„Building local partnerships is a reality we face in our every day work. It is becoming necessary for the accomplishment of many projects. But do we really know what is a partnership and how it should be constructed? What are the things we should pay attention to while co-operating with partners? Or maybe frustrated with the experiences from working in a show off partnership we…”

This is what I read in the application form for the PAJP training course and it was everything I knew before departure. Even on the train to Warsaw I did not know what to expect in the coming week…

And in Konstancin-Jeziorna it like this:

People come first…

A gathering of 21 people from different environments, organizations and regions of Poland working together under the eyes of 3 magnificient trainers. People, who remained full of positive energy at any time of day and night, whose creativity at 22.30 made it possible to create from hangers, lamps, plates and paper an installation speaking about the hard way to our target. People who had the energy to socialize with the group until the early morning even after a hard day of work. Finally people whose energy was almost possible to touch and therefore easy to share with others.

Knowledge....

One of the biggest advantages of the PAJP training courses is the “nonformal”  part in the learning process, which in reality means a completely different from the traditional way of passing and acquiring knowledge. The whole idea of the course was based on acquiring knowledge through conversations, debates and solving cases. This means that being in Konstancin I had to in fact fly an airplane to save humanity and debate the concept of building bike pathways in a National Park. This was completed by energizers, short break games including multiplying penguins or loud eating of Watermelons.

The place…

Gathering the people in a remote place and staying together 24 hours a day, also had an enormous influence on the training’s atmosphere.

“Local partnership is a reality”, which accompanied us through the whole time. The best proof for that will be the construction of a strong partnership between the participants. “In practice” as it all meant to show the participants what to do to make their work in their environment more effective and get more satisfaction from it. All projects and actions of the 21 wonderful people will give the best certificate to the idea of partnerships and PAJP.

Author: Adam
You will find more information about the PAJP training courses at:

www.mlodziez.org.pl/szkolenia/przewodnik-po-szkoleniach/szkolenia-ogolne/pajp

The Project was co-financed by the European Commission within the Framework of the „Youth in Action” Programme.