“Bridging the Gap” training course. Think Global, Act Local : Make the connection!

Do you feel that young people you are working with are faced with increasing uncertainty in their lives? Are they struggling with the challenges and opportunities of a fast-changing world? Are they able to react or do they feel overwhelmed and powerless? How can youth work help young people think differently, see a wider context and make a difference? 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, which can leave young people feeling lonely and powerless to change their lives. 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 incorporate global perspectives in their work with young people 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 Eramus +. The course will take place over 5 full training days (with arrival one day in advance and departure the day after the course ends) in the norther Spanish region of Asturias. 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: 1. Develop participants skills and competences to link global issues and local realities (e.g critical thinking, exploring power structures and introducing different perspectives) 2. Increase participants access to and understanding of selected global issues (e.g. human rights, sustainable development, consumption, poverty) through the approach of global education 3. Provide practical approaches and concrete tools to explore global issues with young people including creative methods, discussion, drama, experiential activities, games 4. 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 5. Provide opportunity to develop project ideas between participants, and increase awareness of the Erasmus + and related activities