LET’S TRAIN WITH OUR NEIGHBOURS: CIVIL SOCIETY, PARTICIPATION, DEMOCRACY

"People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing." Walter H. Judd

Democracy and its links with participatory issues represent a sensitive and ever-changing concept. This long term training course aims at providing an unbiased platform for reflecting, exchanging and acting in this field from the specific angle of youth!

"Let's Train with our neighbours" is belonging to the long term cooperation between the Regional SALTO Resource Centres (SALTO EUROMED, SALTO SOUTH EAST EUROPE and SALTO EASTERN EUROPE and CAUCASUS) encouraged by the European Commission together with French, Slovenian and Polish National Agencies of the Youth in Action Programme.

 

Let's Train with our Neighbours is a new step into the cooperation. In fact, this year, each Regional SALTO in cooperation with a thematic SALTO will develop a specific topic relevant for the Region.

SALTO EUROMED in cooperation with SALTO PARTICIPATION will focus on the following issues: CIVIL SOCIETY, PARTICIPATION and DEMOCRACY.

Presentation of the activity

This training course is a long term project based on a "learning by doing" approach and divided on 3 different steps:

• 1st step: Training course - France, 5th to 12th October 2010
• 2nd step: Coaching Phase will start straight after the training course and will last until the evaluation in 2011
• 3rd step: Evaluation Phase of all the Let's Train participants - 2011 (date and venue to be identified)

Aim and Objectives

The aim of this long term training course is two-fold: on one hand, it aims at promoting reflection, debate, exchange and action on democracy and participation issues and, on the other hand, it seeks to support the development of qualitative youth cooperation and networking on the specific issues addressed.
The training course wishes to present an innovative perspective of democracy in the European Neighbouring Policy Initiative (ENPI) area, starting from participants' experiences, offering them tools and coaching during the whole process of the project, from its development to the evaluation.

In particular, the main specific objectives of the training course are the following:

• to create a platform for debate on democracy and participation issues, considering the European Neighbouring Policy framework and policies
• to reflect about the meaning of democracy within the ENPI area in the youth field
• to provide new and innovative tools to promote exchange and cooperation on the addressed issues
• to present the Youth in Action Programme
• to raise the awareness on the role of youth in the political decision making process at the local level
• to encourage the development of high-quality youth projects and initiatives in the field of Youth in Action Programme, focusing on democracy and participation issues
• to support the development of transnational projects tackling the issues of democracy and participation, offering a coaching process from the ideation to the evaluation of the project

Interview!!! Discover yourteam of trainers andlisten carefully to their presentation...

Main contents

• European Neighbourhood Policy (Eastern Europe and Caucasus, Mediterranean partner countries)
• EU Enlargement (South East Europe)
• Youth Policy in the regional contexts
• Youth in Action regional specificities and technicalities (Euromed youth programme, Balkan Window, etc.)
• Non-formal learning and Youthpass
• Democracy and participation from the perspective of youth
• Project cycle management of social projects
• Networking and cooperation within the ENPI framework
• Coaching

Methodology

The methodology provides participants the possibility to tackle the content with the support of expert and experienced trainers. It will also serve as a vehicle to facilitate the sharing of experiences between participants.

The working programme will include:

• working groups
• role-play
• plenary sessions
• workshops led by participants and experts
• active participatory methods (Open Space Technology, European Awareness Scenario Workshops, etc.)

Target group

The course is for youth workers and youth leaders (from Programme Countries, SEE and EECA countries) who are:

• experienced in the Euro-Med Youth Programme and/or Youth in Action Programme
• open to share and enrich their knowledge and awareness regarding democracy and participation issues
• committed to co-operate during the preparation phase before the implementation of the training course according to the team of trainers' requests (writing articles, making researches, etc.)
• supported by their organisations and have a concrete interest in implementing a Euro-Med project on the issues addressed
• able to communicate and work in English
• committed to attend the Long Term Training Course for its full duration

Logistical information

Venue

France - Merville-Franceville (near Caen in Calvados)
1st step: Training course - 4 to 11 October 2010

Organisers and partners

It is organised by the French National Agency in cooperation with SALTO-YOUTH Participation and EuroMed Resource Centres.

Working language: English

Recruitment procedures Group size: 24 participants (4 MEDA, 4 SEE, 4 EECA, 12 Programme country) Apply on line You have to fill in the application on-line. Only the application forms submitted and correctly filled-in will be taken into account. The deadline is closed. Selection Programme countries: pre-selection through sending National Agencies for the YiA programme Mediterranean Partner countries: Salto-Youth EuroMed with support of EuroMed Youth Units Other Neighbouring Partner countries: Salto-Youth EuroMed with support of Salto-Youth EECA and SEE Resource Centres. Travel, boarding and loading of participants will be covered. The selected participants will be contacted by the organisers about their travel's cost.