“Cherry on the Cake” – Encouraging active citizenship through Youth exchange

An essential part of a Youth Exchange is the involvement of young people from early stages of generating ideas all the way to the closing of the project. If given a possibility to be involved from the beginning, the period when young people learn extends far beyond the time spent in the international setting. Youth Exchanges therefore gain greater meaning when linking the European dimension to the regular youth work practice in the local level. European citizenship is a topic that is getting increasingly important due to challenges that the European Union and Europe as a whole are facing. Youth Exchanges have a great potential to ignite the young people’s sense of active citizenship in general, and to bring them closer to their European identity. This training course therefore focuses on how youth leaders can support young people’s awareness, understanding and practice of European citizenship through Youth Exchanges by addressing different aspects connected to the topic and encouraging young people’s active involvement throughout the project. The activity will consist of preparation exercises, residential training course and consultation phase. The last phase provides the participants with an opportunity to consult the trainers and discuss with other participants regarding the topics covered during the training course when preparing their applications for a Youth Exchange. 
Objectives for the training course: -Exploring the role of Youth Exchange in long-term work with young people; -Promoting Youth Exchanges as means of supporting young people’s active citizenship; -Developing youth leaders’ competences to integrate European citizenship in the entire process of Youth Exchange; -Increasing the understanding of the roles of a youth leader in all phases of a Youth Exchange. Profile of participants: Youth workers / youth leaders, who: -have implemented and/or led a group in a Youth Exchange; -have concrete plans to apply for and carry out Youth Exchanges in the near future ( 2017 - 2018) as a part of their long-term work with local young people; -are interested in developing their competences in integrating the topic of European citizenship in Youth Exchanges -are passionate about youth work and working actively with young people; -are willing to commit in all phases of the training process (preparation phase, residential training course and consultation period) -are at least 18 years old; -come from Erasmus+ Programme Countries or the Western Balkan region. Background: The training module known under the brand name “Cherry on the cake”, developed by the Institute MOVIT, the Slovenian National Agency for the Erasmus+: Youth in Action Programme, in cooperation with SALTO South East Europe Resource Centre builds on the understanding of Youth Exchange as a highlight within a broader process of non-formal learning in youth work. It aims at discovering the potential of Youth Exchange as an instrument for building young people’s competences through active participation in developing the project. Training courses for youth workers and youth leaders on the topic have been organised since 2012, first in the national level in Slovenia and later internationally. The participants of each training course will also receive a publication “Cherry on the cake” -Advice for quality planning of Youth Exchanges, which explores all phases of Youth Exchanges -drafting, planning, preparation, implementation, conclusion and dissemination- and provides insight on what young people can learn in each phase, and how a youth worker or a youth leader can facilitate the learning process The programme of activities will be carried out by two trainers: -Snežana Baclija Knoch (Serbia) https://www.salto-youth.net/tools/toy/snezana-baclija-knoch.1941/
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Sašo Kronegger (Slovenia)
https://www.salto-youth.net/tools/toy/saso-kronegger.2317/