Can I have more meetings like this one please?

Wow what a morning! Today we explored what the project would look like and it really started to take shape!

The enthusiasm shared by the group was incredibly high and we decided to stick with the original origins of the project itself by choosing to include the concept of a bike ride...but with a twist! We have decided to use stationary bikes where people (young and older) can work as a team and together contribute toward cycling the distance of the human trafficking route from Bulgaria to London.

We explored ideas of where this event could take place and we came up with a mobile option that could be taken to locations across the UK and Bulgaria, that way maximisimg its exposure and having more people join in and thus become aware of the issue of human trafficking.

We have all been allocated roles at this initial stage of the project and I am SO fired up to get things started.

Today we have also been out in Sofia doing some general sightseeing and having fun as well as interviewing more people about their thoughts on human trafficking. This included using the word association game as a fun way to get things started. We also interviewed eachother about how we see our roles shaping up in light of what the project is going to look like.

Creative Challenge

After our morning of in depth introductions, we (the young people) were set a series of creative challenges. This involved going out into Sofia armed with a handheld video recorder and our creative minds.

We captured clips of iconic features of Sofia as well as interviewed eachother and other people about their views upon human trafficking and using sport as a vehicle to help raise awareness of this issue.

It became apparent that people know little about the issue itself and this really reinforced the need for the project!

With this in mind we turned our focus toward what clips we could capture that would be appropriate and powerful enough to create a potential advertisement for the project itself. The group came up with some interesting ideas, but we have all agreed on one and we shall be putting this into practice tomorrow. The energy is high and I along with the other young people are really enjoying getting stuck in!

#yff2014

The Cadets!

Following on from this mornings powerful presentations about each organisations work and involvement in empowering young people, police cadets Kieran and Ugur shared what they do in their roles.

They told us how they were involved in raising community awareness about crime in their local areas through leaflet dropping and door knocking. They also told us how they attend schools to try to recruit for the cadets, explaining that it's a great way to learn valuable skills needed in both work and general life.

They explained how they supported the police in the run up to the olympics as well as during the royal wedding and the Golden Jubillee.

I have a feeling that they are going to be key in this project in recruiting more young people like themselves for the project itself.

Presentation No.3 - Momentum World

Andrew and Paul did a short presentation about Momentum World and talked about their work and motivation about why they setup this organisation. More information can be found at www.momentumworld.org 

Paul talked about how he got involved in international work through his youth club when he was 13 and this led to a very exciting career working with young people.

Andrew talked about his work with the British Council and how this led to a complete change of career when he was 46 years old.

2nd Presentation - Professional Forum for Education

As a way of understanding the different partners on the Youth for Freedom project we heard from the Professional Forum for Education. Again they are doing great work educating professionals about the importance of non-formal education, as well as many different projects with youth groups around Sofia. They do consultancy work and are leaders in bridging the gap between formal and non formal education.

We loved the example of the volunteer tram as a way of getting young people active, the idea was creative and innovative.

Meet the team Assen & Yuliya below:

Inspiring Presentation

Just had a great presentation from our hosts NC Future Now who are doing some powerful work with young people from Bulgaria and their international partners. They are doing work with young people around the Duke of Edinburgh award (the International Award).

Can't wait to visit their residential centre in Gudevica (Rhodopi Mountains) this is in Southern Bulgaria. Would love to create a link with our friends at the Asha Centre (Forest of Dean) and Glaramara Centre in the Lake District.

It's -10 Degrees Celsius in Sofia

Ruth & Kieran plan the music soundtrack for the Youth For Freedom promo film, before we head out into a cold and snowy Sofia.

An interesting mix of meetings and visits today. We definitely need to wrap up

The first few hours

After arriving in Sofia this afternoon we met with our Bulgarian partners. They were fantastically hospitable and very warm and welcoming.

We sat down for lunch and I could immediately sense the positivity around the table. It feels great to be around like-minded people who believe in the potential of informal learning and what it has to offer young people like ourselves.

We shared personal past experiences about similar international related projects and to quote Andrew "I have a feeling there is going to be a lot more to talk about in the next few days".

Now we are heading off for a walk through the snow as we head to the office for our first meeting about the project.

We have arrived in a snowy Bulgaria

We have all arrived safe in Bulgaria and it is so snowy and white. 

We have met our hosts Alexandra, Assen and Theodore

More reports from our team Kieran, Ruth,  Ugur soon. 

Russ Hill Hotel

Although we were apprehensive about our visit to the Russ Hill Hotel, Paul and I have appeared to have 'dropped on' as we would term it back in Yorkshire.

The gamble to pay the cheapest rates going for a hotel in London, Gatwick has most certainly paid off!

Alarm set for 4:45.

Night y'all.

On my way from Chesterfield

We have a wonderful church in the centre of Chesterfield, the spire is crooked. As I walked past it to the train station I thought I would share it with you.

I am off to London today to meet Ruth ready for a very early flight to Sofia

The programme looks great and I am sure we will make a lot of progress. 

Follow our journey as we plan the exciting project about addressing human traficing 

It's me again!

Hello All!

Today I have embarked upon my second Momentum World project...in quick sucsession I might add!

I'm currently making my way down to London Gatwick ahead of my early morning departure to Bulgaria! I shall be accompanied by Paul and Andrew of Momentum World as well as by other young volunteers from the police cadets. Together we are going to brainstorm ideas with our Bulgarian partners and think about how to raise awareness and tackle the issue of human trafficking through sport.

I and you join this project at an exciting time...right at the start! Because of this we will also be discussing ways to give this project longevity and how to get more young people involved.

This project really captures my own personal interests as it is looking at how to use sport as a tool to create change. This is something that I am a very passionate about and I cannot wait to get started!

#yff2014.

Looking forward

It must be six or seven years since I was last in Sofia. I am looking forward to being in that wonderful city again, catching up with some old friends and making new ones. But most of all, I look forward to working together to create an amazing project that will have a positive impact on young people in Bulgaria and the UK. This may be Momentum World's most important international project so far. Let's make it a good one.

Welcome to this BLOG

What we would like you to do

Here at Momentum we would like the your international experience to be fun and interactive. Therefore we would like participants to contribute to the blog. 

This blog will be running through the duration of the project and we hope that participants will continue to add and create posts throughout this time.

Below are some step by step instructions on how to create a post on Blogger. 

The address for the blog is http://yff2014.blogspot.co.uk. 

Instructions

1. Setup an account at www.blogger.com
2. Download the blogger app to your smart phone if you have one, otherwise contribute via your laptop 
3. Send your registered email to paul@momentumworld.org and he will make you an author - you will get an email from Paul
4. Open this email. It will have a box which states accept invitation. Once you have accepted this response using your email address you will be able to add your own posts to the project blog.

There will be lots of help available if anyone is having difficultly creating a post. Feel free to email paul@momentumworld.org or amy@momentumworld at any time if you need help.

About Momentum

Momentum is a not-for-profit social enterprise, founded in 2008 and registered in England as a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee.

Our vision is that education should enable everyone to develop to their full potential, contribute to a more inclusive society, and build a sustainable future. Our mission is to enhance the career prospects of young people. We achieve this through a wide range of personal development and leadership programmes, and international projects. We aim to complement formal education provision and we work in partnership with schools and other educational organisations in the UK and many other countries. We place particular emphasis on enterprise, inclusion and the use of film and media as a tool for education.

Our aims are:

To inspire young people to expand their horizons and aspirations, deal successfully with transitions, and become ready for the world of work.

To increase young people’s understanding of global issues.

To encourage participation in social enterprise and community action projects (local, national and international).

To cultivate an international network of motivated young people.

To recognise, value and celebrate young people’s positive contributions to society.

To add value to formal (school / university) education provision.

To promote intercultural understanding.

Momentum offers:

Film and media training for young people

Film based documentary and heritage projects for schools.

Staff training for teachers on creative use of video to support learning.

Long term extracurricular social enterprise / community action projects for secondary schools.

Student leadership development courses.

Organisation of international projects, visits, exchanges and volunteering opportunities.

International training courses for school / youth group project leaders.

Professionalism and career skills workshops for sixth form and university students.

International leadership courses for young adults.

International consultancy (specialist strategic, project and events expertise for the education and youth sectors).

Momentum’s philosophy and approach

Momentum prides itself on developing programmes which are relevant and appropriate to the requirements of our clients and stakeholders, so this proposal is intended as a starting point: as already mentioned, it can be developed and evolved further if Youth United consider that additional inputs or different approaches would improve the programme.

In all our work, engaging young people, and the staff supporting them, is they key to developing a successful project. Our approach is based on:

Four cornerstones – education, empowerment, equal opportunity and participation.

Partnerships focused on supporting, developing and rewarding young people.

Longer term engagement, not one-off activities – building in follow-on opportunities to every project.

A mixture of challenge and fun; effort rewarded with further opportunity.

Use of technology, creativity and innovation as tools for learning

Encouraging innovation by our staff, particularly in use of film and media.

Inclusion, intercultural learning and intergenerational dialogue.

We work across both the formal and non-formal education sectors. In all cases, we promote a youth and community work approach in empowering the young people and staff we work with. We believe that non-formal learning is an essential part of youth development, alongside school or university education. We especially believe that young people should be given opportunities for international experiences (including international events in their own country) whenever possible, because these can dramatically accelerate the personal development process.

We try to ensure that there are tangible outcomes for any client or beneficiary organisation, in terms of pilot projects or new, concrete examples of young people participating in a meaningful way. Every project or training programme should have something to showcase as a result.

We expect participants to take their learning seriously, and to maximise the experiences they go through, e.g. by getting opportunities to present their learning or practical work to each other, to their families, teachers and peers, or to project sponsors: it is important that they gain recognition for the role they have played in the project.

We promote mutual benefit: we believe that every individual has something to offer as well as something to learn. Sharing and developing expertise is not a one-way process – everyone involved in a project should learn from each other.

Further information

For more information about Momentum, including past experience and current projects, please visit www.momentumworld.org

Email: paul@momentumworld.org

Twitter: @momentumlive

Facebook: www.facebook.com/momentumlive

The Momentum Team

Momentum are really proud to be part of this amazing project, we are supporting it from the background but here is some information about who our team is…

Andrew Hadley - CEO

I have always been interested in other languages and cultures, and have lived and worked in many different countries. As British Council director in Macedonia, I created the Blue Sky network and several other innovative international youth projects. That is how I discovered my passion for working with young people, which led to setting up Momentum with Paul and Trevor. I firmly believe in the power of international exchange and intercultural learning to change lives, and I want to create more opportunities for this, especially for UK young people. I love music, film, architecture and of course my family.

Trevor Keough - Operations Director

Hello. I am Trevor Keough and I am the Operations Director for Momentum responsible for all logistic, planning and financial matters as well as being involved in training and facilitation. I enjoy our work with Momentum, making a difference in young people’s lives. I want to do more of this and help to build a successful social enterprise, growing and providing employment for others.

My other interests are my family, hill walking, rugby, golf, travel and current affairs.

Paul Oxborough - Creative Director

Since the age of 17 I have worked as a trained Youth & Community worker, I professionally qualified in 1992. Since then I have used innovation and technology to push the boundaries in my youth work in order to make projects educational, empowering and inclusive. I set up a successful film training company in 2000 and I am a founding Director of Momentum. My work has allowed me to travel the world and meet some inspirational characters along the way. I am married with two teenage girls and I enjoy reading, motorbikes, running and new gadgets.

Amy Stables - Creative Assistant

I first worked with Momentum in 2007 when I was studying for my A-levels. Unsure what interest to pursue at University, Momentum gave me the opportunity to develop my film making skills through working on international projects. This is where my love for filmmaking grew. Now, having completed my degree in Film and Television production. I am back working for Momentum, on projects which benefit young people like myself. I am an example of how Momentum work with young people long term and help provide an array of opportunities. I have a passion for the outdoors, travelling and photography.

Hello everyone

My name is Paul Oxborough and I am one of the organising team for this amazing project. Over the next few months this blog will transform itself into an a vibrant space celebrating what happens when organisations and young people join forces to do something positive.

The address to remember is www.yff2014.blogspot.co.uk