BDF Newsletter - February 2023

Dear readers,

It is not so easy to find good staff nowadays. You hear it everywhere in the news. And when you are looking for staff, you will experience it yourself. Lately, we have had that problem as well. Fortunately, we have found Monica Gunandar who joint our team recently and we are also happy with a future talent, Roan Schoop, who started as a trainee in February. When I speak to people about working at BDF, others say that it should be easy to find people, because you are allowed to travel internationally for work, you have flexible hours, and you are joining an energetic team. I tend to stipulate that in the meetings I have with potential colleagues, but it is not always enough.

The pressure on the labour market is intense and good people are scarce. Adding to the work pressure we experience are the trips to all the project meetings of the last few months. Meetings in Cyprus, Spain, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Latvia and so on have been performed by staff of BDF. I remember one of my last flights which got delayed at departure, leading me to miss my connecting flight in Belgrade. Resulting in a 3-hour night in a sleezy hotel room and a long drive picking up passengers again on the way to the airport for the early flight to Amsterdam. I did manage to arrive at my meeting in Dronryp though at 11.00 am. It’s the beauty and the curse of travelling. We do see the problem of finding new adequate staff all around us. But believing in yourself and offering a nice place to work and live (in Leeuwarden) will help you attracting the right people.

Enjoy our newsletter and we are looking forward to welcoming you in Leeuwarden and show you our office and city!

Lennard Drogendijk, team Business Development Friesland

NWC LTTA in Lugo

The LTTA training week in Lugo was amazing!
We prepared and tested the material for the NWC project together with partners from Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Poland and Cyprus. But our work is not finished yet! We will optimize the material, to provide trainers and teammanagers support in working hybrid with their team! For a whole week we could experience the beautiful history and monuments of the place where the Romans build the wall around the city. EMPRESARIAL DE SERVICIOS, (Gabri) Thank you for the great tour and arrangements!

Leader Scale Up

In November we started with a new project, or well, new? We will build on the success of our LEADER project that we have started with Friesland College as lead partner, with the new LEADER Scale-up project. After developing the LEADER app and platform, we realized that this project offers so many more possibilities.

During the Kick off in November we brainstormed together on how we wanted to build upon the success of the LEADER app and platform. Moreover, we have started to gather what needs there are for expanding the platform among different user possibilities, such as Multilingual learning, integration & citizenship lessons and in company training & team building.

Sneakpeak: besides the LEADER app we aim to develop an actual card or board game!

Thus, much more developments and results are on the way!

YoPeVa

Even though it's sad the YOPEVA project has ended, we went out with a bang! During the Final Conference in November, we were able to share the importance of supporting NEETs and the results of YoPeVa with some important stakeholders in the European Parliament.

Moreover, a few weeks ago we went to the final International Workshop together with our stakeholders from the municipality of Leeuwarden (youth department and RMC), Friese Poort and Comenius Zamenhof. During this workshop multiple stakeholders from different partner countries shared their experiences, ideas, and knowledge on how they support NEETs in their countries or regions. The discussions that resulted from the workshop proved to be very valuable to all stakeholders. It not only provided the stakeholders new insights, but it also strengthened their motivation to keep looking for new connections between regional stakeholders. Finding more collaborations between government, education and business, and moving forward together.

Thus, even though the project has been finalized, the support of NEETs will continue. Moreover, you won’t be able to forget the name of YoPeVa because we will build upon this project through the project of YoPeVa Entrepreneur.

YoPeVa Entrepeneur

As mentioned above, YoPeVa Entrepreneur will build upon YoPeVa, by providing young people soft skills training and a professional preparation to the world of work.

The first steps into the project have been taken and a solid foundation for the training courses and materials has been made in the first year of the project. Currently, we are working on the development of these courses and materials and the first course will be launched soon!

On March 15th, you can join us (also online) in our event where this course will be presented. Are you curious in how this course will look? Join us (online) and register at: YOPEVA ENTREPRENEUR MULTIPLIER EVENT

Changemakers

In January we met with the partners of the project Changemakers again, this time in Bursa, Turkey. Changemakers is a project that aims to increase entrepreneurial skills among children, such as problem-solving, communication and teamwork. Therefore, we visited some interesting and educational organisations. For example, we visited Ukla, a language school providing classes for employees of giant companies in Bursa and the surroundings. The founders of Ukla shared how they started their entrepreneurial journey, what challenges they faced and how they grew to the company they are today. They mentioned that the most important things in being an entrepreneur is, doing what you love doing most and the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people and energy.

Furthermore, we visited Mudanya University. A private university that was founded by a man that started his entrepreneurial life selling books from his car. He explained the importance of creative thinking in the entrepreneurial process, or in his words: ‘A kid who can play freely, can think freely, and can become a free entrepreneur’.

Besides the entrepreneurial aspects, we also visited some children in their schools. We have joined their classes in building a motorcycle with Lego. Moreover, within the project we have developed an entrepreneurial game. During one of the lessons the children were playing this game, which showed us how this game was being received by them. Therefore, we have gained some new ideas and insights to improve the game even further. Keep a close eye on us to see how this game will turn out!

Our thoughts are with those affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Blue-C Newsletter

BLUE-C is a project that focuses on collaborating coastal communities through Co-work, co-design, and co-creation. The first year of this project involved gathering experiences and best practices in all our partner countries, which was followed by the development of the BLUE-C Skill Framework.

This framework serves as a basis for the development of the BLUE-C Learning program and platform, which we started to develop in the meantime. Learn more about our developments so far in our newsletter.

Moreover, we are aiming to establish a regional BLUE-C Network in each of the partner countries. Whether you are an entrepreneur in tourism or in environment protection, every organisation with an affinity to the blue economy, sustainability or coastal tourism is welcome. So, do you think you could benefit from a regional network and do you have an affinity with the blue economy, sustainability or coastal tourism, and would you like to share experiences, knowledge and ideas with other organisations? Or would you like to know more about the BLUE-C Network? Then send an email to Mardjantie Stienstra.