Programme and action: ERASMUS+ programme, Key Action 2: Capacity Building in the field of youth
Dates: 26 May – 1 June 2015
Venue: Skopje, Macedonia
Participants: Michal Havelka
Please read the project info-pack & daily programme.
Participating countries: Australia; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czech Republic; Ghana; Italy; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Poland; Romania; Slovenia and Turkey.
Host organisation: Association for research, education and development „Marketing Gate“ – Skopje.
Project report:
Zdravo! Welcome to the capital city of Macedonia, where local rioting people built a camp in front of the parliament and the Skopje itself is getting a little make-over that went far beyond anyone’s imagination.
Nevertheless none of those rather unusual circumstances had any impact on the program of the project as 14 people from four different continents got together to establish new partnerships that would transcend borders, mountains and even oceans. Professor Jovanovski of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia invited folks from Australia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ghana, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey.
In the next five days we were given lectures by extremely interesting persons, like former Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of FYROM, local successful businessman and a future leader of sustainable development, who all showed us a little bit of marketing magic and its importance in today’s world. The roles changed during the afternoon sessions, when every participant presented highlights about the country of his origin and basic information about his organization he or she was supposed to delegate.
There was little to no time to take part in energizers or team building activities during the day, but we managed to handle the lack of social activities during the evenings, when Mr. Jovanovski would take us to visit the city or just hang out at local restaurants or cafés. None of us had a fellow countryman along with us, so we all had to open up. Therefore we connected very well and formed a great group.
At first I was slightly afraid of joining the project as there would be no one else to share common culture and talk in my language with. Needless to say that in the end I was proven wrong as this was a tremendous experience and I’m very happy I could have been a part of it.
It is important to add that this was just a kick-off meeting where we were supposed to get to know each other and get familiar with the program of the second part, which takes place in Ohrid on September. I’m looking forward to the second phase and seeing all of my friends I made in May. We have some big project to continue with!
Michal Havelka
