Spaces for Intercultural Learning

The School of Social Work has been participating in an interesting Erasmus+ project about intercultural learning for the past year and a half. As the project is drawing to an end within the next 5 months, the different activities and outputs are now in their final stages. One channel that has steadily been developing is the webpage of the Spaces for Intercultural Learning project, accessible via this link.


As part of the project a five-day workshop was held in Belfast in 2017. This was where the six different European partners shared their methods and discussed the progress of the two-year project.

Here is a peek at the ice breaker activity that the NL team introduced.

The Five Fingers Exercise
This is the activity in a nutshell. A more detailed overview of this exercise including a step-by-step instruction will be included in the guidebook. This will become available for any interested education professional at the end of the project. Here you see how the five fingers exercise was introduced to participants in the Belfast workshop in May 2017.

This project has been funded with support of the European Commission. This communication reflects only the author's view and the European Commission and the National Agencies are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Ready for an interesting placement in a fascinating country?

If you are looking for a valuable experience abroad, as part of your course programme in social work at our university of applied sciences, then have a look at the video below. One of our students put together this short clip to give you an idea of what she is experiencing on her placement with the organisation Ready4Life in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Although at this moment she has now been there for only 6 weeks, she already has a wealth of experiences behind her, as you will see if you watch the video. Thank you Simone for sharing your experiences with us in this way.




If the player doesn't show, here's the direct link.

For your information: the organisation Ready4Life is one of the international LearnWorkCommunities that are offered as a placement for year 3 students of the social work programme. They have a good network in the city of Port Elizabeth and try to arrange matches based on your interests and competences.
In the clip above you only get a quick impression of one of the organisations.




Curious to know more ? You can have a look at their website via this link: http://ready4life.org/south-africa/ . Updates will follow at a later stage, towards the end of the placement coming January / February 2018.

Interested in Social Entrepreneurship ? Here's a Training Manual

After two years of work the time has come to share the outputs of an interesting European project.

As part of the Erasmus+ project in Sustain Your Life through Social Entrepreneurship, three 5-day training courses were developed and delivered in three different countries, gathering 28 participants per venue.

Each of the three training courses that were delivered had its own theme, its own training objectives and activities as well as its own trainers. All this and more, you can find in the overall training course descriptions that were compiled in a training manual together with a good diversity of valuable internet resources for further reference.

The overall goal was to give a comprehensive introduction to social entrepreneurship, to equip participants with the tools and resources for setting up their own social start-ups, by providing them with the resources to gain more in-depth insights into this innovative approach to social change, to turn needs into action, to demonstrate different (business) models of social entrepreneurship, to show sustainable strategies for building momentum for social entrepreneurship activities, to learn from the tips and tricks in order to be an effective change maker in their field of interest, to elaborate on possible ideas (and passions) for starting a social enterprise or launching a venture, or adding a social entrepreneurship-oriented perspective to an existing entity. The ulterior drive behind all of the training activities has been to support young people realize their dreams of a better world.


  
The teaching materials and resources of the training courses are displayed here in the manual (as well as in the open learning portal on www.sustainyourlife.eu) in such a way that they provide experienced trainers with solid information as well as flexible educational tools and handouts, which may be utilised and adapted according to their specific needs. The specific training activities of each of the T C’s have been described in detail. They can be used in part, according to the needs of the trainers, work settings and the time available. In other words, feel free to pick and choose your own educational / training activities from the 50 + that are displayed here in the Training Manual below.

Feel free to download the manual free of charge.

We hope it will provide you with lots of inspiration for your training activities to have young people sustain their lives through social entrepreneurship.

 

Disclaimer: The EC support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

MedArt produces a methodological guide

As the end of the MedArt project is approaching, it's time to share the results and output.
The MedArt project was formulated to create a space where the different participating organisations could share and exchange their practices and learn from each other. The process consisted of a series of transnational meetings in partner countries and on top of that, a week long exchange of practice with staff in order to share their methodologies. Those methodologies included games, exercises and other non-formal learning approaches based on the current work of each organisation and their (target) groups.

These were the seven partners creating community theatre in different countries and in different contexts while working with people with a wide range of vulnerabilities:

• acta Community Theatre, UK – working with vulnerable young people and adults 

• Asociacon Acunagua, Canary Islands, Spain – working with women prisoners, young people   

• CSC Danilo Dolci, Sicily, Italy – offering a range of opportunities and education to refugees, young people

• Divadlo bez Domova, Slovakia - working with homeless people, disabled people, mentally challenged people, ex-prisoners and others in need.

• Drustvo ProSoc, Slovenia – theater of different excluded and vulnerable groups

• Magyar Vöröskereszt Budapest Fővárosi Szervezet  AHA Színpada (MVKBP), Budapest, Hungary – theatre with homeless, former homeless and vulnerable adults

• Teatr Grodzki, Poland – theatre with disabled, deaf and disadvantaged people in Bielsko-Biala.

The eighth partner, Hogeschool Rotterdam, Netherlands, has been responsible for project evaluation and creating a framework for the methodological guide.

In the course of the two-year Erasmus+ funded project the partners learned that they share a number of common aims: first and foremost, the desire to make positive change in the lives of vulnerable and marginalised people, and secondly, a passionate belief in the power of theatre as an effective tool to enable these positive changes to take place. Moreover, all the partners share a belief in the importance of life-long learning.

However, the way in which each of the organisations worked towards these goals diverged. It was the richness of practice that was gradually discovered along the way, resulting in enhanced practices in the partner organisations. Exercises created to work in one context proved to be easily translatable to another as the language of theatre, and community theatre in particular, is universal. It is this richness and adaptability of the methodologies that the MedArt partnership is now sharing with anyone through the methodological guide that they de
veloped. Here you can find the publication:

(Alternatively, if this doesn't show up properly, here's the link to the guide.)
Hopefully, this guide will help you develop your own rich and effective methodologies that work in your context. Good luck with your journey !

Disclaimer: The EC support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

What is social entrepreneurship ?

This is the question that we put to the participants on the final day of a training course held in Rotterdam, autumn 2016. The Training Course was organised within the framework of a European project entitled Sustain Your Life through Social Entrepreneurship. The project was co-funded by the Erasmus + programme of the EU.

Here's what some of the participants said:

This video, as well as the following two, was edited by Jeroen Wouters, lecturer at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Here's another videoclip giving you a glimpse of what the participants to the T C saw during the course by way of field visits.

Finally, this is where you can hear some of the participants expressing what they learned during the training course on social and cultural entrepreneurship:

Curious to read and see more ? Here's a link to the open e-learning portal website that resulted from the project as one of the outputs.
If you click the button Training Programmes you get access to all of the activities that were provided to a total of nearly 80 participants during three organised training courses held in three different countries across the two years' run of the project.

Disclaimer: The EC support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

update on Sustain Your Life through Social Entrepreneurship

Within the framework of the Erasmus + project “Sustain your life through social entrepreneurship” a new group of 28 youth workers joined the experience of the third and last international pilot training course dedicated to theme of  “A Sense of Initiative and Entrepreneurship”.

The training course was organized by Freguesia de Cascais e Estoril, the Portuguese partner of the project, and took place in the beautiful city of Cascais (Portugal) from the 22nd to the 26th of January. This 5 days' training course approached social entrepreneurship and innovation from a very practical point of view. There was a strong focus on learning by doing, especially since the topic is very much linked to the transversion of ideas into actions.

The training course aimed to give a practical approach to social entrepreneurship. Planned in accordance with the principles of non formal education it had four main stages: “Chaos & Order” - from creativity to organization; “Balance” - work within a group; “Into the practice” - developing a project to put ideas into action (Tree of problems/Dragon Dreaming); and rounding off with “Opening towards the future”. Designing the course in this way was meant to provide insights and learning opportunities to all the participants.

A strong aspect was the opportunity that was offered to the participants at several moments during the week to wear a “meta-hat” and analyse the activities and process from a youth worker's point of view, establishing how they could use the exercises and approaches in their local contexts.

This experience was built on both individual and group learning, always respecting participants' needs. Every single day reflection groups were set up in order to enhance and reinforce what had been learned that day.

Upcoming

By the end of this March project partners will meet in Cascais to discuss project progress and agree on the most appropriate tools to share results with a wider audience of youth workers and stakeholders.

More updates on a regular basis can be found on the Facebook page of Sustain Your Life through Social Entrepreneurship.

TC Rotterdam, in retrospect

First of all a big thank you to the trainer, the speakers and the participants for turning the training course held here in Rotterdam, within the school of social work, into such a wonderful experience for all involved.
It was a truly astonishing event.

  The aim of the training course was to equip participants with the entrepreneurial tools and basics of business and financial management models for social enterprises. By visiting a diversity of good practices in Rotterdam and its surroundings participants got acquainted with the decision making processes of the social entrepreneurs involved.  By comparing and contrasting the participants established what the key success factors are for sustainable social and cultural entrepreneurship in order to achieve lasting positive social impact.

 

The stresses currently experienced by various social systems around the world regarding health, welfare, pensions, education, and so on, present a wide range of opportunities for social business to innovate in core products and services. Young people or the millennial generation will increasingly be required to define new initiatives grounded in social purpose and decide on business models that deliver sustainable, profitable growth creating positive impact to solve the complex challenges that our planet faces.

 

The 28 participants from Romania, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands learned how to proceed from  a personal passion or personal needs to a realistic business plan or model with social value, knowing what steps to take and expect the unexpected.

 

   

Although all came with an open mind, they were far from empty-headed: they shared their expertise, exchanged ideas, debated key issues and built on each other's plans and projects. 


 

Here are some of the participants' statements:

Of course there are some differences between the countries, but in reality the core values and the motivation that all the people in this room have are the same, the strength and the will to be part of the change and improve our work. In this training course we are learning (and that is very important) to be practical. (Italian participant)

 
This training course has given me the possibility to see a different point of view, to create a  new method that is useful to become more active in my work. The EU has given me the opportunity to see what there is outside of my own country.(Italian participant)

 
This TC is bringing me new skills, new contacts and new networks, to develop a stronger core value proposition for our association in Spain so that we can become more sustainable and face the new challenge of reaching Europe within 3 years. This TC has opened so many new doors for me personally and also for my project. I really believe we can do better together. (Spanish participant)

 I had a great experience, learned so much and had a lot of fun with you! This international group has helped me a lot because different people have different ideas. (Dutch participant)

Hi everyone :) I hope all of you are now safe back home and relaxing from this complex and full immersion week! I wanted to thank all of you for voting for Portugal on the final project presentation through choosing my project and personal dream :)  I hope to able to invite all of you in the future one day. When I will open this centre for the community, I'll have all of you in mind for sure. It was a great pleasure to meet so many interesting people and an inspiration to be with you all this past week. I already miss the walk from Witte de With to go to the Uni in the cold morning =)  Thank you amazing team!
I wish you all great success and new social business to pop up soon :)
(Final message from Portuguese participant)

  Guess what, next Sunday I will facilitate a 2h workshop about social impact of social entrepreneurship. Now ...after my Rotterdam experience I have input!
(after returning home, from a Romanian participant)

For our Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences it was a great experience to host such a dedicated group of youth and social workers from around Europe. That makes me think of something Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.”

Note added about a month later:
here's a message from one of the participants. "Dear people! I just wanted to share with you that a foundation just gave us a grant to develop a social entrepreneurship formation during 6 months in rural areas with design thinking techniques. So I will try my best inspiring new people to "sustain their lives through social entrepreneurship".

Training Course to be held in Rotterdam

Here's the poster for the upcoming Training Course in Social and Cultural Entrepreneurship.
We are looking forward to receiving 28 participants here within the School of Social Work at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, location Museumpark.
The trainer will be Marianne Lindhout.

Take a quick look at a small image of the announcements on the poster here

This training course is part of a series of 3 training courses held within the framework of an Erasmus + project under the title of Sustain Your Life through Social Entrepreneurship, a two-year European project co-funded by the Erasmus + programme of the European Union.

Looking forward to meeting you all here at our venue, kind regards from the Rotterdam team.

Update on social entrepreneurship project

A Social Enterprise combines entrepreneurial activity with a social purpose.
Its main aim is to have a social impact.

“Sustain your life through social entrepreneurship” is an Erasmus + KA2 Strategic partnership project managed by PRISM and funded with the support of the European Union. It aims at equipping young people with the necessary knowledge and tools to activate a social enterprise
 

Officially the project started in January 2016 with the kick off meeting of the partners in Palermo. During the meeting they focused on contents and upcoming steps for implementation.

The month of July 2016 has been a crucial moment for the implementation of the project, two important steps of the above-mentioned project have been implemented:

- The first Training Course - an international training held in Caltanissetta, from the 6^th to the 10^th, where 28 young people from Italy, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Lithuania, and Netherlands worked side by side. The training whose title is "Turning needs into social start ups" was implemented by PRISM. It equipped participants with project management competencies and tools necessary to build a sustainable social enterprise. It focused on all phases of the Project Cycle Management linked to a holistic approach for nonviolent community development. Through a non-formal, intercultural and creative learning process, the combination of study visits of local social enterprises, the testimony of local entrepreneurs operating in the social field and group work (both practical and theoretical) it has been possible to transfer to participants the knowledge and practical tools to start up a social business, offering innovative solutions to identified local community’s needs.

- The Second transnational meeting in Las Palmas, Canary Islands (Spain) from the 14^th to the 15^th of July. The main focus of the transnational meeting was about the TC in Caltanissetta, the assessment tools to better evaluate the feedbacks of the participants, the organization of the next Training Courses and the preparation of the project outputs according to the TCs feedbacks. Moreover, the partnership had the opportunity to evaluate the work implemented so far and to set the next important steps of the project, also through a discussion on the internal evaluation and quality assurance of the project, on the results of the communication strategy and on the financial aspects of the project.

UPCOMING

The next training in Rotterdam from the 30th of October to the 5th of November 2016.

Keep up to date via our FB page - Sustain your life through Social Entrepreneurship

 
  

Here are some quotes from the participants of the TC in Caltanisetta, Italy:

“We all tried to collaborate and had the chance to share our experiences and knowledge about the social entrepreneurship phenomenon and its potential in the youth field and non-formal education in our own countries and also in Europe.”

“This project aims at the creation of a favourable environment to encourage and enable young people to pursue social entrepreneurship in their local communities. Entrepreneurship and self-employment could help young people to develop new key competences, respond to the emerging social needs and fully participate in society.”

“What I've learned from the Training Course in Caltanisetta is that with creativity you can find new ways for your entrepreneurship. What I've learned the most is that international contact can give you new ideas. In every country the will handle social needs in a different way. They gave me inspiration for starting new activities and to try to start a social centre in Surinam”.