This March I was given a great opportunity by Serbian organization C:E:T platform to participate in the last activity of an international project RAISE, held in Albania. The project Raising Advantages of Youth through Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship is organized by youth organization Beyond Barriers which is based in Tirana. RAISE is implemented with financial support of Erasmus+ Youth in Action, programme of European Commission, and it aims to improve the employability and competences of young people in partner organization through youth work and non-formal education methods.
The last activity I participated in was 8 days long seminar in which participated young people and youth workers from 8 different countries: Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania and Greece. During those 8 days, we discussed programs, challenges and good practices we know about in our countries which serve to foster social entrepreneurship within youth. Besides that, we had an opportunity to make campaigns and come up with projects that could be organized to promote social entrepreneurship and to motivate and encourage young people in our local communities to find the courage to start their own enterprises. All the activities were based on non-formal education, we had the chance to work in different groups or individually and to get out of our comfort zones (e.g. this is my first blog post ever xD).
The things I liked the most were the opportunity to meet other young people who are active in their communities and who want to change our world. I could learn more about social entrepreneurship and how to promote it among youngsters I work within Belgrade. We exchanged ideas about the projects and the ways we could improve the situation in our countries and, the most important thing, we connected and created new friendships and partnerships to maybe collaborate in the future on a regional level. 🙂
Apart from all the great work we had done, since we were living together during the project, we had time to have fun, meet Albanian culture by visiting Durres and Tirana during one of the most famous Albanian holidays, and present our countries and cultures in the international evenings.
I would like to thank each person who contributed to this project in a different way, it was a great experience where I learned a lot on different levels, which motivated me to continue with my goals and where I met wonderful people who I hope I will have the possibility to meet again or work within near future.
Nmnmnmnm people!
Here is the little animation we made: https://www.instagram.com/p/BRqJfVLF-SD/?hl=en
Lots of kisses to all four girls of Beyond Barriers, you are great, thank you!
Jovana Divac, Serbia
R.A.I.S.E 