PLAY International Kosovo

On the 12th of March,  Sara Kalvachova,  PLAY International Kosovo Head of mission,  delivered an inspiring speech during the  certification ceremony at the Fakulteti i Edukimit Fizik dhe i Sportit  for the first 2 cohorts of students part of the 2019/2020 PLAY Internship Course: " Dear students,  It is an honor and pleasure to be here with you today and to see so many positive faces.  We are here to celebrate students’ successful completion of Internship Course organized by Faculty of Sports and PLAY International. This course is a part of EJO project aiming to provide an active and inclusive education.    For the Faculty, students, and PLAY, this is a great opportunity to contribute to quality education in Kosovo and to challenge stereotypes and prejudice with an ultimate goal of better inclusion of all children no matter of their background.    After successfully finishing the accredited course by Ministry of Education and Scienc...

Hello, everyone! With only 22 years, Maëliss excels in her achievements and experience gained from numerous internships and work in various fields. After 4 years of intensive higher education, she has decided to do her Civic Service in Kosovo. The perfect place to turn 6 months of life into an unforgettable story!  🧐🏉🧗 ‍ This smart girl is working as a Pedagogical Assistant as she participates in the deployment and implementation of the NGO’s pedagogical programmes and tools with the Pedagogical Trainers and Coordinators. Maëliss's mission is to support the development of awareness raising and educative actions led by PLAY. She is also assisting the pedagogical manager for the organization of seminars of volunteers and professionals, participate to the evaluation of activities and collection of data. Moreover, she states that is going to be her pleasure to support staff capacity building by developing training sessions. Maëliss looks forward to discovering and contribu...

  Hello, everyone! Have you ever wanted ideas to come to you without much effort?  💡  That everything that comes to mind seems possible to you. When things that seem impassable to others seem to you as an opportunity to prove that everything is achievable and there is no barrier that women cannot break?! ♀️ I know, very difficult to believe, but you will when you read this article, that there is one person that can do these all, and her name is Bardha Uka. Bardha has been supporting the Peda team for a year and a half now, among others by delivering Peda content for the children, youth, coaches, and teachers. No wonder that you might have met her already, and you have had the opportunity to receive training from her. When we asked her what she thinks about PLAY, Bardha said: What I love the most about PLAY is the uplifting energy and the positive values ​​we share every day as a team. Being able to educate young generations through Physica...

As we approach the new year and look forward to 2021, our thoughts turn to new beginnings and new possibilities. And after almost two and a half years leading PLAY International’s work in Kosovo and the Western Balkans, it is also time for me, and the mission, to anticipate new beginnings. I am delighted therefore to be handing over the Head of Mission role to Sara Kalvachova who will build on the amazing work that PLAY does in the region. Closing a chapter is also a great time for reflection and I have been giving some thought to this as I have said my goodbyes to the talented and dedicated team I have been privileged to work alongside in the past few years. So, in this spirit of reflection, I would like to offer my perspective on the role of PLAY International’s sport-based approaches in the development of Kosovo and its neighbours. Inter-ethnic youth work has been the foundation of PLAY's success in the Western Balkans It was clear to me when I arrived in Kosovo in 2018 that PL...

Helping youth and children through activities: The social value of being a volunteer Lipjan / Lipljan may not be the most beautiful city you have ever seen, but it has youth groups among the most active in the country. Home to 57,605 people, this city does not offer many opportunities for them. Nevertheless, the quiet life of the city is disrupted by the activities of a group of young people who are involved in advocacy and awareness campaigns. For these young people who represent the views of the volunteer movement, making sure they advocate these rights and support innovative volunteerism, the Lipjan / Lipljan Youth Assembly has become a home that enables these youngsters to make a difference in their city. One may ask, what is the force that drives these young people to do volunteer work? The answers are easily found among the young people of this city. "I like volunteering. I have always loved it. When I heard that there are organizations in my community that do volunteer work...

                      Lifelong Memories of Amazing Experiences It has been three years since Arbërita crossed paths with PLAY International.  “I feel exiting to go through old memories” she admits “but I don’t get too many chances to share those memories with people.”  Now she lives and works in Finland.  Arbërita's voice comes to me through the Zoom app, but her way of talking and her life gives me the impression that I am talking to a girl who has gone through a sensational life with many experiences. Arbërita tells me that she has had a good day at work and that she is happy to do this interview with me.  Once we discussed about her day, we go back to the start of her experience with PLAY. “I was just 13 when I joined PLAY, and I was the youngest volunteer. At that time, it wasn’t allowed for youngsters under 16 to be part of the project, but seeing how regular I was in all the organized activities...

Partnering with The Ideas Partnership This month we have been thinking quite a bit about our partners and the importance of partnerships to our mission as an organization. As we mentioned in our post “ living up to our principles ” on 5 October, working as a collective is the only way we can make a lasting and deep impact on people’s lives. So we thought that we would have a closer look at a partner PLAY has been working with in Kosovo for almost 10 years now: The Ideas Partnership or TIP. PLAY's 20th Anniversary celebration in October 2019 was also a chance to celebrate our partnership with TIP and others As an organization, TIP is a great showcase for the benefits of a sport for development approach. One of its areas of work involves running Learning Centers to provide education, health, welfare and other services to vulnerable children and their families. With these core activities taking place in a central location inside communities in Fushë Kosovë / Kosovo Polje and Janjevë ...