The third volume of the program was going from mid-October 2016 until mid-December 2016 (10 weeks in total) and was coordinated by the team of EVS volunteers of Mladiinfo International. This initiative started with cooperation between Mladiinfo and the Peace Corps. The program was aimed at pupils from elementary schools (a group of age 13-14). Over a period of 10 weeks, we tried to work on increasing pupils’ personal development, self-confidence, self-esteem, and boost their capabilities such as team-building and cooperation. We also addressed critical thinking over problems found in the community, awareness of the environmental issues and overall community development and volunteering of the children. The whole program was based on a non-formal way of learning, using games, interactive activities, role plays, etc. The sessions were taught in English and composed in order to achieve the above-described set objectives.
The activities were taking place every Friday from 14:00 till 16:00 at the Mladiinfo International office.
The main objectives achieved during the program can be divided into two categories:
Area of Self-Development and Teamwork
Personality types: participants learned of the stages of Adolescent Development and learn to analyze fictional situations. They were discussing how different personalities affect how we interact with one another, and how these affect our leadership styles;
Communication skills: participants embrace their skills, strengths, accomplishments, and goals to continue building their self-confidence and to respect themselves when others try to put them down. They also learned why communication is so important in everyday situations. Who to talk to when having a problem?
Self- Esteem: What is the story of my life? What do I want to become and what do I need to consider as possible obstacles. Participants learned how to make their priorities and how to deal with difficult situations;
Creative thinking: learning about strategies to access resources and learning more about a personal or community priority, in small groups they tried to identify at least one strategy for turning a problem into an opportunity given scenarios.
Area of Community Awareness
Field Trips:
Park clean-up – teams with different tasks as a competition with the objectives to learn how important is to keep your environment clean. How to be eco-friendly and how to reuse the materials that we do not need however can be reused and recycled;
Cooking for poor – with the cooperation of Ретвитни Оброк, kids had the chance to help to prepare food for homeless and socially disadvantaged people in Macedonia
A trip to the American Corner– extra activity took place in January 2017, in order to learn more about possibilities of studying abroad.
Additional photos can be found here: