ODD, Ora De Dirigenție [2011 - present]

 

(The hour spent with the tutor of the class in the Romanian educational system) 

Launched in the spring of 2011, ODD has become one of the 4 main AIDA projects. Because of the high impact and success it had in the three past editions, ODD is implemented by AIDA in Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, Buzău and Arad, following that with the end of 2013 to be taken over by other organizations in other cities. Throgh ODD, teams of 2 AIDA trainers deliver educational services in schools, during tutoring hours, on a theme adapted to the school curricula, respectively to the needs of children and youth. ODD is an initiative that supports teachers and students; the services are free and can be requested by any teacher. The project address middle school classes V-XII. For details (in Romanian) click here.

 

 

EcoSMART [2012 - present]

 

EcoSMART is AIDA's initiative that introduces in schools in Cluj-Napoca hours of education for sustainable development, the first such hours in Romania. Through this project, AIDA's animators  develop in children and young people the values of the ​​education for sustainable development. EcoSMART may be requested by teachers in Cluj-Napoca, wheter as the hour spent by the class with their tutor, during the classes where our topics can be included, or as extra-curricular time - after hours or during weekends. Project topics include: healthy living, civic engagement, reuse, recycle, media, save the world in 5 minutes and urban art and local culture. For details (in Romanian) about the project click here.

 

AIDA CAMPS [2011 - present]

Camps offer participants rich experiences in personal and social development. They are the place where children learn to household for themselves, make friends and express their creativity. Working with new colleagues, asking for help and managing various situations make them more independent, self confident and give them a sense of inclusion. Benefits for children and youth are relevant for a week of animation: personal, social and emotional development, language and communication skills development, development of motility, dexterity and spatial intelligence, knowledge and understanding of the world and develop creativity. For full details, schedule, price and registration please click here.

 

 

 

AIDA events: training and developing programs [2009 - present]

 

Our organization offers a number of courses specific to its  objectives and contribution to the development of educational and non-profit communities. AIDA organizes training programs on demand or proposes courses, conferences and workshops, both open circuit and closed circuit on topics such as: education for sustainable development, classroom management, teaching dynamics, ecological education, project-based learning, learning situation, socio-cultural animation, animation of expression, shadow theater, big game, etc.. You can find complete information about offers, prices, calendar and registration by clicking here.

 

 

 

DREAM II Sibiu [february 2014] ​

 

The second edition of DREAM meeting has brought together all 3 AIDA teams, from Buzău, Cluj-Napoca and Buzău, in a team working group. The volunteers had a few working sessions, focusing on some of our projects to be implemented in 2014. One of them, the AIDA animation camps was the main attraction, as it implied a lot of creativity. The team has been motivated for a year of surprises. 

 

 

 

 

GLOWING DARK - CLUJ NEVER SLEEPS [21-22 june 2013]

 

In the longest night of the year, 21 to 22 June 2013, Youth @ Cluj-Napoca2015 turned the night into day. Friday to Saturday Cluj never sleeps! AIDA responded to the challenge of SHARE Federation with an expression animation workshop, interactive, that proves that there are no late hours when it comes to creativity. We approached five working groups with different themes: "Glow painting" - face and body painting with paint that glows in the dark, "Glow objects" - objects that glow in the dark, "Theatre of Shadows" - theatrical expression by using shadows; "animation with fire "- circus techniques," light painting "- light drawings and photographs. The workshop was held in the gazebo in Central Park in Cluj-Napoca.

 

 

 

Electric Castle - 1st edition [June 2013]

 

AIDA is where the youth is. And at the first edition of Electric Castle Music Festival, we welcomed the youngsters with leisure activities from morning until the start of the concerts. Young people could choose what activities to be involved in, the offer included board games, photo voice,waterfight, collective painting, eco jam session, living library, improvisation and a great game of animation. A team of 5 volunteers was present during the festival at Castle Bánffy in Cluj.

 

 

 

 

SET - World Cafe on ESD [2013]

 

During the European Youth Week, AIDA held in Buzau and in Cluj-Napoca a public cafe on ESD - Education for Sustainable Development, where young people discovered the role of education in the sustainable development of their society and developed ideas for projects to contribute to achieving this goal.

In the same EYW we had a workshop on animation of expression. This activity promoted the alternative theater, helping to develop creative expression and civic competences for the participants.

 

 

 

 

TRAINING The ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL, BUZĂU [2013]

 

School can be different for teachers as well. AIDA provided on the 4th and 5th of April 2013 a training program for teachers in Pedagogical High School Buzău. The course was free and offered teachers a picture of non-formal education methods integrated in teaching different school subjects.

 

 

 

 

 

The ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL, BUZĂU [April 2013]

 

A team of four trainers and animators of our association hosted training activities on socio-educational animation for 100 high school students from the educational profile of High School "Spiru Haret" in Buzau. For five days, the young people took part in a wide range of activities and forms of sociocultural animation. Besides the development of specific skills required for a career in education as a teacher and animator, young people had an amazing time and thus created a different school for themselves.

 

 

 

The ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL with AIDA, CLUJ [April 2013]

 

Now in its second edition, the non-formal adventure entered schools in Cluj through our association. A team of AIDA volunteers facilitated non-formal education activities and animation of expression for a large number of high school students, students from Cluj-Napoca Economic College. Activities were different every day and for each class, ranging from improvisation theater, library living to collective painting.

 

 

 

 

CREATIVITY GROUP [March-May 2013]

 

Creativity Group brings together 15 active Cluj youngsters who want to free their potential and to develop their creative thinking through different methods and techniques. Participants can meet every season for new creativity workshops where they will have the opportunity to free themselves from the fear of making mistakes or being criticized and to practice taking risks, reflect and analyze ideas, contexts and products. The range of activities range from business group games to creative writting, from paintings and doodles to story creation, from improvisation theater to light painting, from PhotoVoice to movie creation or Dixit.

 

 

TRIBURILE ZOLD [September 2012]

 

A project of discovering ESD through non-formal methods. For 5 days, 27 young Romanians and ethnic Hungarians from Romania, a learning camp and three tribes. Each tribe had its own culture invented by members and together they built shelters, kitchen, hospital. Each tribe had access to a key resource: water, firewood, fruits and vegetables. For 5 days the tribes cooperated to prepare a common meal and in organizing 3 cultural events specific to each tribe (wedding, a sports competition and celebration). The goal was to develop a value system that also includes sustainability values ​​and attitudes of acceptance, tolerance, cooperation and trust between young Hungarians and Romanians besides outdoor learning experiences.

 

 

DREAM SIBIU [October 2012]

 

The meeting "Dream" in Sibiu brought together AIDA teams from Buzău, Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca to start a program of personal development of volunteers and to establish a strategy of projects customized to motivations and capabilities of new volunteers of the organization. A whole weekend the volunteers worked with three facilitators and youth workers to achieve professional development plans and the organizational development plan. That was when we decided that each year must bring with itself a meeting in Sibiu - the middle of our roads.

 

 

 

ESD: TRIP [July 2012]

 

"ESD: TRIP, Education for Sustainable Development: Team, Responsibility, Impact, Partnership" was a bilateral exchange of young people from Romania and Greece. The exchange took place in Gilău near Cluj-Napoca. ESD TRIP was an outdoor adventure in which young people found the spirit of Education for Sustainable Development, learned how to cook healthy, without fire, discovered how to become active citizens and contribute to the sustainable development of their communities. The participants spent a whole day in the forest, built shelters, learned to light a fire without a match or lighter, investigated environmental issues through creative methods such as film and photovoice and finally took the lead through a flash-mob in Cluj-Napoca.

 

 

The ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL with AIDA [April 2012]

 

The first edition of the educational program "The Alternative School" in Romania meant the first edition of the "The Alternative School with AIDA", a project in which volunteers from AIDA in Cluj-Napoca went to two high schools in town to involve young people in a variety of non-formal learning activities; the participants discovered the beauty of learning through games, projects, discussions and socio-cultural animation. Because the initiative was a success, we decided to continue the project each year, focusing on further experiences in schools where we already had an educational contribution.

 

 

URBAN ART BUZĂU [2011]

Urban Art is a collection of urban art workshops for young people in Buzău, middle school and high school students. In each workshop participants had the opportunity to discover one piece of the puzzle of urban art in order to spend time in a creative and exciting manner, learning all sorts of new things about urban art and learning to love their city. The initiative was designed to attract young students towards volunteering and non-formal education as an opportunity for personal development and leisure time. In this project participants experienced improvisation theater, forum theater, living library, collective art, light painting, shadow theatter, ready mates method, games, movie making, photovoice method, labyrinth theater. The whole project was based on non-formal learning, discovery learning, project-based learning and education for sustainable development.

 

 

ONG OPEN DOORS [10-11 December 2011]

 

AIDA Bucharest organized in Goblin club a fair dedicated to NGOs, in order to create a new opportunity for self-financing of nongovernmental organizations in the local community. Because the event was organized around Christmas time and everyone was in a gift rush, AIDA invited NGOs to promote and market "low prices smart stuff": books, CDs, custom bags, decorations and Christmas toys, jewelry, accessories, postcards, greeting cards, photos or unique products, coming out from "artisan" fantasies, anything that can bring any income and can be a nice gift for Christmas.

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS BAZAAR WALDORF SCHOOL CLUJ [December 2011]

 

AIDA was invited by the Waldorf School in Cluj-Napoca to organize socio-educational animation activities for children during the Christmas bazaar hosted by the Waldorf School and its beautiful students. A team of volunteer animators of our association prepared an afternoon and an evening with many games and ways to combine the joy of childhood with the joy of Christmas in a school so beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

URBAN LIFE THROUGH THE LENS- PHOTO VOICE BUCHAREST [December 2011]

 

Several youngsters from Bucharest became photojournalists with the mission of capturing the urban life of the city, and on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 met in the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work from the University of Bucharest in order to share photos and impressions and discuss what caught their lens.

 

 

 

 

 

ECOART FEST (ECO THEATER) [May 2011]

 

In May 2011 AIDA was invited to facilitate the ECO ART FEST eco theater workshops. The City Hall of Cluj-Napoca became, during 6-8 May, the scene for more than 100 young people passionate about nature, ecology and theater. A team of three animators of our association facilitated methods such as improvisation theater, green drama and pantomime.

 

 

 

 

CREATIVITY WORKSHOP [February 2011]

 

At the beginning of 2011 AIDA organized a creative workshop based mainly on story telling. The workshop took place at the same time both in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest, both teams communicating via Skype. Participants trained their creativity, created stories with different characters, learned how to express them in a creative manner. The workshop lasted two days and was addressed to young people.

 

 

 

 

 

A RED APPLE [ Octomber 2010 - present]

 

It is more an attitude than a project. Each year in October, starting with 2010, AIDA promotes the best Romanian School educators. Together we have a duty to thank educators for helping us to become what we are today.

What do we do? We walk the streets, in schools, colleges, museums, cafes, parks and offices in search of people who want to thank their teachers. All those who get involved will write a card for that special teacher and we will make sure that the card will arrive at its destination!

 

 

KIT MAGAZINE  [2011]

 

KIT Magazine is a project that AIDA started in 2011 and is based on a mini set of 3 keywords: kreativity, imagination and transformation. A team of young AIDA volunteers discover some areas of interest, and, with the major objective to develop themselves, give those areas an extra durability approach, putting information, experiences and ideas in creative articles so that everyone has access to what they have discovered. Team members are not specialists KIT nor journalists. They are young enthusiasts who want to grow through the KIT experience. After all, KIT is a learning experience.

Areas about which we write in KIT include: education, marketing, NGOs, projects, fundraising, sustainability, volunteering, personal development, social economy, internet.

 

 

Santa`s eco workshop Magazine (2009 - present) 

 

Every year around Christmas, AIDA volunteers turn into goblins and edit the most beautiful magazine we have, our Christmas magazine. The magazine contains advice on how to spend a Christmas ecologically, how to make gifts from recycled materials, how to use nature-friendly packaging, what movies to watch, what books to read, which events to attend. The magazine can be read (in Romanian) here.

 

 

 

I LOVE DIRT PENINSULA [ August 2011]

 

After the "Eco Workshop in Peninsula" in 2010, AIDA returned in 2011 at the Peninsula Festival with the "I Love Dirt" project.

AIDA offers animation activities for young people wherever they may be, even at a music festival. So each day AIDA Cluj animators had activities such as: play time, during which we had board games and activities related to environmental knowledge; flash mob; a hand-made workshop "Reuse Your Ex" in which young people made ​​bags out of old shirts; a hand-made workshop where participants made juggling poi; street animation. In addition, the team also organized for the youth a Great Game, a screening of short films with messages of awareness of various social issues and improvisation theater.

 

 

ACTIVE HOLIDAY [July-August 2011]

 

Every week a team of AIDA Cluj animators organized a wide range of animation workshops designed both for children and youngsters. Whether we built kites, modeled characters of the story in clay , took part in outdoor games, indoor games, educational activities or sports games, our volunteers have provided an alternative of spending their time for children who remained in the city. None of the children and adults were bored because each weekend AIDA organized mime workshops, shadow theater, improvisation theater, hand-made workshops and many other games.

 

 

 

FUND CONFERENCE BUCHAREST [February 2011]

On February 13, 2011, activists of non-governmental organizations in the Romanian capital were invited to the conference FUND, Fundraising for NGOs though Dialogue organized by AIDA, in partnership with the Faculty of Sociology, University of Bucharest. FUND Conference brought together representatives of several organizations in Bucharest who shared their methods, strategies and examples of best practice in fundraising. The guests were: Mircea Toma, Active Watch - Media Monitoring Agency, Raluca Grecu, Persona Organization, Miruna Covaci, ANPCDEFP, Youth in Action Programme, Andreea Popescu, Mai Mult Verde, Elena Coman, Soros Foundation, Ana Radulescu, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Steliana Moraru - Charitygift.

 

 

 

 

FUND CONFERENCE CLUJ [December 2010]

 

AIDA held on Saturday, December 11, 2010, in Cluj-Napoca, the conference FUND, Fundraising for NGOs through Dialogue discussing methods and techniques in the non-profit fundraising. At the event we enjoyed the presence of high representatives of NGOs in Cluj. Participants could listen to the speech of Mrs. Simona Baciu, president of Happy Children Foundation - International School of Cluj, Shajjad Mr. Rizvi, president of Little People, Mr. Mihai Pop, project coordinator at the department of education for peace and development in the Romanian Institute PATRIR Action, Training and Research on Peace, Ms Carmen Ciobanu, project coordinator in Civitas Foundation for Civil Society and Mrs. Adina, YouthBank national coordinator and Ana Cristea, Romania's representative of ARC, the Association for Community Relations.

 

 

 

PENINSULA Park - The ECOWORKSHOP [August 2010]

 

The Ecoworkshop is a project created for the Peninsula Park (August 26 to 29, 2010, Târgu Mureș: Peninsula Festival). Objectives underlying the project were to promote the reuse of materials, hand-made type activities, the development of attitudes and behaviors of respect towards the environment and to encourage personal impact on nature and community, animating the public at the stand.

Activities thtough which we wanted to achieve our objectives were the following: workshop on hand-made decorative items, workshop on creating jewelry, bracelets, lockets, earrings, temporary tattoos with environmental messages, building a statue of at least 170 cm from reused materials, workshops on ecological theme, watching documentary films and last but not least the EcoPeninsular movie making.

 

S.C.E.V.I.A. [Mai - August 2010]

 

S.C.E.V.I.A. - European Civic Space through Volunteering and Active Inclusion was a challenge that AIDA towards organizations that develop volunteering programs and towards high school students with hearing and visual impairments, and young people facing social and economical obstacles. Project S.C.E.V.I.A. was held in Cluj- Napoca and consisted in organizing a National Forum for Voluntary and Active Inclusion. A communication space for theones who implement volunteering programs, programs which develop the sense of active citizenship and European citizenship, youth policies and youth who want to learn more information about volunteering and active inclusion. Another major action of the project was the establishment of partnerships with various organizations (NGOs , public institutions , companies) for 10 young people with hearing impairments and 10 visually impaired youth where they could attend a voluntary service of 20 hours.

 

MEDIATECA [May - November 2010]

 

The project was implemented nationwide and focused on non-formal education with goals such as improving education by, for and about the media, making an educational DVD for young people and by young people and gaining of learning experiences using the reciprocal teaching and learning. Thirty young people in the country, volunteers and high school students selected for this project were actively involved in the educational DVD that contained five themes of major importance in contemporary society: volunteering, ecology, sports, personal marketing, social inclusion on 4 levels of development themes: video section, photo section, section on youth resources and resource section for teachers.

After creating the DVD whose content was 100% of the young people involved, participants went on the road to promote and disseminate the educational product in 20 schools in 11 counties.

 

BOOK PAGES [2009]

 

It is a project in the educational field created by youth for youth. The project implied a fund raising for books for the Romanian Vrsac - Serbia, High School "Borislav Petrov Braca". AIDA believes in the power of books to change lives and to train people, so we wanted to share books to those who do not "punish" them leaving them in a dark closet with lock, but who browse them every day with love. In this project have been involved communities in Buzău, Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, Călărași, but also publishers and booksellers in the towns and in the thoughout the country.

 

 

Ecosystem [2010]

 

Ecosystem is the first project based 100% on Education for Sustainable Development of AIDA Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca respectively. The project started in 2010 and continued in 2011 with a training program in animation for the volunteers of the association, held in April 1-3 in Bucharest. Also, in 2011 Cluj AIDA volunteers organized for children in "Happy Kids International School Cluj" Kindergarten a class on ESD, every Friday.

 

 

 

 

ARTe Magazine [2009 - 2013]

 

ARTe is not just a magazine of arts and culture, but it became a community of editors and readers. Roles have changed: editors became readers and readerss can always contact us for cooperation, for an article who was wanted in the magazine.

Through the adjacent title, "arts and culture magazine", ARTe brought to readers interviews with contemporary artists in full defining process, the people of the arts, presenting the story behind the photos, films and books that deserved to be considered. Choreography and music were also areas that could be found through the articles.