Make Change Yourselves Experts Meet.
After almost one year, on the 16th of January, an online ZOOM meeting brought together Experts representing 9 partner organisations. The meeting started with a short welcome and devotion. An important part of the meeting was a round of sharing of news from each partner organisation.
Many partner organisations have difficulties in the context which is strongly influenced by the conflict in Ukraine. The biggest challenge is for the partner from Ukraine - they have had to move with many children to Germany. There are also many problems for the Armenian partner, caused by the conflict in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Migration is an influential issue for the Italian partner. In Slovakia they have new experience of needing to work with traumatised children and young people. The partner from Belarus shared a big thank you for the continuing contact and co-working with people from western Europe.
The second part of the meeting was devoted to the debriefing of the learning of participants. A key question was the engagement of Experts in the learning process with the participants who are working with a local group of young people, who in turn are also active subjects of their own learning and change. Double learning is the leitmotif of the programme.
The feedback from the learning supervisor and the responsible lecturer was also discussed in the group. Important challenges are overcoming the language barrier (English language) and the diversity of the participant group, some of whom are volunteers and ithers paid workers.
The plans for the next steps in the journey together was an important focus in order to prepare the next contact teaching workshop, the co-learning exchange and other future items as well as the various intellectual outputs, such as the ‘story book’.
At the end of the meeting there was a round of sharing perceptions and feelings. There was very positive feedback from the Experts - for example: “We have hope to keep alive.”, “Thank you for your passion.”, “We are open to help.”
