Local activities
Chat Club is an initiative supported by Active Bulgarin Society (ABS) and was created by 5 volunteers living in Blagoevgrad aiming at integrating the local community and meeting new people. It consists of a series of events both in a face to face and online format, adapting to the Covid19 reality, taking place from August 2020 to March 2021. The ABS organised games relating to the European Union with the objective to educate the participants in a creative, multicultural and fun way. Particularly, the Chat Club event that took place online in February 2021 called “GamifyEU: Join, Learn and Play” was a follow up event to the online Youth Exchange of the GamifyEU project and especially focused on the GamifyEU project and and online platform, gamification as a concept and other Erasmus+ opportunities. Lastly, the face to face chat club event that took place in March 2021, was a 3 days initiative. During the first day of this event, ABS organized the Chat Club with some boarding games about the European Union. The second day, ABS created a Treasure Hunt and on the final day, ABS prepared a presentation about european facts while having a pizza party.
Similarly, participants playing outdoor games learned more about the EU during the “Game O’Clock” activity, organised by Mathias, a volunteer living in Blagoevgrad. The activity aimed at integrating the local community and introducing the new team of international volunteers. The majority of the 56 participants of the activities were young people aged between 18 and 34.
Dissemination activities
During February 2019, introductory meetings aiming at presenting the GamifyEU objectives and outcomes were set with the representatives of ABS and universities as well as with local volunteers. More specifically 17 young people from the South-West University and the American University in Bulgaria, local youth and participants who would attend the first training event in Portimao were reached out and familiarized with the GamifyEU project and the platform which was however still not usable. In May 2019 3 dissemination workshops were held at the university sharing the project and results of the first training event in Portimao to university students and staff reaching out in total to 52 young people aged between 16 to 29. ABS volunteers presented the project goals and platform, inviting participants to share their feedback. The ABS office is a Eurodesk Multiplier infopoint having a testing device (computer) but young people were also encouraged to play and try the platform/game on their phones as well. The more levels players would play, the more chances they had to win some of the prizes offered such as stickers, water bottles, bags, t- shirts etc.
From August 2020 to February 2021, ABS and local volunteers presented the project and the platform during 6 offline events called Chat Club. 87 participants in total, consisting of high-school and university students from 17 to 30 years old, had the chance to play the games available on the Platform and get to know the GamifyEU project better.
In March 2021, ABS organised a 5-day training event promoting the project results and the platform in an interactive way with non-formal methodologies. During the training event there was time dedicated to a special session in order for the 25 participants aged from 18 to 30 years old to go through the new quests, to test the platform and share feedback about functionalities, content and design.