Monthly eddition | December 2019
Issue â„– 20
YOUTH VIBES International Center for Development of Education and Training
MERRY
www.icdetbg.eu/
International Center for Development of Education and Training
Youth VibE+s is the life style part of E+Media4YOUth media portal, collecting storyes of the participatin youth in different activities under Erasmus+ program and making their dissemination. All materials are made by the participants. The monthly most interesting materials are published in this electronic magazine, using the most innovative ISSUU platform as the most popular among young people in Europe and the world. The electronic edition is full of well-selected photo and text materials that makes reading enjoyable and useful to you.
The electronic edition is full of well-selected photo and text materials that makes reading enjoyable and useful to you.
www.icdetbg.eu/
Monthly eddition | December 2019
ECO
-mission 21th century
Author: Pepa Garkova
„Ecomission 21th century“ is an NGO in Lovech that focuses on working with young people to improve their environment.
www.icdetbg.eu/
Issue № 20
Over the years, shortterm as well as long-term activities are carried out involving young people from the city and the surrounding area. During my years of volunteering, projects have been implemented in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, but the organization's key activity is at a local level, where it is a unique place gathering youngsters with a spirit and desire for change. From working with kindergartens, through home care and cleaning parks and alleys, the volunteers of Ecomission and the European Voluntary Service make Lovech a better place to live. Some of their activities are:
Summer activities organized outdoors and in the organization‘s building. Every summer, children's camps and workshops are organized in which all children learn new things and have fun with their peers. Summer activities organized outdoors and in the organization‘s building. Every year, campaigns are conducted with local law enforcement to reduce student accidents. Flyers are distributed to drivers passing by schools on 15.09. and are advised on safer driving. The youngsters talk to police officers and discuss possible improvements in driving conditions together.
Monthly eddition | December 2019
The volunteers of Ecomission 21th century are given the opportunity to ask their questions and voice their opinions to the local government, thus giving publicity to the needs of their peers. Thanks to such meetings, as well as the Mayor for a Day campaign, the youth of the city are immersed in the work of the governors and better understand their daily obstacles. EVS volunteers actively participate with the help of the Bulgarian volunteers of Ecomission. Each EVS volunteer can come up with ideas and take initiatives with students, children in kindergartens, children in orphanages and etc. Depending on the experience of each volunteer, workshops and discussions are organized for the children, mainly concerned with the protection and improvement of the environment, informing them of problems and solutions.
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Meetings are held with students from all high schools in the city, including debates on a variety of topics that are important to them - career guidance, emigration and many more. In addition to the young people, these conversations also allow volunteers to practice their public speaking and improve their reasoning skills.
Meetings are also held with children from at-risk backgrounds to support their integration and improve their learning opportunities. The problems that children face and the differences in cultural and social aspects are discussed, as well as many common features of all people. For their contribution, the Ecomission volunteers receive honors from the Knight of Goodwill (NARD), Volunteer of the Year, and more. Thanks to their work with children and other risk groups, part of the volunteers are professionally starting work as social workers, psychologists and coordinators of their own organizations. In addition to young people, the Ecomission works with local orphanages, turning holidays into memorable experience for the residents. Volunteers prepare food, cards and gifts to please people and spend time with them to diversify their daily lives.
Monthly eddition | December 2019
Issue â„– 20
How ERASMUS+ changed my life Author: Stilyan Ivanov Hello! I am Stilyan Ivanov and I am a translator in the voice over industry which means that I translate the text of movies and documentaries for television and then voice actors read the lines in Bulgarian language. It’s something I wanted to do since I was 14 years old and I got to it during my second year at the university – way much earlier than I had thought.
In my free time I usually watch movies and TV series. I am a big Marvel fan and I love seeing the films along with the other fans in the theater. Our mutual reactions change watching the movie into a whole different experience. I also draw portraits of people and sometimes I do commissions, but it is more of a hobby than a way of making money.
In early 2015 I learned about the Erasmus+ program by one of my best friends. I’ll never forget that day. I usually sleep until the afternoon, so when my phone rang at around 10 a.m. and woke me up, I was pretty annoyed. The first thing I said in a gruff voice was: “What do you want?” to which he replied with the simple question: “Do you want to go to Greece?”. Then he briefly explained what this Erasmus+ project was about and later the same day I was already in. It was going to be my first time abroad which made everything even more exciting. After that I definitely returned home as an improved version of myself. My second one was almost a year later in Poland with the same friend. Back then I relied on him because I thought applying for projects was something hard that included tons of paperwork but when I found out this wasn’t the case, I took matters in my own hands. The coolest part of my job is that it doesn’t require me to go to an office and I can translate movies from anywhere as long as I have my laptop with me. That’s why I try to participate in youth exchanges almost every month. I’ve already been to roughly 20 countries and I’ve met hundreds of people. With many of them we still keep in touch and have met after our projects either in their countries, my country or somewhere around Europe. I’ve even stumbled upon some participants by pure coincidence which only proves that, indeed, the world is small. Or at least Europe is. Not to mention all the amazing things from the past few years – they are more than the ones which happened to me over the course of 20 years! Lately, I’ve been thinking of getting involved with the Erasmus+ program professionally, which only goes on to prove that my life was changed forever.
Monthly eddition | December 2019
Issue № 20
YE “Make Social Inclusion Happen”
@Costinesti, Romania
Author: Ognian Gabrovski
The project “Make social Inclusion happen” lasted 10 days from the 19th of September until 29th of September in Costinești (Constanța, Romania). More than 60 participants took part in the project. In the first 2 days, the participants had to go through fun team building activities, bond with each other, learn how to work in teams, and develop abilities to speak in front of a large audience. In the next days the social inclusion started to happen. With activities like “Ask me anything”, “Masks” and “Stand Points”, the participants opened up to one another and educated themselves on different subjects like Muslim religion, LGBTQ+, depression and anxiety, bullying, disability and much more. It was surprising how open everyone was and how willing to learn and to teach the participants were.
“Masks” was an activity aimed to make people open up to each other. Each participant had to draw the mask they use to hide their emotions and thoughts and explain why they chose to hide behind that particular mask. “Stand Points” was an activity that aimed to make people express their own opinions and acknowledge someone else’s. We split the main area into three: one for agree, the other for disagree and the middle one for neutral, then we asked them questions. After everyone was separated, all sides had to choose a representant and to have a debate.
Youth exchange After the main activities the participants had to split up into random teams, travel to Constanța and apply all the social skills they have acquired in public. Every had came up with a different social experiment which they had to do in different places, one of the activities they had come up with was taking pictures of people before and after they were told they were beautiful. The results were truly amazing. Two nights in a row the participants from every country had the chance to share interesting facts about their home land culture. A lot of National dances were shown, games were played, and traditional food was eaten. After the study visit, the participants had time to spend with one another and say their goodbyes and make plans for meeting up again in the future.
Monthly eddition | December 2019
Issue â„– 20
Non-formal education as an university degree Author: Iliyana Zaharieva
The education is power. t gives you many opportunities in your life and opens doors for you every day. The non-formal education does the same - it gives chances to everybody to study no matter how old you are, where you come from and where you want to be.
www.icdetbg.eu/
That’s way I decided to study “Non-formal education” and to work in the field of education. I believe that everyone deserves to be educated, to learn throughout his whole life so you can change the world around and make it better.
No n -fo rm al educ ati on a s un iversi t y deg ree
There are countries around the world where educational system is not developed enough to provide quality education for everybody. A lot of people are illiterate, and this creates difficulties for them. For sad, many children dream of going to school like normal kids. In such situations the non-formal education takes actions. Non-formal means that you don’t need a classroom with desks and chairs, whiteboard and a teacher in front to learn something new. In non-formal education you can learn from every member of the group, practice in real situations, learning by doing. It is community related, flexible, learner-centered, resource saving, lifelong. Non-formal education not only helps to “fill the gap” in formal education system, but teach you lessons that you can’t learn at school.
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Since the academic year 2008/2009 in the Faculty of Education in Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski� a new B.A. program in Non-formal Education is opening. Sofia University is the only university in Bulgaria and one of the few in Europe to offer this degree to the students. It is aimed to prepare higher educated personnel for the needs of the intensive developing extra curriculum and alternative educational services for children and adults, offered by specialized public, private and non-profit organizations outside the formal educational system. During their study students obtain general humanitarian, social and organizational competences, fundamental, specialized and practice-oriented trainings for educational work with children, youths and adults in non-formal, alternative educational field; complex preparation for working in a wide number of educational institutions for extra curriculum and continuing education, free time studies, consultation and mediation in searching and choosing educational services. After mastering the basic skills and knowledge students, in accordance with their interests and professional plans, can determinate their own professional profile by choosing among following modules and sub-modules: Consultation and mediation in the field of non-formal education; Organization of educational services and activities; European educational network; Educational activities in the community.
Depending of their professional specialization graduate students acquire qualification respectively as lecturer, consultant and mediator in the area of non-formal education, or lecturer and administrator of educational services and activities. They can work as educational services administrators in public, private and non-government organization, experts in European educational institutions and networks for non-formal education, as self-employed consultants of vocational and educational orientation and career development, as adult education specialists, experts in the centers for continuing vocational training and qualification of educational staff etc. As students we have the opportunities to participate in different projects, to collaborate with other universities and to share ideas with students from around the globe. We can participate in Erasmus+ mobility program for students where we can go to study abroad for one academic year and then to go back to your university. Lastly I want to quote Nelson Mandela who says: Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. So does the non-formal education. www.icdetbg.eu/
Monthly eddition | December 2019
Issue â„– 20
What makes an active citizen? BELIEVE IN MAKING DIFFERENCE Author: Rumyana Gargavelova Active citizenship associates with an active citizenry, having the authority to engage in flexible decision making as characterized from influential citizen participation which contains activities like voting, joining public hearings, being part of citizen boards and participating in public opinion analyses. Active citizenship means people getting involved in their local communities and democracy at all levels, from towns to cities to nationwide activity. Individuals that define themselves as active citizens have the belief that poverty, disease and famine are just as deadly and destructive as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis. Active citizenship can be as small as a campaign to clean up your street or as big as educating young people about democratic values, skills and participation. Active citizenship is one of the most important steps towards healthy societies especially in new democracies like Bulgaria. Youth are the core of the development process of each nation with holding the key of changing or continuing policies, but their contributions will not achieve full impact unless they are engaged in their nation as a whole. Furthermore, democracy does not only give certain rights to people, but it also suggests the “obligation� to appreciate the opinions of others. This was seen to be especially vital for youth, to teach them that they had to take account of the interests of others. Young people should be engaged to civic issues if the government allows them to do so. www.icdetbg.eu/
"No one is born a good citizen or a good democrat or a good leader; it takes time and education." /Kofi Annan/
The future of democracy is dependent on the possibility for the young to participate in the democratic process or, paraphrasing Kofi Annan, to include young people from birth. This is directly
connected to the capacity of the education system to nurture young people who are aware of their rights and responsibilities as citizens, take action for social and environmental justice, hold their governments accountable and stand up for other people’s rights. Young people might be active in their communities in many different ways. For example, some people choose to get involved in issues or causes that directly affect their lives at a local level, while others might want to do something to make a difference to a cause that has an impact globally. Lately, there has been a significant interest among young people to fight climate change. Further interests include campaigns against war crimes, discrimination and child labour. Thus, one of the most important ways for young people to become involved in the community life and become more politically active is to take action locally.
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In this way they will be better aware of the specific issues that have a direct impact at their personal growth and development. Participating in youth organizations, global networks and NGOs can be considered as a great option for young people to make a difference at local, national and international level. Demonstrations, strikes, and sit-ins are all ways that an active citizen might work toward the change he/she believes in. Famous activist organizations are: The Sierra Club, Amnesty International, Black Lives Matter, Professors without borders, etc.
Advice & Tips on How to Show a Good Citizenship: - Encourage others to make a change; - Volunteer; - Start a blog about local issues; - Participate in the community; - Stay informed about the world around you; - Protect the environment; - Respect the rights and property of others; - Take responsibility for your action; - Organize a community gathering; - Help people in need; - Have a good understanding of the government.
To conclude, active citizenship is a combination of knowledge, attitude, skills and actions that aim to contribute to building and maintaining a decision society. Active Citizenship supports democratic cooperation that is based on the acceptance of universal human rights and the rule of law, values diversity and includes the whole community.
Stop blaming, start acting!
"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."
Design: Maria Voycheva