“Boomerang – inclusion through volunteering”

“Boomerang – inclusion through volunteering” TC offers professionals who work with youth with fewer opportunities an opportunity to share and experience useful approaches and tools helping to stimulate active participation of young people in voluntary work activities. The main idea behind the training is to promote approach and method based on engaging young people with fewer opportunities in voluntary work as a way of social integration and increasing self-efficacy and empowerment of youth. The most common approach is to engage volunteers to help people with fewer opportunities. The idea is to empower young people with fewer opportunities, giving them an opportunity to help others, not only receive help, to change “takers” into “givers”. The training is designed especially for Professional supporting youth with sensory, physical disabilities, mental illnesses, adaptional problems, young addicts and young offenders. It focuses on the Erasmus+ Youth programme (and non-formal education in general) as a useful tool to support active participation of young people. Aims & objectives: - to explore voluntary work as a tool of empowering, supporting active participation and social integration of young people with fewer opportunities, - to break negative fix ideas and stereotypes concerning abilities and skills of youth with fewer opportunities; - to develop and practice important skills of youth workers supporting engagement of youth with fewer opportunities in voluntary work (e.g. coaching skills), - to present and exchange good practices in engaging youth with fewer opportunities in voluntary work on local, national and international level, - to create space for meeting partners for future cooperation in promoting active participation of youngsters through voluntary work (for example in the frame of European Voluntary Service Projects) - reflect on methods how to wake up „yes, I can” attitude in young people, - reflect on family role and impact in the process of empowering youth with fewer opportunities, - give practical guidelines how to engage youngsters into voluntary work, - reflecting of the moral aspekt of the issue - how far can you go?, - have a break form everyday work routine and gain a different perspective on supporting youth, get inspired by other youth workers and stimulate personal creativity on the field.