LIFE+ | YE "Soften your skills" in Zagreb, Croatia

In the week September 27 – October 3 the EU team from the Croatian organization Ekonomska klinika hosted the implementation of the project activities for the Erasmus+ project Soften Your Skills. 25 young people from 5 European countries took part in this youth exchange, and in addition to the Republic of Croatia, they include Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania. This project is designed to introduce young people to soft skills and practice and ways of improving them. The project lasted 7 days in which interesting topics such as business ethics, business etiquette, non-verbal communication, negotiation, personal SWOT analysis, constructive criticism and creative collaboration were addressed. In each of the activities participants had to give their contribution to the topics in that way sharing their viewpoints and enriching the intercultural experience.

Business ethics, business etiquette and non-verbal communication gave the participants knowledge on how to behave in a work place, what is acceptable and what is not, how to get better chances of finding a job and how to use simple techniques in making themselves more presentable and making them stand out. The personal SWOT analysis gave them a different introspective view of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and if used well can help them plan their future and use the opportunities and strengths they have to tackle weakness and threats. The participants were also encouraged to give constructive criticism and they were given examples from everyday life in which they had to find a best way to give constructive criticism. The creative collaboration was the introduction into the last topic as participants were divided into teams and had to brainstorm their own business ideas. The last topic combined previously acquired knowledge in a pitch, and this topic was presented to by Ivan Krajinović in front Printee, which is an example of successful pitch that led to substantial funding making it possible for him and his team to create a business from scratch. The participants were divided into groups in which they were able to develop interesting and innovative business ideas and offer us excellent presentations of their hard work.

We are happy that the importance of this project has been recognized and that it has received funding from EU funds through the Erasmus + program. We are grateful to our partner organizations for the successful cooperation and we are looking forward to new projects.

*Find here more photos from the project: HERE

USE+FUL | HOW BE GREEN WHEN YOU TRAVEL?

As you know our time to combat climate change is limited, the most relevant and famous ecologists, like Leonardo Di Caprio or Greta Thunberg, have been warning us about this. Of course, you are trying to be a good citizen saving water, reusing things or limiting the meat consumed; but you like to travel and discover the world and this can be polluting for the environment. The tourist generates a lot of waste, push the towns to build hotels and infrastructure quickly and to use a lot of transport; and many times the amount of private transport that is used is greater than the city, country or island can support. In this article, I want to give you some easy points to be greener when you travel.

One of the simple steps you can take to change the style of your travels is to try to use more public transport or walk to places, avoiding the use of a taxi. Using public transport, cycling or walking you will help to control the pollution produced by the high number of cars. This can also be applied when travelling between different cities. Whenever you can, opt for bus, train or shared car. Although among these three options, the train is the one that pollutes the most, despite its charm.

It is clear that the plane has become an indispensable transport in the travel of the XXI century, due to its speed and its cost. However, it is highly polluting. How can we help? If you can go by ground transportation to your destination, better if your destination is far away and you must use a plane, try to carry light luggage. This last point may be silly, but it makes a lot of sense. The less weight the plane carries, the less fuel it needs. I think small, take only what you really need. It will help you to pollute less and to be able to move more agilely with less luggage.

When purchasing tourism products or shopping, think about the options that have the least impact on local people. For example, opt for hotels or hostels that opt ​​for a more ecological mode, that are not too large and that do not have a very large impact on the local flora and fauna. If you bet on more ecological tourism the trend will change. On the other hand, try to buy in local stores and local products, as you reduce the emission that occurs when transporting the products from one point to another.

And finally, and probably the most obvious point: try not to generate a lot of garbage and deposit the garbage in the right place. If we change the plastic water bottles for a reusable ones, better. And, obviously, when we go to visit a tourist place or a natural setting and we decide to eat there, let us remember to take back all the waste that we can generate. If it has gone in your backpack it can come back in your backpack too. If on the way you find a bottle or package, it does not cost you anything to take it and place it in its correct place. It is everyone's responsibility to take care of the environment.

Paula Barriga Pérez

Intern

PR,MARKETING & MEDIA DEPARTMENT

PEOPLE+ | Welcome to Internsip@ICDET Seun

My name is Alkauthar Seun Enakele from Nigeria, presently studying for my doctoral degree in Social Work and Social Policy at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, since 2017. Where I also teach bachelor students on social work and intimate partner violence. I am graduating from my doctoral studies by the end of September 2021 and nominated for a graduate traineeship program under Erasmus+ that is taking place in Sofia from November 2021 to June 2022 in the PROJECT DEVELOPMENT Department of ICDET.

I would describe myself as a responsible, hard-working and honest person, who is ready to learn and gather more experience. I came here because I want to gain more experience in the area of my profession. I am looking forward to being more knowledgeable and gaining practical skills that will be useful for my career and future