Current Erasmus+ opportunities with the Czech Debate Society

Below is a list of projects we’re preparing for the February 2 deadline of Erasmus+ KA1. Should your non-profit organization be interested, please don’t hesitate to contact Mr. Vlastimil Waic () as our lists of partners are not closed yet. Deadline for partner applications is January 26!

Verbattle meets Europe „Episode 3 / Episode 4“

Speak up and change the world! That’s the motto of Verbattle and also the sum of reasons why the Czech Debate Society decided to implement this project. Educational programme and also a style of competitive debate called Verbattle started ten years ago in India. During its existence there it gained considerable popularity among the youth. Czech Debate Society licensed this educational program as currently the only organization within the European Union.

These projects with the participation of partnering organizations including 36 youths and 12 leaders aim to improve participant’s communication and language skills through seminars of work with information, logic, formulating their own opinions and arguments, public speaking, presentation skills and other soft-skills.

Projects will equip them to active participation in social discussion and intercultural dialogue, strengthen their rational and logical thinking, increase their awareness and respect for democratic values and ideals, show them examples of best practices, provide them with knowledge of the activities of civil society and the power to influence local leaders, raise their social responsibility and awareness through experiential education in terms of individuals, the state and the international community (EU) and last but not least, it will enhance their level of tolerance for diversity, attitude to social inclusion and brotherhood in the best sense of the word.

Should you be interested, please contact us ASAP! Thank you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkJLV0fuRaY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdWQFoBFgfI

The Delight of Volunteering

Have you ever considered volunteering for an NGO (maybe help organizing a debate tournament) or be otherwise active in the civil society? Of course you can do that with no special preparation at all using just your current set of skills. Or you can feel the atmosphere of a great international high school debating tournament and learn and practice with some of the best!

What is it you are going to learn? Skills and knowledges necessary for work in an intercultural environment, basics of team dynamics, team work, public speaking, project management and leadership, public and media relations, with social media, photography & video and at last but not least information visualization. After 3 days of interactive lectures participants will be given a chance to practice an actual volunteering in Heart of Europe.

When? 9th – 18th July. How much will it cost you? 25 € / person fee covering everything including travel cost reimbursement. Who do we expect to participate? 4 youngsters 15-18 (incl.) with no or basic experience with competitive debating (two years tops) and 1 leader from 4 countries.

Verbattle @Muna

The Czech Debate Society is looking for partners for KA1 youth exchange project with 8-10 days long main activity taking place this summer in Mikulovice, Olomouc region, Czech Republic.

Near the beautiful village of Mikulovice lies a former military area known as Muna. A Nazi ammunitions factory and storage (in German Heeres-MUNitionsAnstalt), later POW camp, even later Greek communist partisans training ground or SALT-II nuclear weapons carriers dismantling site and recently an abandoned brownfield is now partially a commercial zone for local businesses and partially a place of nature relaxation for locals, tourists and mainly for children and youth from 12 different NGOs owning buildings and joined in the „NGO Town of Muna“ taking care of many kilometres of roads, the forest, nature trails etc. The Czech Debate Society is scheduled to assume chairmanship role in the NGO Town beginning spring 2016.

The aim of this project is to bring participants closer to actual participation and equip them with skills necessary to assume an active role in civil society in a summerly informal way. Participants will learn how to build arguments and how to speak in public and will test these skills in a competitive verbal battle (debate). Participants will learn about media, information manipulation (explained on current immigration topics or recent wars in Ukraine or Middle East) and will try civil journalism themselves. They will also be given a lecture about reportage photography and use of social media not only in civil journalism but to raise support and awareness for their cause.

These educational activities will be combined with outdoor games and with an actual volunteering work in Muna almost each day aimed at showing participants the need to give their actual hand to accomplish something. So this project is for those, who want to learn, who want to enjoy a couple of relaxed days in Czech countryside, but also for those and only for those, who are excited to donate some actual physical work to improve Muna as a place of recreation. This might be a welcomed change after months at school or at work.