Views Volontaire – Views International

Youth Exchange in Diósjenő, Hungary

Views Volontaire — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 10:56:42 +0000

In the scenic village of Diósjenő, Hungary, from May 22nd to 28th, a remarkable Youth Exchange named “EVERYONE IS ABLE TO DO FOR GREEN INCLUSION” took place The event, a product of collaborative efforts between five dynamic Youth organizations hailing from Hungary, Romania, Armenia, and Belgium, brought together young minds from diverse backgrounds.

May 22nd marked the arrival of participants at the venue, eagerly ready to embark on a week of fun activities and collaboration. Excitement filled the air as individuals and groups gathered, eager to get to know one another and forge connections. Unfortunately, the mood was dampened by the news that the Armenian team could not attend the youth exchange due to reasons beyond their control. It was a moment of disappointment for all, as the absence of the Armenian participants was keenly felt. Despite the setback, the participants were determined to make the most of the exchange, cherishing the opportunity to learn from one another and collectively contribute to a greener, more inclusive world.

On May 23rd, the participants dedicated their time to getting acquainted with one another through engaging team-building activities. They played fun name games and brainstormed project expectations, with each country presenting their proposed initiatives. The day culminated in an intercultural evening hosted by the Hungarian group, where participants indulged in local treats and learned an upbeat Hungarian dance.

The morning of May 24th commenced with an evaluation session, where participants had the opportunity to express their preferences, concerns and suggestions to enhance the program.

In the second main activity, participants delved into the diverse green practices implemented in their countries. Each group presented their unique approaches to sustainability, showcasing eco-friendly initiatives.

After lunch, the group engaged in a captivating hands-on activity centered around transforming corn waste into butterfly-shaped decorations. Guided by the understanding that seemingly useless materials can be repurposed into beautiful art pieces. Through their crafting, the participants gained a valuable lesson in upcycling and the potential for beauty hidden within everyday objects.

As the day transitioned into the evening, the Romanian team hosted a memorable intercultural evening, carefully attending to every small detail to make it a truly special night for all.

May 25th was an extraordinary day for the youth exchange. In the morning, everyome worked in smaller groups, collaborating to construct their own insect hotels. Despite some participants being new to using tools, the activity showcased the power of teamwork and determination. The results were truly phenomenal, reflecting their creativity and commitment to providing habitats for beneficial insects. After lunch, the group embarked on a train journey to the charming town of Vác, where they enjoyed a delightful sightseeing tour and had some free time to explore. It was a day filled with hands-on learning, cultural immersion and memorable experiences that further strengthened the bonds among the groups.

May 26th held a series of impactful and meaningful activities during the YE. The day began with a brief evaluation and reflection session, allowing participants to collectively assess their experiences and share their insights. Following this, the group visited the local social institute for people with disabilities in Diósjenő. Here, they had the opportunity to hear the story of the castle that now serves as a home for individuals with disabilities. Notably, one of the participant groups had their insect hotel placed within the castle, adding to its significance and promoting ecological awareness within the community.

In the afternoon, the focus shifted towards personal narratives as participants were invited to share their own stories. An open space was created for those who wished to inspire others with their journeys of self-love and acceptance. The sharing of these individual narratives was profoundly moving, creating a sense of empathy and understanding among the group. It was a reminder of the power of personal experiences and the resilience of the human spirit.

As the day progressed, the Belgian team took the reins of the intercultural evening, adding their own unique touch. The air was filled with the enticing aroma of chocolate, a quintessential symbol of Belgium. The Belgian team prepared a lively quiz, challenging the group’s knowledge about Belgium and ensuring active participation and enjoyment.

On May 27, the youth exchange reached its final day of activities. The focus of the day was mostly about evaluation sessions and collecting activity ideas for the next edition of the YE. In the late afternoon, the memorable YouthPass ceremony took place, honoring the participants’ achievements and contributions throughout the program. Each individual received their well-deserved certificate, symbolizing their growth, learning, and commitment.

May 28 marked the bittersweet day of ultimate goodbyes and departures for the YE. In the beginning, there were concerns about potential language barriers, as not everyone was fluent in English. However, to everyone’s delight, communication flowed ALMOST effortlessly with the help of the amazing translators. This exchange proved to be a catalyst for forging meaningful connections and, perhaps, even laying the foundation for lasting friendships. The memories created during this week will forever hold a special place in the hearts of all those who participated. With a mixture of joy and a hint of sadness, the participants bid farewell, cherishing the shared moments, personal growth and the inspiration that will continue to guide them in their future endeavors. The YE was indeed a week to remember.

Mihai’s volunteering experience

Views Volontaire — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 10:51:18 +0000

Hi everybody, Mihai here. It has been a long time since I have shared my experience with you here. For those of you who did not have the chance to meet me in person, my name is Mihai, I’m 30 years old and I come from Romania. I’m currently in a master’s program in European Integration and European Institutions and I’m also interested in social work and decided to start a voluntary service abroad to get new experiences for my future so I applied for an ESC project in Liège, organized and implemented by Views International aisbl.

Doing voluntary service means working with(in) an association or institution, supporting the staff and helping the community in which you stay, but also learning something new for yourself, developing your skills and acquiring new ones while focusing on your own personal development (i.e. learning a new language, broadening your horizons and tolerance by getting in touch with new and different cultures etc.).

So, during the last 8 months, I worked at the VIEWS office in Liège, supporting them in their work, creating the monthly newsletters that you read which improved my writing skills thanks to the feedback I received from my colleagues, updating the social media (mainly Facebook) with posts regarding VIEWS’ local, national and international activities, organising and preparing these activities together with my colleagues, which offered me the chance to improve the way I organise things and keeping an agenda with all the deadlines and responsibilities.

I am truly thankful for these local and international activities because I had the chance to learn how to organize activities of the Erasmus Plus projects (such as Learning, Training & Teaching Activities – LTTA and Multiplier Events). Within the local activities, I managed to communicate in the French language in order to be involved in them and during the international activities I travelled to Turkey and Italy and meet with people who had different backgrounds and cultures. But from all these, what I enjoyed the most and will forever treasure were my experiences in Brussels, the heart of the European Union (EU). As I study the master’s program, just seeing in person some of the institutions that I have only read about was truly bliss. During the VIP Tech Job Time 2 Act! Project, I had the chance to be inside the European Parliament in Brussels and feel closer to the EU.

However, this is not all. Since I don’t have a visual impairment, living, interacting and working with visually impaired people had a big positive impact on me because I learned how to offer them my support as a guide and learned about their needs. I learned about the Braille alphabet and how to make activities more inclusive for them.

Of course, I also had different challenges during my experience as a volunteer and those were mainly with communicating in French language. Since I knew almost zero French when I started my volunteering, feeling integrated into the community and being active in the activities proved to be difficult, but I’ve managed to overcome these challenges by doing extra preparations and organizing myself better for them (like preparing my dialogues before and printing them and learning key-words in order to use them with the french that I learned during my stay there). In general, it was not easy for me to be part of the community at the beginning. I felt very uncomfortable at times because I was in a completely new environment where a foreign language was spoken and I still clearly noticed this language barrier, especially at the beginning. But of course, it all got better with time. Above all, it became easier and easier for me to speak in French.

All in all, I can say that my experience was mostly positive. And even if something didn’t go so smoothly, that’s part of life and it’s also a good experience to learn how to deal with it and make it better next time you find yourself in the same situation. It was a thrilling experience to be abroad in another country with different cultures and languages and I could not be more happy that I had the chance to include this experience and the people that I have met in my life. I believe that a stay abroad is a formative time in which you can develop yourself and that can change you into a better person than you were the day before. Of course, there is a fear of the unknown and we make ourselves focus on the negative that might happen, but true development can be possible only when we exit our comfort zone. For every problem that we may think would appear, there are more ways to solve them than we might imagine. And with the right support, you will be amazed at how much room for growth for every one of us is there. Views did an awesome job in supporting all their volunteers in finding their way (literally and figuratively) during their experience and after. This experience was a truly unforgettable journey that challenged me to grow both personally and professionally.

Thank you all for listening and reading all my experiences so far I can only hope you had as much fun as I had and that I could offer you an immersive experience alongside me in this adventure. `Till next time we cross our ways, Mihai.

Grand Finale of the 2nd International Low-Vision Song Contest 2023

Views Volontaire — Tue, 30 May 2023 12:07:53 +0000

The International Low-Vision Song Contest, ILSC is a music contest for blind and partially sighted artists and music fans from all over the world!

Organized by the German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (DBSV) and VIEWS International, the first ILSC took place in 2021. You can find (in German) a summary of the first ILSC here.

This year’s ILSC took place on 12th of May, in which 17 musical acts from three continents competed. The viewers had the change to vote in real-time their favorites. This culminated with the winner being Liza Moskalenko with the song “My Ukrainians”.

Each partaking organization represented its country, and nominated a song to compete in the Grand Finale. The audience chose the winner via online voting.

The ILSC strives to be an inclusive, multicultural event that provides a global platform for blind and visually impaired musicians to share their art and talent, to inspire and entertain.

If you wish to watch the the final show which was broadcasted live during the event, you can watch it here, on YouTube.

For more info on the event, click on this link: https://www.dbsv.org/ilsc.html

We have included the list of all the participants, their songs and their representing associations down below:

Countries, organizations, artists and songs in the order on the voting

Winner of the ILSC, Ukraine: Pravo Vibora and Liza Moskalenko with “Ми українці (My Ukrainians)”
Spain: ONCE and Catiana with “No te imaginas“
Slovenia: ZDSSS – Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted of Slovenia and Zara with “V temi nisi sam (Light in the Dark)”
Turkey: EGED – Association of Visually Impaired in Education and Burak Bozteke with “Tutsak (Captive)“
Greece: KEAT – Centre for Education and Rehabilitation for the Blind and Anastasia Moustakatou with “Αυτό που λέει η καρδιά σου (What your Heart says)”
Poland: PZN – Polish Association of the Blind and Zuzia Mulec with “W dal (In the Distance)”
Italy: Sara Blanca with “El Mundo de mis Sueños (The World of my Dreams)”
Nepal: NAB – Nepal Association of the Blind and NAB Low Vision Band with “No one speaks for the poor People of Nepal”
Lithuania: LASS – Lithuanian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired and Grazzy with “Watch me now”
Cyprus: POT – Pancyprian Organization of the Blind and Nikoletta Livadioti with “Με της ψυχής μου τα φτερά (With the Wings of my Soul)”
France: apiDV – Accompany, Promote, Integrate the Visually Impaired and Maxime Lokietek with “Just breathe“
Sweden: Synliga with “We’re gonna have a Party tonight”
Finland: Näkövammaisten Kulttuuripalvelu – Cultural Services for the Visually Impaired and Hannele Juutinen with “Hapanta ja makeaa”
Czech Republic: SONS – Czech Blind United and Radek Žalud & Michaela Jeklová with “Oremus Dominum – Cíl je v nás (Let’s pray to God – the Goal Is Within Us)“
UK: Look UK and The Thunderbolts with “Victory”

Canada: CNIB – Canadian National Institute for the Blind and Jade Ondrik & Measha Brueggergosman-Lee with “Common Ground”
Germany: DBSV – German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted and rockloader with “loser”

Awareness-raising activities with young people

Views Volontaire — Tue, 30 May 2023 10:56:02 +0000

Today, I, Jay, a volunteer working in a ESC project with a group of teenagers, held a workshop to raise awareness about blindness and visual impairment.

This was my first experience organizing such a workshop with a young sighted audience, having previously only worked with adults. The results were surprisingly positive.

The workshop was divided into three distinct activities.

The first revolved around Braille writing, during which I explained the Braille system and the writing method used by the visually impaired. The teenagers had the opportunity to directly experiment, trying to write their names using a Braille typewriter.

The second activity developped a practical demonstration of how to guide a person with visual impairment, highlighting the common mistakes people usually make. This session provided a valuable learning opportunity for the teenagers, helping them understand the daily challenges faced by visually impaired people and how to provide appropriate support.

The third and final activity was dedicated to the leisure and entertainment of visually impaired people. I shared my personal experience, highlighting my love for computer and phone games. I also introduced various board games specifically adapted for visually impaired people. This activity culminated in a shared game session that involved all participants for the last thirty minutes of the workshop.

The teenagers showed great enthusiasm and participation throughout the entire event, much more than in previous activities. Despite the limited time for questions, their interest and curiosity were evident, particularly during the name-writing activity in Braille and the board games.

Moreover, it was significant to note that the activity was not only of interest to the teenagers, but also to the two teachers with whom I work. They showed great interest, reinforcing the importance and value of these awareness-raising workshops.

In conclusion, this experience has shown that while the world of visually impaired people may seem different, it is in fact very similar to everyone else’s. This workshop offered a unique opportunity to break down barriers and promote inclusion and mutual understanding, contributing to a more aware and respectful society.

Jay, 16/05/2023

VIP Tech Job: Time 2 Act project has come to an end

Views Volontaire — Tue, 30 May 2023 10:47:54 +0000

After two years of intense work with an enthusiastic community of young VIPs, educators and trainers, we can finally share complete access to all project results and methods.
These tools can be used by educational institutions and workplaces to employ and include young VIPs in the workforce on equal terms to their sighted counterparts.

During the final months of the project, the partnership carried out local and international events to disseminate and promote the complete and accessible versions of all the results of the VTJ2 project and its predecessor VIP TECH JOB. Partners will continue to network with relevant stakeholders to ensure the sustainability and use of all the project results.

A review of the project’s results

The VTJ2 project was developed as a response to the official statistics that show that the great majority of young and adult VIPs are left out of the employment sectors, despite their efforts, skills and competencies to find work as most employers are unaware of their abilities and knowledge acquired.
In addition to that, there is an expressed need for young VIPs to find actual and long-term employment, to co-create universally accessible workplaces and actively participate in society.
For this reason, the VTJ2 partnership built further on the results of the first VIP TECH JOB project by introducing a series of tools and resources that helped raise awareness by bringing together the voices, experiences and opinions of young VIPs.
Through tips and guidance for workplaces, it was possible to promote reasonable adjustments to support the participation of VI employees, while also providing them with extensive information on helpful legislation and state provisions.
The project results are now fully available and can be directly accessed via the project’s website: www.viptechjob.eu

Results in a nutshell:
● How-To platform: A series of mini-courses addressed to young VIPs and counsellors to provide them with useful information on addressing potential employers, preparing themselves for a job interview, learning their rights and responsibilities for new opportunities part of the VIP TECH JOB’s results
● Web App: An online web application addressed to job seekers and employers. It provides space for announcing open positions, facilitating research, interaction and accessible tools for job seekers to create their CVs and motivation letters. This tool keeps a record of interactions for future reference part of the VIP TECH JOB’s results
● Accessibility Toolbox: A complete educational curriculum, accompanied by practical guides addressed to trainers/educators, employers/recruiters and young VI job seekers. It aims to support the efficient use of the VIP TECH JOB/VTJ2 results, work on job-seeking practices, and familiarise with national and European legislations that facilitate access to employment. It is also useful to understand basic concepts and practices to make
workplaces – and not only – universally accessible and inclusive – part of the VTJ2’s results.
● Podcast: A series of episodes related to the preparation for job seeking and the job market. Through several interviews with VIPs, listeners can find out about their personal and professional experiences. Moreover, they discuss accessibility and technological development and voice their expectations, wants and wishes for the future – part of the VTJ2’s results
● Video Pack: A set of two distinct results: a practical guide (click here for the link) and a documentary (click here for the video). The practical guide aims to motivate young VIPs to make their own video presentations and feel more comfortable sharing their image as professionals.
On the other hand, the documentary aims to raise the voices of young VIPs. They share the importance of accessible spaces and practices, inclusion and their own opinions and experiences. In addition, young VIPs assess the VTJ2 project and its activities, by offering their insights for future and similar projects as part of VTJ2’s results.
The VTJ2 results are available in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Greek whereas the outputs of the previous project are also available in Romanian.
The WebApp is available in Polish too.

In addition to the multiplier event in Brussels, the Italian, Spanish and Greek organisations also organised local events:

The Italian partner organised its multiplier event on 23 February at AFORISMA’s premises in Pisa (Italy).

The event brought together various guests from local employment services, representatives of local political parties and the regional administration.

In addition, youth and disability organisations and individual participants enthusiastically joined the dissemination activity. During the presentation, AFORISMA showed a video collecting the experiences of the Italian participants of the training activity (LTTA) in Granada.

After the video, the organisers received positive feedback on the VTJ2 initiatives that enabled DV participants to travel and experience valuable training abroad. The audience as a whole was enthusiastic about the project’s activities and the results achieved over the lifetime of VTJ2.

At the end of the event, the audience expressed their willingness to suggest the results of the project to their colleagues and peers.

The Greek partner, DAFNI KEK, organised its multiplier event on 6 March in Thessaloniki, as it is the most accessible city in Greece and the majority of young DVs live and work there.

It boasts many inclusive educational initiatives, although access to employment and internships is still rare. The event took place at the School for the Blind, which is the regional department of the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Blind. The outreach activity was joined by young blind and partially sighted people, educators from special education vocational schools and representatives of local, regional and national blind people’s associations.

The discussion that emerged from the presentation of the project and its results was very interesting and intense. It brought to the surface many relevant experiences from all participants and suggestions for future interventions.

The Spanish partner, DOCETE OMNES, organised its multiplier event on 13 March in Granada. In preparation for the event, two experts in the field of vocational integration and accessibility for people with vision impairments, Sandra Fernández and Antonio Tejada, were selected to talk about their experiences and share data and real cases in order to offer a broader perspective on the reality of people with disabilities.

The multiplier event was disseminated via a number of organisations and institutions linked to disability and inclusion, as well as recruitment companies. The target audience was made up of teachers and students in the technical training courses for higher technicians in socio-cultural activities and higher technicians in social integration.

The activity was a success because the team overcame the main challenge of involving and reaching the most relevant players for disseminating the project. Participants showed an interest in using the project’s tools in their daily or future work to become diversity ambassadors.

During the event, several topics related to the inclusion of DVs were discussed, which generated great interest among the participants, who expressed a positive opinion of the project tools.

“VIP-Tech-Job: Time 2 Act!” is a project developed within the framework of Key Action 2 of the Erasmus+ programme. The project is coordinated by VIEWS International (Belgium) and is based on the cooperation between AFORISMA (Italy), Docete Omnes (Spain) and DAFNI KEK (Greece). The project “VIP Tech Job: Time 2 Act!” targets visually impaired people (VIPs) and aims to promote their inclusion and integration through employment, while encouraging active citizenship and lifelong learning. It develops three distinct outcomes in the form of learning materials and interactive resources based on the results of the parent project “VIP Tech Job”, taking into consideration accessibility issues that directly involve VIPs through discussion groups, learning activities, mobilities and international events.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

City Tours project – Learning, Teaching, Training Activity in Liège

Views Volontaire — Mon, 01 May 2023 13:50:29 +0000

At the end of this month, the final Learning, Teaching, Training Activity (LTTA) of the City Tours project took place in Liège, Belgium. During this event, participants from Germany, Belgium, Italy and Belgium took part in the activities that we organized. During the three days of activities, participants discovered Liège, its history, its folklore, its culture and its people.

In the first day, they went to the National Opera of Wallonia where they listened to opera music, learned about the history of the building, smelled different essences, creams and other scents used by the singers on the scene and they have touched the different costumes that singers use in the scenes. As soon as the tour was over, participants enjoyed their lunch and we continued the day with a folklore tour of Liège in which the guide gave information about the main attractions and point of interest in Liège (the Zoology Institute, statue of Tchantches, Anatomy Institute etc). After this tour was over, participants had free time to discover Liège by themselves and we have all met to eat the dinner together.

During the second day, the entire group was split in two smaller groups in order to discover the historical part of Liège (Saint Lambert Cathedral, the stairs of Liège, the city center) while enjoying Liège waffles and the second group went inside the Saint Paul Cathedral, where they learned about its history and discovered the different statues.

On the third day, participants went to Galler chocolate shop to taste and buy their favorite flavoured chocolate and after the lunch everybody participated in the evaluation of this LTTA.

We are glad that the event has been a success and that many participants met once again thanks to this project. We want to thank all the partners that made this project a big success.

The experience of our latest office intern

Views Volontaire — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 13:03:13 +0000

Bonjour à toutes et à tous !

Je me présente, je m’appelle Béatrice, je fais des études pour devenir éducatrice et j’ai fait un stage de cinq semaines chez Views. Je n’avais jamais travaillé avec des personnes déficientes visuelles et je dois dire que cette expérience a été très enrichissante, tant sur le plan personnel que professionnel. Mon rôle pendant ces semaines a été d’accompagner la volontaire européenne dans sa vie quotidienne ; nous sommes allées ensemble au cours de français à la Baraka ASBL où elle est assistante et nous avons fait beaucoup d’activités ensemble, de la céramique à la création de fleurs avec la technique de l’origami. J’ai également eu l’occasion de participer à certains des fantastiques projets organisés par Views, tels que le projet Vip Tech Job, dont j’ai assisté à la phase finale, et les journées de réunion pour le projet City Tour.

À ces occasions, j’ai rencontré de nombreuses personnes merveilleuses de différents pays, avec des cultures et des histoires différentes.

Travailler avec ces personnes et l’équipe de Views m’a ouvert les yeux sur un monde que je ne connaissais pas, celui de la déficience visuelle. J’ai appris qu’il était possible d’observer le monde non seulement avec la vue, mais aussi avec le toucher, l’ouïe, le goût et l’odorat. J’ai compris que ma réalité n’est jamais la même que celle des personnes qui m’entourent et combien il est important de faire preuve d’écoute et d’empathie. J’ai appris qu’une déficience visuelle ne doit pas empêcher les personnes malvoyantes de faire ce qu’elles veulent, comme travailler ou voyager, mais qu’au contraire, ce sont les villes, les associations et les entreprises qui doivent s’éduquer et se rendre plus accessibles.

C’est précisément la raison pour laquelle le travail de Views est si important et je suis honoré d’avoir contribué, même de façon minime, à cette cause.

Hello to all of you!
My name is Beatrice, I am studying to become an educator and I did an internship for five weeks at Views. I had never worked with visually impaired people before and I must say that this experience was very enriching, both personally and professionally. My role during these weeks was to accompany the European volunteer in her daily life; we went together to the French class at the Baraka association where she is an assistant and we did a lot of activities together, from ceramics to creating flowers with the origami technique. I also had the opportunity to participate in some of the fantastic projects organized by Views, such as the Vip Tech Job project, where I attended the final phase, and the meeting days for the City Tour project.

On these occasions I met many wonderful people from different countries, with different cultures and histories.

Working with these people and the Views team opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know about, the world of visual impairment. I learned that it was possible to observe the world not only with sight, but also with touch, hearing, taste and smell. I realized that my reality is never the same as that of the people around me and how important it is to listen and empathize. I learned that a visual impairment should not prevent visually impaired people from doing what they want to do, such as working or travelling, but that on the contrary, it is the cities, associations and companies that should educate themselves and make themselves more accessible.

This is precisely why the work of Views is so important and I am honored to have contributed, however small, to this cause.

Awareness-raising activities for social workers

Views Volontaire — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 14:34:50 +0000

Workshop on innovative social work practices took place in the Centre for Continuous Education in Liège where we met with approximately twenty-five students from the Practicing Educators Course. It started with a presentation of roles and responsibilities of Views representatives present at the workshop and it continued with a short presentation of Views International’s history, from its formation to the present day with elements of its objectives, values and way of functioning included. Students participated actively, as they were encouraged to ask questions throughout the entire workshop.

After the presentation of Views, our team started to offer information about the non-formal education (what it is, highlighting its importance, where it is used etc.) slowly connecting this topic with information and opportunities of the Erasmus + Programme and all that it has to offer in terms of trainings and possibilities for it’s users. While answering participants’ questions, we continued with the presentation of the European Solidarity Corps Programme in which we presented our volunteering projects, our volunteers and their work in these projects.

Concluding the presentations on the context in which we work, the workshop moved on to phase two, where participants had the opportunity to experience the world from the perspective of the visually impaired. In this activity, participants were separated into two groups of their choice. The first group had the opportunity to experience the outside world from a blind person’s perspective by participating in a short walk outside the workshop room while blindfolded and using a white cane. The second group decided to stay indoors, experimenting, in mixed teams, with blind-adapted board games provided by Views.
After this activity was completed, Jay – an ESC volunteer and Beatrice – an intern at Views, introduced the participants to the daily life experiences of blind people through three short, non-formal theatre role-plays.

These activities were followed by a Q&A session on the previous activities.

As a result of the information and activities that were presented to them, we believe that future social workers will be better prepared in their field. Awareness-raising sessions to visual impairment is one of our organization’s core missions and we look forward to share with you the results of our next workshops.

Advanced Planned Visit in Diósjenő and Budapest, Hungary

Views Volontaire — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 12:58:40 +0000

On April 19th and 20th, project teams from Belgium, Hungary, Armenia and Romania had the opportunity to be part of the Advanced Planning Visit (APV) of the Youth Exchange project “Everyone is able to do for green inclusion” in Budapest, Hungary. The meeting was attended by representatives of youth organizations and youth leaders of the partner organizations to discuss the upcoming youth exchange for young people with fewer opportunities, which will take place in May 2023.

First day, April 18th, we checked into our hotel and went out for dinner together, followed by a lovely walk where we had a chance to chat and informally get to know each other.

The next day we met with the host organizations’ representatives after figuring out the local public transport. Our plan was to visit the venue where the youth exchange will take place in May, but before that, we sat down to enjoy some ice cream and coffee and introduced ourselves and the organizations we represent to the rest of the group in the beautiful Hungarian sunshine.

Later, we went to the venue, where we toured the facility to ensure it meets the needs of our participant groups. Afterwards, we had lunch at a lovely local restaurant that served delicious food. During the second part of the day we discussed the day-by-day schedule of each day of the youth exchange and shared ideas, roles and responsibilities.

The last day of planning, April 20th, was spent discussing the remaining formalities of the youth exchange like safety and protection of participants, partner agreements, logistics of the youth exchange, dissemination and exploitation of project results, deadlines and practicalities for the following months. After finishing, we also enjoyed some teambuilding moments exploring Budapest’s highlights, buying souvenirs and being delighted with the beautiful, sunny weather.

In the evening, we had dinner together for one last time, and the next morning it was time for all of us to depart.

For the majority of the participants, it was a great opportunity to learn and understand how this kind of project is being prepared. We are looking forward to the youth exchange and more adventures to come.

The 16th edition of International Tool Fair, Marseille, November 21-25

Views Volontaire — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 09:58:01 +0000

This year’s International Tool Fair gathered a community of around 150 persons with various backgrounds like youth workers, youth leaders, educators, trainers, and teachers, interested in sharing, transferring and adapting educational tools in the frame of non-formal learning.

There was a variety of activities, workshops, talks in order for the participants at the Tool Fair to:

share about, learn and reflect on how to apply competences and education of youth workers on different levels and in different contexts to one’s own reality.
shar knowledge, being challenged, getting inspired and critically reflecting on youth policy, research and studies of youth work and society.
exploring, learning from and supporting further development of practice and methods of working with young people.
engaging, connecting and experiencing youth work in context, while linking practice to local reality.

The core topics tackled by this edition of the ITF cover different aspects of Sustainability like:

Sustainable project management
Sustainability and education
Sustainability and climate change
Sustainability and equality
Sustainability and poverty

Moreover, tools (intellectual outputs) conceived within strategic partnership for innovation projects were enhanced. With this intent, practices coming from the world of formal and vocational education were also valued, to create cross-sectoral bridges between the different sectors of education dealing with youth and more specifically with:

Reduce inequality and poverty in our society
Climate related actions
Sustainability and education

The programme was full with very interesting activities, so when choosing was quite hard, but my personal favorite were some workshops about how to GREEN up the youth projects, the Talk given by Anita Silva about sustainability or the practical compensation activity, where with a part of the participants we planted trees with the students of a Vocational school in the National Park of Calanques. The event was a part of the European Year of Youth and we had the pleasure to have Mrs. Sarah El Haïry , French Youth Secretary of State, to close the ITF.

You can find more information about the event here

This was a true learning experience, not to mention all the contacts and follow-up collaborations in the years to come. If you have the opportunity, I strongly encourage you to check for next years’ edition that will be hosted by Ireland.

Reporting for Views News, Anca DAVID