Partnership building activity: PARTNER UP - in Croatia

Between September 28 and October 4, 2021, two representatives of our organization participated in a networking mobility within the Erasmus Plus program. The activity took place in Croatia, in a town called Samobor. Over the 5 days course, 20 youth workers and leaders from 8 countries developed 5 project ideas for the next Erasmus Plus deadlines.

Two methods that we liked, facilitated during the partnership building activities were: 

* a walk & talk activity: the whole group in pairs toured the city; every 10 minutes we had to change the discussion partner, approaching a new topic;

* fashion show: each national group had to create a paper dress containing useful information about the sending organization; after a cat-walk, we did a 2 minutes presentation about the organisation. 

Most of the sessions were focused on developing our project ideas. From defining the target groups, beneficiaries, stakeholders, to activities, methodology, impact, visibility, dissemination and evaluation, we tried to have at the end a feasible project idea to take home and develop. Our organisation did a partnership with Macedonian and Spanish organisations, and together we build up a strategic project tackling the sustainability of cultural youth organisations and well-being of youth workers.

We also met two organisations from Samobor, both of them presented us their good practices. It was inspiring to hear how supporting youth ideas or building a youth center in a village could raise the impact of youth working and develop sustainable models. 

Erasmus means not only learning and getting to know other youth leaders, but also exploring and enjoying the beauty of Europe's cultural heritage. On the way to Croatia, we stopped for a few hours in Budapest and on a free afternoon during the project, we visited Zagreb.

This mobility has once again taught us how important quality is! Building the right learning context and methodology to ensure a balance between body, mind and soul. Isn't this a great topic for a future project?!