Bujrum Center for Rural Development hosted an international training course which gathered 20 participants from Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Poland, Italy, Malta, Slovakia, UK, and Macedonia. The training course “Volunteering in rural areas” took place from 17-25 April in the village of Pelince, close to Kumanovo.
The course gave an opportunity for the participants to learn about volunteer management and volunteer strategies, benefits from volunteering on local level, mapping of community needs in rural areas, how to motivate young people to volunteer and take active social responsibility.
Intercultural learning was very important element during the whole training. From the first day, participants collaborated to determine Rules for Respect, which strives to avoid all types of discrimination during the sessions and keep the intercultural environment very positive. Within this multicultural environment, participants practiced positive aspects of team work: sharing different opinions, coming up with unique solutions, and respecting each others’ values.
“Already from the first day, most participants were very interested to discuss the concept of volunteerism and visit the local rural environments. They wished to talk to the local youth in order to get to know better what are they needs that different volunteering programs could offer,” shared one of the trainers Florim.
“We are very pleased that participants from the very beginning were ready tor cooperate. We hope that after this international training they will have many opportunities to participate in activities that include special programs for youth in rural areas, ” said Marija, coordinator of the project.