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The Build Yourself! programme is off to a successful start

The first ever training in FUEN’s Build Yourself! capacity-building programme was a great success:  the young people from FUEN and YEN member organizations who took part in it had a great time and had a lot of useful informations to learn between 22-24 November 2019 in Berlin.

The training focused on advocacy and lobbying for NGOs and presentation and public speaking skills. These topics of interest for youth were chosen at the request of YEN, in order to facilitate the participants’ skills of representing their interests and to strengthen their persuasive and presentation skills. The trainers on these topics were Róbert Berczeli from the Robert Schumann Institute, professional trainer and member of the Christian community from Lebanon Marianne El Haibe and the Regional Minister for Frisian Language and Culture, Sietske Popjes from the Netherlands.

“Our first training in the Build Yourself! programme was a major step for FUEN and its member organizations. The aim of the programme is the knowledge-based organizational development of the FUEN and YEN, and this implies the development of the people working in the organizations. Learning is key, and we want to make FUEN and its member organizations better, more qualified and well-trained. The Build Yourself! programme is the best opportunity to achieve just that. I am glad that so many people were and are interested in it, as they consider it a great opportunity to develop themselves and their organizations. I am already looking forward to our second training on online communication and campaign communication, coming up in December! I would also like to thank our financial supporters for making all this possible” – said FUEN Executive Director Éva Pénzes.

“Alongside the community-building and cultural projects of FUEN and its role as the defender of minority rights across Europe, the Build Youself! Project brings something new to the table. This is an excellent starting point for an effective knowledge transfer and exchange of experience between the member organizations” – said project manager László Bodor, who came up with the idea of Build Yourself! “It is also important for the future of FUEN, and this is why it gives me a great pleasure that so many young people took part in the first training. Those organizations that have had representatives here will surely reap the benefits of it, and I strongly recommend to all FUEN members to be active in this programme. I am confident that our following trainings are going to be similarly successful, and the knowledge shared here will be used for strengthening the member organizations. This is how FUEN will become an organization capable of renewal in the next 70 years, too” – he added.

“The role of workshops like this is building confidence. Confidence to speak up, to participate in a dialogue with policy makers or politicians, and making sure that your own language and your own minority culture gets being kept alive in the 21. century, so that people can see that you are a representative of a culture, of a language that is alive, and you are part of that” – said trainer Sietske Popjes. She added that she has met “a lot of young people who were very interested in how to build your own case for your own minority language, but they also wanted to learn about tips and tricks when it comes to public speaking. It was a very energetic weekend when I could talk about my own experiences in Fryslan and they could present their own experiences in their homeland and in their home culture. It was great fun!”

“This was such a diversified group! The whole programme was very educational, and I am convinced that it was an exciting experience for all involved. The ideas we shared were really beneficial and creative, and I think that all participants have a great potential to bring back what they have learned to their communities and be real changemakers in their homelands” – said Marianne El Haibe.

The Build Yourself! programme continues on 6-8 December 2019 in Berlin with a training on online and campaign communication. You can still apply by filling out this form.

More trainings are coming in 2020 in different areas such as fundraising, corporate identity design, photo-video editing, campaign management, organizational management or recruiting.

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