In a post-COVID Europe a number of participants from the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria and Greece reunited after almost one year in order to implement the tools they created during the first meeting. The goals of these tools were to develop the skills and to increase the employability of marginalized adults through educational outdoor activities while using non-formal education methods.
This meeting was different from the previous one. During the first meeting the participants had to learn about the tools in order to understand how they work. However, in the second meeting the participants went camping for six days and had to put into practice what they had learned. During their stay in Ommen they faced many challenges. Unexpected weather, communal cooking and cleaning, gathering wood for the fire, shopping for covering the basic needs, organizing and facilitating workshops and activities were some of the challenges that urged them to adapt constantly and encouraged them to come up with innovative solutions.
During the week of the project, the participants had the opportunity to put into practice the Impact Tool, which was used throughout the first meeting and they learned more about a new tool, Kolb’s theory of experiential learning. To understand even better the tools, they organized and facilitated activities based on what they have learned. However, this time, implementing the tools and putting into practice their knowledge was not so easy. The participants did not have any equipment while being in the woods, so they had to come up with innovative ways of executing their activities.
Furthermore, the goal of the second meeting was to increase the employability through outdoor activities and at the same time to develop and improve the hard and the soft skills of those who participated. To achieve that result, the participants often made their activities more challenging (for example playing tennis with only one hand), thus encouraging the collaboration and communication among the participants and helping them to improve their skills.
The second meeting, while being very challenging, was a great opportunity for everyone to get out of their comfort zone while adapting to difficult situations. It required innovative thinking, problem solving skills and teamwork. Everyone involved had the opportunity to use the tools and experiment with activities with the aim of creating an impact.