EVS Level UP Training Course - INTERVIEW WITH EGLE AND TAIRI

Name of the project: EVS Level UP

Date: 25^th November – 2^nd December 2017

Country/City: Velden am Wõrthersee / Austria

What was the main topic of the event?

Egle Hanilane: How to work with European Voluntary Service having a bigger impact on Social Participation in our communities.

Tairi Laats: The main topic was the EVS project. We learned what are the aspects of the EVS project, who are the people/organizations involved and how to improve your work with the volunteers.

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

Egle Hanilane: My biggest learning moments were the moments to discover that I already knew some things and I must trust myself more on those topics. I got some good new ideas, which I´m going to use in my work with volunteer and other youngsters in our youth center.

Tairi Laats: The biggest learning moment for me was the financing. As an ex volunteer, I understood why the pocket money can never be enough, and how lucky I was with the accommodation and support I got from my organization. 

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

Egle Hanilane: I have been active in youth field since 2008 and we have our first EVS volunteer in our organization this year. These last 3 months have been interesting development time for me and I am definitely continuing to use the new ideas working with youngsters and volunteering.

Tairi Laats: Yes, I would like to get involved with the project. Be a mentor for a volunteer or help with coordinating a project or sending volunteers abroad.

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

Egle Hanilane: I would definitely recommend the opportunity of intercultural learning and mobility projects to other people who work with youngsters. It is good way to take action in international level and gain more insight into the field.

Tairi Laats: Definitely yes. Erasmus+ projects are super informative. Non-formal learning is one of the best ways, since you are learning by doing and from other people the information actually stays easily in your memories. Also, it’s a great way of networking. The projects always gather a group of amazing people.

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

Egle Hanilane: Thank you for the opportunity.

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

Active Citizens of Today Training Course- INTERVIEW WITH RANNO, JOHANNA AND LIIS

Name of the project: Active Citizens of Today

Date: 10^th – 18^th November 2017

Country/City: Denmark, Vordingborg

What was the main topic of the event?

Ranno Sults: European citizenship issues and making young people more active in society.

Johanna Reinvald: European citizenship issues.

Liis Kotselainen: How to be a more active citizen in local and national levels.

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

Ranno Sults: Group work. I had a good chance to improve my teamwork skills and learn to communicate with people from other cultures.

Johanna Reinvald: The most important thing for me was getting to know what opportunities do i have to change something in my community and even in the world. I also feel very educated about the European citizenship because now i know what it actually means and what comes with it.

Liis Kotselainen: Definitely the team work exercises, this helped to raise our team spirit and how to work in groups. I couldn’t even imagine that I would get so close with people I’ve only known for a week. This helped me to be more open and considerate with new people whom I can call my friends now.

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

Ranno Sults: Yes, I would like to participate more in that kind of programs.

Johanna Reinvald: After the project i really thought about what should i do with the knowledge that i got. Now I am participating in a project at my hometown that will bring the whole community together. Also  i am planning to go volunteering next year. Without the project, i would never have even thought about it.

Liis Kotselainen: Not quite sure yet, but I will definitely keep this as one of the options of what to do in the future.

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

Ranno Sults: I would definitely recommend it to my friends because of the friendliness of participants and trainers in first hand. Also because of the experience of learning something in non-formal way, developing your teamwork skills and communication skills.

Johanna Reinvald: I have already shared the whole experience with my friends  and recommended, that they should also take part in such project. I truly feel that every person should have this experience at least one time in his/hers life because there are so many benefits to it such as: language skills, knowledge about different topics and of course lots of friends around the EU.

Liis Kotselainen: Definitely yes, we learned a lot of new and useful things and I can say that I got inspired to try to be more active and open minded about new challenges and projects that may come in my way.

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

Ranno Sults: I loved the program, everything was more than well organised. People were the friendliest I have ever met.

Johanna Reinvald: I feel that the project really changed me and how i see things. I am very happy that i took part in this Erasmus+ project and hope that in the future, i will have many more.

Liis Kotselainen: I really really enjoyed this training course and the way that we learned was quite different every day, a nice alternation between learning in school and learning in this training course. Thank you for making this so interesting!

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

Social Media to Activate Youth and Communities 2.0 - INTERVIEW WITH SARAH AND ALJONA

Name of the project: Social Media to Activate Youth and Communities 2.0

Date: 26th October until 03rd November 2017

Country/City: Nicolosi - Sicily, Italy

What was the main topic of the event?

Sarah Lill - Topic of this project which turned out to be epic as well hectic  was to learn rules of rhetoric, tools to design pics that are slick  to raise concerns which in return create positive turn in this modern world   where social media is the word.

Aljona Kurbatova – Social media.

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

Sarah Lill - Biggest learning curve for me was to build up the nerve   to serve a speech that would outreach  ...all the while keep myself chill as well my knees still 

Aljona Kurbatova - How to create group pages in different social media.

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

Sarah Lill - My motivation is high to apply for more projects from hereby    to create opportunities for youth to volunteer   steer ones' life as they please and maybe face some fears.

Aljona Kurbatova - About Erasmus+ answer is maybe as participant but not as organizer. If question is about social media – yes. On my current work I was asked to create page in social media for promotion.

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

Sarah Lill - I would recommend it to a friend who tends to spend time working hard to blend   for the person to comprehend and to let the world around extend.

Aljona Kurbatova - Yes I will. Because even if you think that topic is far away for your studies/work and so on its still could be useful. Plus it is good opportunity to practice in English and broad horizons.

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

Sarah Lill - What a fortunate creation-this Erasmus generation!

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

Inclusive Europe - INTERVIEW WITH MIRJAM AIT

Name of the project: Inclusive Europe

Date: 3^rd – 11^th September and 15^th – 22^nd October 2017

Country/City: Vilnius, Lithuania and Yerevan, Armenia

What was the main topic of the event?

Mirjam Ait: The main topic was migration challenges in Europe and tackling the integration process of refugees. The project was organized by the Youth To Youth Initiative and the aim was to share good practices and tools on refugees and migrants integration processes, to build the capacity of youth workers to combat hate speech towards migrants, misinformation about refugees and xenophobic discourse. The project involved about 30 participants from 16 European countries: Lithuania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Armenia, Belarus, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine.

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

Mirjam Ait: This project was quite diverse in offering different activities. The first part took place in Lithuania and consisted mostly of lectures and workshops about refugee and migration issues in Europe. The biggest learning moment was definitely hearing what the researchers on this topic had to say. The lecturers included lawyers, scientists, different people who had worked with ex-extremists etc. So when they put down the facts and numbers, we could see really clearly how the media portrays a completely different picture and spears false information. So that was really an eye-opener for everybody.

The second part took place in Armenia. It was basically a study visit, which means that during the week we visited different organisations working with migrants and refugees, starting from youth organisations and ending with UNHCR. I never knew how much hard work and effort Armenians put into helping the migrants. So during this part I definitely learned a lot about the warm-heartedness of the people of this nation. But it also made me realize how much we could learn from the example of Armenia.

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

Mirjam Ait: As I am currently not active in social or youth work, it is difficult to say whether I’ll wok in this field sometime in the future. But on the other hand this project had so much to offer knowledge-wise so that it’s not just information that only youth workers come across. The migration issue is a hot topic all around Europe these days so sharing my experience and knowledge and letting people know the dangers of media illiteracy is already a big step from my part into making Europe a more inclusive place for everybody.

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

Mirjam Ait: Definitely recommend! The organizers from Y2Y are super professional and inspiring people that really know how to motivate young people into becoming more active and voicing their opinions. They offered the participants immense knowledge and practical skills in so many different fields: youth work, but also project developing, social media and marketing etc. Y2Y connects a whole network of active people all around the globe so it is definitely worth looking into more of their projects.

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

Mirjam Ait: Firstly, I would thank NÜH for sharing these great project participating opportunities with young people in Estonia. And secondly, I would encourage you to take part in all sorts of different projects even though you might be hesitant in choosing the right one. I entered the Inclusive Europe project with not too many expectations, but in the end I gained more knowledge and skills than I would have imagined.

It is also a great way to learn about different cultures and meet different people. The more you see the world, the more tolerant and understanding you become about others!

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