My name is Branimira, I was a member of the Croatian EGL delegation for 8 years, and I still think it was one of the most powerful processes supporting youth work in Croatia up to this day.
For me, EGL was much more than just a project or partnership. It was a huge part of my professional life, actually more than half of my total working experience so far. Through it, I met amazing and highly professional people, many of whom I later worked with in many other ways, and with most of them I stayed in close professional, and even personal contact. What we had in EGL was really special, and I know I will miss that kind of work for a long time because it was supportive, productive, well organised and clear.
I will remember all the trainings, conferences, mentoring meetings, and all the travelling across Croatia to support our municipalities, but also across Europe when we had the chance to show what works in Croatia and why. I will also remember our slightly competitive mentoring spirit, always trying to be the better mentor and hoping that our municipalities would show the best results at the end of the process. That was also part of what made it so fun and so motivating (besides creating personalised WhatsApp stickers and numerous inside jokes – Gazeebo!).
Through EGL, I learned a lot about youth work, youth policy, public administration, and what institutions can actually do if they really want to strengthen the position of young people and build more solidarity in communities. I also learned a lot about teamwork and about how to work well with people who are deeply committed to the same goal.
EGL was probably my favourite professional engagement so far, but I also really believe it made a big difference in many local communities in Croatia. It helped improve local youth policies, increased the visibility of youth work, and contributed, at least a bit, to stronger recognition of youth work at the local level. Even now, years later, when I talk to representatives of municipalities that went through one of our EGL cycles, I can still see that something stayed with them. There is often a different understanding of young people and youth work, and in some places, really big changes have happened. A lot of spin-off ideas came out of the whole process, too.
One of my favourite sentences I heard at the beginning of my youth work journey was during my very first Erasmus+ exchange, when we were all sad it was ending. The facilitator said that non-formal education also teaches us how to let things go. I think about that sentence often when I think about life in general, and I know nothing lasts forever, but EGL is definitely one of those things that is a bit harder to let go of.
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The author of the article is Branimira Penić, a member of the Croatian national delegation for 8 years. As part of the EGL working group, Branimira was involved from the beginning of the project and experienced its impact at the national and local levels of youth work. She is currently a youth worker in Hrvatsko Debatno Društvo (www.hdd.hr).