Lord of Volunteers Training Course - INTERVIEW WITH GRETE, ALJONA AND EILIKA

Name of the project: Lord of volunteers

Date: 14^th to 20^th October 2017

Country/City: Czech Republic

What was the main topic of the event?

Grete Liis Kuurme - The main topic was the work in organizations as a volunteer, why and how you should do it, how to motivate yourself and others on this topic, share the knowledge with others in your home country or organization, how to be a good mentor, how to approach people on that subject, also showing that volunteer work can benefit you and others a lot in a fun and interesting way.

Aljona Vassiljeva - Volunteering. The reasons and purposes of volunteering, different types of volunteers, their tasks and motivation in NGO.

Eilika Trummar - Volunteer management

What was the biggest learning moments on the event for you?

Grete Liis Kuurme - I developed my social skills a lot, coming out of my comfort zone, also my language skills. Speaking in another language all the time and sometimes trying to explain yourself when maybe the other person doesn’t understand is also a good lesson on the language area. I also learned a lot about volunteer work, that its just not helping out your neighbor or friends but so much more. You can really change someones life or perspective by doing something simple. My developed as a person and got a lot of motivation for the future to continue volunteer work and join an organization.

Aljona Vassiljeva - Work on the meadow and workshop about collecting letters. Both times there were people who knew the back story, background, reasons why it all had to be done and people with a serious lack of information. It was a really good model of practically every big organization, where boss(es) don`t feel obligated to share information with other workers, and workers don`t understand why they`re supposed to do some tasks, which leads to conflicts and lost motivation.

Eilika Trummar - I’m very honest if saying that this was the TC I literally didn’t learn anything new.

Do you have any plans to continue active in the field? If yes, what?

Grete Liis Kuurme - Yes, I would love to help people with mental illnesses, also children and animals. In the beginning I would like to participate as a volunteer in an event for whatever the subject is and see, where I could develop myself. I am more interested in people and animals rather than politics and environment eventhough they are equally important.

Aljona Vassiljeva - I plan to continue as a volunteers` mentor in my organization.

Eilika Trummar - Yes, I work as a volunteer manager and continue my work.

Would you recommend it to your friends? I yes, why? If not, why not?

Grete Liis Kuurme - Yes, I would recommend this to my friends. It’s a good way to meet new people to hire into your organization, or just make new friends and learn about other countries and their problems and volunteer work. Also, you can step out of your comfort zone and see the wider world, learn new languages and culture, maybe learn something new about yourself too. If the person is interested in volunteer work, it’s a good project to learn about volunteer work from people who are working on this field.

Aljona Vassiljeva - Yes, because it was pretty fresh view on the subject, sometimes from unexpected angles and the most important point is that we learned the biggest part through some exciting and creative activities and not through the series of boring lectures.

Eilika Trummar - I would recommend training courses and seminars generally for everyone. It’s a very good way to learn and make connections. Just this particular TC was not enough for me this time.

More comments or anything else you would like to share? You can add here in your own language, if you want!

Aljona Vassiljeva - The leaders were great and atmosphere was amazing.

This Project was financed by European Commission's Erasmus + Programme

Young Entrepreneur - Create Your Opportunity in The Countryside Youth Exchange - INTERVIEW WITH DOROTHY, KIUR, LINDA, LISETTE, AKSEL, KIRKE AND MARKO

 Name of the project: Young Entrepreneur - Create Your Opportunity in The Countryside

Date: 8th -16th  October 2017

Country/City: Slovenia, Rakičan

What was the main topic of the event?

Kiur: The main topic was entrepreneurship and developing the mindset of an entrepreneur along with basic information that a fledgling entrepreneur needs.

Linda: The main topic was entrepreneurship. The main objective was to encourage young people to find out their own business opportunities in rural environment and give them basic knowledge about entrepreneurship.

What was the biggest learning moments on the event for you?

Kiur: My moments were when we had to discuss our personal experiences in giving gifts and then finding a problem in it. Then we had to make a business idea out of it and I was surprised how many bright ideas can come from something so small. Another moment was when we were divided into groups and had to make a business pitch to an actual businessman. It was scary, but it taught us to see things from the perspective of a potential investor.

Dorothy: My biggest learning moment was building up my own business idea with my group. It was a very inspiring process on it’s own, but the reality sank in when we had to present our idea to a local entrepreneur. He was critical of the feasibility of our idea, to say the least. The whole ordeal taught me a lot about the business world, and I learnt not to be so attached to my product that I take constructive criticism on it as a personal offence.

Do you have any plans to continue active in the field? If yes, what?

Lisette: The project was very interesting and I hope that one day I can truly call myself an entrepreneur. For now, I am waiting on my big idea though!

Marko: I’m definitely thinking about starting my own business in the future and I feel as though the project gave me valuable tools and ideas to build on. So if I’m ever raking in millions, I’ll know which project to thank.

Would you recommend it to your friends? I yes, why? If not, why not?

Aksel: Already did, because I learned a lot about entrepreneurship, which was the theme of the project therefore I consider it successful if I obtained new information and knowledge about it, the other participants are awesome, not only is it a good practice in english, but all the stories, culture and views from people who were foreigners in my point of view – it was indescribably amazing of an experience.

Kirke: I definitely recommend it to my friends because besides learning a lot and getting to see things from a different perspective, I got to meet incredible people who were all able to leave a lasting impression on me. I will never forget the people and the project.

More comments or anything else you would like to share?

Linda: It was very enjoyable project, the best company and fun activities!

Marko: Once Erasmus, always Erasmus!

This Project was financed by European Commission's Erasmus + Programme

MOJU U(th)niversity - Transformers Training Course - INTERVIEW WITH ALICE AHO AND ELINA RAUDSEPP

Name of the project: MOJU U(th)niversity - Transformers

Date: 16^th to 21^st October 2017

Country/City: Portugal, Faro

What was the main topic of the event?

Alice Aho - The main topic of this training course was intercultural conflicts. We opened the topic with how to understand which type of conflicts we are dealing and afterwards played out different type of solutions.

Elina Raudsepp - The main topic was to get to know on what grounds conflicts are appearing, to detect conflicts in different cultures and to get to know different ways of solving them.

What was the biggest learning moments on the event for you?

Alice Aho - I was very interested to see how people from different EU countries understand conflicts and how relevant they think these topics are. I learned the most from an activity where people introduced conflicts/problems that are important for them and their country right now. After that we were working in different groups on one specific topic that was important for us.

Elina Raudsepp - The biggest “ahhaa” moment in practice was that we don´t actually understand other cultural backgrounds if we haven´t been in them. So if you want to get to know some different cultures and people in them you have to go really deep and you have to leave all your prejudice.

Do you have any plans to continue active in the field? If yes, what?

Alice Aho - Right now I’m not directly involved in youth field, but since I have some friends who are I can share my knowledge. Besides, this topic about conflicts is important in any field. I would even take this as a general knowledge; we all need to know how to deal with conflicts and problems.

Elina Raudsepp - The topic was so wide that the knowledge of training course you can use in everyday life. Conflicts are part of human nature, so all the information was very useful.

Would you recommend it to your friends? I yes, why? If not, why not?

Alice Aho - Yes, for sure I would recommend applying to training courses to my friends. With travelling to different countries and meeting other EU nationalities is very interesting. But, I recommend to choose a topic that is interesting and relevant for you, because then you enjoy these training courses even more.

Elina Raudsepp - I would definitely recommend this kind of projects to my friends. You can learn a lot even only by communicating with people from different countries. And if the topic is interesting, and it really was, then the benefit is lots of times bigger. And for me personally the way of non-formal learning is the best option.

More comments or anything else you would like to share? You can add here in your own language, if you want!

Alice Aho - If you ever see any training courses shared, apply, you don’t have anything to lose. This is a win/win situation.

Elina Raudsepp - First time on mainland of Portugal was wonderful. Time flows differently in this country!

This Project was financed by European Commission's Erasmus + Programme