2021 Overview of the Chojna Douzelage Projects

For all of us 2021 was a Covid-19 year: there were not only everyday problems with work, free time activities and travelling, it was and still is much worse, some of us lost relatives and friends.
It seems that this illness will stay with the world for a long time. That is why in Chojna we decided to try to organize our international cooperation and projects as normal as possible, of course we took all necessary safety measures.

Douzelage Association in Chojna and Complex of Secondary Schools in Chojna worked together to implement successfully several international projects. ‘Quality apprenticeships for good employment’ and ‘Quality in vocational training through Euroapprenticeships’ were two Erasmus+ vocational mobility projects, both finished in the autumn of 2021, in which more than 50 students of IT, construction, hotel management and catering had apprenticeships in companies in Marsaskala, Koszeg, Sherborne and Siret. We are very grateful to Mario Calleja, Istvan Matrai, Tiberiu Rotaru and Jeremy Barker for their involvement and help. A new Erasmus+ VET project ‘From training to work’ with Marsaskala, Koszeg and Siret started a few weeks ago.

Environmental issues are very important for young people those days, so with groups from Siret, Koszeg and Marsaskala we organized in June in Chojna a youth exchange as part of Erasmus+ project ‘Towards zero waste’.
Polish government and European Social Fund co-finance a project called Transnational Mobility of Students. Project activities include a week long stay of a group of Polish students in a school in one of EU countries. Secondary school from Chojna sent groups of students to Portugal, Slovenia and to our Douzelage partner towns Assikala and Siret. It was part of activity called ‘Digital citizen in digital world’. Our second initiative in this project was also accepted and this school year our students will visit Portugal, Slovenia and Douzelage partner towns of Siret and Koszeg under ‘Focus on health’ activity. As our organisation gathers hard working people, we also applied for funds to visit in the autumn schools in Portugal, Skofja Loka and Koszeg in ‘Focus on climate’ activity.

Our biggest activity is Erasmus+ school project ‘Game Based Learning for Development of Problem Solving Skills’. Our partners are universities, companies, NGOs and schools from Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Portugal and Slovenia. We work together to prepare tools such as teachers’ guides, game descriptions and films to encourage teachers to use traditional and online games in classroom activities. This project is coordinated by ZSP (secondary school) in Chojna.

I would like to express a big thank you to all partner towns and friends around Europe who work with us on European projects aimed mainly at young people. It is not easy time for anybody but we have to especially take care of our students whose mental and physical health is endangered. If you have any project proposals or would like to ask for advice regarding new Erasmus+, do not hesitate to contact me.

J. Cezary Salamończyk
Douzelage Association in Chojna