Lots and lots of youth!

Spring is around us, indecisive, near-summer, almost-not cold, keeping us with a jacket in hand and an umbrella in our backpacks. But we aren’t as unsure - as activities are waking up around us, we want to share with you a bit about our very active month of April and everything that happened!

Looking back:

HEY PEOPLE partners meeting in Germany

We met up with partners for our project HEY PEOPLE in the beginning of the month, in Heidelberg, Germany. We spent two half-days together, collaborating on the future of the project and reviewing our progress – and on that note, have you seen the Dear Future Manager tab on the hey-people.eu website? If not, maybe you’d like to spend 5 minutes there to learn about yourself and your relationship with the world and the causes most important to you, while also thinking about your future career. We are also planning some exciting events in Bulgaria to discuss career opportunities and share some inspiring stories!

Start of youth group in Sofia

From Raya:

I have been so excited about the youth groups we started this month, it’s basically all I’ve been talking about. The youth group has 10 participants all together, and we meet once a week to follow along the methodology of Centrs MARTA on healthy relationships. So far, the youth group has met up 4 times (the 4th was just the other day, on the 30th!) and together we have covered topics like getting to know myself and the group, emotions and what behaviors are associated with them, as well as friendships and non-violent communication. The methodology invites us to 17 meetings, and is also currently running in Pernik with our friends from Let’s be friends club!

Youth Match Point Kick-Off Meeting

From Ali:

TFN team travelled to Athens, Greece on the 19th of April for the first kick-off of the year for the project Youth Match Point! We were hosted by our long time and beloved partners HIGGS. Youth Match Point is a project focused and centered on connecting youth workers and youngsters together, providing them the guidance and opportunities to create something wonderful together!

The kick-off was a great success, everyone said that it was one of the most productive kick-offs they've attended, and the group dynamic was pleasant and collaborative from the start. We spent almost the entire day together, getting to know each other better! A little spoiler for next month, this won’t be the only time this year we will be travelling to Athens for a kick-off :D

VOICE Kick-Off Meeting – Our intern Emma joined us for the kick-off meeting of VOICE and here’s what she has to say about the experience: ?

On the 21st of April we arrived at Bratislava airport. Besides the freezing wind there were no issues and we got to the apartment on time. The city of Trnava is a charming and quiet place worth visiting. We enjoyed the local cafes and beautiful churches within the city walls.

The next day was dedicated entirely to the VOICE meeting. It took place in the welcoming, newly opened office of European Dialogue in Trnava. After the arrival of every partner the project coordinators - Ofensiva Tinerilor (Romania), opened the meeting with a detailed overview of the action plan. They invited every organization to share their ideas on certain activities they have chosen to navigate.

It was a very structured meeting with a few refreshing breaks and one lunch break during which we enjoyed traditional Slovak meals.

By the end of the meeting we had decided our further steps, including the next big meeting in October. Everyone had presented their part of the project followed by discussions on unresolved issues such as the platform for VOICE.

The atmosphere was amicable and at ease.

At the end of the day, we even surprised a member of European Dialogue for his birthday and that was the cherry on top that made the experience something more than a work meeting!

We are grateful to our partners - Celje Youth center (Slovenia), European Dialogue (Slovakia), Docete Omnes (Spain) and Ofensiva Tinerilor (Romania) for making us fall in love with Trnava and with youth work in general.

Theatre festival in Kazanlak

Raya and Emma also spent 4 days in Kazanlak at the end of the month, at the National Theatre Festival for children and youth “Teatralni iskri” (Theatre sparks), hosted by and in community centre "Iskra" (Spark). There, we talked to young people from across the country about our activities, with good neighbors from ABLE Mentor and Teenovator, and we also held 3 workshops! In one we played games for a break from the theatre activities; in the second, we talked about stereotypes and prejudice, inspired by our project AMOR, and on the last day, we had an art workshop – one created for our FPDT project, talking about the aesthetics of socialism and how they have affected – and still affect us.

We were so inspired by the atmosphere, we also organized a quick giveaway, and found our winner, who gets a board game! We’re planning on making another one soon, so stick around!

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Moving forward:

We’re looking forward to the Easter holidays and a few days to recharge our batteries!

In May, we will be hosting a seminar for the Female Perspectives project, in Sofia – for which we are very excited! Participants will be joining us from all over Europe!

We are continuing our youth group, and we are also organizing some creative storytelling workshops within the HEY PEOPLE! project!

And with all the excitement around our giveaway we’re thinking about having another one next month – join us over on Instagram to make sure you don’t miss out!