The activities planned during this youth
exchange included, exclusively, non-formal methods; the aims were to facilitate
the process of interconectivity, to activate motivation and creativity, to
support the process of decision making and contribution with new ideas,
encouraging freedom of expression and tolerance among participants.
All these methods facilitate the learning
process and support the development of entrepreneurship competences, the
integration and assimilation of the project results and cooperation among young
people. The involvement of young people in these activities help them to
develop personal and social competences, and also competences for teamwork.
The
non-formal methods proposed during the project activities had the objective to
develop a participatory attitude, to support the process of refection, to
promote tolerance, to support the integration of intercultural differences in
the proces of creation and to support cooperation among young people.
Group building: Since team-builduing activities can be a powerful way
to unite a group, but also to determine the participants to develop certain
strengths, we implemented some of these in the first days of the mobility, as a
first step to team-working. One of them consisted in working in 3 mixed teams;
the task was to succeed into putting on the ground a plastic plate from a
certain height by touching it with only one finger (all the participants of the
team had to put a finger on the plate). After this stage, it was added a
plastic glass of water on the top of the plate, making the task more
challenging and more risky, so the team members were forced to collaborate even
more and also to focus more.
Erasmus+ presentation: There is always a good opportunity
to discuss about the Erasmus+ Programme and what it can offer to us, since
there is a big lack of information regarding this. That’s why we had a sepcific
debate about the Programme, involving question & answers and some personal
experiences from the participants, but also concrete information about it, like
facts & figures. Therefore we discovered together the new
opportunities of merging with other cultures, religions, countries, topics,
etc.
We also discussed
about the Youthpass certificate; what it means, what skills and competencies it
validates and what are the benefits of having such a certificate.
Entrepreneurship concept
seen through the participants eyes:
During this activity, the participants had the chance to show the others their
point of view regarding entrepreneurship. This activity was the very first step
to discover this concept which was also the topic of our project. In order to
make us understand their perspective on the topic, the participants were
splitted in mixed teams and they prepared their presentations in 3 ways: theatre,
panthomime and musical.
Insiders of the business world & Business trial period: During these workshops, each national team
represented a certain department in a company, as following:
·
Romania:
PR & Internal Comm,·
Poland:
HR,·
Italy:
Sales,·
Spain:
Operations,·
Greece:
Marketing,·
Turkey:
CEO.
During
the 1st workshop (Insiders
of the business world),
each team introduced us to the that
specific department by presenting us some strategies, necessary skills and also
a case study from their country with remarkable outcomes. On the other hand,
during the second workshop (Business
trial period), the
groups came up with interesting, interactive ways to put into practice the
information, the know-how from the first workshop.
Cultural tour & Observation of the entrepreneurial ideas in the
local community: What way better to discover some entrepreneurial ideas
than to interact directly with the locals? This activity took place in
Constanta and it was a very good opportunity for the participants to discover
what business do the Romanians there run and to find out more about them. More
than being related to the concept of entrepreneurship, this activity was about
exchanging ideas, good practices, experience. The time spent in Constanta
offered the participants the chance to discover some historical places and to
discover the city more.
AGORA (discussing about
entrepreneurship concept into all the participating countries): Through this activity, the participants
were meant to discover by doing the similarities and differences between
entrepreneurial contexts in their countries. It was a matter of exchange of
ideas&good practices, so we can all take what’s good in the other countries
and be inspired or even try to implement it nationally. During this activity, the
participants were asked to build the profile of the young entrepreneurs in
their country; they debated for example about which are the domains where you
can meet a lot of entrepreneurs or how are the public institutions or NGO’s
supporting them and by which way.
Cultural nights:
During the mobility, in
order to support the intercultural exchange, each country prepared a cultural
night. The participants prepared the program of these nights as they wished and
in character with their cultural specifics. The program included a presentation
of the country, a presentation of customs and traditions, traditional music and
dances, traditional clothes, food and drinks
Parties: There is no secret that parties bring people
together and make them more united. It’s something about the relaxing
atmosphere that gives birth to interesting conversations & a lot of crazy
dancing. During our project, we tried every time to create the perfect context
to spend the evenings; the first night was all about chilling…some get to know
each-other on the terrace, enjoying the perfect September weather. Later on, we
had a thematic party, which happened to be a pijama party. At some point we
enjoyed a movie night exactly like it should have been: popcorn, bean-bags,
cozy clothes. And since every entrepreneur says yes to a lot of challenges, we
also said yes to the “Challenge accepted” night, where for example, we had one
of the Romanian participants teaching a salsa workshop.
