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Coworking as a new way of collaboration
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Aug 31, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

"Coworking as a new way of collaboration" has been our first project within the EVS framework. Creative center Poligon (flagship project of Poligon, Institute for development of creative industries) was founded as a training ground for creative communities and self-employed young individuals operating in the field of creative economies, social entrepreneurship and culture. Besides two specialized labs, we operate a coworking space, in which we offer support and resources for self-employed young people. All workshops and activities are offered to our residents and general community free of charge, aiming to help young people increase their knowledge and skills, further develop as professionals and to improve their employability and career prospects. Having in mind our background and international success in promotion of coworking and other initiatives, we decided to share our expertize, not only in Slovenia, but in the wider region. We choose EVS, as it provides learning opportunities (especially the non-formal) for young people through voluntary work and active participation. Objectives of the project were promotion of: - coworking and other new ways of work, organization and networking to young people, - non-formal learning and education through voluntary work and international mobility, - active youth participation and (international) voluntary work, - social integration and importance of solidarity among young people, - cultural diversity, - development of competences for personal and professional growth of the volunteer, - development of Poligon's and our partner's organizational and management skills in terms of international projects and Eramus+, - fostering international cooperation and establish longterm connections with organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina and - promotion of EVS and Erasmus+ program. Poligon acted as coordinating and hosting organization in this project. We had one partner organization - Association "Youth volunteers" coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, as an EVS partner county. We hosted one volunteer (Nihada Prnjavorac), who had strong interest in the fields of culture, creative activism, development of coworking culture and new concepts of work and collaboration. We were looking for an open-minded and flexible person ready for self-initiative, motivated to share ideas and to take part in our activities and selected volunteer proven herself as the best choice we took. She had a good command of English and Slovene, as she interacted with our (international) coworking community and had good command of MS Office and basic online communication tools, as well as basic knowledge of PR, social media and event management. As mentioned in application, some of volunteer's tasks, besides these, were to take care of our coworking space, manage our coworking community, (co)organize educational and cultural events, trainings etc. All these activities, as well as entire EVS experience, enabled our volunteer to develop management and organizational skills, digital competences, language skills by practicing English and improving Slovene language, communication skills etc. Volunteer's progress has been shadowed by the mentor and coordinator through weekly reflection sessions and regular evaluation, in order to be able to reflect on hers personal plan for professional progress, and has been issued a Youthpass certificate. Besides these learning outcomes for our volunteer, this EVS project had positive impact on our entire coworking community (see the ''measured results'' section) as well for cross-border cooperation and project funding. Our partner's and our entire local community learned about coworking and similar initiatives, of social entrepreneurship, creative economies etc. but also of mobility, voluntary work etc, during the project implementation and through the dissemination of the project's results. Poligon developed management skills and capacity to implement international projects within different funding frameworks, including different target groups and taking care of their specific needs. We strongly believe that this project had long-lasting effects, not only on our volunteer by improving her career prospects and making her more attractive in the labor market, but also on our community, coworking and local, as well as ours and our partners capacity for international collaboration and project management. This had been our first contribution to planned Key Action 1 outcomes, such as better awareness of European projects and increased sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, as well as to support non-formal and informal learning opportunities in the youth field linking this experience of the youth participating in these projects with their education gained through traditional institutions.

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