Earlier this March, we had the opportunity to participate in a training course ‘Digital Yin-Yang in Youth Work’, which was organized in a Croatian village called Stubičke Toplice, close to the capital city of Zagreb. Besides Slovakia and Croatia, the other participating countries were Portugal, Bulgaria, Greece, Estonia, and Germany. This project was focused on digital tools and the way of finding the right balance between online and offline aspects of youth work, and here is a breakdown of what we have done and learned.
🤝🌍The role of media, digital tools, and the “online world” in youth work and everyday life:
The activities were mostly related to digital tools that might be useful for people involved in youth work, NGOs, or project management. We were not only introduced to many interesting tools by the trainers, but also by other participants, who had a space to talk about the tools they find handy and relevant. We also discussed the role of media in our everyday life, talked about the current trends, and the risks of media consumption related to conspiracy theories, and we also discussed how to find the balance between offline and online activities in youth work.
🤝🌍Project planning:
Our task during the project was to develop a project idea that would tackle an important issue from our country or community, present it, and create a plan for the implementation using digital tools that were presented to us. In national teams, we all came up with interesting ideas focusing on mental health, unemployment, the generation gap, entrepreneurship, and Erasmus+.
🤝🌍Intercultural evening:
During our intercultural evening, we tried various snacks and food from all the participating countries, played songs, danced, and had discussions about many different topics in the context of our countries. In this way, we were all able to present our country’s culture and traditions and learn about other countries and other people’s perspectives on the discussed topics.
🤝🌍Free time & 🤝🌍Exploring Zagreb
Besides learning and working, we also had free time to hang out together, play games, swim in the pool, and simply have fun.
🤝🌍After the project ended, we had a chance to stay in Zagreb, explore it, and enjoy the atmosphere of the capital city of Croatia. We visited very nice places all around the city, tried the typical Croatian cuisine, attended the ongoing light festival, and enjoyed the sunny days together. Thanks to the project, we gained a lot of new information, knowledge, and practice related to digitalization, Erasmus+, and project planning, and met amazing people from various countries.
It was a great experience, and we would love to attend an Erasmus+ project again in the future because it is definitely worth it!
