For a story to the world: International day

Eurocentrum Liberec

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Organisation:

Eurocentrum Liberec

Country:

Czech Republic

About organisation:

Eurocentrum Liberec is an organisation under the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, specifically under the Department of Communication on European Affairs. Its main objective is to inform the general public about the European Union. Our important target group is young people and one of the main topics we communicate is the opportunities for young people offered by the EU. For example, we prepare various competitions, lectures and cultural events related to Europe and the EU for primary and secondary schools. We also focus a lot on cooperation with the local Technical University in Liberec, where we also organise lectures with experts, and we work closely with the foreign department to disseminate various opportunities for young people. We do not forget about other groups of citizens either, we organize cultural lectures, exhibitions, debates on current topics.

Contact person:

Martin Fišer

Title of the project

For a story to the world: International day

Start date:

October 18, 2023

End date:

October 18, 2023

Source of funding:

We try to make the event organizable in all conditions, even in times of crisis. The cost of this event was in the order of several thousand crowns. We used a lot of volunteers and enthusiasts from our neighborhood, so the personnel costs were zero. From our own resources and from the resources of the project partner, the Technical University of Liberec, we only paid for small refreshments and prizes for the winners of the competition for the best poster and photo from Erasmus.

Objectives:

The event was based on sharing experiences through personal stories. The event was organized at the Technical University of Liberec and was aimed mainly at young people. The main goal was to motivate young people to take advantage of some foreign experience and also to learn about these opportunities. After the opening ceremony, a lecture on opportunities entitled "Study, Travel, Work Abroad" was prepared for students, where they learned about E+ at secondary schools, universities, as well as youth exchanges, studying abroad, the European Solidarity Corps, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs and Discover EU, etc.. 400 students from about 15 secondary schools from all over the Liberec Region and other students from the University attended. Then "Six stories from Liberec to the world and back", where 6 participants shared their stories from different types of international projects - ESC, E+Youth Exchange and others - with only a few photos. In the next part ("from TUL to the world and back"), students of the university shared their experiences informally. At the end, the results of the competition for the best poster and photo from Erasmus were announced. In the foyer of the auditorium, 15 exhibitors had their stands with materials about opportunities abroad. For int. students in the Cz. Rep. we prepared a lecture on "How to study and work with scholarship in Europe" and a workshop "Thenew challenges we have faced in in Czech Republic. In total, 1500 people attended the event.

Why does it correspond to the thematic category:

We think that the biggest contribution of the event was that it was based on the personal experiences and stories of all the lecturers. We paid attention to the interactivity of the lectures and workshops and it was also very important for us to have an informal approach that would be close to young people. At the same time, young people also gave lectures. For example, in the section "Six stories from Liberec to the world and back", the speakers had only 10 minutes and their presentation was based on only a few photos. In this part Veronika, a student from the secondary school we visited 3 years ago, spoke. She was intrigued by the youth exchanges and has since participated in a few herself, and is now starting a NGO and wants to motivate others herself. Pavel told his story about how the European Solidarity Corps helped him. Pavel suffers from borderline personality disorder. Because of his disorder he struggled with alcohol and drugs, had to quit his psychological studies in the UK and only the Corps helped him to find himself. We wanted to show that even a person who has such a big handicap can go abroad. It was also important for us to have a variety of speakers so that everyone could find their own thing. We didn't want to go down the route of long lectures about detailed conditions, but above all to provide motivation. We did not forget about foreign students here in the Czech Republic, we prepared two activities for them as well.

The impact the initiative had on young people and the local community:

The event was attended by 1,500 visitors from the ranks of high school and university students. There is no similar event in our region. We couldn't even take all the registered schools from secondary schools due to capacity. We had a tremendous response after the event from both young people and teachers. Educators are inviting us to give further talks on opportunities. Students are asking for more detailed information and for specific projects. We talked about Discover EU right at the event, it was a few hours before the application process closed, so a lot of them were filling out the form on the spot. Some contacted us afterwards to say they had won. The vast majority of participants had very little awareness of the opportunities available to them. We believe that through emotion and personal stories, many more now know about them.

How it ensured the visibility and promotion of Eurodesk:

The Eurodesk logo was on all promotional materials. From posters, medallions of the performers, diplomas for the winners of the competition for the best poster and photo from Erasmus, etc. We also had information materials about Eurodesk on the stand, while Eurodesk was introduced at the beginning of the event and also in more detail in the lecture Study, Travel, Work Abroad. Promotion was through an email campaign, where an email went out to all the teachers from the Secondary School and the University, then through Facebook and posters on the University and in the city centre. Information was also published on the website of Eurocentre Liberec, Europe Direct Liberec and the Technical University, etc. Logo eurodesku bylo na všech propagačních materiálech. Od plakátů, medailonků vystupujících, diplomů pro vítěze soutěže o nejlepší plakát a fotku z Erasmu, atd. Také jsme měli informační materiály o Eurodesku na stánku, zároveň byl Eurodesk představen na začátku akce a také detailněji i v přednášce Studuj, cestuj, pracuj v zahraničí. Propagace byla skrze emailovou kampaň, kdy šel email všem pedagogům ze SŠ i univerzitu, dále pak přes facebook a výlep plakátů na univerzitě a v centru města. Informace byli zveřejněny také na webu Eurocentra Liberec, Europe Direct Liberec i Technické univerzity, atd.

How it respected the green principles:

Firstly, when choosing the location of the event at the university, we chose a place that would be easily accessible by public transport. Registration and promotion of the event was done online. We kept the printing of event materials to a minimum. We had just a few posters diplayed at university and in some student place in city centre.For serving refreshments (coffee, water, tea etc.) we used washable dishes and dishes made of recyclable materials.We used eco-friendly, durable, recycled and recyclable promotional items. We minimised use ofphysical handouts. Also we talked about ecological principles when it was relevant - for ex. Green Erasmus, etc.

The event was based on sharing experiences through personal stories. The event was organized at the Technical University of Liberec and was aimed mainly at young people. The main goal was to motivate young people to take advantage of some foreign experience and also to learn about these opportunities. After the opening ceremony, a lecture on opportunities entitled “Study, Travel, Work Abroad” was prepared for students, where they learned about E+ at secondary schools, universities, as well as youth exchanges, studying abroad, the European Solidarity Corps, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs and Discover EU, etc.. 400 students from about 15 secondary schools from all over the Liberec Region and other students from the University attended. Then “Six stories from Liberec to the world and back”, where 6 participants shared their stories from different types of international projects – ESC, E+Youth Exchange and others – with only a few photos. In the next part (“from TUL to the world and back”), students of the university shared their experiences informally. At the end, the results of the competition for the best poster and photo from Erasmus were announced. In the foyer of the auditorium, 15 exhibitors had their stands with materials about opportunities abroad. For int. students in the Cz. Rep. we prepared a lecture on “How to study and work with scholarship in Europe” and a workshop “Thenew challenges we have faced in in Czech Republic. In total, 1500 people attended the event.