The objective of “Power of Compound” was to bring together young people to work with the topic of social entrepreneurship and financial literacy. The participants spent 10 days in a beautiful venue in the middle of scenic South-Estonian nature. Among other goals, participants created life-long friendships which are the foundation for future projects and cooperation.
The project gathered 48 participants from 6 different countries – Estonia, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Slovakia, and Poland. Participants were between 18 to 30 years old Europeans with a different relation to entrepreneurship which made the group diverse and discussions interesting. Some of them were dealing with economic problems or health issues and had a unique opportunity to take part in this Erasmus+ project.
As a result of this project, participants learned about entrepreneurship / financial literacy and strengthened their sense of initiative. Various other competencies, such as public speaking and leadership, were improved as a side effect. The involved organizations significantly enhanced their skills in international project management and gained new competence for future initiatives. The aim was to raise awareness about important topics through a well-organised youth exchange that left a lasting positive memory and brought people together.
Social entrepreneurship has been part of our lives for the past 5 years. Running a non-profit organisation is definitely one of the most obvious forms of such enterprise. Entrepreneurship is often associated with money, startups and maximized profits. We wanted to nudge people towards a more sustainable path which encourages them to fix real world problems through their business initiatives.
When it comes to money and personal wealth management, most people are quite short-sighted. The project helped the participants to address the topic in a way that they could understand and relate to. Through the seminars and workshops, the participants were exploring ways in which each person can increase their ability to raise out of poverty and improve their financial security.
International cooperation is part of our success and we also managed to highlight it during this youth exchange. The activities were all facilitated in groups so that the participants could learn to cooperate with people from different cultures and backgrounds.
We love to make our projects as interactive as possible. Each youth exchange is somewhat unique because the participants themselves have a lot of possibilities to shape the program. Workshops grow out of our personal interests and professional background. In this event, we worked on innovative business ideas which would have a positive impact on the world. This was complemented with sessions about public speaking, teamwork, marketing, strategic planning and more.
International youth exchange enabled us to work in a multicultural environment which is one of the keys to success in the modern world. Participants tackled many challenges together through non-formal methods that we used throughout the project. It’s important to know how to properly communicate your ideas to others and group challenges are a perfect way to become better at it.
The participant groups on our projects are always diverse and each person has their own learning objectives. The fun and dynamic environment make learning more interesting, but we also balance it with fair share of reflection and evaluation sessions. That way we can really make new knowledge stick and ensure that people get to implement the new skills in their lives.
It’s important to take advantage of the fact that we’ve gathered so many people from different countries into one room. Each national group got at least one evening where they presented their culture through dance, games, challenges and more. The only rule was that touristic videos were not allowed, which was another challenge to stay creative and come up with something unique. Since the project took place in Estonia, we even invited a folk dance group to the venue and learned a few dances with their help.
But things didn’t stop there, after a long day of tackling world problems together, we often had an awesome party or relaxed in the sauna. Unforgettable theme parties took place, filled with dance and laughter, creating memories for a lifetime.
Get a glimpse of what this youth exchange looked like. Erasmus+ projects are an amazing opportunity to make new friends, learn about new topics and simply discover who you really are. It might all sound too good to be true, but the only way to find out is to experience it yourself.
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission Erasmus+ programme. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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