SPEECHLESS RECONCILIATION

INTRODUCTION

Speechless Reconciliation is a project founded by Matej Keka in February 2021 as a project of the Rotary Club Prague International in the Czech Republic.
One of the reasons why this project is referred to as „Speechless Reconciliation“ because not all of the participants have a common language. Although translation will be available, the focus will be on 6 groups of young adults (16-21 year) from maximum 6 different countries finding common ground and comprehending each other without language in common, through body language, facial expressions, tone of voice and other cues.
We believe that an initial encounter that is coupled with a longer-term continuity of contact between several groups of these youth can be an engine that helps transform the way they live and think about each other, and contribute to a better communities.

PROJECT GOALS

“What are my talents, skills and how should my future look like?”

Our vision is to create strong community leaders that will build a more equal and better world for others. We want to expand the project through organization of the developmental camps into other countries (first in Europe and then on a global scale) as well as onboarding of new partners on the online “opportunity matching” platform. These developmental camps are enter points into our Speechless Reconciliation community.

PROJECT GOALS

How do we achieve that?

We achieve that by organizing developmental camps which includes workshops on skills, talents as well as job fair and by offering them long term follow up in form of opportunities for professional and personal development, through engaging with different stakeholders such as Rotary International, companies, universities, and other organisations from different regions of Europe and the rest of the world

Short-term

The short-term goal of the project is the organisation of developmental camps for youngsters from houses for youth without adequate parental care from different countries of Europe and eventually the rest of the world.

Long-term

The long-term goal of the project is to offer follow up opportunities and to fulfill the hopes of youngsters with disadvantaged backgrounds from houses for youth without adequate parental care. Hope for a better life, hope for a better future, hope for a better community.

Our vision is to create strong community leaders, that will build bridges among the communities in different regions. We will achieve that, by giving opportunities for professional and personal development to the youngsters from houses for children without parental care.

the desired outcome of the speechless reconciliation

Our hope and expectations are that an expanding group of disadvantaged young adults will become empowered to create a strong network of understanding and collaboration across several countries, with a vision of peace and cooperation across Balkan and eastern European regions that will lead to a future of long-term stability and an enviable quality of life.

PROJECT PHASES

The first phase is the 10-days developmental camp where with the help of the professional trainers the youngsters based on their age are working either on designing their future direction or finding their skills and talents. Groups of youth in the age between 16-20 years – usually 6 from each of the 6 participating facilities, one in each project country – spend days in workshops, getting to know more about each other: their ethnic, religious, social backgrounds, personal histories, feelings, dreams for the future, and more, to build understanding between them and to expand their visions of what is possible in their own lives. Two months after the developmental camp, the youngsters' plans are assessed, and various questions are asked to find out if the youngsters are still interested in pursuing the plan that they designed during the summer camp.

In the year following the camp, different kinds of opportunities are offered to the participants for their professional and personal growth such as mentoring, coaching, internships, online course to help them with transition towards an independent life. This is the second phase of the project. To amplify the impact of this phase, an online “matching opportunities” platform will be established to support both „demand and offer “. We believe that a perfect mixture of intercultural, professional, and self-developmental opportunities will empower them enough to be able to create a lasting change in their communities and to prepare them for an independent living, with an emphasis on employability and community integration. Rotarians from the different clubs in the cities where the participating facilities are located will possibly take on the task of identifying the possible opportunities for the young people with the help of local companies and other organizations. The other Rotary clubs, companies and organizations from different countries will also try to identify the opportunities corresponding to the needs of the young people identified during the first phase of the project.