Croatia Follow Up Activities

Participants from Croatia made a lot of follow up activities in their places their schools as followed: 

Eco Festival 

  On the 10th of September 2022 our association, Kreaktiva has been part of a yearly eco- festival in Batina. The main goal of this festival is to gather people and spread awareness of unnecessary rubbish in local places. Our job was to help others to clean the shore of river Dunav. For me, this part was relatively exhausting, but after doing it I was very proud of us. I was immensely impressed by the progress just a small amount of people can do for the environment and society if they just put their minds to it. With the job successfully done our next part of the day was filled with small workshops where we, as the ABECCCOL team, had our dissemination part of the project. We had the opportunity to share gained knowledge, from our Erasmus+ exchange. We talked about the importance of circular economy, human rights, fair trade, food and bio-waste, our experiences with the project organizers, and much more. Furthermore, we shared our achieved key competencies of youthpass. My favourite part of our dissemination was seeing the confirmation from others that they learned something new in a fun and interesting way while also putting it into practice. Another plus from this festival was that other teams who participated in other projects also had the opportunity to teach us something about what they have done in their exchange. And of course it wouldn't be a Croatian dissemination if we didn't include a music segment for everyone to relax. It was a very sunny, productive and educational day for us all. 

Zrinka Kozić: My dissemination took place in several parts. The first and main part was in Batina, where I participated with Krekativa in the action of cleaning the Danube. It is an international action that encourages all countries through which the Danube passes to clean its banks and make citizens aware of the importance of a clean environment. After we cleaned the Danube bank in Batina, we held a short presentation where we presented to people what we did and what we learned about in the project. We talked about our experience and the entire experience of the project. I did the second part at my school, where I told my colleagues about my experience and encouraged them to get involved in Erasmus+ and other youth projects. The third and the last part was on social media where I shared my experience and knowledge that i gained from the project.

Helena: Our dissemination took place in a village on the right bank of the Danube called Batina. We got there with many goals on our mind, but our main goal was to clean up the Danube. When we all met up, we got right to work. We carried dozens of trash bags and boxes of gloves. When we got near the river, there were a lot of cigarette butts and plastic, but they were no match for us. We picked up trash for several hours and we only took one short break. We were proud of the work we did. Cleaning up near rivers and rivers in general is important for fresh drinking water, for people's livelihoods and for nature. Our way of life depends on clean water!  After that, we walked around the local forests and picked up trash on the ground. Next, we held a presentation on our project. We shared experiences, thoughts and most importantly we shared everything we learned and urged everyone to look out for our environment.

Domagoj Loci: We did the dissemination of the project in Batina. The final part of the project included cleaning along the banks of the Danube River. I must admit that while I was collecting all the waste, I became aware of a different view of our Earth and what we are actually doing to it. We all became environmentally conscious as a team and did an excellent job in cleaning. After the cleaning itself, we gathered a group of people to whom we transferred all the information and what we learned in Greece. Laughter and fun accompanied us as we told interesting stories from the trip. At the end of the day, we ended a successful task and a lot of effort with homemade food and the sound of the guitar. I have to admit that the project in Greece was one of the best experiences in my life. I met many different but like-minded people. I learned something new about ecology and the nature that surrounds us. Sometimes I feel a little nostalgic about the whole experience. I hope for many projects in the future.

Other FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES 

Heidi: Sadly, I couldn't be a part of the DanubeCleanUp dissemination, so I had to to something on my own. I decided to create two posters to present, in my school, what we had done on our project a few months ago in Greece. On one poster, I created a road that actually leads us to a sustainable life, the point I was trying to make was that the more we learn and the more we know about climate change the more "green" we actually are and then we are more likely to prevent it. The other one is a display of circular economy and it's principles (reduce, reuse, repair, recycle). We talked and discussed firstly about climate change's influence and generally what it is, later all of us calculated our carbon footprints and compared them. For the conclusion of my dissemination we conversed about the possible solutions of climate change and the importance of circular economy. My class was very happy with my presentation and it raised their interest in Erasmus+ projects. They really showed interest and listened to me while simultaneously asking questions and sparking conversations, especially during the part where I talked about Human Rights X Environmentalism. They appreciated learning about activism and the power we hold towards our futures. They want to visit Greece now as well. :D

Andelo: On the 29th of September 2022, I made a presentation in my student residence in UWC in Mostar. The main goal of this presentation was to promote various Erasmus+ projects and their respective values. In my opinion, there is a big need for youth exchange programmes so that young people around Europe learn about intercultural differences and their traditional dishes, songs and dances, while learning and discussing about challenging global problems. From ABECCCOL, I learned about food and bio-waste, circular economy, renewable energy, scarce resourses and sustainability. During the presentation in Mostar, I incouraged my co-years to reflect on maintaing the ability of the environment and the economy. We talked about how to produce and satisfy consumers needs and wants in the future. After the presentation, my co-years and I cleaned Neretva beaches and learned about pollution that is affecting flora and fauna closely connected to the Neretva River.

Because I was unable to go to the DanubeCleanUp I held a presentation in my class about our project in Greece. I spoke about some basic facts such as the name of our project, min aim, participants, accommodation, etc. I showed them videos that we watched during the project and tried to explain to them terms we used and learned. The terms were circular economy, the 3R rule... At the same time I was showing them pictures and videos from the project and talking about my experience. I showed them workshops, energizers, intercultural nights and more fun stuff we did. My presentation included a lot of pictures and videos from field trip that we went to in Patras, the sea we were swimming in, food we ate. In the end I spoke about what I thought I learned and gained from ABECCCOL and hopefully my friends gained some knowledge from me. I was happy that I was able to share my experience and maybe my friends will like to participate in Erasmus+ projects. My friends and classmates said that the presentation was great and that they were really jealous that I got to be part of this amazing project. 

Since I could not participate in cleaning the Danube with my team, I gave a lecture at my school as dissemination. I gave a presentation about the complete project, starting with the preparations themselves, until the very departure to Greece, and up to now. First, I described the project, its goals, and purpose, then I talked about the participants and the activities we had to do before going to Greece. After that, I opened a short debate in the class in which they talked about what they think, what kind of activities we did during our stay in Greece and how they envision a project on the topic of climate change. Afterward, of course, I showed them and told them how we did it, and most of them liked energizers and intercultural nights where we cooked, sang, and danced. Of course, they also liked the topic of human rights related to the environment and the workshops where we made posters, played games, and so on. I showed them a lot of pictures and videos from all the activities we did, and I also played them videos about human rights. In the end, everyone took a quiz in which they found out how big their carbon footprint was. A lot of them were shocked after seeing the results, and because of that, I think they really learned something new that they will apply in the future. A lot of them became interested in this topic and in the association with which I participated in this wonderful Erasmus project, and I am sure that many of them will join in the next similar projects.