Pembroke, Malta
5-11.05.2014
SMIT "CREATOR" members were participating in the TC project called The European Parliament Project co-ordinated by TDM 2000 Malta.
'Malta's general voting turn-out for the European Parliament Elections is usually quite high in comparison to that of other Member States. However, one must stop and consider the reasons behind this. Do the Maltese vote for the best representative for their families and themselves in European Parliament or do they simply re-establish their beliefs in the local political scenario? One might also question why the voting turn-out in other Member States is so low. Do European Citizens fully comprehend the implications of their right to vote?
This 5 day long Training Course will revolve around the up and coming European Parliament Elections that will be taking place all over Europe towards the end of May. It will delve into the institution of the European Parliament, its role, its functions and its powers, as well as how it relates to the other institutions that make up the European Union. It will discuss the concept of democracy and explore the true meaning of having the right to vote. It will do this with the scope of combating the general disinterest towards international politics and to encourage youths to be more active in society.
The project will take place making use of non-formal methods of education such as group discussions and more physical exercises like role-plays in order to entice the young leaders to participate and contribute their opinions. The project will be run in Pembroke, Malta and will have a total of 24 participants coming from 8 different countries: Malta, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, newly joined Croatia and the pre-accession country of Turkey.'
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Grzegorz Gustaw (Monday, 11 August 2014 15:27)
I had an opportunity to take part in a Youth in Action project held in Pembroke. “The European Parliament Project” was organized by TDM2000 Malta. I took part in several projects both as a participant and as
a team leader and I highly appreciate this one. Actually, it is among the best projects that I’ve attended. The program was nicely crafted. The trainer managed to keep a great balance between working sessions and a free time. During training sessions he used various methodology such as: ice-breakers, simulation games, working in groups, discussion in an efficient manner. Moreover, the projects’ setting was wonderful. I highly recommend participating in projects in collaboration with SMIT Creator and TDM2000 Malta.
Jagoda Banach (Monday, 11 August 2014 15:29)
"The European Parliament Project" was seven days training course which took place in Pembroke, Malta and was organised by TDM 2000 Malta, from 4 until 11 of May. Whole Project was connected with upcomming elections to European Parliament and focused on involvement young people in politics. During the project we had a lot of activities mostly dedicated European Union , the aim was to broad our knowledge about institution of EU, legislative processes in European Parliament and how young people can be engage in politics. We simulate European Parliament session which help us realize how everyday work EP looks like. Generally , much time was spent on commitment citizens on politics and voting issue, one of our task was to establish facts about voting in our countries and compare with other participants, it showed us how many differences are sometimes between differend states. We ve done a lot of work in varied groups , thanks to that we ve had a chance to know each other better and get some interesting information about other cultures and countries. During this week I ve learnt a lot about European Parliament, generally about European Union and involvment young people in current political issues. I ve met amazing people from all over the Europe and spent unforgetteble time with them in such beautiful place which Malta. This experience for me is priceless and I ve never develope myself as much in such a short time.
Karolina Wasiłek (Monday, 11 August 2014 15:33)
From 5th to 11th May I was participated in the Training Course “The European Parliament Project”, which took place in Malta, in Pembroke. There were participants from many different countries: Estonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Malta, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Hungary, Slovakia and Germany. If I said that I haven’t learnt anything new, I would definitely lie. During this 6 days we had amazing opportunities to learn many new things. Start on some knowledge of European Parliament and finish on tolerance to other cultures, religions, traditions. We’ve began very inconspicuously in playing some games to remember our names. When we knew each other much more, our trainer used some non-formal methods to acquaint us with the structure of European Parliament. We discussed a lot, talked and made a simulation of the Parliament. Every exercise gave me new knowledge and experience. The best thing which I can tell is that in spite of different cultures and habits, we tried to do our best together to make this project the most interesting and efficient. It was amazing that we could talk in one language, see many factors in different points of view and discuss it. Maybe sometimes we had distinct observations and perceptions, but the best was that we were together in it, like one family. That’s probably why it was hard to split each other at the end of the project. To be honest it’s difficult to describe this event in few words, sentences even in few essays. You just have to feel it, experience and outlive it by yourself.