The second edition of the training course Sustainability: Growing with Care has taken place in Sofia, Bulgaria. On the 17th of November, 25 participants met to begin their journey in learning about sustainable practices.
The focus of the first day was for participants to get to know each other. It’s difficult to remember the names of such a big group, which is why we made sure to do a double introduction. The next day, we dived straight to discovering several European opportunities for youth through a game-based approach. The afternoon revealed more opportunities for the participants to discover, this time with the use of Education through Sport. The teams were tied together and had to model real teamwork in order to complete three tasks – no easy feat!
After a long day of exploring and getting to know each other, participants were invited to the reflection, which became a staple for everyday activities.
On November 19th, we focused on the introduction to sustainability. What can be considered sustainable? What are the three pillars of sustainability? Are there any examples of sustainable actions in Europe? – all these questions, and more, were answered by our resident sustainability expert, Katerina Iotova. Katerina helped participants understand that the concept of sustainability goes beyond its environmental aspect, and presented many different good practices across Europe.
The following day was short, since participants got the chance to explore the city centre with a guided tour in the afternoon. Nevertheless, the morning was dedicated to exploring the concept of game-based learning and its engagement properties, followed up by a session called “What’s your problem?”, where participants got to practice their active listening skills. This session also acted as an introduction into the most challenging workshop of the week.
Thursday, November 21st, was the culmination of all previously gained knowledge. The Youth-centred Workshop Design session was lead by Dominika Swinin, our residential design thinking expert. In this session, participants spent the whole day designing activities that they are going to implement in their local realities. This workshop, although intense, concluded with participants practicing all they learned so far and creating something tangible.
In the morning of November 22nd participants had the chance to present their initiatives. The group showcased a lot of creativity, relevance, and precision in their target group analysis, followed by realistic and implementable solutions. We’re excited to see you realise them!
Before we knew it, the training course came to a close. Participants said their goodbyes on November 23rd, and parted ways with new knowledge, new ideas, and motivation to act on those ideas. Big thank you from the Mundus Bulgaria team – hopefully see you again!
