Bump it up! magazine
22
Bump It Up! Bump It Up! Training Course about visibility, dissemination and internal communication of European youth projects
-
Upload
europimpulse-formation -
Category
Documents
-
view
226 -
download
3
description
Â
Transcript of Bump it up! magazine
Bump It Up!
Bump It Up!
Training Course about visibility, dissemination and internal communication of European youth projects
Bump It Up!
Table of Contents
Foreword ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Who we are ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Fluffy Socks and Lollipops ........................................................................................................ 5
Learning by Doing .......................................................................................................................... 6
PICTURE OF YOU – PICTURE OF ME ......................................................................................... 6
CREACTIVE ................................................................................................................................... 7
EUROANIMA ................................................................................................................................ 7
ACE – WHAT IS YOUTH WORK? ................................................................................................ 7
Best Practices & Open Space ................................................................................................... 8
National Team Interviews ............................................................................................................. 9
UK – John Grace .......................................................................................................................... 9
Romania – Rasvan-Victor Sassu, Andrea Timilie, Andreea Raluca Neagu ....................... 10
Hungary – Bea Bartfai, Dora Pasethory ................................................................................ 11
Greece – Vasiliki Mitsiniotou .................................................................................................. 13
Guests Visits & Input ................................................................................................................... 14
WHOT?! ...................................................................................................................................... 14
Léargas – Ivanna Darcy ........................................................................................................... 15
ENAR Ireland – Shane O’Curry (Director) .............................................................................. 15
Dundalk FM Local Community Radio – Alan Byrne (Station Manager) ........................... 16
Final Output & Impact ................................................................................................................. 16
Impact on the participants ..................................................................................................... 16
Impact on the organizations .................................................................................................. 17
Impact on the target groups .................................................................................................. 18
Future Plans .................................................................................................................................. 18
Contact information .................................................................................................................... 19
Bump It Up!
Foreword
‘Bump It Up! Visibility Matters. Dissemination of Erasmus+ project and Open Space for
European Networking’ training course in Ireland had the main objective of exploring the
concepts and benefits of working on visibility and dissemination of (European) youth and
community projects by means of a well elaborated communication strategy and build
network between participating organizations. In other words ‘Bump It Up!’ means
formulating a communication strategy, making your work visible and sharing your results
that you are proud of and that can contribute to the work of others!
We believe that youth and community organizations make a huge contribution to society
and it is time to start talking about it and make these contributions more seen! Young
people may run beautiful projects with the help of youth organizations, having a huge
impact on their personal growth and development, but if they don’t spread the word, the
results and the benefits to large society, the chances are that all that great work and
learning will be missed in the eyes of funders and stakeholders and the projects may lack
support.
We were bumping projects up together with 30 participants and 3 trainers from Ireland,
Spain, The Nederland’s, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary, Georgia, Ukraine,
Greece, UK and Belgium! 15 participating organizations. This training course brought
together youth and community workers, volunteers, youth leaders, young activist and
media professionals to work together in rainy Ireland and to develop new partnerships
that we hope will last life time!
We can truly say that it has been a privilege to work with such a talented and inspirational
group of people! We are hoping to develop many European projects with the same
organizations in the future. We also hope that readers of this magazine find information
relevant to their own work and most importantly be inspired by the energy and creativity
of Bump It Up group!
Aiste Slajute, Maartje Bulthuis & Jean-François Alberghi
Bump It Up!
Who we are
Bump It Up!
Fluffy Socks and Lollipops
While Irelands’ strong wind, never ending rain and snow tried to freeze us in the first
minutes at the airport, our welcome to the island could not be warmer; our trainers had
brought fluffy socks and lollipops for all of us who were not fully prepared for this
temperature.
When almost all the participants had arrived, it was time to travel to the Wicklow
Mountains, eighty kilometers below Dublin. A little yellow bus brought us to the beauty of
Irelands’ highlands. The division of the houses with a silent house, a little less silent house
and a party house made everybody feel like home.
Our stay at Kippure Estate was in the middle of Irelands’ nature. A bigger difference with
urban Dublin was impossible. After four days of being surrounded by silence, it was time
to switch from the nature of Kippure Estate to the Abby Court. The biggest youth hostel
in the middle of the Dublins’ city centre was our next place to stay.
Bump It Up!
Learning by Doing
In this training course we are working on the visibility, dissemination and internal
communication in European youth projects. Because we think that we learn the most by
doing, the participants are invited to share their ideas for future projects. During the week
we have been working on four projects, introduced by people from different countries
and organizations.
Participants have been working in teams to create strong, sustainable projects that can
be turned into real exchanges, training courses or seminars. Thanks to our diverse groups,
we have been working on various concepts and ideas. In the meantime this training
course was an opportunity to build networks with other represented organizations within
the group.
The four projects we have been working on:
PICTURE OF YOU – PICTURE OF ME
International youth exchange to encourage inclusiveness of OTHERS - someone who
experienced life in a different light.
Under the Picture of me - Picture of you project, we organize a youth exchange between
EU and MENA countries. Our objective is to raise awareness of social exclusion of people
who are marginalized such as drug-addicts, homeless people and prostitutes. Participants
will have an intercultural experience, gain knowledge of the issues experienced by the
excluded people and learn how to use media skills.
Bump It Up!
CREACTIVE
A training course for youth workers to develop a shared understanding which will
encourage youth participation on a social and political level in the Euromed-region
through the use of creative methods
A week long training course in Valencia, Spain, for 30 youth workers from 15 Euromed-
countries to create good methods that inspires young people to participate in social and
political action. With balanced corporation based on cross cultural learning between
Euromed-countries a shared understanding on youth participation will be achieved.
Through the use of socially responsible journalism this training creates a platform to
stimulate youth citizenship participation.
EUROANIMA
A 7 day training course that provides animation art techniques for educators across
Europe.
EuroAnima is bringing animation, inspiration and imagination to education. It's a 7 day
training course in Thessaloniki (Greece), teaching animation to educators and
encouraging them to use it in both formal and non-formal education. Participants will
learn basic principles of stop motion animation. They will be animating, editing and using
sound design. The training will result in a series of unique short films across Europe!
ACE – WHAT IS YOUTH WORK?
A CONTACT MAKING SEMINAR - youth work recognition through youth participation and
active citizenship.
If you got a 100 people in a room, most of them would have a very different understanding
of what youth work is. Through respecting and embracing the differences, sharing
understandings, we are aiming to organize a contact making seminar to build up bridges
across Europe towards youth work recognition. Through personal connection, non-formal
education and open conversation. It's a form of a retreat to plan a multimeasure project
"ACE" (association | conversation | education).
Bump It Up!
Best Practices & Open Space
Another part of the training was our tool session. By sharing our best practices everybody
was invited to share his or her experience with different (online) tools. All the useful
websites and other tools are now collected in a document that is accessible for all
participants.
During the daily Open Space, experts in different work fields organized workshops to
support and inspire others with creative ideas. Topics discussed that were discussed were
for example; logo design, social media management, the possibilities of Erasmus+ (key
actions one, two and three) and the creation of an animation video.
Click below to see the Bump It Up! animation, created by Dimitris Savvaidis:
Bump It Up!
National Team Interviews
UK – John Grace
What’s the most common stereotype about your country?
It is possibly the notion of the British being hostile to other countries. I remember for
example that 2 years ago Romanians could travel freely to Gr. Britain and that caused
xenophobia. There were media people using phrases like “there are worries about a
Romanian flood”. And that caused worries at the other side, in Romania, that the British
would hate Romanians when they would visit Romania during holidays. But I wouldn’t say
that this is the most common stereotype. I think the British our mostly viewed as the “Little
Englanders”, the ones who only care about their own affairs, their little island. This is
especially so when it comes to Europe, the British don’t come across as open and positive
towards Europe but as the ones that want to be protective of their own space.
I think the British our mostly viewed as the “Little Englanders”, the ones who only care about
their own affairs, their little island. This is especially so when it comes to Europe.” John Grace,
UK
Which way of communication in your country you consider the most important and
what can we learn from it?
I think that for the people in my age, traditional media is the most important one but for
the young people it’s the social media now, as for the people in between I would say it is
both the telephone and the internet. But there is also a class divide. Not all young people
have access to the internet. And there are poor kids that don’t have mobile phones either
so we should keep that in mind. When it comes to the state and its ways of communication
I would say it is digitally driven. There are lots of things you can do online. Of course there
are lots of things we can say about the state and its communication from and towards it.
Bump It Up!
There has always been a big tradition of satire, a way of puncturing the ego of the elite
through the media and series such as the Black Ander!
Via which tool can we improve our European communication?
Face to face communication and especially training courses like this one bring people
together! It is a chance to have people living together. They talk, cook and live together.
There are the simple things we can share and this way we come together communally and
share the differences. It’s like when we make a salad, we all put zucchini or tomatoes but
we do it in a different way. In other words, I believe it’s the absence of communication and
meeting each other that creates the lack of understanding.
Anything to share?
Like I said, we should be more together!
Romania – Rasvan-Victor Sassu, Andrea Timilie, Andreea Raluca Neagu
What’s the most common stereotype about your country?
“It is poverty. We are viewed as poor people that have to go abroad for a better future.”
Andrea and Andreea agree. “It is sometimes connected with stereotypes concerning the
Gipsy people because there are a lot of them in Romania. Things like that” says Andreea
Raluca.
Which way of communication in your country you consider the most important and
what can we learn from it?
In Romania face to face communication is very important. People need to stay close in
real life and that is how they communicate.
“There are a lot of expressions, gestures and emotions”, says Andrea Timilie. And she goes
on saying that Romanians are more accustomed to sincere, direct communication forms.
“We don’t fake. We don’t use mediating forms of communication because it is tiring, the
Bump It Up!
communication is not so rich”. Face to face communication is all about energy and
enthusiasm in communication, they all agree, “it’s about getting more information”
Face to face communication is all about energy and enthusiasm in communication, it’s
about getting more information!” Rasvan-Victor Sassu, Andrea Timilie, Andreea Raluca Neagu,
Romania
Via which tool can we improve our European communication?
Social media and social networks are the ones that Andrea and Andreea view as the most
effective tools. They add that those are extremely important as young people in Romania
don’t listen to the radio or watch the news on TV. Internet is very important for them.
Anything to share?
We would like a time machine, that’s another way to communicate! We could like one that
could stop time too!
Hungary – Bea Bartfai, Dora Pasethory
What’s the most common stereotype about your country?
Bea and Dora agree that the wordplay “Hungry Hungary” says it all about Hungarians.
They are viewed as poor people. Especially Austrians, they add, see them as very poor
people that need to flee to neighboring countries. At the same time, Austrians speak of
“cheeky Hungarian girls”, meaning that they are beautiful but dangerous at the same time,
says Dora. But there is one more thing, there is a stereotype about Hungarians being
against Europe that Bea and Dora detect in their local news. “It seems that there is a need
for our nationality to have a strong presence this way” says Dora.
Bump It Up!
There is the wordplay Hungry Hungary that says it all. Hungarians are viewed as poor
people.” Bea Bartfai, Dora Pasethory, Hungary
Which way of communication in your country you consider the most important and
what can we learn from it?
Face to face communication is the most important because it’s working, says Bea. Dora
agrees adding that people in Hungary trust this way of communication more. Internet is
helpful for personal communication, says Dora, and in general young people find it more
influential. Both girls point out that communication and digital devices have become more
and more popular in everyday life in Hungary. “You can now see parents giving their
phones to kids just to stop them from crying” says Dora.
Via which tool can we improve our European communication?
“It is so slow”! Dora sighs. Bea thinks that online tools are the best because of the distance
between European nations. Dora adds that the “natural level” is very important. “We need
to make the connections first” she says, “and it’s a real challenge to make a real connection
between so many nations. We need to put more emphasis on this issue, it will be slow but
it will get better.” On the other hand she feels that online communication tools are
extremely useful on this matter. Concerning European communication, Bea believes that
“we need to start communication processes but it is quite difficult with all these reports
and forms that Europe expects from us!” On the other hand, she feels that communication
in Europe is better than the one she finds at the national level. Dora feels that we should
go on with the digital media in European communication anyhow and “especially with this
kind of courses that are promoted by Europe, they are a good tool for this purpose!”
European communication is very slow!” Dora Pasethory, Hungary
We need to start communication processes but it is quite difficult with all these reports and
forms that Europe expects from us!” Bea Bartfai, Hungary
Bump It Up!
Greece – Vasiliki Mitsiniotou
What’s the most common stereotype about your country?
I would say that, especially in the past few years, the Greeks are being viewed as lazy. Or
in other words, the Greeks are the grasshoppers while other, more productive nations are
the ants of the economy. Unfortunately this stereotype has been used a lot by the media
across Europe since the economic crisis started. To explain what has happened in Greece
is a rather complicated issue and using stereotypes such as the Greek grasshopper only
makes things worse. It’s even more confusing if you tell someone that the average
employee in Greece works up to 10 hours every day!
To explain what has happened in Greece is a rather complicated issue and using
stereotypes such as the Greek grasshopper only makes things worse.” Vasiliki Mitsiniotou,
Greece
Which way of communication in your country you consider the most important and
what can we learn from it?
I think that we use all kinds of ways and there are specific tools for different groups. For
example, young people tend to use the internet and mobile phones a lot more, middle
aged people use all kinds and old people are somewhat left behind using mostly the
phone. But there is a strong part of the Greek culture that drives people to meet, I mean,
people are quite outgoing and there are many occasions and customs, either for religious,
historical or traditional reasons, that allow them to get together. But most of all, people
enjoy meeting a lot with friends and family so face to face communication is still very
strong in Greece and of course it’s the richest kind. I would say that digital communication
tools have risen a lot lately. It’s a trend, I think, but you could see how people would
organize themselves during the crisis that we go through, trying to find new ways to reach
people as there was a lot of pressure as to what message would come across. There has
been a lot of heat and pressure in the political arena, hate speech from certain groups
and of course inspiring messages of solidarity. Traditional media still affect the majority
Bump It Up!
of the people but their credibility has been diminishing. I think that a combination of face
to face communication and digital tools has proved very effective. I think this is the way
for us to learn more about each other, be less fearful and more creative!
Via which tool can we improve our European communication?
When it comes to European communication, things are complicated due to the variety of
languages and cultural landscapes. This richness is also worth working for! However, given
that we still perceive each other with stereotypes, I think that getting to know each other
better is a priority and the best way to do that is by actually spending as much time
together as possible. Face to face communication is very powerful but you need more
time than what you spend over a cup of coffee. You need to share as many aspects of the
culture as possible, so, courses or exchange programs seem ideal for meeting this
purpose. But when it comes to exchanging information or points of views then things
don’t need as much time, digital tools offer new possibilities. All we need is a common
goal, a common project and the will to do it.
Guests Visits & Input
WHOT?!
“We are a group that meet every Thursday in Shambles (Mary Street, New Ross, Co.
Wexford) there is a group of 9 young people. This is a group that allows you to express
your opinions in a safe environment. We also do lots of fun things here including making
our own boards with a picture of our self-catted out, and a sentence starting with WHOT
example: Whot makes us different? That will be stuck up in various shops around town to
give people an insight as to what we are about. We are also planning an exchange to Italy
with a group from over there, discussing new ideas and opinions with people from Italy.”
Bump It Up!
Léargas – Ivanna Darcy
Léargas manages international and national exchange and cooperation programmes in
the adult education, school education, VET and youth sectors. Together with the HEA,
Léargas manages the Erasmus+ programme in Ireland. For us, youth and community
workers, volunteers and youth activists Léargas is known as our National Agency who
helps to develop international projects and supports us with any questions and difficulties
that we have while working with Erasmus+ program. During ‘Bump It Up’ visit, Léargas
representative Ivanna Darcy was invited to sit on ‘the hot chair’ and to answer questions
in relation to Erasmus+ and visibility and dissemination part in this program. Fair play to
Ivanna who managed this questioning marathon so well!
ENAR Ireland – Shane O’Curry (Director)
ENAR Ireland (The Irish Network Against Racism) is a national network of anti-racism
NGOs, which aims to work collectively to highlight and address the issue of racism in
Ireland through the promotion and monitoring of EU and global anti-racist initiatives.
ENAR Ireland is the Irish National Coordination for the European Network Against Racism
(ENAR) based in Brussels. ENAR Ireland’s approach and key strategy is to work collectively
as a strong national network and at the European level as the Irish coordination for the
European network, ENAR. ENAR Ireland recognises that racism operates at national,
European and international levels and that these are all connected. Through our
established networks, we focus on work at national and European levels while also
Bump It Up!
availing of opportunities at the international level where they arise. This strategy
maximises use of our current resources.
Dundalk FM Local Community Radio – Alan Byrne (Station Manager)
Dundalk FM is a not-for-profit, independent, friendly, and community development
organisation giving voice to all in Dundalk and surrounding area. We are committed to
educate, entertain and inform through our wide range of programmes. People who listen
to Dundalk FM will hear programmes containing something of local interest. They will find
the members of the station accessible and approachable. They will hear a laid back,’
ordinary person’ presentation style, and have access to local news, sports and information
as well as specialist music shows. During his visit to ‘Bump It Up!’ Alan spoke how local
media can be used to make youth/community projects visible and serve as a tool for
project dissemination.
Final Output & Impact
We measured our final output/ impact by looking at the improved knowledge, skills,
attitudes and behaviours of participants, and the impact on the participating
organizations and target groups that they work with. These final findings:
Impact on the participants
Improved knowledge of:
• Why visibility and dissemination is important in international youth and community
work;
• Different tools for addressing issues of visibility and dissemination in their work;
• Various methodologies for exploring issues of visibility and dissemination;
• Miscommunication in international youth and community work field and common
points for getting lost in translations;
Bump It Up!
• Practical tools how to improve communication in the organizations and international
partnerships;
• Methodology behind effective communications;
• Good practice examples of international youth and community projects;
• Networking opportunities within Erasmus+ projects.
Skills of:
• “Learning by Sharing”, as workshops will required to use professional experience
examples;
• Active participation, through activities that required full participation;
• Verbal and nonverbal communications, through interactive with each other in the
group;
• Self-expression through English language, as it was an official language of this training
course;
• Designing and carrying out presentations, as participants had to present their work
and works of their organizations;
• Public speaking during presentations and workshops;
• Building networks through interactive network building activities;
• Group work by working together in small groups during specific activities;
• Co-operation in international context, through working together in international
groups;
• Developing new communication tools, through workshop on communications;
• Personal and professional reflection, through reflective space and time workshop.
Attitudes (Behaviour):
• Participants developed a positive attitude to group work, as many activities where
based on working together;
• Attitude of the ownership of this training through active contribution to the
workshops and flow of the training.
Impact on the organizations
• Engaging in European project and building networking for future collaborations;
• Finding partner organizations for future collaborations and Strategic Partnership
projects in particular;
• Had a look at the best practices of European colleagues and use these positive
examples in implementing a successful communication strategy;
• Up-skilling their staff/volunteer participants which builds competence of their
organization;
• Familiarize themselves with more possibilities within Erasmus+ program.
Bump It Up!
Impact on the target groups
• What should be expected is that youth organizations with a good communication
strategy will improve their accessibility for young people and youth workers, thus they
can start mobilising and supporting more youngsters;
• Partner organizations can expand their activities to European level using more of the
Erasmus+ possibilities and involve their groups into new projects and activities;
• As a result the organizations should be more capable to disseminate their project
results, this way they can improve the quality of their services and projects and more
youngsters or youth workers can benefit from it. By making these results visible
organizations will start at the same with creating support in society and among
stakeholders.
Future Plans
As mentioned before, participants got into groups to work on the four project ideas:
Picture of You-Picture of Me, Creactive, Euroanima and ACE – What is Youth Work. We are
dilated that all project proposals where submitted to National Agencies under Erasmus+
KA1 deadline on the 30th of April, 2015. We hope that these collaborations will be
approved and network that was developed during ‘Bump It Up!’ in Ireland will continue
and expend. We are also hopeful that new collaborations will follow as a result of this
training course and will take an organic flow while influencing the quality of youth/
community projects in international non-formal education field.
Organizers also have plans to follow up the group and its learning while developing ‘Bump
It Up! Part 2’. We will be looking into designing the program for training that will bring the
same group of people together to work further on the skills around visibility and
dissemination. Project proposal will be submitted in October’s deadline, 2015, with the
Nederland’s as a hosting country. We are hoping to bring the same group of people
together in March 2016 and to follow up on the collaborations that were made in Ireland,
also to encourage further networking and to support work-friendly relationships that
were so magically developed in our green island!
Bump It Up!
Contact information
Ireland
Aiste Slajute
Eurobug, International Youth
Work Training and Collaboration
Limited
www.eurobug.eu
David Fleming
Freelance journalist
Lisa Downes
St Andrews 'Talk about Youth
Project'
www.standrews.ie
Madge O Callaghan
Youth Empowerment Service
www.stpatricks.ie
The Netherlands
Maartje Bulthuis The Youth Company
www.theyouthcompany.nl
Meike de Roest
The Youth Company
Jaap Lummen
The Youth Company
Lizzy den Haan
ILUZIE
www.iluzie.nl
Bulgaria
Boyanka Angelova
Aleksandrova
Association of Young
Psychologists in Bulgaria - Sofia
Branch
www.psychologybg.com
Georgi Aleksandrov Georgiev
Association of Young
Psychologists in Bulgaria - Sofia
Branch
Bump It Up!
Lithuania
Viktorija Matuzaite
The Youth Company
www.theyouthcompany.nl
Justas Slajus
Eurobug, International Youth
Work Training and Collaboration
Limited
Igne Brazyte
Youth Occupation Centre ‘JUC’
www.juc.lt
Miglė Navickaite
SALTES
Spain
Jean-François Alberghi
RECREATURA_arts&culture
www.recreatura.com
Elena Bruno
RECREATURA_arts&culture
www.recreatura.com
Sarah Boutaïb
RECREATURA_arts&culture
www.recreatura.com
Italy
Cristina Conditi
E.Di.T Educazione Diritti Territorio
www.editcooperativa.it
Giusi Arvonio
Identities
Nicola Camandona
Joint
www.associazionejoint.org
Bump It Up!
Greece
Vasiliki Mitsiniotou
AddArt
Dimitris Savvaidis
AddArt
www.addart.gr
Hungary
Dóra Pászthory
Pillar Foundation
www.pillar-europe.eu
Bea Bártfai
Pillar Foundation
www.pillar-europe.eu
UK
John & Pauline Grace
Youth Work Europe/Newman
University
www.newman.ac.uk
Ukraine
Oleksandr Shvets
Foundation of Regional Initiaties
www.fri.com.ua
Oleksandra Bakun
Foundation of Regional Initiaties
www.fri.com.ua
Georgia
Karen Elchian
Armenian Cooperation Centre of
Georgia
www.armenia.ge
Edita Badasyan
Armenian Cooperation Centre of
Georgia
Bump It Up!
Romania
Razvan Sassu
Asociatia Young Initiative
www.younginitiative.org
Andreea Timilie
Oblio Association
www.oblio.org.ro
Andreea Raluca Neagu
BUNA ZIUA, COPII DIN ROMANIA
www.bunaziuacopii.ro
Cover Illustration & Magazine Design by Lizzy @ ILUZIE - www.iluzie.nl …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….………………………….
