Joining the Dots Through Outdoor Activity! A Contact Making Seminar-Youth Exchanges

For the most part, the event will be hosted in ‘Kilary Adventure Centre’ in Galway where participants will take part in some outdoor challenges and activities, as well as sessions designed to reflect on the learning outcomes from these activities, and how they might be integrated into a Youth Exchange programme.

The format has a dual purpose in that outdoor activities will be used during the Contact Making Seminar to support relationship building and cross-cultural communication; to break down barriers; to inspire leadership etc. It will also open up a space to explore how physical activities can be integrated into Youth Work, and Youth Exchanges in particular, to maximise the learning for the young people and to develop their skill set. Finally, we hope to demonstrate how the Learning Environment itself can enhance the overall success of a Youth Exchange.

The other main focus of the training will be based around identifying the needs of young people with fewer opportunities and the different tools needed to work with these young people. The programme will support participants to make links between local and European issues that impact young people.

The overall objectives of this activity are:

• To meet your peers around European working doing inclusion youth work
• To support youth workers to develop sustainable partnerships for inclusion youth mobility projects.
• Get a better understanding of the Erasmus+ Programme specifically in the field of KA1 Youth Exchanges
• Develop youth workers understanding on how activity-based methodologies can contribute to young people personally, social and critical growth.
• Gain an understanding of supports available for workers working with young people with fewer opportunities.