Training course “Explaining Europe” was organised by TDM2000 Polska for youth workers, leaders and trainers working in local communities in Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, Romania, Malta, Lithuania, Bulgaria, FYROM and Italy. It took place between the 4th and the 11th of September 2015. In a very picturesque valley in Lower Silesia, southwestern Poland. The small village called Krzyzowa is the site of the biggest youth meeting centre in Poland and also well known as the place where Von Moltke family lived since 1867.
The main objectives of the project was to educate youth workers, leaders about EU citizenship, active participation, structure and decision-making process in the EU; to build knowledge about EU policies, their role in planning and implementation of policies and European values; to exchange good practice and enhance international cooperation of youth organisations and youth workes.
The first night after the whole group got settled into the room was excellent. Every individual got to know each other in an informal manner over a few beers. It made everyone talk to each other and basically break the ice. After a good night’s sleep the whole group met at the main meeting room to set some rules, such as the ‘no technology’ rule and the ‘bora bora’ rule which means that when a group is speaking in their national language in front of a foreigner, they must speak in English. The team also picked a random ‘secret friend’ who they had to make happy (on an individual basis) for the next seven days by any means possible.
At the second day it was time to represent our organisations. The NGO fashion show was a very fun way of introducing all the NGOs the individuals represented. This was done by creating costumes made of mainly paper and masking tape which represented the NGOs and their main characteristics (the costumes had writing on them as well).
Self-assessment was a big part of nearly every day and during this time reflection was done on an individual basis which helped everyone digest the information acquired during the day.
There were two intercultural evenings in which every country had a chance to exhibit their country in a fun and physical way, such as giving a taste of traditional food and drinks.
The fourth day was the most intense day as we had to explain attitudes towards the EU in every country, youth involvement in the various participants’ countries, EU programs directed towards youngsters and whether or not people are socially active in their country. These topics were discussed between different countries and similarities and differences were highlighted. The whole group later discussed how they feel as European individuals and active citizenship.
Most interesting part for me was simuliation of European Parliament. It was held in the cinema room where every individual first had to research about a specific country and a European party and how it views a specific problem (migration) and then the parties were merged as a group and a compromise was found. This compromise was expressed by the MEPs and the main objective of this workshop was to see that a Party’s views about a problem might be different than the individual country’s views.
In the free time most of the group decided to go to the next city Swidinca which is a city 20 minutes away from Krzyzowa. Here, some of the group decided to go shopping, other persons went to see some beautiful churches or just spent it relaxing and having a traditional soup called ‘Zurek’ which is served in a bowl made out of bread. The rest of the day was spent preparing a workshop simulation.
I have gained a lot of expierence in this project. I met a lot of new people and I would like to say thank you to VsI Inovaciju biuras (Innovation Office) for this possibility being in the training course.
