When Projekta joined the international partnership with Awesome People from Sweden “Unlock Cross-Sectoral Cooperation,” we set out to explore two things: innovative learning tools and stronger organisational sustainability. What we did not fully realise at the time was how much this experience would influence our thinking, our confidence, and the way others see our work.
Two years later, the results are still visible and going strong, growing into new project ideas.
Turning Classrooms into Interactive Experiences
In 2024, we brought nine Maltese professionals: teachers, learning support assistants, and a psychologist, to Sweden to explore educational escape rooms.
There is something powerful about seeing a method in action rather than just reading about it. Watching everyone engage, problem-solve, and collaborate solving an escape room changes how you think about teaching and learning.
Educational escape rooms offer:
- A space where different abilities work together
- A way to engage students who often switch off
- An approach that makes learning active and shared
- A structure that turns complex topics into something approachable
During the visit, our participants experienced the method step by step. They discussed it, analysed it, and imagined how it could work back home.
During public showcase events in Malta, teachers, parents, NGO representatives, volunteers, and young people had a chance to experience the method themselves. The reaction was consistent:
- Students who usually disengage were fully involved.
- Collaboration replaced competition.
- Learning felt natural, not forced.
What meant even more to us was seeing some teachers continue independently, designing additional escape rooms for their own schools.
Portable Educational Escape Rooms – How to Create Your Own
Bringing Innovation into the Community
We didn’t keep the method inside closed training rooms. Projekta integrated educational escape rooms into local events across Malta: local youth meetups, public board game events, international youth exchanges and cross-sector gatherings.
Participants tested the rooms themselves while learning about the broader project behind them.
Highlights include:
- 9 Maltese professionals trained internationally
- 42 international youth participants testing the rooms during a youth exchange meetup
- 40+ participants during a public Game On event in Valletta
- Over 200 youth reached during local events
- Over 5,000 Instagram accounts reached through social media
- Other smaller sessions with NGOs, school administrators, and youth workers
Thanks to these events, what changed was perception.
Schools began seeing Projekta not only as a youth organisation, but as an partner who organise innovative activities for young people. Today, nearly two years later, we continue collaborating with Maltese schools on additional activities. That credibility was strengthened directly because of this initiative.
The Other Side of Innovation: Sustainability
While escape rooms captured attention, the second part of the project addressed something equally important: sustainability.
Projekta Malta developed a 150-page Financial and Marketing Guide filled with practical tools, templates, and worksheets to help NGOs improve long-term stability. The guide is open-source and relevant far beyond youth organisations.
At first glance, creative learning tools and financial strategy may seem unrelated. In practice, they are deeply connected.
Through testing sessions with international NGOs, one recurring theme stood out: many organisations want to collaborate with the private sector, but they struggle to clearly describe what they offer.
This led to a powerful mindset shift:
From thinking in terms of “NGO activities” to thinking in terms of “service-based value creation.”
Organisations testing the guide reported:
- Increased internal confidence
- Clearer definition of their services
- Better understanding of how to approach businesses
- Realisation that their impact has measurable value
There was a visible boost in organisational self-belief. NGOs began seeing themselves as professional solution providers rather than activity organisers.
GUIDE TO FINANCIAL AND MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR YOUTH NGOS - A ROADMAP TO SUSTAINABILITY
A Bridge Between Sectors
By combining educational escape rooms with strategic sustainability tools, the project built something bigger than two separate outputs.
It created a bridge between:
- NGOs
- Schools
- Youth workers
- Private sector actors
- Social enterprises
For Projekta, this combination was transformative. We strengthened our credibility in education.
We deepened cross-sector relationships. We improved how we define and communicate our services. We gained ideas and direction for follow-up projects.
More importantly, we developed stronger internal confidence as an organisation. Creative ideas are powerful. Structured strategy makes them last.
Long-Term Impact
This project shifted how organisations think.
Educational escape rooms are now a stable part of our activities with youth.
Schools remain active collaborators.
NGOs are rethinking how they present their services.
Cross-sector conversations are happening with greater clarity.
For Projekta, the impact is both external and internal. We are designing structured solutions that connect education, civil society, and other sectors in meaningful ways.
The project may be formally closing, but its influence continues and new project proposals are coming!
And that is the kind of impact that matters: sustainability of projects and further improvement and developement.
