EuroCourse is an international opportunity for European leaders organised by FIMCAP, the international federation of Catholic parochial youth movements. This year’s EuroCourse, titled Head in the Cloud, kicked off on Thursday 1st February. The theme chosen was media literacy and critical thinking. 24 participants aged between 18 and 25 years, originating from 8 different countries, including Malta, Germany, Catalonia, Lithuania, Belgium, Denmark, Romania and Slovakia, spent 5 days in ŻAK house, Birkirkara Malta.
The Course started with a treasure hunt around the city of Birkirkara. This gave the opportunity to the participants to k ow each other and also to see the city. In the afternoon they had the first session about media and how they are influenced by it. Participants had in the evening a spiritual experience that give them inspiration for prayers which can be used in their own organisations. In the same evening there have been the International Evening, when each country had the chance to present their county. This evening was aired live on FIMCAP’s Instagram (@fimcap). The evening ended with full tummy and some traditional dances. The next day started with a mass, which for several was the first experience of an international mass. Next, another workshop was scheduled. This allowed the participants to actually reflect on the effect of mass media and the excess of information we are exposed to and how to be critical of the news. The third session in the afternoon, gave the participants a chance to discuss marketing and how it works in different countries. The best part of this session was that the expert gave advice on how to ‘sell’ or ‘brand’ our youth organisations. In the evening, the participants went to Valletta to visit a bit of the city and have dinner. The last day started with a session about journalism. The expert delivering the session was an editor of the most popular newspaper in Malta. The participants also discussed how today, due to social media, everyone is considered a journalist, and how important our role as youth leaders is, in order to guide and mentor young people in a positive manner. “We learned different methods and knowledge about critical thinking which I’ll be sharing it with the youth in my country and also with people that are able to make decisions and take action about the problems on the social-madia.” (Andrei Condrat – AGLT). Thanks goes to FIMCAP and all the organisations for being part of this awesome experience. Thanks also to ŻAK for the organisation and hosting of EuroCourse 2018, and finally to Erasmus+ funding programme which made this experience possible.