EYE Opener - TC on Empowerment in Youth Exchanges

The main aim of the training is to learn how to develop Youth Exchanges within the context of Erasmus+ and to stimulate the full participation of young people in the entire exchange. The training is based on simulation games, inputs and group work. EYE Opener follows roughly the same concept and structure as the current BTM training course http://www.salto-youth.net/BTM/, but has a different purpose and set up in terms of target group. Instead of 1 representative per organization, EYE Opener focuses on youth-adult pairing: 1 adult leader (who deals directly with young people and who is committed to engaging in the future development of a youth exchange in partnership with the young persons) + 1 or 2 young people (between 14 & 17 years old) per group/organization (depending on national regulations). However following the main structure of the current BTM, additional sessions will be implemented: within the group of young people separately from the adults and sessions in which the teams per organization reflect on their ‘working together’. The focus will be on the following aspects: * Young people as actors in the different steps of a youth exchange, supported and coached by youth workers. * The local community as the integral supporting structure of a youth exchange. * The impact and permanent mark on a local community as a result of a youth exchange. To experience in depth the Portuguese culture, we will be living, eating, sleeping and working inside a small rural village called Vila da Marmeleira (Portugal). From August 2013 on, this village is the first ‘Rural Centre of Non Formal Education’ in Portugal … therefore you’ll be experiencing a double Non Formal Educational impact! The international evening is organized in small international groups together with 10 local Portuguese families. This training course is in close partnership with the village hall Vila da Marmeleira, the local associations and population, the City of Rio Maior and other stakeholders. Be prepared to interact and discover! A quality feature of youth exchanges put into concrete practice in front of your eyes ... an additional 'eyeopener' for some. The program lasts for four full days, arrival day on Tuesday, 29th of July and departure day on Sunday, 3th of August. There is a bus organized to pick up participants in the airport of Lisbon at 17h, passing by Santarem (at 2h train from airport Porto) to arrive in Vila da Marmeleira on the day of arrival. There will be a bus bringing all participants back to the airport on the 3th of August with expected arrival in the airport at 10h00