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Picture it - Build Your Future International Project Management ESC in Cairo Estera Starczewska
About me Hello! My name is Estera. I am 25 years old girl from Poland and I have done ESC project in Cairo for 6 months. I would like to tell you more about my tasks, daily life and experience. Hope you will enjoy!
So...how did it start? I have always been passionate about helping others and travelling. Throughout my life I have taken part in many volunteer and social actions in my country, as well as I have done 2 projects abroad, in Italy and Guatemala. I recall those experiences as one of the most important periods of my life. After graduation I worked for 2 years in a language school. One day, I decided that it was high time I had done something more for others again! I found European Solidarity Corps portal and received an invitation from Fundacja Rozwoju Społeczeństwa Przedsięborczego to join the project in Cairo and....I said yes!
What was the project about? The project took place in Cairo, in Have a Dream organization. The main goal of the organization is to provide Egyptian youth with opportunities of gaining experiences abroad while helping others. In the project I was responsible for managing varied elements of voluntary projects of European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus+, creating social media content for upcoming projects and communicating with volunteers and participants.
Creating infopacks for upcoming projects of European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus+ Training Courses and Youth Exchanges Conducting feedback sessions with the volunteers on projects abroad What were my tasks? Creating application forms, newsletters and social media content Creating and writing projects like EMSA and EYES, Erasmus+ KA2 Dissemination Taking part in workshops and events promoting Have a Dream and their goals Conducting the selection and interviews of the candidates
Creating infopacks for upcoming projects of European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus+ In this task I was resposible for preparing infopacks for the upcoming projects abroad, for which Have a Dream sends volunteers and participants. We have many interesting projects in countries like Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Greece etc. on topics such as helping refugees, working with children or environmental development, as well as Training Courses and Youth Exchanges for intercultural dialogue, entreprenership etc.
Creating application forms, newsletters and social media content Along with the infopack I was responsible for preparing application form, with questions for interested participants, newsletters with basic information about the project, reqiurements and deadline. Moreover, I created social media content for Facebook and Instagram about both upcoming and past projects, with the description of our volunteers experiences or promotion of the programs.
Conducting the selection and interviews of the candidates After gathering applications I selected participants and volunteers suitable for the programs and conducted interwievs to get to know them better and assure the quality of our choice.
Conducting feedback sessions with the volunteers on projects abroad We already have got many volunteers taking part in the projects abroad. We want to make sure that everything is going well and they feel good in their project. For that reason I conducted feedback sessions with them asking about every part of the program.
Creating and writing projects like EMSA and EYES for Erasmus+ KA2 Dissemination This tasks involved working on KA2 Dissemination of Erasmus+, which main goal is to promote entrepreneurship skills and competences among young people focused on business. Those projects are conducted within the framework of EntreComp which is a European Framework for enhancing entrepreneurship. I was responsible for writing a workshop for our partners on the competence called Mobilizng Others.
Taking part in workshops and events promoting Have a Dream and their goals Have a Dream organizes workshops and events such as a workshop by Kemry Hughes from Youth Leadership Institute of Washington D.C. Department of Employment Services. We were also a partner of an event for students called Traverse, where we promoted Have a Dream as an organization for young travellers and activists.
I visited Cairo, it’s suburbs, Alexandria and Port Said with friends 01. In my free time... I worked at my second job online 02. I went to the gym and studied 03.
In Cairo Old Grand Egyptian Museum Egyptian Museum of Civilisation
In Cairo New Grand Egyptian Museum Coptic Churches
In Cairo Local markets
In Cairo Egyptian mosques Egyptian wedding :)
In Cairo The Pyramids and lots of amazing food !
Travels to Alexandria and Port Said
Project in Cairo enriched me and taught me a lot of patience. I could not be more grateful for this experience. Do not hesitate and join ESC if you want to be a part of something bigger! :) Thank you!