When you first arrive in Brcko it is worth taking your time settling in to life here rather then jumping straight in with the organisation of your dream workshop! There are number of workshops are run by Svitac year round, often by local volunteers. These include 2 dance groups, Sambas? (a drumming and samba group), Tabletennis, and Arts and Crafts, as well as various language and Computing classes. Svitac will happily organise a tour of these and this is a good way to gain an idea as to the coordination and interests of the children here, as well as to meet possible future particiapants for your workshop!
Once you feel ready to begin organising your workshop it is first worth talking to Svitac about your ideas – what materials you will need, how often you would like to have the workshop and how long it would be, what the minimum number of participants could be etc. Then Svitac will organise a suitable space in the youth centre for you to use.
Attendance
Once you have worked out how often and where and when you will have your workshops, advertising them is of course crucial, yet not so easy.
Circulating posters on local buildings and within residential flats appears to be the way to advertise here as there are no local papers which offer free adverts, and few shop windows that offer free space (the exceptions to the rule here seem to be the Iron Horse and Jazzwa, both mentioned in the Introduction to Brcko). To advertise within schools on notice boards you need to have special governmental permission which can be obtained by Svitac staff.
Gaining trust of children and of course their interest is one way to ensure their commitment to your project.
A possible way to do this is to become involved with the Svitac run English lessons, it is an easy was to get to know some local kids, and if they like what you are doing they will soon tell their friends, hand out fliers and the workshop size will double or triple!
Evaluation
Children come and go in workshops, attention can be distracted, and attendance fluctuates without them giving a reason why. It seems that people are not so used to giving feedback here, and if they do its always great, even if the reality is not so. The language barrier is an obvious cause of this and getting constructive feedback can be made easier by using symbols and other expressions, for example using a scale of 1 – 10, or using drawn facial expressions they can identify with.
Structuring Other Activities
Workshops can be great fun and of course take a lot of preparation and planning but depending on your interests there are a variety of other activities which can help fill your time.
English teaching – This provides a great chance to meet local people and to share in a cultural exchange. Its good fun creating lesson plans using a variety of methods and good experience in learning English grammar in its correct form!! Currently Gordana coordinates the English classes with Svitac and will be more then happy to work with you on this if you’re interested!
Collaborating with other NGOs – At the time of writing there is a big gap between Youth NGOs and a shortage of joint working. In the short term finding ways of increasing communication and negotiation can be a challenge but a positive move. One easy way to start could be…
Organising Table tennis Tournaments – This provides a good opportunity to join with another NGO (Proni) and has been well attended in the past.
Challenging local Politics – Again at the time of writing there are outdated policies concerning NGOs in Brcko District. NGOs are regarded as businesses and expected to pay double utility rates so we have tried to find ways of challenging this to effect a change.
There are many opportunities for you to do things that are of interest to you outside of your workshops. There is a need to educate and express to the local community how helpful and beneficial volunteering can be to try to inspire local people to become involved in the development of the Brcko community.
Have a brilliant time and good luck!
