So now we know each other but what is the non-formal education? Through different activities and discussions I think we got the point, we shared our experience with this type of education through our lifetime and we wrote down 15 advices how to make a good NFE. The participants got excited about whole the idea and few of them wanted to try it and share their knowledge with us in a non-formal way. That leads me to the next day which I would call an open space day. The participants and trainers made workshops on their favorite topics like social media, personal branding, education technology and online learning, creative writing, nutrition etc. I have never seen a project where people were so active to share their knowledge and all of them presented it in a very nice and interactive way.
Enough of theory, here comes the practical part! Participants were split to groups and they had half of the day to find out a new name game, energizer or ice-breaking activity. They started to brainstorm first. It was a nice sunny day so it was a good environment for good ideas. After lunch they tried their activities in practice and till dinner they had time to improve the flaws and show us the result. There came out some nice activities which can be used in other project but I think the main knowledge learnt was that it really takes time to find out a new good idea.

For me the most interesting was the day when we learnt more about discrimination. It all started with a simulation game when participants were supposed catch a plane but they had to go through passport and border control which wasn’t so nice and discriminate them for any reason. At the beginning it was fun but after some time people were starting to get angry and couldn’t deal that they were discriminated for no specific reason. We tried more games and activities but I think this simulation made us to understand this topic the most. The end is here and we are going to say the first goodbye to one of the participants in few hours. The project is finishing but I think that we will never forget the great time we spent in Struga with all the interesting lectures, energizers, games, karaoke and quiz night and all the friends we made here from all around Europe. And the best thing about this project  – even as a trainer I enjoyed the program and learnt many new things. That is showing the power of the non-formal education itself!

Ramona Sanigova … “With the support of the Youth in Action Programme of the European Union”