Avatars of Nógrád - 7 months EVS project in Hollókő

The 3rd edition of Creative Space EVS has been again great success in 2014. Five volunteers (Zuzana, Mariia, Maria, Katrina and Fedor) coming from 5 countries (Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia and Russia) committed themselves for 7 months to create a small international community living in Hollókő and supporting Creative Space in its grassroot youth work mission: create equal opportunities for children and youth in Nógrád county, one of the poorest region in Hungary. This EVS group organized English speaking action-based creative workshops in 5 villages (Rimóc, Nagylóc, Nógrádszakál, Endrefalva, Varsány), as well they supported local communities in severa ways.

Objectives of EVSers activities:

-       organize daily English speaking creative workshops in after school clubs to children and youth

-       giving information about Youth in Action and other EU possibilities,

-       support local initiatives of youth, Creative Space and other local NGOs

-       act as co-creator in the 4^th International Voluntary Camp

-       create media materials about EU topics

-       maintain the busy international community center: Creative Space

Creative Space is the only EVS accredited organisation in Nógrád county therefore the 5 volunteers had their uniqe role in the area to provide international events for the local communities and be an example of active European citizens. With the professional support of Creative Space staff EVS volunteers became more confident and responsbile, acquired and practiced 21st century professional and life skills, made decision on their own future. The project supported all of them to move forward in their professional and personal lives, they went through real-life experiences, did high quality youth work which enabled them to decide what education or profession they want to go on. They all succeeded to get into new university, or start a new job, one of them even settled in Hungary.

This EVS project is a unique opportunity for EVS volunteers as well as for local children and youth. Everyone who is connected to the project have the chance to be involved non-formal learning, know more about possibilties in the EU, start new initiatives. Local community highly appreciates the volunteers contribution and since 2012 the project became part of the life of the Szécsény micro-region and its importance is constantly increasing in the area by unlocking new potential in each project.

Links to the project:

www.kreativ-ter.hu

https://www.facebook.com/groups/358344838699/

http://raisingpeace2014.wordpress.com/2014/05/18/a-message-of-peace-from-maria-fedor-evs-volunteers-in-egyesek-hungary/

https://vimeo.com/100044552

https://vimeo.com/100731436

https://vimeo.com/100790604

https://www.facebook.com/evs.holloko

Creating Waves - 6 months EVS project in Hollókő

Creative Space Centre as the only one EVS accredited organisation in Nógrád county has been successfully implemented and improved its second long-term – 6 months – EVS project. In this edition 5 volunteers from 4 countries (Aida - Spain, Flávia - Portugal, Maja - Croatia, Manuel - Spain, Tihomir - Bulgaria) had the chance to participate in an intense learning process, while supporting the organisations’ goals and aims in terms of outreach grassroot rural youth work and rural community development.

After our first EVS project we have redesigned the programme and focused in a way that is more effective for the volunteers’ learning process as well as for the improvement of local roma and non roma children and youth and their communities. Nógrád county is one of the poorest in the region: youth unemployment rate is high, low access of education and information, youth projects are not known, low profile of public transportation, low level of mobility.

The volunteers arrived to this context in order to trigger youth in the area, actively involve them to non-formal, informal and intercultural learning. They were examples of an active European citizen who are able to find solutions to rural challenges and take action to increase their own and the local communities’ living standards. They proved that being less-opportunity youth themselves they can be role models to the other peers.

Volunteers reached the successes through 5 activity areas:

1. Organizing English speaking learning sessions to roma and non-roma children and youth in 5 villages (Nagylóc, Rimóc, Nógrádszakál, Varsány, Endrefalva).
2. Promoting YiA, EVS, scholarships, mobility projects, Creative Space youth programmes in high schools (Szécsény and Balassagyarmat).
3. Organizing events: creating English language clubs twice a week for local youth and social workers; they supported the organization of the 4^th International Voluntary Camp.
4. Creating their own project: Wrote and designed a game collection book grasping the tested games and activities they have implemented during ther EVS service and offering it to the next EVS volunteers as well to organisations which are working in similar context.
5. Maintaining a busy international community place – Creative Space in Hollókő – which gave home also to the volunteers.

This EVS project is an essential activity in the area since there is no other possibility for children and youth to be involved in intercultural, international projects. The volunteers became part of the community, they were acknowledged and welcomed by all stakeholders as well by the target groups. Their presence and pro-active service brings new waves and ideas to the local people’s life, raising their awareness of social inclusion and volunteering. Organizing common activities with them enables local youth to put their ideas into action and get extra support to increase the quality of their living standards. Meanwhile EVS volunteers are improving their own professional and personal skills supported by a reinforced mentorship.

By the 6 months waves were created and Youth in Action just become known in the area, youngsters take responsibility for their lives, applies to projects in Creative Space and abroad, organize voluntary actions by themselves. These processes were initiated and strengthened by the EVS project.

Links to the project:

Creative Space homepage: www.kreativ-ter.hu

Creative Space Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/358344838699/

4th International Voluntary Camp by Manuel: https://vimeo.com/70340540

Ready, Steady… GO! Games collection book by the EVSers: link will be published soon.

Breakaway - Grundtvig LLP project

The project originates from the match of development needs and existing expertise of the partners. Each partner offers their expertise in order to train the staff of the others. We offer a personalized learning-path to our staff, designed by each learner matching their level, interest, motivation and skills-development needs, built on their active participation and responsibility for their own learning process, and the principle of ‘learning organisation’.

Partners are NGOs from the Netherlands, France, Germany, Hungary active in international networks of non-formal education in the non-profit civic sector, working with multicultural groups of diverse social backgrounds and disadvantaged people as priority, in a variety of methods and themes.

Target group is facilitators of adult learning groups (trainers, coaches, mentors, instructors, community workers) using non-formal methods in our NGOs and networks.

The objective is the professional development of group facilitators and organizations. We aim to improve skills specific to working with groups in non-formal education, through this to increase efficiency of staff and organizations, share, multiply, adapt and integrate know-how and best practices, lay the base for future cooperation.

We offer 2 kinds of learning opportunities:

• participation in training courses run within the partnership, aiming development of professional skills in specific area
• mentored or coached work experience spent at the partner organizations

The theme is the common feature of our work: the dynamics of the group setting and the skills of the group facilitator. We define and improve the basic skill-set of facilitators, share methods used successfully for this aim and revise or staff development strategies.

Breakaway is a project funded by EU under the
Grundtvig frame offering opportunities for lifelong learning.

More information: http://breakaway-project.eu/
www.facebook.com/BreakawayGrundtvig

Humour in Diversity

Communication in intercultural youth work

Training course in Creative Space, Hollókő, Hungary

17-26 of April, 2013

Humour in Diversity was a 10 days long training course realized in Creative Space Training Centre in Hollókő, Hungary 17-26 of April 2013. Participants were 32 young people supported by one trainer, 2 experts, and the support staff (7 persons). The 42 young people that participated came from 11 countries: Hungary, Kosovo, Georgia, Romania, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Armenia, Serbia, Latvia, Macedonia, Croatia.

Themes of the training course were:

-Communication in intercultural situations in youth work

-Team work with the use of communication skills, styles, tools

-Humour as a tool in communication and in intercultural youth work

Objectives were:

-To improve social, personal and professional skills of youth workers by improving their communication skills and the sense of humour

-To develop tolerance between different cultures by getting to know, highlighting their expression of happiness

-To provide information and share best practices of communication in intercultural groups

-To strenghten cooperation and communication between the presented NGO’s

-To give space, provide information and encouragement to actions and project ideas arising from deep creativity

The method we used was non-formal education: we held workshops, we worked in small/big and mixed groups, shared experiences, gave feedback, held midterm and final evaluation.  Activities included skills-development workshops on cultural awareness, self-assessment, improvement of key competencies, sharing practices in communication, cultural presentations, outdoor activities, methods from theatre, dance and creative expression as well as media. We involved participants in all project phases, they took an active role in the preparation, implementation of program parts and integrated the results into their activities in their countries during follow-up, dissemination and into new projects.

The aim was to strengthen the cooperation between the NGOs by improving communication skills and key competences in order to develop more projects in cooperation with them.

Watch here the video report about the training course:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQStrACjPFU

This project has been funded with support of the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author. The Commission and the Hungarian National Agency can not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Youth for a Liveable Countryside - long-term EVS project - 01/05/2012 - 31/10/2012

Youth for a Liveable countryside was the first long-term – 6 months – EVS project in Nógrád county which is one of the most disadvantaged in Hungary. Five EVS volunteers (Lilit, Ruzan, Sacha, Julien, Landry) from three countries (Armenia, France, Portugal) were freshening up the rural area by offering their voluntary support to local children, youth and citizens. The power of volunteering and impact it creates was totally new experience for the local people. During the EVS service the volunteers successfully brought an example that EVS brings additional values in many different ways to the citizens’ and their communitites’ life. The EVSers were living in Hollókő, where the community place of Creative Space is located. They created sustainable, eco-friendly life and organized action based learning events for kids and youngsters in the nearby villages (Nagylóc, Rimóc, Nógrádszakál). They supported a local NGO (Magyar Szegénységellenes Alapítvány – Gyerekesély Program) in their afternoon school service (Tanoda) by adding English speaking, intercultural learning opportunities to the regular activities the Tanodas carried out. It was mutual learning process where EVSers and local social workers acquired non-formal learning methods and developed them on the field by putting it into practice. The volunteers were active in promoting the acitvities, projects, programmes of Creative Space in local high schools. They were promoting YiA and EVS programmes by doing outreach youth work and creating formal and informal relationship with the local high school students. All in all this project was a start of a new era in Szécsény micro region from the aspect of grassroot youth work and rural community development.
https://vimeo.com/54599154
Ruzan's comment on the project:
EVS in Hungary, in Hollókő (01.05.2012-01.11.2012)

Hello everyone who will read the story about my EVS ))
I am Ruzan 23 years old, I live in Armenia, in Yerevan, and I am eager to share with U My GREAT EVS experience that I had in Hungary, in Hollókő.
So, it was 2012 March when I got an E-mail, that I am chosen to do an EVS in Hungary and for that I should go for APV(Advanced Planning Visit) in April. I was so excited, I started to prepare everything for my trip to Hungary. In the beginning it was difficult to pesuade my father, because I have never lived alone abroad, but in the end I could, and I went for my APV. It was planned to be just 3 days. Krisztina, Eszter and Tomi took us to Hollókő. They showed us the amasingly beautiul village with all its sights, where we were going to live. I liked it so much, though I have never lived in such a small village. During that days we went to Tanodas, where we were going to work with children. It was in the villages near by Hollókő. When it came time to come back, we missed the plane, so we stayed there 2 more days. It was 2 days of challange and adventures. So, I came back to Armenia and started to prepare for a long trip, which were going to be 6 months.
In 1st of May I was already in Hungary, ready to do my EVS. First 10 days we had a training, which was called “Guide Your Life'' Basic Synergy Training, who had that kind of training can understand me. During that training we had a lot of challanges and fun with all participants. After the training everybody went back to their countries and we, with our EVS-ers, stayed to start our new life together. In the begining it was difficult to deal with everybody as we were from different countries living in the same house, shareing almost everything together. But after, little by little, we discovered each other's character and started to get used to each other. We were 5, from Armenia, Portugal and from France. Though we had a lot of difficulties during living together, but anyway it was so interesting, as we were working, traveling together, having a lot of fun. We were cooking together, trying to make every time something special, traditional from our countries. Singing and playing guitar was part of our everyday life, I will never forget the songs that me and Sacha were singing, when Julien was playing the guitar. In Tanoda, in Nagyloc, we found a new friend - Agie, we became so close, as she was also from one of us. We were doing almost everything together. She has so wonderfull family, many times we had parties with her family.
In July we had ''Fusion for Chance'' International Voluntary Camp, organised by Egyesek. There were almost 55 people from 15 different countries. We were all living together, we were going to Tanodas, playing with children, doing innovation in the house, painting the wooden houses, making some furniture and of course organising parties. During weekends we were going to spent our time out of Hollókő. Once 8 of us went to Ballaton, to the famous lake, and what was interesting and funny that we all slept in one small tent, which supposed to be for 2 person. So during this camp we had a lot of fun what is impossible to forget. And in the end of camp we had an ''Open Event'', we had guests and all of us present our countries in a very interesting and beautiful way.
During that 6 months we had another trainings as well, which were all so useful, interesting and funny))) The most favorite for me were ''RE-CREATE IT!'' and '' CASTING FOR LIFE'' dance training. In the end of dance training we had a concert in the prison and in the Cultural House, in Balassagyarmat. It gave me so many things, I got acquainted with many interesting and very good people, and I had so much wonderful time, that I will never forget.

This 6 months flied so fast. I know that good things end fast, anyway I will keep all good moments in my memory, all good people, my friends and everybody who helped me there so much. My dear friends- Sacha, Agie, Julien, Landry, Imanol, Celia, Pedro, Vaida, Andrea, Konstantina, Sophia and all the rest that I met during this time, I miss all of U and I hope that one day we will meet again ) And of course I want to say THANK YOU to Egyesek and Creative Space for this all Specially Krisztina, Eszter and Tomi.
This Is all about our EVS.
Thank U for reading ))))
https://www.facebook.com/groups/358344838699

Ilyenek nálunk a reggelek, és előfordulhat, hogy belül is valami ilyesmi történik veled a programjainkon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paPDzGhPeD8&feature=player_embedded