Last September, Shokkin Group sent three young enthusiasts from Estonia -Greete, Helen and Kasper- to take part in an Erasmus+ training course in Georgia to learn more about getting better visibility for youth organisations, including creating appealing visuals and sharing best practices about social media strategies.
The first day was full of energy and exciting activities. We started our team building in the Black Sea, learning to cooperate with each other and having fun at the same time. We began getting acquainted with each other through interactive games and tasks. After that, each of us offered specific knowledge and skills that we can share. We finished the day with the intercultural evening where we tasted delicious food of all participating countries, learned Ukrainian dances and traditional Kyrgyz games with sheep bones.
The second day was also interesting and educational. All participants presented their sending NGOs, we exchanged contacts and vital information for further cooperation. Then it was time to share our own skills. We had time to prepare workshops for each other, using our own experience and knowledge. Four groups came up with creative workshops on social media, PR and external communication, writing reports and working with visuals. The day was full of new experiences and lots of new ideas and skills. Energizers came to help for making the day interactive and joyful. We also celebrated Greete’s birthday.
On the third day we started with a world cafe type of workshop session which consisted of three smaller discussions where everyone could share their experience and learn about sponsorship, fundraising and creating visuals. The afternoon was free and we finished earlier to go to Batumi with all of the project group, as luckily this pearl of the Black Sea is only a short bus ride away. Everyone enjoyed the beautiful sunny day as they wanted – with shopping, chilling at the beach or exploring the city with a free walking tour of Batumi. The night ended with a traditional Georgian supra – a dinner with friends under the stars by the Black Sea. We enjoyed a lot of great traditional Georgian food and held many spontaneous speeches. The night was full of deep discussions and celebrating new friendships with people from all over the world.
The fourth day of the project was starting to get more practical. We were moving to the next phase to implement the learned skills from the previous days for our own organisations. All the participants were working within their national groups. The main task was to find a problem or deficit in the current work of their NGO. In the morning we had to come up with a new idea for tackling the problems. Before lunch we introduced our idea to the group and got initial feedback. After debriefing we met again in our national groups to further develop and finalize our plans. Before dinner we had another meeting to show our progress and discuss about our final work.
The last day of the training course “Show Up!” was full of emotions. After very fruitful five days of working together, we planned dissemination strategies to share new knowledge and competences with our local organizations, communities and peers. We decided to make blogs, reports, social media posts and articles about the project using the skills we acquired during the training course.
After presenting different plans and getting inspired from each other, our group started working on ideas about future projects. The final and saddest part of the day was evaluation and Youth Pass certificates, as it meant that the project officially had to end.
However, we were happy that this project was both educational and fun and we learned a lot on this week. It was a great opportunity to meet new people from different countries and enjoy wonderful time in Georgia.
Greete, Helen and Kasper
Shokkin participants of “Show UP!”
