The Kogemuskeskus Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of local communities and individuals within and around these communities. The organization’s mission is to empower people for creativity and to develop their educational pathways. It offers a variety of team-building activities, experiential experiences, personal coaching, youth activities, and educational programs. Situated in a rural area far from various resources, the organization’s mission is to find the ultimate strength that gives each team and individual the inner power to realize their ideas. To this end, Kogemuskeskus organizes study trips, education sessions, meetings, courses, and coaching sessions. The main idea was to open up discussions on various opportunities as a valuable resource for young people and those working with youth. An organization member initiated various ideas and activities to unite different associations and professionals to work together for the well-being of the community and its people.
Representatives of the organization maintain close contacts in the youth center, local schools, and universities. As an NGO and a source of experts working for the organization, Kogemuskeskus is ready for international partnership and initiatives to integrate better knowledge and practices into the processes of youth work and non-formal education. Although Estonia has not been a target country for migrant flows or a transit country, the situation has started to change slightly. Due to the current war in neighboring Ukraine, the number of refugees in Estonia has drastically increased. Kogemuskeskus prepared in advance for the start of these temporary crisis times, forming three groups with young volunteers who help young refugees and their children feel as stress-free as possible.
Activities and Experience in Youth Work:
The main target group includes young people and professionals working with them, as well as the entire community. The organization values the community network and aims to empower people, their experiences, and ideas. In 2017, two partnership projects with Rõuge – Community School and Youth Entrepreneurship Model were conducted, where organization members strived to implement educational programs for children and youth. In collaboration with the Rõuge Youth Center, a summer work camp for young people was organized in 2019, closely linking with the Zackathon project, which supports youth workers to become specialists in dealing with the Z-generation, especially in entrepreneurship. The main methods include learning by doing, thus an experiential learning process.
Operating in Estonia and the region near the Russian and Latvian border, this area is far from large cities, and daily, different social problems must be managed creatively to empower local youth in cooperation with the migrant population, whether from the Russian or Ukrainian side. Our youth workers and volunteers are already active in this area, trying to ease the initial paths in Estonia for young refugees through informal gatherings, transitioning into society or schools. One of our tools has also been creativity; our team has experience in creating videos, broadcasting events live, and teaching young people to use digital media and art.
The organization has a high understanding of community work, integrating different target groups from the community into solving problems and challenges. Integrating new ideas, solutions, and innovations into the community is our organization’s expertise. This is an area that our organization can offer to this project through its people.
The organization has organized several educational programs for adults and young people. They are also active internationally, having organized several summer camps and workshops for young people, mostly aged 12-20 years. People working in the organization come mostly from international work, youth work, or social work backgrounds and have expertise in working with children and youth, supporting their learning processes, and working in multicultural teams, including with migrants, to whom they are paying more and more attention.
The organization is in close contact and partnership with the Rõuge Youth Center, the Union of Estonian Open Youth Centers, and the Võru County Development Center. All these partners are important and valuable for this project (inputs and data for research, partnership with policymakers, and evaluation of project results).
