Small World Café Meeting
On April 30, four International Visitor Leadership Program alumni joined citizen diplomats from across the United States in conversation and speed networking. The speakers joined the gathering from Albania, Estonia, Romania, and Serbia and shared highlights of their April 2019 visit to Pensacola as well as information on their current work.
The meeting started with introductions and questions on the current situation in their respective countries regarding COVID-19. The group spent time in Northwest Florida in 2019 on a Meridian International project examining civic engagement among high school youth and included: Armando BALA who founded New Vision in 2011, Albania’s leading youth non-profit supporting youth inclusion in national issues; Ivi TIGANE, an Education Specialist who has worked closely in Estonia at the local government level on issues such as bilingual student education, challenges facing low-income families, and recruiting qualified teachers; Cosmin POJORANU, the communications director for Romania’s leading civil education NGO, Funky Citizens, which focuses on explaining rights and citizenship to young people; and Ivana MILOSEVIC, the access program coordinator for the English Language Teacher’s Association of Serbia and who also supervises curriculum development and trains teachers who implement the initiative.
Breakout sessions allowed the 28 attendees to explore topics of interest in smaller settings. The group also toured the Romanian speaker’s office. As the meeting wound down, many expressed their pleasure at being a part of the call and asked to be included in the next Small World Café.
Thank you so much to all participants and see you next time!
