“FILOKALIA” is a non-profit and non-governmental organization located in Nicosia Cyprus with the aim to support educational and cultural activities for children, young people and adults. “FILOKALIA” due to its connection with the Orthodox Church of Cyprus and thus through more than 150 parishes, has access to a national, well-organized network of volunteers, mainly of young people, who assist in activities that promote the common good and benefit. The involvement of youth-workers within the activities of “FILOKALIA” is inevitable and is much anticipated. With a distinct scope in youth and education, “FILOKALIA” wants to carry out training projects for youth-workers training in order to improve and develop the capacity of youth workers in Cyprus and in other European countries toward an international and modern direction.
YOUTH TRAINING ACTIVITIES
Philosophers and educators from the ancient times until today have been debating for the most efficient methods of learning. A great number of pedagogical theories and applications emphasize that effective learning is achieved through a learning process that is pleasant, joyful, fun, group-based, and self-aware adventure, relevant to the person’s past experiences and values, present situation and needs, and future plans and expectations. Such a learning process definitely aligns with Non-Formal Learning (NFL) and Inter-Cultural Learning (ICL) methods.
-Non-formal Learning, in particular, tends to create the supportive conditions and settings for creative and values-based learning. Many developments, ideas and tools have sprung up, using various elements (board games, sports, juggling techniques, musical instruments, story telling, dance and gymnastics, indoors and outdoor environments, new technologies), in order to enhance the participants’ learning during a conscious process. Ideas and tools which are quite interactive, creative and successful.
-Inter-cultural Learning supports the experience of the co-existence of people with different cultures in the same area. Inter-cultural Learning for each one of us promotes the interaction with others in order to experience and explore common and different elements, but most importantly to deepen the understanding of our own culture.
Through NFL training activities, “FILOKALIA” intends to:
– take advantage of the participants’ knowledge and previous experiences around common cultural elements;
– offer participants’ the opportunity of international networking while developing a sense of European identity;
– support the professional development of European youth workers with a view to innovating and improving the quality of their work across Europe and enhance their awareness of team building and its benefits on learning;
– exchange best practices on non-formal education when working within multicultural groups and develop competencies and skills in key concepts of non-formal educational methods;
– investigate how these cultural elements can be integrated within training and other youth work activities, so that they could become a source of learning, promoting intercultural awareness, human rights & creativity;
– explore how everyday-life activities can be integrated within a structured learning process, in a non-formal & experiential learning process;
– develop proposals of tools that could be used in learning, deriving from cultural characteristics, such as traditional dance, music, cooking, and storytelling;
– share and implement tools;
YOUTH INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIAL & OTHER ACTIVITIES
“FILOKALIA” has a wide range of activiti
es in a national level through the aforementioned well-organized network of young people and volunteers.
“FILOKALIA” has a particular experience in supporting socially vulnerable groups. Through its national network, “FILOKALIA” interacts with socially vulnerable groups, offering them psychological support as well as basic assistance with food and clothing. Compassion for them is the least prerequisite that “FILOKALIA” and its members can offer to them so that they feel comfortable enough to be socially integrated. “FILOKALIA” through its members has a long experience in such activities that actively involve the youth.
The youth has an increased, particularly expressed sensitivity for compassionate and caring activities for our fellow human beings. Activities such as philanthropic support (food and clothing distribution, etc.) of the socially vulnerable groups, local services information, first aid and medication distribution, support of socially vulnerable groups human rights, spiritual support of young people, summer camps organization, Sunday schools, seminars for family interrelations as well as activities in other topics. The above activities as well as the cooperation with well-educated and -experienced trainers/educators have provided a solid basis for “FILOKALIA” in order to organize and plan educational activities for the youth in the field of targeted, social, humanistic and cultural education.
In this context “FILOKALIA” already participates in and organizes innovative projects for educating young people in order to:
- be active in vocational guidance for socially vulnerable groups
- offer compassionate and psychological support to the sore and the socially weak
- offer preliminary medical support (primary care) to refugees and other socially vulnerable groups
- poverty monitoring, related strategy planning and efficient poverty reduction
- social entrepreneurship
- children creative activity in the afternoon hours
“FILOKALIA” aims to be involved in more human-centric projects in order to eventually create solid social structures that will be at the disposal of our fellow human beings for improving and facilitating their quality of life.
“FILOKALIA” is also organizing activities for the youth entertainment through traditional dancing events, iconography workshops, etc. More info can be found here
For more information on our actions and involvement in our volunteer network please contact us