From September 4th to September 7th, 2023, the activity “Preparatory Visit” was successfully conducted as part of the Erasmus+ project “Understanding Fake News – Developing Media Literacy in Our Communities.” The activity took place at Pansion As in the village of Rešetari near Nova Gradiška. A total of 15 participants from seven different countries took part in the Preparatory Visit, including Serbia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Croatia. Each country had two representatives, and Croatia also provided an educator who facilitated the activity. As one of the tasks during this visit was the signing of a partnership agreement, each country designated one authorized person to sign the agreement on behalf of their respective organization.
The main objectives of this activity were as follows:
1. Coordination of representatives of all partner organizations on mutual rights and obligations through the project
2. Defining the time frame, target group and methods of communication involved in the following activities
3. Defining important external collaborators and organizations from the local community, which will be especially important in
the follow-up phase
4. Signing of the partnership agreement
5. Strengthen communication and partnership ties of the involved representatives and organizations as a whole
The set objectives were fully achieved. Coordination among all partner organizations regarding their mutual rights and obligations during the project was established, the timeframe and necessary external partners for the follow-up phase were defined, the partnership agreement was signed, and a strategy for strengthening communication and partnership ties among the involved representatives and organizations was developed.
To achieve these objectives, a series of workshops were held during the Preparatory Visit, totaling 4-5 workshops per day, each lasting approximately 90 minutes. Half of the workshops were conducted before lunch, while the other half were organized after lunch. Between these sessions, participants had a 30-minute coffee break with refreshments and snacks. At the end of each workday, self-assessments and evaluation sessions were led by trainers and staff.
The majority of the Preparatory Visit was based on informal learning methods through practice, with some time dedicated to technical aspects such as signing agreements. Evaluation was conducted through a questionnaire distributed to participants via Google Docs. The evaluation results showed that participants were satisfied with the implementation of this activity, with all participants giving the organization a rating of 5. Accommodation, food, and the venue were rated 5 by 75% of the participants, while 25% of them gave a rating of 4. Work methods received complete satisfaction from 91.7% of participants, who gave them a rating of 5, while 8.3% rated the methods with a 4. The timeframe produced similar results to the work methods. Participants were completely satisfied with the trainer and other staff, giving them a clear rating of 5. Communication between the trainer and participants was flawless, but communication among the participants themselves was somewhat challenging due to limited time for establishing more substantial communication. This was attributed to the short duration of the activity.
This activity was an essential step in the implementation of the Erasmus+ project “Understanding Fake News – Developing Media Literacy in Our Communities” and laid the foundation for the successful execution of the main activity, which is scheduled for November of this year.
