26 February – 6 March, 2019
Trakai, Lithuania

Representatives of the Association EPEKA, Soc. Ent., took part in the training course Youth-full Volunteering in Trakai, Lithuania. The course took place between 26th February and 6th March 2019.

Training Course Youth-full Volunteering happened in Lithuania where participants from different countries had the chance to experience empathy, compassion, learn about volunteering by theory but mostly in practice. Safe space for discussions, self- analysis, understanding our own needs and the possibility to contribute for better society where created.

The highlight of the project was Volunteering jam which we organized to give a chance for participants to experience volunteering fully. For this reason 3 different organization where chosen to provide our time and organize certain activities for them: Caritas day center for kids, Trakai Disabled Employment Center and Family Support center. All three organisations are very different but very similar at the same time: they all seek to help people but have very different target groups. It was emotionally difficult experience for some participants but at the same time most rewarding.

We also had the chance to volunteer in social enterprise ‘Mano Guru’ in order to spread their visibility and attract more people to come to this place. Participants also got the chance to understand their unique model: their work is based on inclusion of ex-prisoners who seek to go back to the society and start working. Further, different non-formal education methods were used to encourage the discussion and tackle very sensitive issues we normally do not talk openly about: discrimination regarding religion, gender, sexuality and other topics. It helped better to understand ourselves but also target groups we are going to work in the future with in our volunteering projects.

Besides that, we also had the chance to talk profoundly about European Solidarity Corps with the National Agency’s representative who provided the detailed information about new modified plan for young generation. She provided the valuable and elucidate answers in the response of the questions. Participants gained the practical and effective knowledge about how to apply for European Solidarity Corps, also about finance, volunteering, traineeships, jobs, duration, and regulations.

We also had a pleasure to have representatives from “Voices of jasmine” (Germany) and “Creativity Rocks” (Norway).

Project partners:

  • Lithuania – “Inovatyvi Karta” (Applicant organization)
  • Czech Republic – “KURO Hradec Kralove”
  • Latvia – “Baltic Regional Foundation”
  • Germany – “Mostar Friedensprojekt e.V.”
  • Malta – “Genista Research Foundation”
  • Norway – “Ungdom i Aksjon”
  • Slovenia – “EPEKA”
There were also representatives from:
  • Germany – “Voices of Jasmine”
  • Norway – “Creativity Rocks”

Gallery

Project was financed by Erasmus plus programme #erasmusplus

The Association EPEKA, Soc. Ent., is supported by: