An awesome Café…

This last Innovations Café was definitely awesome! Diversity of participants from different communities in Kosovo, high number of girls who attended this event, brainstorming teams, inspiring video, were just some of the characteristics that have us here at the Lab excited!

Around 25 enthusiastic participants attended this event at the Innovations Lab. The Innovations Café started with a brief introduction of each participant and then a short presentation of the project called “Say no to Plastic Bags”. This project is supported by the Innovations Lab and is being implemented by NGO “The Ideas Partnership”. You will learn more about this project in the next blog post, written by the project leader, Jeta Lepaja, where she will describe aims and objectives of this project and some of its activities.

The second part of the Innovations Café was consisted of an inspiring TED video. The video showed Khan Academy, which is a not-for-profit educational organization created by Salman Khan. With the stated mission of “providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere”, the website supplies a free online collection of over 2,200 micro lectures via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and economics. After some feedbacks from participants about video, we continued with third part of the Innovations Café.

During the third part, we divided the participants into three teams, where participants had a chance to brainstorm for different project ideas.

The teams were focused on three topics, which were identified previously by the Innovations Team:

1. Environment
2. Education
3. Technology, maps and location

Each of group had one facilitator, who helped them to brainstorm and to write all the ideas in a big flip chart table. Those ideas, we like to call “ingredients”, to make simpler, understandable and acceptable for everyone who is interested to choose one and to build up a project proposal.

To illustrate more, “ingredients” will be in disposition of every young people who wants to come up with project proposal. After they will choose the ingredient/s, next step is to “cook” the dish (in fact, a project proposal). Of course Innovations Team will be mentoring and helping them anytime that they need. After the “dish” (project proposal) is ready and finalized, we serve this to the Innovations Review Committee, where they will “taste” and say last word; if the “dish” (project proposal) is ready for “serving” (approval) or not!
Bellow you could read all the “ingredients” (ideas) from each team:

1. Environment
• Recycle classes
• Garbage separation
• Mapping Germia Park, but also garbage landfills 
• Guerrilla Garden (disseminating seeds of the Sun Flowers and garlic around the city etc)
• Recycle Art workshops
• Translation of the website/videos – “The Story of Stuff”
• Environmental Cinema (during different festivals throughout Kosovo)
• Cleaning garbage landfills and covering them with a big poster, which can resist in outside conditions

2. Education

• Creation of the software and tutorials who could help the education in the schools
• Using tools of the Social Networks 
• Practicing of the lessons (doing different experiments, doing a video of the experiments – “learning by doing”)
• Audio Books
• Internet Researches
• Celebration of Roma Day through different cultural, educational activities

3. Technology, maps and location

Ehh, as usual tech…. people work on-line and I could not find out their inputs from brainstorming session.
Therefore, if you are interested to choose one of the “ingredients” (ideas) mentioned above, and to know more about the technological ideas, maps and other technological tools, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , tweet us at Twitter page: http://twitter.com/#!/KosInnovations or like us at Facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/KosovoInnovations. Also, you are welcomed anytime to come by Innovations Lab Office.

I would be very glad if some of those “ingredients” will be headed towards of your “kitchens”, but always counting on the help and assistance of the Innovations Lab staff. As well, our space is your space – therefore, try to use it as much as you can.

See you in next Cafés!

Ron Salaj
(Project Coordinator at the Innovations Lab – By Youth for Youth)