I’m a motivated, people-oriented professional with a psychology Degree and experience in entrepreneurship and NGO volunteering. In the future I would like to run an NGO focused on empowering young adults by providing mentorship, skill-building programs and social growth opportunities.
Alexia K. (HE) has gained experience in various fields related to youth empowerment. She has participated in several studies linking education to employability and entrepreneurship as well as in research for fighting unemployment, holds a PhD degree and has started yEUth Stichting.
I found out about EYE from Instagram and later from the website of yEUth and I really felt connected to their mission of empowerment. During this experience I have hoped to develop my organisational and social media skills, learn about NGO administration, project facilitation, management and project writing. My goal was to gain more experience in the field of NGO related work as I want to tie my future to that discipline.
Since I have arrived here I have managed to co-write multiple projects, learned a lot about facilitation, project management, administration in an organisation, strengthened the local presence of yEUth in Leiden, organised local events and workshops, aided in building a local network of volunteers, created social media contents for various projects, represented yEUth on events and many more. I have participated in many sessions of one on one mentoring that have helped me find great confidence in myself and on many occasions made me think about the subjects mentioned for days.
From the very beginning Alexia has placed a great amount of trust in me, letting me participate in or observe all the yEUth activities and internal administration. This has allowed me to develop a lot of agency, which is particularly important for me as I have struggled with it in the past. She is an extremely smart, kind, strong person.
In my opinion the most important benefit I have gained during my EYE would be the new connections I have made while living in the Netherlands. I have to mention here Oskar and Luka without whom my experience would not be the same. They both have taught me so much, have been extremely welcoming and have been great support on personal and professional level. I was made feel like a valuable part of the team and not just an onlooker. Now when I start my own NGO I will have people in multiple countries I will be able to reach out to and that is priceless.
By the end of my exchange, per my request, I was given responsibility over a project for which I have led workshops, facilitated bonds with partners and co-organised multiple events. Photos included are from these workshops as I consider it my biggest achievement during my time in the EYE.
Now I have confidence that I can actually be able to do all of these important, necessary tasks on my own in the future.
This time spent in the Netherlands has been completely different from what I have expected before coming – from the struggles and the delays at the very start of my EYE to now- the end, when I can confidently say that with correct people supporting me I could absolutely do it all myself.