Desert Bloom’s young staff and volunteers shared their experience in Spain about sustainable living.

Ten young people of Desert Bloom shared the experiences gained from their participation in the Youth Exchange that was hosted by Permacultura Cantabria in Cantabria, Spain from 18-25 Oct. 2022. The exchange was under “PEACE: Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate Change” project.

They young people highlighted the risks of climate change on our physical and mental survival on front of 40 people in a URI Faith for Earth workshop held in Dec. 2022. They tackled daily habits that accelerating climate change. The made it clear that our lifestyle choices matter. They impact the world around us, hence, it is everyone responsibility to stop hearting our one and one planet. We all need to make our lives more environmentally friendly by greening our lives toward “Zero Waste” lifestyle”, said Shaden Hayari. She also gave example on how to practice the 5 principles of Zero Waste (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot) on our daily life. Moreover, Mutaz, Rama and Ahmad shared some ecological farming and sustainability practices, including biobuilding, Rainwater harvesting, storage heating stoves and recycling the waste oil into a fuel. All these practices they had learn during their visit to an ecological farm in Cantabria.

Water Matters - a Youth Exchange held in Marrakesh, Morocco, 11-19 Feb. 2023

In recent decades, climate change, population growth and increasing consumption for agricultural and industrial purposes have led not only to uneven pollution, but also to a significant depletion of water resources on our planet. Consequences of our actions are that many parts of the earth will soon turn into deserts. Additionally, humankind will also be affected by climate change and water shortage.

Even though the earth looks blue and full of water from its surface, less than 1% of the water on earth is drinkable fresh water. A sizable parts of the African continent and the Middle East suffer from a direct causality between drought and extreme poverty. Even if Europe is not the first to be affected, there is still a responsibility to take action. The "Water matters" project intended to ensure that younger generations in particular are made aware of environmental issues by promoting sustainable development practices and raising awareness of the consequences of misusing the planet's resources.

The project was co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus plus program. It aimed to find global solutions to climate challenges creating global responsibilities toward the less fortunate parts of the world for the sake of future generations. The Youth Exchange brings together participants from 8 Euro-Mediterranean countries, who have shared and learned practices on sustainable development, ecology and reconnecting with nature. Participants learned how to calculate their ecological footprint and the importance of Overshoot Day. Also, they had the chance to present the environmental issues in their countries. Moreover, they visited the Water Museum in Marrakech, where participants learned how water gets from the main source to the cities, what the surface and groundwater resources are like in Morocco and what the Moroccan ecosystem is like in general. At the Intercultural Night, participants present their culture (preparing food, sweets, traditional costumes, music and traditional dances. The last day was dedicated to emphasizing the individual role in protecting the environment. Participants understand their own role in climate change and how everyone can do something.

Desert Bloom participated in the retreat of the two-year project; Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) – Resilience Building, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. Athens, Greece, 14-19 Nov. 2022.

The project, which was led by Feminenza International, was designed to support workers dealing with Secondary Trauma. Please check the below piece of news on the project by Feminenza International.

Day 1: Covering the first segment of Managing Mental Trauma. Collaborative sessions of small group passion plays and life stories illustrated the reality of "stop situations" and internal cages, our habitual pitfalls, and the connection to human values and qualities that cause the turning point of change. The second part of the day moved on to a process called the "Field of Fears" – a safe space for people to discover and consciously identify their fears – while not identifying with them. A very contemplative, intimate time for each one.

Day 2: Covering the 2nd segment of Managing Mental Trauma, we enter the “Domain Of Courage”. We had the space and time to go through a quiet introspective process to connect with the higher functioning parts of our brain, through what we cherish, value, and have actively developed as inner qualities. As we reflected upon these inner values and qualities, we were able to register the natural, inner fortification, the strength of our higher functioning nature, our own domain of courage.

Day 3: The first steps into the domain of Forgiveness began with reading the individual unique stories of forgiveness. We were reminded of the complexity of Forgiveness in our lives, the struggle between fear as a stopper versus our higher functioning humanity. What moves it from the personal to the universal and what place it has as an effective influence on the community we live in.

We visited Acrocorinth, an ancient Greek castle with an amazing view if you do the 25-minute steep climb up.

Day 4: We touched on the first and second pillars of Forgiveness – Understanding and Freedom. With the poignant takeaway from the pillar of Understanding – It is impossible to resolve any conflict without each side fully understanding the other from the human aspect. What influences affect their thinking, behaviour and actions instead of being locked on the “labels and stigma” that were stuck on others by us or history? In Freedom – a very simple “ribbon exercise” demonstrated the steps of walking the path to freedom from that which holds us imprisoned in our past, unable to walk into our future.

Day 5: We covered Pillars 3 and 4 of Forgiveness; Remedy and Warmth. The remedial effects of forgiveness were illustrated with very lively, fun small theatre plays, and stories. Demonstrating that carrying unwanted baggage of the past, grudges, resentments, hurts, self-blame, and so on always weigh us down into low functioning and keep us stuck in the circle of fear, anger, violence, and revenge. But we always have the option to put the bag down and let go of it, which is very remedial and freeing. Warmth is at the pivotal turning point as we decide to let go and see ourselves as worthy and deserving of a life free and unburdened of the past.

Please check the photos

https://youtu.be/IQ_7kbHHWhM

Desert Bloom participated in Participatory Photography for Youth; a Youth Exchange hosted in Austria from 18-26 Oct. 2022

Seven organizations a long with Desert Bloom participated in this Youth Exchange which was co-funded by European Union under Erasmus Plus Program. The project provided a space for values-based intercultural and social learning, exchanging perspectives, skills and practical ideas and explore creative methodologies to foster youth active citizenship. It raised the awareness about the European 11 Youth Goals including connecting, gender equality, inclusive society, constructive dialogue, mental health & wellbeing, moving rural youth forward…etc.
During this project all the participants upskilled their digital competencies through examination of modern digital tools and platforms. Also, there were such goals as to empower young people to collaborate and co-create approaches and solutions to personal, economic, environmental and social issues.
@cerclelibre
#erasmusplus #participatoryphotograhy

The Youth Exchange – Project PEACE: Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate Change, Spain, from 18-25 Oct. 2022

10 young people and their leader represented Desert Bloom in a Youth Exchange under the project “PEACE: Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate Change”, hosted by Permacultura Cantabria in Penagos, Cantabria - Spain, from 18-25 Oct. 2022.

The youth Exchange tackled many good practices and techniques regarding the environmental actions and local initiatives. Participants have become aware of key concepts relevant to Climate Change and its implications. They acquired many adaptation and mitigation practices to fight against climate change on individual and community levels. Additionally, we visited ecological farm and learned about ecological farming and sustainability practices including biobuilding.

The Desert Bloom’s Day focused on the social and community side of Climate Change. Participants learned about the importance of Biodiversity for our survival. On individual level, they gained useful insights on how to make their lives more environmentally friendly by greening their Lives toward “Zero Waste” lifestyle. Each participant did an Ecological Footprint test to learn how many Planets it takes to sustain their lifestyle. Some participants were shocked to know that they need more than 5 plants to sustain their lifestyle. Participants learn how to practice the 5 principles of Zero Waste (The 5 Rs; Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot). Moreover, they were able to share their most successful stories on their greener adaptations’ activities.

On community level, Desert Bloom shared many good practices to reduce the environmental harm together. To share local context, each national team was asked to present the most community environmentally harmful practice in their country in acting applying Theatre of the Oppressed technique. Afterward, participants were divided into groups and asked to generate innovative ideas for an environment-friendly society applying SCAMPER technique. Then present their ideas on Climate change Advocacy posters.

The project “PEACE: Psychological and Ecosocial Aspects of Climate Change” (project No. 101051323 ERASMUS-YOUTH-2021-CB), is co-funded by the European Union

Enjoy the video summary of the Youth Exchange

https://youtu.be/OE8BWdfj22I

Leadership for Young Entrepreneurs, London - UK, August 2022

Desert Bloom participated in the “Leadership for Young Entrepreneurs” training course organized by Momentum World, UK under Erasmus Plus Programme. Desert Bloom was represented by Mr. Feras Naser, a distinguished contributor to Desert ‘s Capacity Building Program. He developed the Entrepreneurship Ended Education and FerasNaser.com. 

The course included innovative icebreakers, STEM and Team Building exercises. We enjoyed the famous “London Challenge”;  touring around the city of London and exploring famous landmarks. A fun engaging experience that ends with dinner at a boat restaurant on the Thames River.

The course included ideation and pitching sessions, where each team presented an innovative idea for a potential social enterprise. The team of Feras  came up with the idea of creating a mobile app that connects sports team players across the world, the app provides social benefits such as support for mental health and youth integration.

 Testimony of Feras Naser

“I am so grateful to Desert Bloom for this opportunity which was engaging and enlightening. It would contribute to my aspiration to push global youth integration and innovation agenda”.  

Innovathon in INN@SE

Desert Bloom organized a day-long Innovathon (borrowed from hackathon methodology; integrating the concepts of “innovation” and “marathon” to unleash innovation). It was a full day of hands-on learning, co-creation, innovation, enrichment, perseverance, hard work, networking and fun. The event brought together more than 50 people from diverse backgrounds including academia, public, private and voluntary sectors. A good number of seasoned social entrepreneurs worked hand in hand with the majority of young people who are either engaged in social entrepreneurship in different capacities or aspiring social entrepreneurs.

The Innovathon was organized under INN@SE Project “Innovative Social Entrepreneurship with Youth Engagement”. The project was co-founded by the European Union, Erasmus Plus Programme. To learn more about the project and its results, please visit the project website: https://innose.up.krakow.pl/results/

The day started with getting to know each other through Human Bingo, then we built a common understanding of key concepts including Hackathon methodology, open innovation, social entrepreneurship and its ecosystem, design thinking and business modeling. Additionally, common tools usually used by entrepreneurs were introduced such as community needs assessment, problem analysis, ideation and business modeling.

Together, we conducted a PESTEL Analysis to explore new trends and challenges in our community that incite problems and needs. As a result, the participants highlighted the following 8 focus areas:

1) Lack of care for deaf and hard-of-hearing people.

2) Food security.

3) Young students are making rushed career decisions too early.

4) Lack of interest in recycling5) Increasing divorce rate across Jordan.

6) Lack of awareness about metaverse possibilities.

7) Lack of entrepreneurial education at an early age Lack of awareness about renewable energy benefits and potentials.

The participants were divided into 8 groups according to their interests in the above-mentioned areas (between 5-8 in each group). Each group had at least one expert. Then the Innovathon competition started. The groups framed the problem statements, analyzed the problems (through problem tree and Solution tree), then brainstormed to develop their innovative ideas and translate them into a social business model. They were given time to prepare for pitching their ideas.

The groups pitched their project ideas in front of an expert jury panel and audience. The following two projects won the prizes:

1) Developing a mobile application to translate audio to Sign Language. To help deaf and hard of hearing to fully integrate in life.

2) Develop a video game that enables young students to gain a sense of real work experience of certain jobs to make the right study decision. The event lasted for 9 hours, while it was planned for 8 hours. It was so engaging and many participants lost their senses of time.

The Innovathon not only raised awareness about social entrepreneurship, it has also built young people entrepreneurial skills and capacities.

More photos are available on our facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/1897662867208689/posts/pfbid02fKxnw1TEhsPcopPzfuxKzJnRYdshFBu83q7dtNLghDhiEKuqHavpHNcWYhoWtHKpl/?sfnsn=mo

INN@SE– Innovative Social Entrepreneurship With Youth Engagement

The two-year project is approaching its end.

The four partners of INN@SE project; Pedagogical University of Cracow- Poland (Project Coordinator), Desert Bloom- Jordan, ART-ER- Italy and ARNO - North Macedonia met in Krakow- Poland from 7-8 July 2022, to discuss the achievements, lesson learnt and the final requirements for closing the INN@SE project. We are happy that we managed to accomplish all project’s intellectual outputs despite the challenges of COVID 19.

The Project has fulfilled its objectives; it has raised awareness about social entrepreneurship as a wide range of development strategies that contribute to efforts to realize the sustainable development goals. Also, it has enhanced existing services and creating new practices and methods to promote young people engagement in social entrepreneurship. Finally, it has contributed to the development of entrepreneurial competencies of young people to positively engage in society, exercise leadership and become involved in social change. It inspired them to act as change agents who create innovative solution to face their communities’ issues and challenges adopting social impact and innovative approaches.

The INN@SE has been a good example of cross continent cooperation under the EU funded projects (Erasmus+ Prorgamme KA 2: Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices).

Please visit the project website and check out its results (https://innose.up.krakow.pl). Don't miss the “Young Entrepreneurs, Play it Right” Game, an educational game on social entrepreneurship. Please play and let’s hear your feedback.

PEACE: Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate ChangE  

Desert Bloom hosted a Training Course on Psychological and eco-social aspects of Climate Chang, Jordan from 12-20 May 2022

The training drew on “ACTIVATE Approach proposed by the Climate Change Empowerment Booklet of the Australian Psychological Society, which is an acronym for:

A: Acknowledging feelings about climate change and learning ways of managing them “Not avoiding them.

C: Creating new social norms about protecting the environment where “Green is the new black”.

T: Talking about climate and breaking the collective silence.

I: Inspiring positive visions to identify steps to get there.

V: Valuing how restoring climate reinforces our core values.

A: Acting, both collectively and personally and feeling engaged.

T: Time is now. Showing climate change impacts on what we care about in order to create a mindset shift.

E: Engaging with nature to re-discover the connection with it.

The Training Course was designed for Youth Workers and included the above-mentioned guidance and be based on the 4 blocks scheme from according to our main project’s areas and partners’ expertise, namely:

1. From Climate Change to Climate Emergency: Environmental Side (main expert: Permacultura Cantabria, Spain)
2. From Eco-anxiety to Eco-involvement: Emotional Side (main expert: Agrado- Italy)
3. From separation to collaboration: Social and Community side (main expert: Desert Bloom, Jordan)
4. From social networks to social work-in-net: Digitalisation side (main expert: Education Innovators Kosovo, Kosovo)

PEACE project is co-funded by European Union, under Erasmus Plus. Project No. 101051323 ERASMUS-YOUTH-2021-CB. The project duration is 24 months and it had started in January 2022.

Desert Bloom participated in “Youth in Action” Youth Exchange, from 6-14 May, 2022, Gåsbustua Norway

The youth exchange was hosted by Intermezzo Ungdom, Norway and co-funded by Erasmus plus programme of the European Union. It aimed at building life skills for young people, including those with fewer opportunities. The exchange gathered 50 people from 11 countries (about 40 youth and 10 group leaders) coming from Norway, Lithuania, Jordan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Poland, Tunisia, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Belarus and Ukraine.

The youth exchange was based on a holistic experiential education model - experiential learning cycle described by Kolb (1984). First, participants were asked to undertake an activity, then they reflected on what happened and why, how. Finally, the facilitator transferred these experiences in their practices and realities. The youth exchange contained behavioral simulations, activities based on theatre technique, role plays, outdoor exercises, case studies and problem-solving, group discussion, small groups, displays and field trips, etc. The young people were able to develop a set of skills including:

Decision-making.

Problem solving.

Creative thinking.

Critical thinking

Effective communication.

Self-awareness building (identifying personal strengths, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities; clarifying personal values and beliefs; recognizing personal worth and personal happiness)

Empathy.

Coping with emotions and stress.

Please check this video about this youth exchange

https://youtu.be/a8dtE5qezqc

Desert Bloom participated in “Back to 7000 BC” Youth Exchange, from 5-12 March 2022 in Aswan- Egypt

The project focused on promoting intercultural dialogue among young people. It created a safe space for dialogue and sharing experiences on tolerance and social integration in a culturally and religiously diverse setting. The project involved 36 participants (including 6 team leaders and 30 young people aged 18-30).

 The project has improved participants’ dialogue and intercultural communication skills. It has broken down many cultural stereotypes and misconceptions. Also, it has promoted cultural diversity and pluralism. Young people learnt about meaningful differences between different cultures and identities. They enjoyed expressing their culture through art and role playing. We visited two Nubian villages nested on islands on the Nile where we experienced the Nubian culture and tradition. The Nubian people are so friendly and overwhelming, great hospitality was waiting for us in every place we visited. The project was led by LEVEL UP, Poland and hosted by Have a Dream, Egypt in partnership with Desert Bloom, Jordan, United Societies of Balkans, Greece and Associacion Cultural YOUROPIA, Spain. It was Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Some feedback from Ahmad Al-Masharga, Desert Bloom - Jordan 

My experience in Egypt - Aswan - Nubian culture

What a great combination of Culture, History and Antiquity!

A combination of an old lifestyle with modern trends!

I spent 10 days Hosted by the Nubian civilization,

I was surprised by how much beauty and generosity that I wasn't expecting at all !!

Thanks to  LEVEL UP and Have A Dream organizations for organizing this youth Exchange in magnificent place!

And I am thankful for my organization, Desert Bloom, for choosing me to Represent Jordan in this lovely youth exchange!!

I'm very thankful because I got a lot of knowledge and great information about cultures, habits, and traditions of different cultures, in addition to I had new friends from Poland, Greece, Spain and Egypt !!

And I am very very thankful for my team (Jordanian team), we represent Arabic culture in Jordanian Style!

At the end, thanks for our leader Ma'moun Khreisat he was a Brother, friend and father for us !!!

Desert Bloom, participated in the International Cooperation Evolution+ (ICE+), a “Contact Making Seminar” in Belgium, from 11-17 Feb. 2022.

The youth workers project which was organized by EUROMED EVE Belgium, brough together 20 organization, from 20 different countries: (Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Montenegro, Albania, Moldova, and Georgia). The ICE+ project was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. It fulfilled the following objectives:

1. Bringing together youth workers professionals (Presidents, Founders, Trainers, Managers, Youth Project Manager) from 20 youth organizations (12 programs and 8 partner countries), to lay the foundations for a long-term partnership and develop mutual projects under Erasmus + programme.
2. Promoting cooperation in working with young people at international level through the exchange of knowledge, ideas and good practices and experiences related to youth participation and non-formal education in a spirit of openness and tolerance.
3. Promote existing European tools and methods to improve youth participation.

We developed together at least 10 ideas for future Erasmus + projects in the framework of non-formal education as well as others subjects, these projects will be implemented in various national agencies (2022- 2023).