My goal was to dive deeper into the structure of youth work and understand how this system works, not only in Estonia, but also in other countries.
“The aim of the long-term capacity-building project “UPGRADE” is to exchange experiences in working with youth, the creation of new ideas for improving the effectiveness of youth work, as well as preparing for the upcoming youth exchanges in Tbilisi and Kiev. Since I am not yet a youth worker or teacher, the most important thing for me was not so much to share my experience, but to listen to others and try to learn from other people’s mistakes or vice versa. However, after a couple of days, I realized that I also have enough experience to share it with others.
My goal was to dive deeper into the structure of youth work and understand how this system works, not only in Estonia, but also in other countries. For me, it was surprising to learn that, compared with Poland, Georgia and Ukraine, Estonia is much more developed in terms of supporting youth (organizing events, sponsoring youth projects and ideas in creating something).
For all six days spent on the project, the most memorable teaching methods and activities were: a ladder of ways to attract young people and the creation of mini-scenes based on one of them; trust games and team building; a lecture on the behaviors of a youth worker (authoritarian, democratic …) and group work to present their sketches; explanation of the concept and meaning of debriefing; and the coolest thing was the creation of a master class in small groups of people interested in the chosen topic.
In the free time between the sessions it was nice to chat with other participants and learn about why each of them decided to take part in this project. Also, thanks to the creation of our master class, our group became very united, since the topic of oratory (the theme of our master class) was close and fascinating to us all. The common cause quickly brought us closer and by the end of the project we parted with tears in our eyes.
This was my first participation in a project abroad and, in my opinion, a rather high bar was set. All participants were open to communication, taught a lot and still support me in some of my endeavors.”
Katja Kulikova
We also got knowledge about leadership responsibilities and skills which really help me in my daily life.
“I always try to do work for youth, and my wish came true when I found Shokkin Group in Estonia. From 27th of July to 2nd of August this year, I got the opportunity to take part in the training course ‘Upgrade’ in Katowice, Poland.
The first day was brimming with vitality and energizing exercises, getting to know each other through different games and exercises to foster cooperation. We exchanged contacts and got to know each other better for further collaboration. At that point the time had come to share our very own aptitudes. We had the opportunity to create workshops for one another, utilizing our own understanding and learning. We created a total of four innovative workshops, with loads of new thoughts and energizers for making the day more upbeat.
We also got knowledge about leadership responsibilities and skills which really help me in my daily life. This project developed me in a different way. It was so interesting to share my thoughts with representatives of other cultures, to learn something new from each participating person. They were great people all somehow connected with youth work, so we really had topics to discuss and intercultural experience to share each other.
I am very grateful for having taken part of this project, and I feel that it has had an positive influence on me and will help me in upcoming days to generate new amazing ideas. I also love the people whom I met there, the location where we lived, the activities that we did. I would like to thank Shokkin Group, Droni, all the other participants and everybody who was somehow connected with this project for such a wonderful prospect of self-development and accomplishment of new professional levels. It was an amazing experience!”
Jobaida Yasmin
The skills that I learned there will no doubt stick with me for the rest of my life.
“During the week we worked on understanding youth work and how to better succeed in communicating with young people. We also had the chance to split into groups and design our own educational session on the topic of our choice. This turned out to be a very difficult challenge because our group had certain language barriers (which we successfully conquered). Every team was also given the chance to run their lesson with the other participants under the watchful eye of a skilled trainer.
Within a week I got to know so many new and interesting people and even though I was quite younger and less experienced, I still felt like I belonged to the group and brought valuable new insight to the tasks and problems that were handed to us. Also making new acquaintances with cool new people really opened my eyes towards the future and what careers are possible there. I am very grateful for the opportunity given to me by Shokkin Group, it was a mindblowing experience. The skills that I learned there will no doubt stick with me for the rest of my life and will always be useful, no matter what I’ll do.”
Kristo Peetermann