BRIDGING THE GAP Think Global - Act Local: Make the connection!

Young people today, more than ever, are faced with varied choices which impact on and are influenced by the lives of other people all over the world. It´s not always easy to see the connections and to make use of them. Making the links with other countries and other people is the basis to finding a (new) vision and take action for a fairer future. The aim of this international training course ´Bridging the Gap´ is to support youth workers to make these connections in order to facilitate action for a fairer society. We will discover and explore links, sharing experience and ideas to put our work in a wider framework and discover how to plan concrete activities that can help engage young people to realise their potential for change. Engagement means taking action, which requires critical understanding and the ability to make connections between local and global realities. Bridging the gap will do this! This training course is for youth workers, youth leaders, trainers and volunteers who wish to explore global challenges through youth work and the Youth in Action Programme. The course will take place over 4 full training days (with arrival one day in advance and departure the day after the course ends) in the southern Italian region of Calabria. The training venue is an ‘agriturismo’ which is a farm providing ecologically-responsible lodging and meals. At the end of the training, participants should be in a position to apply the learning to their own organisations to encourage active participation and action of young people in challenging inequality locally and globally. THIS TRAINING WILL: • Develop participants skills and competences to link global issues and local realities (e.g critical thinking, exploring power structures and introducing different perspectives) • Increase participants access to and understanding of selected global issues (e.g. human rights, sustainable development, consumption, poverty) through the approach of global education • Provide practical approaches and concrete tools to explore global issues with young people including creative methods, discussion, drama, experiential activities, games • Give participants space to share experience of how to develop alternative visions with young people, and so encourage active engagement of young people in concrete actions for social change • Provide opportunity to develop project ideas between participants, and increase awareness of the Youth in Action Programme and related activities