ACT & Connect - Transnational Youth Initiatives by Youth

Multipliers play an active role in empowering young people to participate and take action within our society. Transnational Youth Initiatives within Erasmus+ could be an interesting tool to facilitate this. How can we motivate young people to take initiative? How can we support them in their learning process as they manage projects? AIM This training course aims to improve the quality and diversity - and raise the quantity - of active youth participation in Erasmus+ YiA Programme countries through developing the competences of multipliers with the focus on Transnational Youth Initiatives CONTEXT / BACKGROUND One of the specific objectives of the Erasmus+ YiA Programme is to promote youth participation in democratic life in Europe and active citizenship. Within the Erasmus+ YiA Programme, strategic partnerships in the field of youth support the development of Transnational Youth Initiatives. A Transnational Youth Initiative is a European project initiated and carried out by young people themselves where they can explore needs or ideas important to them. It gives young people the chance to try out ideas through initiatives which give them an opportunity to be directly and actively involved in planning and carrying out a project. In addition, participation in a transnational youth initiative is an important non-formal learning experience. A young person participating in a Transnational Youth Initiative can acquire important skills such as responsibility, risk-taking, negotiation, creativity, communication, a sense of initiative and social awareness which are all useful for personal and professional development. A Transnational Youth Initiative also promotes intercultural awareness and a sense of understanding of what European citizenship means for young people. OBJECTIVES We will focus on the following objectives: ● Exploring relevant issues related to Youth Participation and Active Citizenship in the EU and linked to the priorities of the Erasmus+ YiA Programme ● Sharing and exchanging our experiences of youth participation with the focus on what was previously Youth Initiatives (YiA) ● Exploring how to implement and work with the Transnational Youth Initiatives element of Erasmus+ YiA Programme ● Identifying conditions for successful and sustainable youth participation within the whole process of project management ● Developing relevant competences of multipliers: to motivate, empower and support young people to develop and implement their ideas ● Creating appropriate methods and tools ● Developing links for future cooperation METHODOLOGY The training course will be based on non-formal education methods and will involve non-formal and informal learning. It will be learner-centered, practice-oriented and based upon the needs and expectations of the participants. Moreover, a special emphasis will be laid on self-assessment and on a self-directed learning process. PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS The course is open for applicants who are: ● minimum 18 years old ● prepared to take active part in the training course for its full duration ● able to work in English ● are active in an organization, public body or informal group of young people ● are in a position to encourage young people to get involved in creating projects around their own interests and ideas ● interested in setting up (international) youth projects within Erasmus+ YiA (Note for NAs: This project is financed by TCP 2013)