In the second week of June, the VOLPOWER project team, including all the volunteers from the seven participating countries, met up in Croatia for the first transnational project event. While it was only seven countries participating in this event, in reality, the event gathered people from at least 21 different countries.
Blog post by Iva Dim, IRMO
The VOLPOWER project aims to bring people from different backgrounds together and exactly this was done in Croatia this month. Everyone gathered just outside of the capital city Zagreb, at the mountain top called Sljeme. This nature park hosted 52 participants and trainers for four days, which were packed with digital skills training, film-making, sport, team-building activities, and more.
Surrounded by nature and wonderful views, the stunning environment on Sljeme offered a great background for making beautiful visual content. The volunteers were given the basic digital tools and they were given the opportunity to explore their creativity, work with different teams and produce and share their perspectives and experiences with the rest of the team. The products of each and every assignment they embarked on was unique and inspirational. They worked with their own country teams, in mixed groups, both larger and smaller, and cooperated with each other to bring together their strengths and differences in a creative manner.
The new skills they gained from the training they will be able to apply and build on throughout the VOLPOWER project. They will be able to share their stories and experiences with each other and with the rest of the world through the Social Media platforms that VOLPOWER has set up. This will allow them to share skills, ideas and stories, but also to remain in touch with each other and set up transnational networks with people that are afar and different, but share similar interests, passions and ambitions.
The VOLPOWER project will thus continue to support these young people in their journey. By design, the aim is to bring together different people and show that differences are a strength and cooperation a driving force. The tools they gained through the event on Sljeme are paramount in a digital world, where such skills are empowering when combined with creativity and passion. We hope that the volunteers learned a lot and had a fun time and will take this amazing and enriching experience further by applying it in their volunteer work and beyond.