June 5-7, almost in a month after the holiday “Bragin Fair” , representatives of Bragin district’s family clubs, Natalya Svyatkina, the project manager, experts, volunteers and representatives of local authorities gathered near Smolevichi to discuss results of the holiday event.

The event was held in Bragin on May 8-9 as part of the project “Development of the Network Capacity of Family Clubs in Chernobyl Area in order to Improve Social and Economic Situation”, funded by the EU. The programme of the event was intense, and preparation for it took quite a long time. After some time, when feelings smoothed down and were thought through, there was a discussion “in the footsteps” of the event.

Natalya Svyatkina, the project manager, proposed to start the discussion by talking about competitions “My Family”, “My Village”, “My Favorite Hobby”, that had been held on the eve of the event on May 7. There was a discussion of nuances of preparation and holding competitions, presentations of the participants, peculiarities of awarding. Moreover, participants of the discussion considered the experience of the contest “The Best Large Family in Minsk” and highlighted some moments that could be used during organization of the above-mentioned competitions in future. i.e. personal presentation, preparation of “living” events, consideration of options to promote diverse bonuses for participants.

Before proceeding to a discussion of the event itself, the participants watched a photo presentation, after which its each part was discussed: a museum performance and results of the work of the “Vdokhnovenie” (“Inspiration”) family club, sports competitions and the work of the “Vozrozhdenie” (“Revival”), a fashion show, the work of a medieval platform and an evening concert.

Alla Belyavskaya, a project’s volunteer and a teacher, talked about preparation and presentation of the musical programme “Zyamelka Prodkau” (The Land of Fathers). The main conclusion of her speech was that such work had good opportunities for development. Although the group was unsteady, (participants were changing for six months), all the participants were greatly interested in the material and enthusiastically taught songs and staged a performance. As a result, it was agreed to continue such work trying to involve as many children as possible.

Moreover, the participants discussed decoration of family clubs’ farmsteads. The experts and project manager highlighted positive and negative moments, what should have been focused on and what should have been avoid in the course of their work. Zhanna Chubsa, the head of the club “Sad Mechty” (“Garden of Dreams”), pointed out that more varied products should have been presented at the farmstead of the club, and greater attention should have been paid to the dishes  during storage of which weather conditions should have been taken into account to a lesser extent. She added that the club “Nash Khutorok” (“Our Little Farm”) should have presented not only animals but also feedstuff, tools for looking after them, etc. at their farmstead. The head of the club “Vdokhnovenie” offered to decorate a presentation of the puppet theatre “Batleyka” in a museum manner using exhibition techniques with a reasonable use of interactivity. The clubs “Mikulyanochka” and “Matulin Rushnik” (“Mother’s Towel”) noted that at their farmsteads, there were a lot of creative materials and souvenirs, but results of the work done during the previous year wasn’t shown as good as their goods. They should have issues corresponding photo presentations.

Anna Vygonnaya, the project’s expert, Lyudmila Skakun, a PR manager of the project, and Elena Popova, the manager’s assistant, talked about invited guests (theatres, knights’ clubs, musicians and craftsmen). They noted some organizational nuances, in particular, reception and accommodation of guests, organization of platforms for performances, placing the audience, etc. In general, everyone evaluated the organization of the holiday as a positive experience of mass and cultural events.

To conclude, Elvira Khmelnitskaya, a manager of psychological trainings of the project, analyzed the influence of various events and items of a holiday on the emotional state of both managers and participants. Also, she noted that such events helped to solve some psychological factors: need for self-realization, self-assertion, third-party approval, expansion and strengthening internal and external contacts.

A unique gift to all the participants of the meeting was a visit to the theater. A light comedy helped the audience to relieve the tension of busy working days, left vivid impressions and gave food for discussion and new ideas.

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