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Description
The Czech Municipality Bruntál (as the founder of primary schools) and the Icelandic organisation NORTH Consulting have jointly prepared a project focusing on youth and entrepreneurship. Its main goal is to enhance the capacity of the municipality’s experts to integrate new pedagogical and learning activities within local primary schools aimed at fostering creativity, improving entrepreneurial competences, and support non-formal learning of youth interested in starting their own enterprises.
Both Czech and Icelandic experts will participate in a mutual short-term study visit that will improve their knowledge, skills and competences in the field of creative learning. After the return, they will be able to share their experience with teachers in local schools and support them in innovation and modernization of their teaching methods.
The project will also help strengthen bilateral relations between partners as well as raise awareness of the EEA Grants in both partner countries. We believe this project will be followed by other activities and/or projects in the future.
Summary of project results
The project reflected needs and objectives of Municipality Bruntál which are set in “Development Strategy of Bruntál for 2018-2023”. This document provides strategic direction for future town´s planning and development.
Youth and entrepreneurship are main topic of this project. The main aim of the project is to enhance the capacity of Bruntal´s educational experts to integrate new pedagogies and learning activities within Bruntal´s primary schools aimed at fostering creativity, improving entrepreneurial competences, and support the non-formal learning of youth interested in starting their own enterprises. We found very well experienced project´s partner who will help us “move to a higher level”. Partnership allows us to gain foreign experience.
During the fist activity 4 experts from Bruntál visited Reykjavík. NORTH organized study visits to schools and municipalities offering successful youth entrepreneurship and innovation learning programs, entrepreneurship incubators etc. Focus was on entrepreneurship and using innovative learning to facilitate sustainability of local communities. The Czech participants also had the opportunity to share their knowledge, skills, and competences with their Icelandic.
During the second activity 2 experts from NORTH visited Bruntál. Icelandic experts gained insight into the Czech educational system and Bruntal´s other entrepreneurship support activities and shared their ideas to integrate more creative learning and entrepreneurial activities into learning in schools and strengthening youth entrepreneurship activities in the community. Czech partner prepared study visits for Icelandic experts to primary schools, public administrator, schools´ incubators and invited them for several excursion focused on business, innovative technologies, and Czech Innovation Expo.
Project had a positive impact on increasing quality of work with young people. The project also contributed directly to the achievement of improving skills, competences, and knowledge of the project´s target group. The project´s activities directly supported Bruntal´s employees in advancing both their personal and professional development and competences. Thus, the project was created to meet identified needs of the participants and according to the project promoter´s plans for internationalization, modernization, and capacity building. The project also supported strengthening of bilateral relations between a beneficiary and a donor state.
Summary of bilateral results
NORTH Consulting ehf was founded in 2009 as a non-profit consultancy for the cultural, innovation/entrepreneurship, research, and educational sectors. Skills development and competence building is very much at the heart of their work. Education and entrepreneurship experts from NORTH Consulting participated in the project. Project partner was much more experienced. Our partnership was much better than we expected. The partnership had wider effects: Several organizations have approached us with an interest in providing them more information about the project. One primary school are interested in Erasmus+ project with Iceland so we connected them through our partner with another school in Iceland. One NGO from Bruntál is going to write a project under Erasmus+ with our Icelandic partner and another organization from Malta. We are going to continue in bilateral collaboration and we are looking for funding opportunities.