About

Olde Vechte Foundation was conceived as an initiative of a group of people, who in 1966 identified a great need for learning that is not provided by the established educational system. Society keeps on changing over the years, becoming more and more intercultural. Still, the need of an “out of the school system” education stays around. The Foundation’s mission is to create a learning environment out of love, care and cooperation for everyone; especially for people whose needs cannot be met by formal education methods. Modern approaches of non-formal learning are used in all the activities of the Foundation. Kinaesthetic, auditory and visual senses are involved, bringing about learning by experiencing and enabling the full participation of the trainees.

Embracing initiatives for a good cause

Supporting individual learning and growth

Creating a world that works for everybody

The foundation is active in a wide range of fields, on local, national, European and international level and:

organizes and implements open call educational projects, the content of which is developed according to the needs of the trainees;

cooperating with Erasmus+ in order to realize Trainings, Youth Exchanges and EVS projects, in line with the needs as they are stated in their guidelines;

applies for Dutch National Funds for labor market reintegration projects, which are available for long-term unemployed Dutch youngsters;

collaborates with other organizations from the Netherlands and around the world. Thus, the participants can experience indoor and outdoor activities in the frame of non-formal education and live together in the group accommodation;

offers its facilities to national and international schools that want to organize educational and creative activities outside the established formal system and experience living in a group setting;

rentes its buildings as group accommodation to Dutch families when the place is in not needed for other purposes. This provides the Foundation with the financial capability to maintain the buildings.

A learning place for everybody

The Foundation is legally represented by a 3-members board which functions as the decision-making body. Marko Vlaming, youth worker and director of Olde Vechte facilitates the operational part of the Foundation. Olde Vechte Foundation is officially recognized as Public Welfare Institution (ANBI).

Olde Vechte Foundation has become a project organization, by creating a space and supporting people to implement their own initiatives. In detail, all its projects are derived from specialists with great interest and concern on the subject. These people are experienced project managers, facilitators, trainers and mentors, hired by the Foundation on a temporary basis. Also frequently, the former and current volunteers of the organization are inspired to organize and implement projects. The Foundation’s leading Youth Worker is there to support them in their learning process in order to implement their ideas. In this way, everyone mentioned above is shaping the organization.

Marko Vlaming

Youth worker, Head Trainer and Director

Marko started 25 years ago as a youth worker after obtaining his university degree in social and cultural work. Besides doing youth work and trainings, he uses coaching approaches in his daily work. In the last 12 years he developed into an all-round coach. Learning by experience as a method in coaching created a coaching approach that is very focused on working in the here and now. In his practice he works a lot with on-the-job coaching, supporting people to build up their life dream in the way they create fulfillment in their lives, using a wide spectrum of coaching methods and techniques that are currently available.

Yassar Markos

Trainer & Coach

Yassar started to work with Olde Vechte Foundation since 2010. He has been delivering trainings and workshops on different topics (personal development, coaching, NLP, communication, presentation skills, training for trainers, negotiation, productivity) in the last 8 years. He was formed as a medical doctor and is presently doing his masters in psychology.

Veronika Pavlová

Trainer

Veronika has an energetic and enthusiastic attitude towards life which is reflected in her approach as a trainer. When it comes to working with people, she uses her intuition, creativity and experiential learning techniques. She is mainly focused on personal development, coaching and team building in connection with body awareness and body movement. During past years, she has been delivering, assisting and facilitating trainings and workshops and managing projects. Veronika holds a Masters in Sociology and Lifelong Education of Adults and has an extensive experience in group dynamics across three continents.

Eddie Wolters

Youth worker & Reintegration Worker

Eddie has studied social cultural worker and is currently a youth worker aiming at reintegrating youngsters back in society through the EVS programme of Erasmus+. Eddie has expertise and knowledge in project writing for exchanges, trainings and EVS for 10 years.

Lena Nasiakou

Trainer & Learning specialist

Lena believes that “play is our brain’s favourite way of learning”. She is designing, managing and delivering training courses about coaching, mathematics and personal development for youth, adults and teachers. Lena stimulates learning through body movement and theatre, which gives a dynamic and engaging aspect on the projects she is involved. Like this, her creative side comes together with her profession as a trainer and learning specialist.

Cathy Manousaki

Trainer, Project Manager and Media Educator

Cathy is working in the field of personal development, coaching, mentoring and media learning with a focus on human rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, gender issues, self-expression and social sustainability. She has been working internationally with diverse associations and has been collaborating with Olde Vechte since 2011. She is the founder of Active Rainbow platform and she actively implements media (photography & video) and social media tools. Her educational background is in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Martijn Meima

Business intuition specialist

Martijn Meima has combined his knowledge of doing business with his experience and knowledge about intuition and spirituality. He has mastered various intuitive tools like business and family constellations and visualizations. With his positive energy and practical approach he makes the trainings fun and transforming.

Panagiotis Mamouzakis

Trainer, youth worker and project manager

Panagiotis is an experienced Trainer and Youth Worker born at 1981 in Athens. Throughout the years he developed his trainer's skills and competencies by enhancing several training methods and approaches such as: Coaching, NLP, Systemic work, Non-violent communication, DISC profiles, Self-organised learning systems and many others. He developed and managed several Erasmus+ programs and actively worked with people coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. In his work he uses new media (social media, video, photography etc.), assignments, games, outdoor activities and other work forms. Nowadays he works as a freelance trainer & project manager and he is delivering trainings and workshops throughout Europe for training and non profit organizations.

Giedre Kaupaite

Trainer

Giedre Kaupaite has been working as a freelance trainer for 4 years now, has background in psychology, teaches the experiential methodology and working with groups at the IUSVE university of Venice. She has experience of trainership in national and international contexts on the topics of personal development, communication, conflict transformation. She has been working with psychologists and teachers of countries currently in conflict, promoting with the experiential training courses the win-win approach and non violent communication.

Afonso Bertolo

Trainer, youth worker and project manager

Afonso has a background in Clinical Psychology. Since 2009 he has been involved in community intervention and working with groups in several international contexts: Portugal, Hungary, Guinea-Bissau, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. His main areas of work are personal development and coaching with a strong focus on movement and body awareness; mentoring of young people with fewer opportunities; media as an educational tool; and project management in the youth field.

Anna Moro

Trainer & Coach

Anna considers conflicts a privileged place to create connection, and to express and receive vulnerability. She has been working on this topic since 2012 in the frame of non formal education with different targets, from youngsters from post-war countries to children and parents. She is a mediator, and works also as a trainer and coach. Her work focuses on naming and expressing emotions, creating connection and communicating efficiently. She loves using storytelling as a tool to build bridges between personal experiences and desired learning, as well as creativity and systemic techniques to invite authentic self expression.

Ioanna-Nolia Lefa

Trainer

Ioanna-Nolia believes that relationships are the cornerstone of the human experience. That is why she is working as a trainer and a coach with the aim of supporting people in creating the relationships they dream of in their personal and professional lives. With her background in psychology as a theoretical guide, she works on the topics of communication, emotional intelligence, conflict transformation, and Train the Trainers. Her methods include body movement, context learning, games, reflection and a focus on practicing the desired behavior, all with the goal that the participants find their own way of integrating their learnings in their lives.