It was the first part of a continual training course. The second part will take place in Portugal (Porto) from 02/02 to 07/02/2020. They have been 4 participants in total from Cyprus in a training course in Rzeszow, Poland. Our participants had been met with the participants from the other countries (Croatia, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Portugal and Bulgary), with the organizer from Poland, Radu Mirea, from the organization INPRO.
The training course had duration from 15th – 21st of December 2019 and participants were very lucky to accommodate in a luxury hotel with all the comforts, in the Aparthotel 12. Another good point was that the course was also taking place there. On the first day, the participants got to know each other and Radu invented some funny ways/games to achieve it and he made an introduction to the programme. It’s worth to say that Radu was a great lecturer and always was making the course very interesting and never boring. Then, participants signed a learning agreement, set working hours, wrote their expectations, fears, and how they could contribute. Afterwards, the participants did more team building activities. At the end of that day and of all the days, participants were encouraged to write a daily reflection and an evaluation.
On the second day, a lecturer from Poland, Wojtzek, through non-formal educational methods (like games) introduced us on the way to entrepreneurship, to the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur and at the end, we played a business game.
On the third day, Wojtzek talked about the discovering social-factor in business, then the participants took a step forward into social enterprise, and at the end, they had a cultural visit in the Market Square of Rzeszow. Furthermore, the participants went in the Underground Tourist Route, date back to the beginning of the 15th and 16th centuries.
On the fourth day, they visited two small enterprises out of the city. The first was an old school in Bieszczady, which is used now as a place where visitors can do some very interesting activities. They can see a movie combining the school of the past with the school of the present, they can make potteries, traditional polish bread and try to write calligraphic. There are different rooms in that very pleasant place to do them. After that place, they visited the Ursa Brewing Company in the same city.
On the fifth and sixth day, we were divided into small groups and we played a very interesting competitive simulation business game, through which we understood the difficulties to creating and developing a business and the challenges and ups and downs the business people are called to face. At the end, with a great strategic system, the participants from Cyprus with an Italian participant in our team was the winner!
On the last day, we had Open Space to discuss anything we wanted, Radu talked us about ERASMUS + in general, and we finished with a reflection, evaluation of the training course and summing up.
Finally, the programme was organised perfectly, participants had an amazing time in the hotel, they have met some very interested and cheerful people, especially from Croatia, and they had great and funny moments with them. Concerning the subject matter of the training course, the participants have learnt many interesting things about entrepreneurship, creating and developing a business and about non-formal education. Finally, they have developed their skills in the following aspects: “Learning to learning”, “mathematical competence”, “communication in foreign languages”, “digital competence”, “interpersonal, intercultural and social competences”, “cultural expression”.
