The CEAL Network developed a midterm gathering in Bilbao, (Basque Country – Spain) during the second weekend of January, (from 15th to 17th of January 2016).
The goal of this meeting was checking and evaluates the first part of this European Project and planning the second part.
The participants in this gathering were Alex, (Kiribil – Basque Country), Mara (Elos Nederlands), Johannes, (Edventure Frome – UK), Helmut, (Ideenhoch3 – Germany), Sebastian and Dorien (Act4change – Belgium), Javi and Marta (Altekio – Madrid) and Niels, (Coordinator of the project).
The participants arrived to Bilbao during the Friday afternoon and they had time before dinner to visit Bolunta and Kiribil Sarea and explain and talk about these organizations.
Bolunta is a project for supporting the work of volunteers and nonprofit organizations in Biscay, (one of the three Basque historical regions), it is developed in collaboration between a private Bank, the regional government of Biscay and EDE Fundazioa, (educational partner in CEAL Network and local partner of Kiribil Sarea).
Bolunta offers counseling and trainings in order to facilitate the work of the volunteers and their organizations, and it is an example of the possibilities of the collaboration among, civil sector, private companies and public institutions.
Kiribil Sarea is a network of nonprofit institutions of local social initiatives that work for community empowerment through socio-educational programs at the municipal level.
After this visit the groups could sightseeing a little bit around the old town of Bilbao and enjoy the traditional “pintxos” for dinner.
The Saturday was a day full of work and meetings, during the morning the group evaluated the goals achieved during the first part of the project, and after a coffee break, they established the project calendar for 2016.
After the lunch the group debated about the intellectual outputs of the project and how will be the best form for create it and what will be the most useful for other youth leaders in order to replicate the project in the near future.
Later, the participants visited Portugaleteko Merkatua, this project is a community partner in CEAL Network and the place where the Oasis game under the Pilot program in Basque Country will be celebrate during the two following weeks.
Portugaleteko Merkatua is a social project, managed in an assembly way by the neighborhood, that want to give a community use to the former indoor marketplace that nowadays is close.
The Sunday morning was time to specify about the next steps of CEAL Network and the project results sharing.
And the Sunday afternoon, after an intense two-days gathering the participants came back home with a CEAL Network calendar full of events and work for 2016.
