Fall activities
The Future Now Association
A Bulgarian #youth NGO that works to empower young people, find and create great opportunities for them, and more!
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Raya in Varna and an Agora event with students - by Raya
This newsletter is pulling me back all the way right to be beginning of this month! But I started and I am ending October in The Social Teahouse in Varna, where wonderful work is brewing, the people are warm, the atmosphere is cozy, and the brownies are delicious.
It’s also where, in the start of October, I had the pleasure of hosting a game event for the students of a high school from the city. We played the Storytelling for Youth board game, which we created eheeee back in 2022, but still remains one of my favorite products to use and reuse, and after that warm-up, we played together the Agora NextGen game, mere days before it was officially launched.
It was so fun to hang out with the youngsters, to tell stories together, laugh but also discuss serious topics. They gave me their blessing on the Agora game, and agreed with their political alignments, which was a great joy for me.
Do you agree with yours? You can play the game over here: https://game.agoranx.eu/ and then make sure you tag us in Instagram and share with us your high score!
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Agora podcast with the whole game team – by Eleonora Predeva ?
As I sat down and wondered how to begin this paragraph, the thought of calling the development of Agora "a wild ride" passed through my mind. But in all honestly - that's very far from the truth. This has, in fact, been such an amazingly smooth process that the entire team may as well had been liberally covered in butter. Today, with a minimal, if nonexistent amount of hiccups, we've all but wrapped up the development of our educational election game (to incredibly positive reception), and to celebrate the occasion, the Agora team got together a few weeks ago to record a podcast!
We took turns talking about our personal experiences developing the game and working in a team, our motivations, our tools and our wishes for the future. And some good old fashioned yapping, as friends do. But I promise it's a really nice listen, especially if you're interested in developing a similar project! Go, go, take a listen and see for yourself!
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Participating in the FineActs Creative Activist Masterclasses – by Ayo
So me and Raya were able to squeeze our way into the Fine Acts Masterclasses on Empathy and on Strategies and tactics of effective movements (that's a mouthful, jeez) and I want to admit how pleasantly surprised I was by the first session! Though there's many more to go and I’m excited to see what the team has in store, I think the first session was a great start, with a lot of good but calm discussions between the teams we were designated. The topic we discussed on that day was "Empathy Redefined: Enhancing Advocacy with Emotional Precision."
As someone who doesn't like to vocalize their thoughts much, it was definitely a good first impression and I think I’ll be a lot more comfortable going forward, and pitch in as well!
Fine Acts are amazing for doing this, I’ve only had good experiences with them so far so I’m excited to see what's next in line!
You can read more about the FineActs masterclass here: https://fineacts.co/masterclass and make sure you follow their amazing work as well!
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FORCE training in Sofia – by Raya
On the 14th and 15th this month, right before traveling for the Kick-off meeting of CIRCLES, I had the pleasure of joining the Bulgarian Fund for Women ’s FORCE training in Sofia.
Aimed at NGOs, the training took us on a journey of organizational management, which is good to go through from time to time, I think – to refresh your knowledge, to solidify some of it, but also to question some of how you manage any organization. It was also lovely to meet the other participants – NGO workers, psychologists, social workers from all around the country, who are very actively involved in work that, when not like ours, sure sounds complementary!
I hope the questioning of my own knowledge, the new inspiration and lovely meetings, will lead to new roads and new collaborations for TFN!
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CIRCLES Kick-off Meeting in Athens – by Ayo
I’ll keep it short and simple, just like the event!
So, once again, me and Raya found our way back to Athens, this time for the launch of the much-anticipated CIRCLES Project.
The actual day of the meeting was the 16th of October; 15 and 17 were our travel days, which were very short and comfortable. Always love me a shorter trip.
But anyway, during the meeting, we thoroughly looked over what the partnership has planned for this project and, oh boy, get ready for this one. It's going to be very exciting with lots of amazing and fun outputs! (totally don't expect another video game... no)
It's also always a pleasure to work with the organizations in this partnership, we already have a lot of projects completed with all of them, so it's nice to be back and "hang out" with the gang!
When we mention our previous work together, we can’t help but inviting you to take a look at the CETERIS Paribus economics game, if you haven’t already, one of our pride and joys: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2347200/CETERIS_Paribus/
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领英推荐
Democratic Mosaic – by Emma
On the 19th of October the second edition of festival ‘’Democratic Mosaic’’ took place in the centre of Sofia. So many civic organizations had different stalls, presenting their projects and initiatives, engaging others in activities and interactive workshops on the spot.?
The Future Now Association participated with current projects exposition and we also had three game hours scheduled. However, the weather had its own plans. The usually busy street was mostly empty, with only football fans strolling by to compensate for the overall silence. Because of the freezing wind, we couldn’t run our storytelling board game, but we still drew in people for our online games, focused on political and youth work simulations.
Some of them shared their results on Instagram stories, getting the chance to participate in our giveaway. We also connected with many active individuals from diverse backgrounds and organizations, offering each other mutual support and encouragement. In that sense, the Mosaic was successful and meaningful, despite the challenges.
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Rainbow Hub event – by Ayo
On the 20th of October we hosted a wonderful event for the HEY PEOPLE! project, at one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly spaces in Sofia - Rainbow Hub!
I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to visit that space for a bit now, and now paired with an event hosted by TFN, I knew it’d feel incredibly safe.
For this event we also partnered with GLAS, so diversity intensifies!
I’m not one for improv or role playing in a larger group of people I’m not familiar with, so I was unsure what exactly to expect. Thankfully, though, we got used to each other pretty quickly and managed to have fun with the topics at hand! Gender roles, stereotypes and standing up for equality in the workplace.
We started with some light discussions and then proceeded with having fun with improv, which went a lot better than I want to admit. ??
As embarrassing as it felt, I still had fun, knowing that people there weren’t judging.
By the end we had loosened up and started discussing even deeper topics related to the event, so I dare say it was a success!
It’s wonderful to know that not everywhere we go people judge, there’s actual safe spaces.
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FYI Kick-off Meeting in Celje – by Ali
On October 22nd, the TFN team made the trip to Celje to kick off Foresight, an exciting new Key Action 2 project, hosted by our partners at the MCC Youth Center. Every visit to Celje brings something unique, and this time was no exception! For YOUth Information is designed to push the boundaries of traditional youth work, bringing innovative approaches and fresh perspectives to the field.
The project will open up new opportunities for collaboration, creativity, and skill-building, making it an ideal platform for youth workers and partners to rethink and reshape how we engage with young people. It was a great experience to reunite with the dedicated MCC team, and we were thrilled to connect with new partners who share our commitment to impactful, forward-thinking youth initiatives.
We’re looking forward to what’s ahead with For YOUth Information and can’t wait to see the ideas, partnerships, and outcomes that emerge. Stay tuned for updates as we dive deeper into this journey!
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VOICE training in Granada – from Boris:
I recently attended an exciting training course centered around ethical journalism, and media. The experience was both eye-opening and empowering, filled with insightful discussions on the responsibilities and impact of journalists in today's media landscape. We explored the principles of ethical reporting, fact-checking, and transparency, learning practical skills to tackle the challenges of misinformation and bias as well as innovative media tools such as AI. From engaging workshops to real-world examples the course provided us with tools and content that respects truth and integrity and will help us with the further piloting of the program. Overall, it was a valuable opportunity that showed the importance of ethical standards in journalism, leaving us, the participants more equipped to contribute positively to our local communities.
And from Kremena:
Do you know where Granada is? Have you ever been there? I didn’t before I got involved in the VOICE project thanks to Erasmus+ and Raya. I lived in the USA for many years. I have traveled a lot around the world, but definitely of all the places I have visited, Granada it will remain one of my favorite places. Some people say that Granada is the eighth wonder of the world, and I tend to agree with them. Here in Granada, we learned how to implement ethical journalism but firstly - what is it in its essence and what are the different types of journalism. Using digital tools, we had a lot of fun workshops fostering creativity and thinking out of the box.
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Special birthday wishes to Dimithar Dimitrov and Emma!
In the spooky month of October we celebrated the birthdays of our long-term volunteer Dimithar and our intern, Emma! We wish them both an amazing personal year ahead! <3