an opportunity to be part of it.

 

The water problems topic were connecting all activities. We got to know what are situations in other countries, what are the problems and what actions are doing regarding them and how to be more effective in personal water consumption. All this with diving into Hungarian rural lifestyle, being part of the very small village for two week, gave us something very unique, precious friends and unforgettable experience.

The text was written by the participant from Youth Club Active
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Group in  FACEBOOK
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TC “Invisible Power: Unlock the Emotional Connection”

The project “Invisible Power: Unlock the Emotional Connection” was  taking place in Poland from 10 till 18 of November 2018. In project were participaiting such countries as Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Estonia, Romania, Turkey

How was our journey to «Invisible Power»?!

Every Erasmus+ project is unique and once again we made sure about that. It’s some kind of magic than project lasts just a few days but you will miss it forever. And training course «Invisible Power: Unlock the Emotional Connection» is not exception in this rule!

Our journey starts one day earlier because we decided stay one day in largest city of Poland what had been rich of mystery fog — Warsaw. It was nice experience and part of our learning process in beautiful old town, Kopernik museum and suddenly, we visited Praga by bicycle. Not that Prague which is located in Czech Republic but Warsaw`s wild and unsafe part of the city. In our opinion it's not true and, in some case, Kopli area in Tallinn is more dangerous by the way. This amazing capital of Poland is full of contrasts, question marks and surprises. It excited and inspire us!  And the next day, we arrived to a city in western Poland — Wroclaw.

Okay, dwarves, that's your cue!

Wrocław is most charming and, for many, It’s least pronounceable (like ‘vrohtz-wahv’). The hallmark of the city is comedian dwarves (gnomes) everywhere! Most visitors have no idea why they are in Wroclaw? But cute as they may be, each statue is a nod to the Orange Alternative, an anti-Soviet resistance movement that helped bring down Poland’s oppressive communist regime in the 1980s.

Half of the day we spare in Wroclaw. Walking down on the streets, used to play board games in Polish and found a shop to buy them. But one should not forget that we are in Poland for a project. And our next station is Zloty Stok!

«I hear these places are a gold mine...»

The project took place in remote town called Zloty Stok. It has an old gold mine and in medieval times it was a town with relatively big population.

Nowadays the mine is closed and there are living only 3,000 people. But for 8 days to city arrived 22 others from Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Estonia, Romania and Turkey. They were provided with training sessions from 10 to 18 November 2018.

Let’s unlock emotional connection!

From the first day the group just jumped into action. Organizers' idea was to create a space for discovering the world of emotions. A lot of work with body and then to different exercises of contact improvisation. Participants discovered many ways to communicate without using words.

Learning was not finished with end of official day program. Participants proposed their evening and morning activities which went well with the topic.

Early in the morning people played sports and yoga. And at evening time had been organized sauna, board games, Tampura or drums concert, more dance workshop by our trainer Paulina and massage session.

Also in the project schedule has been reported «intercultural evening» but every evening some country is sharing food, drinks and traditions.

As Michel de Montaigne said:  «The senses are the beginning and the world of human knowledge»

Then group went through labyrinth of senses where the participants rediscover other senses than sight (SLT). For mostly participants it was first experience with SLT and they didn’t expect than I will be too emotionally.

After that group started preparing for major part of this project — the sensory labyrinth theater.  Intensive group work, hot discussions, flow of ideas — all these were there. Group tested their creations and on the next day local people were invited to take part in it.

Only darkness and sound…

All audience during performance was with eye-patch. Performance was partitioned into 2 groups. First called «guest welcome and family dinner», which has been on the first floor. Where is audience can feel with close eyes all situations what can happens in family party. And second part has been in down states where others create a fairytale forest.

They were well-organized statements which show clearly how people can improvise and work in stressful situation together and without conflicts.

«Experience is not what happens to you; It's what you do with what happens to you.»

So how we said in the begging: non-formal atmosphere is the best opportunity to learn about itself, meets with new friends from different part of the world and have a lot fun together. Every Erasmus+ project is different because only there you really understand than everyone smiles in the same language and no matter your English level!

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active Jekaterina Kovshova

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Y.E “Finding yourself”

From 15.10 to 23.10 we were staying in a beautiful Rāmavas manor, participating in a great project, named “Finding yourself”.

The main aim of the project was to find ourselves and get some knowledge about jobs, education and employment for youth. Every day after waking up and having a delicious breakfast, the sessions started. We had around four sessions every day, covering interesting and useful topics like “Writing a CV”, “How to create a start up”, “Body language” and a lot more. The program was really interesting as every day we got to interact with the people from different countries that participated in the project, which were Portugal, Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We opened a lot of new skills in myself and also made a lot of connections with people from around the world. We are really happy and grateful for participating in the project “Finding yourself” because we got a lot of new knowledge and also great friendships that we hope are going to last long.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active Anton Voronov

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TC “A Deep Sense of Inclusion”. 

From 15th of June till 22nd of June in Ireland was taking place TC "A Deep Sense of Inclusion".

For me this participation was my first experience it Erasmus+ training course. Speaking honestly, I heard some stereotypes before that “there is no fun activities”, “you are obliged to study hard”, “no free time” and so on during the training course. Well, finally after the intensive year in the university I found this training and without any hesitations went for it. As a bonus it also turned out to be held in Ireland. That how the story started. I met my course mate in the airport and already being there excited we made our trip till the wonderful place in the South of Ireland – “Woodstown”, as organizers did mention before – “a place in Ireland in the middle of nowhere”. We were lucky to arrive there when it was still light outside, so we had a chance to explore the surroundings. The very first thing which was first a matter of confuse was a tiny house meant for hosting 23 of us. For sure, there was nothing about personal space as there were simply two dormitories and 4 showers in total – so it was obvious we “were forced” to be polite and respectful. After realizing the future prospects of the coming week and having a dinner all together we had our first team-building activities which turned out to be up to my expectations (in a good way), as we were breaking the ice between each other by drawing others and playing a hugging game. The second day (or the first day after arrival) was fully dedicated to team creation which in terms of this training course was essential. One vivid memory from that day was when we literally put on fire our expectation written on the piece of paper. There actually was a very deep though behind, as if we don’t have anything to except we become pleased and/or satisfied with everything which is coming. So that was the key – just to let everything on the flow and be present. At the end of the second day we became a team. Sometimes I am wondering how little you need to actually start fully interacting with people without any fear or judgement. During that day we also did a very important exercise – “a river of life”. The task was clear and for some of us easy – to map out your life on a paper in a way you want it – whether it is random lines symbolizing some important events or calculated mathematical function. And afterwards we were sharing it with just 1 person. Trust me how difficult it was...My listener turned out to be very precise and asked me very deep questions and that also was the key to breaking the ice. It is however true that it is easier to reveal your soul and things that do bother you with the stranger or the person you know for just a little time so it worked it my case very well. I also admit the fact that it was not easy for everyone to map their life as some of us simply cannot even answer the question “who am I?”. From the first time “simple and light” exercise had a double-meaning. The third day was “body” or active day with the tools of how to understand and listen to your body. This day also brought us a “power of silence”. Imagine a task when you have just one spot to sit (spot by your choice), a pen and a notebook and some time (unknown duration) to sit in silence and think. I could say this was the fastest hour in my life. When you are completely cut off the net, music and people around - different things start coming and you start noticing things you haven’t seen before. So at least once – give this thing a try! The following day covered the topic of confidence and vulnerability. There was one (actually not one) very debatable thought from our trainer that – “vulnerability is your strength if you know how to turn it into power”. During that training we got so many ways to feel ourselves vulnerable that it seems now as I am very powerful (joking). Afterwards we had a free afternoon and the opportunity to go into mountains. This activity was not like a basic “free time”, but more like a part of the training – we had a chance to be we there, some of us event took their time to stay alone in the mountains and enjoy those moments of silence. The next trainings day were meant for some “performance” to be born. For that we used “labyrinth theater” as a tool and made audience interact with actors. Labyrinth theater is something what we actually using every day, every hour, every second when we are making contact with someone. After we say or do something we want person to feel or also do something. This is an art. The last day was I guess the most typical day on any Erasmus+ projects but still fun.

To sum up all gained experience I am grateful that I had a chance to participate in that training course. Though that was my 8th Erasmus+ project – that training was by now very special. Things that first very scary (as sharing one sleeping area with 12 persons and preparing food by yourself) turned out to be exactly those activities which helped to achieve the goal all the training. Honestly speaking, there was nothing about youth workers or work with youth but I understand how covered topics could be used it this area (probably in any area). What was also outstanding – the participants. I personally felt a huge difference between those who are involved into youth exchange and training. I don’t want to say something bad about both, but the thing I’ve noticed was that training course participant (maybe only on this training) are more into topic and more ready to actively participate in the activities. Maybe this could be a clue for those who are considering going on a training but are not sure. My stereotypes about training were completely broken as it turned out to be even more fun – both that you have fun with others and fun while gaining something in an unformal way. So that was a piece of my experience on this training course in sunny and something rainy Ireland J

Text was written by participants from Youth Club Active Anna Grund

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Social Media: A Road To Development!

On July 26 - August 3 we took part in project dedicated to social networks and media located in Kayseri, Turkey. The objective was to develop effective communication skills to support our selves and our professional development.

We learned how to reach different social groups and what tools are the most effective in achieving specific goals. We became aware about dangers and risks of online networking and learned how to avoid it. We had a lot of practice in international groups making presentations and videos. We learned how modern social media could help to solve issues which had been unavoidable in pre- social networking era. Trainers introduced different online tools and made practical examples. Also we highlighted topic about how to present yourself in social networks and what sides which benefits could provide. Every participant got the variable set of different tools to increase performance in his or her activities. Two trainers complimented each other greatly. From the beginning they provided activities to achieve warm and friendly climate among all participants, so already at the first day we started to work very productively in groups with people we hadn’t know the day before. Also participants shared their skills and knowledge that are related to training course topic. We was hosted in 4 star hotel, so whole time we was in great comfort. On our free day we had excursion to Kapadokya which is very exotic area and we learned how ancient people lived there. Also organizers and local participants provide great help for everybody and explained a lot of local culture and traditions.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

 

KA3 project “Different angle”

Project was taking place in Narva (city near to Russia board), Estonia. 25th of February to 2nd of March. In project were participate youngsters from Tallinn and Narva. There were people with special needs and without. From Tallinn were participated   „Youth Club Active” and “Erilinemaailm”

Project was organized in frames of “Erasmus+” program and was devoted to the relationship between society and people with special needs, problems of employment and increasing the competitiveness of young people in the light of the new reform of assessment of ability to work.

Youngsters - with special needs and without – gather from all north part of Estonia. From Tallinn till Narva. During 5 days they were one team. All of them had different background, needs, life experience and, as they thought, different perspectives.

All 5 days was working mechanism wich was breaking steriotypes about people with disabilietes, geted rid of comlexes, opend hearts, gave hope and new ideas. This mechanism started paricepants, leader of the project Aleksei Serov and treaners Svetlana Smirnova, Olga Volkova, Vladimir Suhorukov and Siluan Babirikin.

The form of the project was very important – youngsters were living all together during 5 days. This living conditionals gave them not only important and Skillfully presented new knowledge, but also Invaluable personal experience. As it turned out, everyone has a perspective.

Project is ended. Participants and leaders went home. Aims and objectives are done. But this is only the start. Project has the continues. We have group of youngster who marked themes for future work and projects. In different cities of Estonia young people united for change smth around them.

Text written by Erilinemaailm and translated by Youth Club Active

Photos here 

„STEP IN – Step into the dialogue – training on Alternative Dispute Resolutions“

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The training course ‘DECODE – Decoding Conflicts Through Dialogue’ took place 26.11-06.12.2014 in Krakow, Poland and hosted 35 participants from 11 countries. Project was focused on teaching youth workers advanced techniques in multicultural communication and Alternative Dispute Resolutions.

TC “Gamification as a tool for learning engagement”

One week in the middle of the forest in Latvia, with people we didn't know...seems not as amazing as it was! Because we united there for a specific reason! To play games. And also to learn to play games...

One week in the middle of the forest in Latvia, with people we didn't know...seems not as amazing as it was! Because we united there for a specific reason! To play games. And also to learn to play games...and then how to teach others to learn to play games...Shortly, through the whole week we discovered games as a tool for learning. It all started pretty usual with games to get to know each other, except there was also snow, that's something unusual. And we were living in almost luxurious guest house surrounded by beautiful nature, that's not typical for projects...and then gifts and warm welcome on every step, wow! That was something! And with this positive charge of energy we started to deepen in seemingly easy topic of gamification and games. Well...it was not easy! But complicated and as such - extremely interesting to explore. Huge thanks to our trainers who made this process of learning fun and engaging, even though our group had people with different experience, trainers achieved to make the process fascinating for each of us. So days just flew with the speed of light, and with each lived moment the ice between us, the participants, and the snow outside melted, no but seriously, the first days it was snowing like in Finland, and by the end of the project it was autumn! But our hearts got warmer, and at the end as it usually happens with Erasmus +, you get this nasty mix of feelings of happiness and sadness...well that's a sign of a high quality project, people, as it was...

Text was written by a participant from Youth Club Active

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YE “Migration Through Arts”

21.10-28.10 we participated in the project “Migration through arts”, which took place in Germany. 6 countries took part in it: Armenia, Estonia, Greece, Russian, Ukraine and Germany. On this project we explored the status of migration in the different countries, learned new terminology and discussed different questions on that topic.

21.10-28.10 we participated in the project “Migration through arts”, which took place in Germany. 6 countries took part in it: Armenia, Estonia, Greece, Russian, Ukraine and Germany. On this project we explored the status of migration in the different countries, learned new terminology and discussed different questions on that topic. During the project, we had 4 different workshops to learn more in addition to sessions and lectures. Those workshops storytelling, visual arts, video and art therapy. We visited our workshops every day because of the program. On these workshops, we were getting to know some knowledge, which was connected with migration, and preparing our final works: video, therapy, theater play and posters. Actually, these works were connected with the topic of the project. Final works were really qualitative and interesting, because every person was motivated in the work during the hole workshop. The topic of the project and the sessions were pretty difficult, but we hadn’t forget to play games, find new friends and have fun with each other.

Text was written by a participant from Youth Club Active
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TC “Outdoor Encyclopedia”

The project "Outdoor Encyclopedia" concerned the topic of experiential learning aka "learning by doing". The project consists of three parts - 1. Training course in Georgia, where we discussed the topics of informal learning and how it can be applied to hiking.

The project "Outdoor Encyclopedia" concerned the topic of experiential learning aka "learning by doing". The project consists of three parts - 1. Training course in Georgia, where we discussed the topics of informal learning and how it can be applied to hiking. 2. Second part is about local activity that we implemented in our home countries. 3. Third part was taking place in Germany, and it is conclusion of this project where we evaluate the knowledge that we got during first two phases and gathering all the methods into one big "Encyclopedia". So during TC in Georgia we researched thoroughly the topic of outdoor education, different kinds of hiking, equipment and process of preparation as well as how to involve youngsters into preparation process. Afterwards we went hiking into the mountains where we got practical experience of what we learnt during previous days. It was unforgettable experience and definitely something we would love to do once again! Breathtaking views and nice company during the whole way, worth it! Nontheless the important learning aspect was also present, as it was surviving at some point! There are no shops or anything where you could get help, except of course you teammates. Forget all those teambuilding games, hike is where the team comes together the most! Brilliant experience during the first phase, two to come!

Text was written by a participant from Youth Club Active

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Youth Exchange “DEBATES for YOU-TH”

Unfortunately, the Debates for YOU-th project, where I took part, recently ended. The project was in the Netherlands, in the wonderful city of Nijmegen, which is located on the border with Germany. It was a wonderful 5 days of the project and 1 free day to go where we want.

Unfortunately, the Debates for YOU-th project, where I took part, recently ended. The project was in the Netherlands, in the wonderful city of Nijmegen, which is located on the border with Germany. It was a wonderful 5 days of the project and 1 free day to go where we want. The whole Estonian team decided to rent bicycles and go to Germany. On this day, we drove 25 km one way and 25 km in the back direction, we visited two wonderful cities: Kranenburg and Kleve. The rest of 5 days we had a lot of sessions about Public speaking and Debates. Most of all I remember Oxford Debates. It was difficult for me, but I managed and got a lot of experience. In oxford Debates there is a pro side and there is against side. Each team has 3 participants, we were given an hour to prepare, and the debate itself lasted up to 1 hour. After we received feedback from the judges. Honestly, the project turned out to be a bit sporty: we walked a lot. It’s also an interesting option when the house is in one place, the place where we eat in another place, and the activity takes place in third place. The project was really cool, I met interesting people and it became easier to speak to the public. I hope that there will be more such projects!
Alina Kristell, active participant

Debates, public speaking, communication and leadership skills increase one’s self-confidence, make them more comfortable around people, define everyday verbal and nonverbal communication skills, and raise the performance of a better understanding between people, thus representing the basis of negotiation, mutual understanding and persuasion. These and many other things we got to learn on the Youth Exchange “Debates for You-th”. The project took place in the august 2019 in Nijmegen, Netherlands. 35 participants from 7 countries all over the Europe (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Spain) had an opportunity to increase the skills of leadership, try themselves at the place of negotiators, develop public speaking skills, and discover Erasmus+ Programme as an opportunity to develop personally and develop local communities. In non-formal atmosphere through different methods we learned a lot about the mastery of performance, writing, communication skills, negotiations plus we got to experience some completely new techniques of getting out of the comfort zone and defending your position through variety of modes of debating. Amazing country, city, fantastic organization of the activities (huge thanks to the organizators), very interesting and useful workshops and trainings, cozy atmosphere and kind and friendly people made this project.
Darja Leontjeva, group leader

The text was written by the participant from Youth Club Active

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Seminar “Quo vadis Europae”

Seminar "Quo vadis Europae" which took place in Berlin, Germany from 05.05-10.05.19 of June. The project gathered young people from different countries like Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland and Portugal

In the beginning of May (long ago, but still missing this project) three members of our organization participated in the third part of “Quo Vadis Europea?” Erasmus + project tent in Berlin, Germany. Name of the project was “Youth Participation Tool” and all of us have learnt how to create and use different methods to change the politics using our most powerful tool – youth.
Sometimes youngsters think, that their voices do not change anything, but brilliant coaches who were leading the project just made it all clear through role play games, boar games, discussions and amazing free-time activities.
All participants (age from 18 up to 40 y.o) were enjoying each others experience, getting to know new habits from well-known cultures.
This is kind of experience, when you can be overwhelmed because of how wrongly you were while staying silent when the “big brother” was choosing for you but at the same time very grateful that you could understand that when it’s not too late to change it.Five stars for the program, organizational skills and creativity. Wish I could be more involved in processes of creating these kind of project.

The text was written by the participant from Youth Club Active

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Seminar “Safety First!”

Seminar "Safety First!" which took place  in Welper, Germany  from 06.03.19- 14.03.19. The project gathered young people from different countries like Georgia, Estonia, Greece, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and Germany.

Unprotected citizen on the internet can easily become prone to exposure of hate speech, extremist content, narratives that undermine the values of human rights and peace. This project aims to create a practice of youth resilience building and education for cyber hygiene by providing, practicing and disseminating the relevant tools in youth work in partner organizations. During the project itself, many different seminars and workshops were held, with the help of which we began to understand how the Internet works, what dangers it conceals, who watches us, how to create a strong password and what password is considered reliable. We also learned a lot of Internet terms that are often used in everyday life, but we don’t attach importance to them. We had a walk where we climbed the observation tower, from where a beautiful view of the small German town.

PHOTOS

The text was written by the participant from Youth Club Active

TC “Empowering Youth workers For Supporting Diversity “

TC "Empowering Youth workers For Supporting Diversity " which took place  in Larnaca, Cyprus  from 18.01-28.01.2019. The project gathered young people from different countries like Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Italy and Turkey

Reflection diary from Estonian group about the project

Ksenija, Estonian group

It was my second Training of Trainers and second project, which was leading by Renos.

I am studying youth work in Tallinn University and one of the main aims why I went to this project was to develop myself as a youth worker especially international level.  

In addition, one of the aims were to try myself as a trainer. I already were leading some of the local projects but to try sth new, especially in international, but safety, learning zone always good. Also, it really helping to me to understand do I really want to deal with trainings as a trainer or not.

Renos and Nora were supplementing one another. Theory from one part and practice from another, but with jokes and examples from life from both side.

During the project I understood, that I already knew a lot in youth work (because of my work practise, projects background and study in university), but still a lot to learn. Also, projects gave me a chance better to understand theory part from university and to relate it with implementing in real life.

For me was surprising, that from 8 countries, which were participating in project (Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Italy and Turkey) only Estonia has official study for youth workers.

During the project, we had many moments, where we needed to work in groups. It always hard, especially when all of you have different backgrounds, knowledge and understanding of the topic and you knew each other only few days. This is very challenging, but also very useful.

Trip to refugee camp was very interesting and a big point of learning. In Estonia we do not have so many refuges and I even don’t know if anyone has a chance to visit their camp

What I will use after project? From theory part, it will be Rapport, Roles during the training, Template for sessions and Selling point of report. From practice part, it will be many tools, which I can use in my daily worklife. The biggest thing, which I will take and use – new people, new partners, new friends.  

 

My name is Vera and I am youthworker beginner. I’ve started to work in July 2018 and I really like what I’m doing.

I took a part in the training “Empowering youthworkers for supporting diversity” 18-28th January in Larnaca, Cyprus. First of all, the main reason of participation was the topic of the training. This topic for me was like a challenge - to see how to empower not just others but myself. The second reason was our trainer Renos, with whom I have already had an excellent training in Estonia and I knew that it will be useful and valuable experience for me.

Training was well organized and has a hard-driving program. In the beginning, we spent first 2 days on getting know each other and that was very important reason to create a team for future tasks. During next few days we learned how to break borders between you & target group, how to clear up target group’s needs and how to set their goals.  Moreover, we explored methods like Learning Cycle and LAB.

The brightest moment of the week was the visit of the refugee camp, to get know our target group closer and recognize their needs. It was my first experience and it had very strong impact on me. I could talk with those people about their life and current situation in camp. I was glad that they have better conditions than I thought.

Based on this visit we needed to make 45 minutes training course with the topic “Networking”. This process of writing training course taught us a lot: how to choose a topic for a training, how to create a real team, how to choose team members, how to organize and prepare it. I’m very thankful for such a great experience to do, practice it on a real people and get feedbacks. I’ve realized that I have all competences to be a trainer and I will develop it.

The second part of the week was more relaxed because most of topics which we touched I had already known: report, evaluation, how to make a cv and personal branding.

In conclusion I would like to say thank you to our trainers that they made such a great training course, brought all these people in this beautiful flamingo place and they were honest with us and gave valuable feedbacks. I’m very happy to meet all these people with whom I felt like at home. I hope to see you all soon.

Best wishes,

Your always positive Veera

 

Hello, my name is Anton. I participated in training of trainers organized by European organization NECI. Title of project - “Empowering youth workers for supporting diversity”.

To be honest it is my first reflection diary as it is for somebody to read. Since I`m person who likes to check theory before practice - I did some googling, but was very lazy to find out what is it. My personal thoughts guided me to write what is listed below.

It was my first time visiting such a south country as Cyprus and my second time on training from E+ programm. Through preparation at home before training I was expecting much higher level of intensivity from programm. But it turned out quite smooth and not that stressful. First two days were really simple and joyful. We found out why we are here, what are targets for us as youth workers. During day three, four and five was most active and “killing” part. We learned how to build activity, how to connect different methods and we tried ourselves as trainers! Next days were mostly about how to evaluate, understand, overview and improve. Even now I`m going a little bit in “report” style. It was my first writing a big report about event, never done it before.  

For my personality this training was a little bit kick in the ass. It happening quite often after every project, and with the same speed this “motivation” disappears. But truth not in the motivation, truth in stability. In stability of repeatings, tryings, everyday learnings, having your writing about what you learn and a constant checking your SMART goal. To be a youth worker - it is very responsible and sometimes very joyful task. It requires empathy, soft skill and hard skill, and moreover - knowledge about local youth, what they do, what they like, what youth needs.

I was very glad to see so many new and interesting persons around me. Turned out that we were locked in not that big room for almost 10 days, and this room limits made us connect quite close. Sometimes very sad to understand that probably you will never meet with specific person again. BUT! We live in this crazy tech world where everything is possible and make just one call and you already see each other!

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

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TRASHoholics – Youth Exchange in Spain

In the beginning of June Youth Club Active team took part in an international eco project “TRASHoholics”. The participating countries included Spain, Greece, Romania, Estonia and Croatia.

The participants from Estonia were Darja Korjukina, Darja Katariina Jarušina, Ilja Korjukin, Jekaterina Agarkova and Diana Rapoport.

The project was not only devoted to ecology, but also to arts. During the project week we were able to design our own cloth bags and organise an exhibition dedicated to the negative impact of humanity on the environment. Each country had an opportunity to hold an artistic workshop. Our team prepared a workshop, related to second-hand shops. The teams were involved in debates (for or against second-hand shops), and right after that were offered to try bathmat making. We spent a lot of time discussing recycling, trash sorting and how all of the participating countries deal with the problems, mentioned above. We had to think of the ways we can produce less waste ourselves, especially plastic waste. On the very first day we went to clean the nearby beach, where we managed to collect 85,1 kg of trash per hour, without even cleaning the entire place. Thanks to this project we learned a lot about ecology, changed our opinion about dealing with environmental problems, were taught to sort trash and treat nature carefully, saving its resources. We also spent a good time together, communicating with the participants from other countries and completing various creative tasks

Text was written by participants from Youth Club Active Darja Korjukina

YE “How to get a job 101″

From 13th of June till 21st of June in Zagorje ob Savi, Slovenia was taking place YE “How to get a job 101”. In this YE were participating Cyprus, Slovenia and Estonia 

The aim of this project was to gain several competencies, work on our personal development and thus become more competitive on the European labour market.

We were also exploring the topic of job seeking, entrepreneurship and networking.

We had CV workshop, during which we learned, that CV can be not only minimalistic (just black letters on white paper), but could be colourful with some graphics about skills, but depends on job that you want.

During these 8 days we became more aware of ourselfs, our skills and capabilities that we have. We had some creative tasks, for example each participant needed to draw and decorate a coat of arms by answering some questions or we needed in divided groups make a promo-presentation of a thing.

Also we had simulation game in which leaders were employers and participants were employees, so they needed to get a job, get money and get education, after they could get more money, but employers needed to save as much money as they could.

Meetings with local employers and freelancers, that we had, were also interesting, advisable and useful.

During day in Ljubljana we went to place called Poligon, where are working and coworking freelancers.

At the end of project we were enough informed about job seeking, how to write a CV, how to react and behave on job interview, self-advertisement, coworking, freelance work. Also we made a “Zine”, where are  written some tips, motivation quotes and facts.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

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Youth exchange project “Entrepreneurship LAB”

Youth exchange project "Entrepreneurship LAB"  gathered 37 young people (aged between 18-26) from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Portugal, February 11-18th , 2017.

In the project participated a lot of people from different countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Bulgaria, Cyprus. The project took place in training centre Daugirdiškes, Lithuania on February 11-18th.

The topic of the project is entrepreneurship. For most of us it was a familiar topic, but some people have never been familiar with that. Despite of this everyone has learned something new. Each day wasn't similar with the previous day, because the topic is very huge.
We were here 8 days, but they were so differences. The first two days were for to know better with each other.

And after that we started working on our entrepreneurship ideas. We discussed a lot of what it is and learnt to distinguish between entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. We shared and discussed out the ideas with others. Also we learnt marketing and marketing strategies.

The main of our tasks was in groups to make up our business ideas; we worked on them several days: we discussed activities we would like to do, which will be our partners and etc. For us were presented one business model canvas, which consist of different tables. It helps to understand what you did in your business or what you need to do.

Why we did that? We tried to create our business to understand how it works. Shared the ideas we discussed advantages and disadvantages. Also we talked about what kind of leadership we have, like democratic, liberal and dictature. The most important thing is that all material was presented through different games and group works, because it's the best way to understanding. But it's not all what we did in the project. We also had opportunity to develop culturally through intercultural evenings.

Each country presented itself. We tried national food, danced and a bit learned the other language. After each evening we had disco time, when guys from Portugal taught to dance some kind of dance. The project was really interesting and useful, because we learnt a lot about how to start a business, some basic steps of it and strategies. Now we can share with the other people. We should believe in yourself and remember that time is money.

Text written by participant from Youth Club Active Kristina Romanova.

YE Building Bridges project in Slovakia, Prenčov.

Throught this project all the participants from Estonia, Portugal, Austria, Croatia, France, Italy and Slovakia got to experience permaculture lifestyle, which was taught to us using the Dragon Dreaming method lead by Art Kruh organization.

Throught this project all the participants from Estonia, Portugal, Austria, Croatia, France, Italy and Slovakia got to experience permaculture lifestyle, which was taught to us using the Dragon Dreaming method lead by Art Kruh organization.

In a span 2 weeks not only have we managed to complete the program rich with events such as doing daily chores conneted to permaculture, give and receive education and experience through excercises, non-formal evening events, games and much more but also form friendly bonds with people from different nationalities and cultures.
Despite being busy communicating with people from different countries, our team also visibly grew in team-spirit, coordination and warm relationship among each other.
It was also quite unusual but also refreshing to eat only vegetarian food during the whole project (except for 1 BBQ day).
None of the participants were left indifferent to the amazing experince we all had.

Text was written by participants from Youth Club Active

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TC “PLAN B”

I was just lucky to take part in the learning mobility project “Plan B.Surprise factor”. From 5.06.2018 to 10.06.2018 18 people from different countries shared their experiences in working with youngsters.

Youth workers and youth leaders came together to an amazing village Iscar (look at photo) for several days to develop their knowledge,skills,and attitudes on our certain theme. It was really unforgettable experience for me! Even though I was the youngest one in project, It was NOT boring or difficult to participate. I was surrounded by qualified youth workers, who shared their experience with pleasure. My favorite part of this project that we were told real stories of cases that have happened and what measures were adopted, so that we can create a guide of good practices. During “Plan B.Surprise factor” I recognized that youth work are strongly connected with psychology and that it is quite difficult to take the right decisions in the case of having emergency situations. Thanks to training course I learned how to cooperate with other people I don’t know in different activities. Also I feel more comfortable now in discussions about the risks with my organization. I would like to say thanks for this opportunity to participate in training course «Plan B.Surprise factor” and learn have to organize quality project and provide intercultural and non-formal learning experience for other young people.

Text was written by participants from Youth Club Active Julia Pronjagina

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TC “United through education”

TC “United through education” in Slovakia", which took place in Slovakia, Spain from 23 till 31 of . The project gathered young people from different countries like Slovakia, Spain, Malta, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Croatia, The Republic of North Macedonia, Poland

This spring I had my first experience participating in international project called "United through education" organised by Erasmus+ programm​ with the support of Thalia Teatro. I spent 9 days (23-31.05.2019) in Slovakia in beautiful city Banska Śtjavnica among the mountains and historical monuments. I have taken part in a lot of new different activities related to non-formal education. I have learned that the reflection after main activity, where participants are supposed to express their feelings and analyse their individual work or team cooperation during the exercise, is as important as the activity itself. It helps to conclude the whole process of social inclusion. I have also got some new communication skills, such as giving constructive feedback using "I" statements, teamwork skills etc. So I am looking forward to continuing my new​ experience as a youth facilitator in September.

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

PHOTOS

Y.E “Champions of Growing up III”

The project "Champions of Growing up" was already 3rd time taking place in Slovenia from 19th till 26th of August 2018. In project were participaiting such countries as Italy, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Polland, Hungary, Romania and Latvia

The project as part of the erasmus + allowed our team of five people to learn more about different aspects of our thinking, the problems that occur during the assessment and self-analysis. Through different games, sessions, lectures, and discussions, we learned to know ourselves, and recognized other people who were an integral part of the project. New acquaintances, friends and memories complemented the bright days and made the project full-fledged, and, of course, taught something new. Also during the project week, excursions to various places in Slovenia were included, which helped a lot in learning about the culture of a beautiful country. The trip to the beautiful lake Bled was remembered by our team the most.
Despite some difficulties, our team had a great week in Slovenia

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active Anne-Liis Alev

HIKE YE “Live it, Share it”

From 2nd of May till 10th of May in Cyprus was taking place ECO Youth Exchange "Live It, Share it!" Our participants want to share ther opinion about the project

Nika

Informative component was interesting and I learned a lot of things

about resacle and how to save nature. About team building there was little attention paid. The living place was with good view and confortable sleeping place. Hikking was best part of this project there was interesting preparation and view on the mountains.

Nicole

This project was my first youth exchange. Before going there, I was very worried that it would be difficult for me to talk to people there, because of my poor knowledge of English. But on the first day, when I arrived there, I realized that my expectations were not justified. All the participants of the project were friendly and open to each other. We talked about so many different things and everyone was really understanding.

The weather was very sunny every day, except for a few cold and rainy ones, and Cyprus itself, namely the place where we were staying, was very cosy and beautiful. For me every day was amazing because I learned something new each day, and most importantly everything was interesting for me. I really liked it and I hope to return there again and see again all those kind faces.

Olga

This project was the first experience for me, therefore everything was quite interesting and full of information.

The project helped to learn more about problems in our world and made me to think about it, which led a coup in thinking about this topic. Particularly interesting were trips to the mountains. A more lively atmosphere made it clear how important nature is and how much our world pollutes it.

Finally I would like to thanks every organizer and participant for the atmosphere, experience and new knowledge.

Makar

Thinking about that project I start smiling. It was great time with great people. I got some new experiance and of course practised my english skills.

Organization of this project was quite good.

Now I know some facts about Cypriotic, Portugal, Spanish, Polish, Hungarian culture.

During this project we had a lot of funny energizers and games.

We spent our evenings in good mood and enjoyed communicating to each other.

I really liked our amazing hikes. I didn't have huge experiance in mountain hiking, but I enjoyed making pictures and looking on a picturasque views.

I want to thank our leaders and organizators for such interesting week in lovely village "Agroz"

Jekaterina

From 2 to 10 May I was lucky to become part of the youth exchange, during which we spent an unforgettable week in Cyprus, Agros. Together every day we participated in exciting workshops which focused on human lifestyle and its influence on our nature. One of the main topics of the project was the balance at the human-nature level and using human daily stuff without excessively infringing our nature. During the sessions we had various activities as discussions, teamworks, where it was necessary to show creativity and some knowledge about the issue. Workshops were really exciting cause some participants were taking it really seriously and you could see that people really cared about the subject. Separately worth noting organized hikes, views of which were unimaginably fascinating, at such moments you begin to appreciate this beauty, then there is much more desire to go out of town. One thing that described the whole youth exchange was the fact that perception of time disappeared completely. It was because there was so much to do all the time and spending time with great people makes you forget the time passing. So that’s why it was so sad to say goodbye. Even though I have been to project before, I can surely say that every youth exchange or training course is different, but the experiences you get are all worth it.

Text was written by participants from Youth Club Active

PHOTOS 

The Change Makers

Project was organized in frames of “Erasmus+”, program called “The Changemakers” nad was in Romania. The scope of the project is to equip youth workers with the necessary competences to run educational programs in order to raise the level of active participation among young people in their communities.

There were participants from 6 countries of Europe: Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania and Estonia. We spent there all together 7 days.

During this course we were talking about active citizenship, youngsters and volunteering. Also we understood and explored NFE learning principles, tools, methods and instruments. We got a clear understanding about what it means to be an active citizen. It is hard to explain what it means in words, but the most importantly an active citizen is a person who cares for the well-being of people around him, if he sees a problem, he takes action right away. This training course also gave the opportunity to be with amazing people, who changed our way of seeing life. Without knowing, they helped to get a better understanding of what we want to do in the future. Each country presented himself. We tried national food and learnt a lot of new information about each country. It was excellent experience for us. In one day we had excursion, where we had opportunity to look around the city.

Moreover, the best thing is that on the project were different but interesting methods and games, which we can use in work with youngsters. Especially when we answered the questions and created our own alliance. After that another people read and commented this. Therefore we got some motivation and inspiration from them. Also, there were simulation game, which shows perfectly our society like which kind of people we have, their communication, participation. Some of them are active citizens and some of them not. We talked about frames and reframing. like why it is important what we can get from this. Everytime we were surrounded by very beauty green nature and sunny weather. We had an opportunity to visit Romanian jazz concert and to hear some Romanian music.

It was a very interesting project, during which we visited a border town between Romania and Serbia. It was really interesting to learn about the place and people. People came from other countries and there were a few locals, all of whom had something to say about the place they lived in. What also was a good thing, is that along with sightseeing we had a chance to general

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

PHOTOS 

TC “InsideOut”

From 18th of June till 25th of June in Eupen, Belgium was taking place TC “InsideOut” . In this TC were participating Latvia, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovenia, Belgium and Estonia 

It seems a bit not enough, maybe even a bit superficial, to name this extraordinary, special, perhaps even life-changing experience just a training course. The description of the course that we received earlier stated that it will be focused on the talent development using self-exploration as a tool, hence having a great effect for personal growth. The expectations were set, and while it indeed promised to be something very interesting, little did I know…

From the very first evening, when we drew portraits of each other in a collective effort and introduced ourselves to the group, the comfort zone limits were pushed just a bit when we sat in a silence holding hands with people we have just met. Then the dive was deep and rapid: a bit of theory combined with loads of experiencing things on our own skin, we first of all threw out our list of expectations to the trash bin, then went on to discuss the concept of talent, to challenge our creativity, to do first steps in opening up to each other in a ‘Speed-Date’ chat format about our own talents. The next day we learned about inner leadership – a powerful concept about taking full responsibility for own life, which includes taking care of oneself, being authentic and committing to the group. We drew our Rivers of Life, which we then shared in close groups – it was a rather efficient way to get to know each other on a deeper level. Our next step was to experience awareness of our own body, first on its own, then in relation to other people in the group, starting from eye contact to contact improvisation in pairs. A very thought-provoking exercise was on resilience: when pushed by a partner, we were asked to react in two different ways, to bend and come back up standing, and then to resist being pushed by saying ‘no’. The latter caused a lot of tension and discomfort.

Dealing with unpleasant feelings was our next step: we discussed the concept of vulnerability and things that can undermine it. We moved on to explore compassion and empathy, and its elements. A very powerful practical exercise took place thereafter, when we went out into the woods and there, in pairs, led each other, blindfolded, to a tree we thought would fit persona of our partner. This, in my opinion, was a very powerful and moving exercise of trust, of understanding each other, of connection. I was impressed by the choice of my partner and every following morning I was going into the woods to hug that tree (officially a tree hugger now hahaha!). The next exercise was about sharing our vulnerability: around our study space there were 10 ‘stations’ – tasks that we were invited to do. They included writing compliments for each other, sharing what we are ashamed of, pondering on what we have difficulties in accepting, telling someone about the last time we cried, sharing hugs, talking about what we dislike in own character, giving ourselves permission to make a change in life, and several more.

The description of the following day kept us intrigued: simply a ‘Talent Day’. In the morning, we took a journey into Paradise of Senses, being blindfolded and relying on other four. Then we had a day of improvisation, with a task of creating a performance that would represent the talents of our small groups. And by the end of the day we had four very different interesting pieces: a wonderful song that became our anthem, a presentation of interviews with Eupen residents about what talent is for them, a video about self-perception vs how others perceive you, and a vulnerability ‘confessions’. All were very unique and moving in their own way. And the next day we went even deeper, exploring the power of silence in a 45-minute time alone. This was something unforgettable, and many insights were shared thereafter. We went on to understand resilience in a three-step session: meditation, compassion and gratitude. Becoming aware of our feelings within the group, we then sat in a silent circle, and those who wanted/felt like doing so, shared their vulnerable moments, baggage or skeletons. Later we had time to express gratitude to those we wanted to. Another session full of emotions and tears…

We further moved onto some ‘lighter’ topics, like learning about three levels of listening and putting them into practice. We discussed positive psychology and gratitude as an important component of it, and overall of happiness. Our final day was devoted to the concepts of learning and creativity, then brainstorming how to grow further, to apply our talents in future life. We created little tokens (or big posters) that would represent our determination to commit to these ideas or plans. Our final task before the closure was to make a promise to say ‘yes’ more to some things. Then we had another gratitude session, this time silently looking into each others’ eyes. Then there was a ‘ceremony’ of receiving YouthPasses, and a lovely social evening. An important thing that lasted throughout the whole week was a reflection in close groups that stayed unchanged, when we had chance to steam out, to express what was bothering us, and then one of us took it to our facilitators.

Тhis course gave us new insights and needed support, empowerment and hope to start making steps in realising our own dreams, to listen to ourself more often

Text was written by participant from Youth Club Active

Photos

ERASMUS+, KA1 Erasmus+ Youth We Can Do It: On the Way to Social Entrepreneurship 2015-3- CY02-KA105- 000568

The project “ We Can Do it: On the Way to Social Entrepreneurship” was financed by Erasmus Plus KA1 and National Board of Cyprus was implemented between 21-30/10/16 in Larnaca Cyprus. The participants were 22 youth workers from programme countries.