In the middle of October we launched our first official workshop. The topic was communication and the goal of the workshop was to learn how to communicate effectively and to understand how good communication creates a good project group.
Communication was a topic all of the organizations had been interested in during our meetings with the participants. Being able to communicate is very essentiel when it comes to group work, therefore we decided that this would be the topic of the first workshop. In the workshop the youth learned about different types of communication, they discussed what good and bad communication is and they made a group contract which they all signed. The contract listed the different expectations they had for each other in terms of communication and cooperation in the organization.
The youth also got the opportunity to put the theory into practice in the different exercises we had included in the workshop. For example we did an exercise where the youth had to ignore each other which showed the importance of active listening when having a conversation. We also did an exercise that goes by the name “the scene of thoughts.” It highlighted the importance of giving and receiving constructive feedback. Furthermore it showed how different methods of giving feedback can affect the way people respond to it. The participants had great fun doing the exercise and it was amazing to see the laughter and the energy in the room.
Being in new situations can be intimidating and the youth were a little shy in the beginning but the icebreaker did its job and the participants opened up after or “speed meeting”-exercise. After this activity the youth were very active and engaged both in listening to the information given by the facilitators but also in the different activities and discussions which was very positive.
