10/17/2005 - Megaseminar in AFS Norway
On the weekend of October 7th through 9th 120 participants gathered for the biggest AFS event ever in Norway.
Inspired by Germany
Taking inspiration from the famous German Mitarbeiterkonferenz, the idea of the AFS Norway Fall Seminar was born last September. The Mitarbeiterkonferenz is a large-scale event in AFS Germany, gathering more than 600 volunteers for a weekend of learning and socializing. It has proved very successful both as a means of recruiting and motivating volunteers, and as a forum for training people who are actively involved in AFS.
Norway is a country that is significantly smaller than Germany, and events will never reach the size of the German ones. Still it seemed to be a good idea to look into making a similar seminar for Norwegian volunteers. Hence, a committed group of experienced volunteers have worked hard to make the Fall Seminar happen.
A diverse group of volunteers joined us at Tjøme outside the city of Tønsberg for our Fall Seminar. Among the participants, were people of all ages, and all levels of experience.
Great variety
The program consisted of more than 30 different workshops, with topics ranging from activities designed to get the participants involved via interviewing and host family finding, to a discussion of intercultural exchanges for high school students in an increasingly complex world.
The trainers came both from within AFS Norway, from other AFS Partners, and other organizations. Henni Bartram, responsible for the field of European Business Development in AFS Germany gave popular workshops on Training Methodologies, and Media/PR, while Alex Weiser of EFIL (European Federation for Intercultural Learning) taught us on the themes of volunteer motivation and retention. Alex is an experienced volunteer himself, and is a member of the German pool of trainers, and devotes time to training on a European level. Both trainers got rave reviews from the participants, and AFS Norway is very thankful that both AFS Germany and EFIL were willing to contribute such great resources. EFIL is the umbrella organization for AFS in Europe, and was able to fund Alex’s participation through their Travelling Trainers Program.
We also had a visiting trainer from Children’s International Summer Villages (CISV). CISV provides a range of unique, educational group activities, which develop cross-cultural understanding in children and youth from around the world. By encouraging respect for cultural differences and the development of self-awareness, CISV empowers each participant to incorporate these values into their lives as they become global citizens and strive for a more peaceful world. CISV, being an organization that operates in a very related field, was a good source to look for ideas for new games and icebreakers for use at AFS orientation camps.
Tove Bjørgaas , a Journalist in Norwegian Broadcasting, and AFS returnee, gave an introduction to communication skills and strategies, while Cecilie Hellestveit of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO), contibuted her views on the political situation is the world today. PRIO is a very well known institution in Norway, and they are experts the field of political monitoring and analysis. The workshop was extremely popular, and the participants definitely got many interesting perspectives on what role AFS may play in making the world a more peaceful place.
Last but not least the Red Cross made sure that AFS orientation camp leaders are prepared for unwanted accidents. These are people who are responsible for fairly big groups of AFSers at camp, often in rural areas. It is therefore vital that they have a basic knowledge of what to do if something happens at camp, so that they can keep control of the situation until help arrives.
Motivated volunteers return to local AFS Norway chapters
In the end we had to return home, but a lot of feedback shows that the participants have gone home with some extra motivation and a big heart for AFS. We hope that the result will be a volunteer base that is both broader and well educated.
 |
Printer Friendly |
