"Another Extraordinary Educational Adventure. Trans-Siberian" - Partnership Building Seminar with study visits elements

The seminar will start in Moscow, but major part will be held during a Trans-Siberian train ride from Moscow to Novosibirsk (2 days and 2 nights), with the proper working sessions on board as well as visits to organisations and meetings with local communities in Novosibirsk, Achinsk and Krasnoyarsk. Additionally, for interested coordinators, we will organise a weekend trip to an eco-village in the taiga, accredited for the European Solidarity Corps (20-21 June).

CORONAVIRUS: please note that the dates of the seminar might change. After the group is recruited (beginning of May), we will check the situation and make final decision, if to keep the June dates or move the seminar to autumn. Hopefully by beginning of May the situation with coronavirus is much better and foreseeable.

OBJECTIVES:

• to get to know each other personally and professionally;
• to build trust and partnership among participating organisations holding ESC quality label;
• to deepen understanding of quality in international volunteering in ESC;
• to learn about reality of volunteering organisations in Russia;
• to foster networking among participants and create space for projects' building;

The programme will be built on experiential learning, adventure and outdoor methodology, allowing participants on one hand to meet local organisations and discover their realities and on the other hand to discuss quality elements of cooperation within European Solidarity Corps. The whole experience will be enhanced by networking and partnership building sessions to allow new project ideas to emerge. Through out the process participants will be able to learn and experience the intercultural reality of the region. This activity is built upon the experience that our institutions gained during similar events using river boat cruises "Between Ladoga and Onega" and “Volga Experience” in Russia (2012-13) as well as during train travel seminar "Train Adventure" in Ukraine (2014) and during outdoor seminar "From Sea to Mountains" also in Ukraine (2015) as well as the "Argonautika" sea seminar in western Georgia (2016) and "The colour of pomegranate" seminar in Armenia (2017).

More about the Adventure Education and our experiences: www.salto-youth.net/AdventureEducation

PARTICIPANTS and TEAM:

The activity will bring together 24 volunteering coordinators representing accredited organisations of European Solidarity Corps from Eastern Partnership countries and Russia as well as Programme Countries.

Participants profile:

• having basic experience in international volunteering projects management;
• representing an organisation that holds quality label of the European Solidarity Corps;
• being motivated to develop ESC volunteering between Programme countries and the region of Eastern Europe and Caucasus;
• having a working knowledge of English, the working language of the activity;
• available to actively attend the full duration of the activity (13-19 June);
• open for surprising learning situations;

The team will be composed of an one external facilitator as well as a SALTO EECA officer experienced in European Solidarity Corps and cooperation between Programme Countries and Eastern Partnership countries and Russia. There will be also a representative(s) of the national agencies of the European Solidarity Corps, allowing participants to gain expertise from first hand as well as a documentarian preparing a video of the event.

IMPORTANT: Please take into consideration, that this seminar is based on Adventure Education! The seminar will require full participation from mornings till evenings. There is no traditional sessions, but naturally there are breaks during the process. Due to lots of travelling there will be no possibility to do any other kind of work and time to open your computer will be very limited! The group will spent several nights in night trains, in sleeping compartments, equipped with bed sheets. There will be max. 2 nights in a row in a train, so we can also enjoy hotels and showers on the way. During train travels the diversity of meals can be quite limited, but every participants can also make own supplies. Please be open for unexpected and surprise: the programme is built for work outside of standard hotel seminar rooms, and such context can sometimes heavily influence the process (positively and negatively). The only way to manage is to be open, learn from any experience and support each other in the group.