Let's create inclusive activities

Make your activities more inclusive and diversity-aware

Inclusion and diversity are important priorities in the European youth programmes, but not all activities are tailored to a wide range of needs. This training course invites youth workers, event organisers and facilitators to reflect on and improve their practices to make their group activities with overnight stays in the youth sector (e.g. exchanges, courses, seminars, team volunteering) more inclusive so everyone is able to feel welcome and participate regardless of their individual background and requirements.

Why participate?

In 3 full working days, you will further develop your competences to make your overnight group activities in the youth sector more inclusive and diversity-aware. In this course you will:

• Reflect on why inclusion and diversity are important and how they relate to you and your organisation.
• Become aware of the requirements of (potential) participants and the variety of barriers that might hinder them to feel welcome and safe to participate.
• Explore the different aspects of inclusive and diversity-aware activity design (including logistics, methods, team and communication) and understand how you can prepare for and adapt to barriers and requirements.
• Share practical tools, methods, resources and approaches that offer support in organising and facilitating inclusive and diversity-aware activities.
• Take concrete steps to improve your practice.

Note: this is not a basic project/activity/event management course or a partnership building activity. The focus will be on developing competences and skills.

A non-formal learning approach

Nobody is perfect, luckily! We can all learn from each other to improve our daily practices. We will start by looking at what you already bring (knowledge, attitudes, practices) and through a mix of inputs and non-formal methods (learning by doing, trying out, time for sharing and reflecting, group activities) we hope to empower you to get better at what you do. The course endeavours to be an example of an inclusive activity, so you can take tips, practices and tools from it to your own work.

You can find more information about the inclusion measures we have put in place for you in the practical information (download).

Who is this training for?

• This training is for youth workers who are implementing group activities in non-formal learning settings with overnight stays in the field of youth. If you’re responsible for programme design, facilitation, logistics, team or communication in activities, then this training is for you.
• Ideally, you identify yourself as youth worker, trainer or event organiser in the field of youth with hands-on experience in organising activities in non-formal learning settings. You can be active in an organisation, an informal group or as a freelancer, both in a paid or volunteer position.
• We welcome beginners, experts and all profiles in between. What counts is that you’re open to learn more about designing inclusive and diversity-aware activities, and implementing it in your daily practice(s).

We especially invite participants that experience(d) participation barriers or discrimination themselves. We are happy to shape the conditions that allow you to participate in this training.

Important to know

• The working language will be (international) English. Your English does not have to be perfect, but you need to be able to follow the program and voice your opinions in English. The facilitators are not native English speakers themselves.
• You will be accommodated in single rooms.
• To get the process started even before we meet, we invite you to a short online ‘onboarding meeting’ on 11 June (18h-19h30 CET) to prepare the course and answer your questions so that we can make full use of the time we have together.
• There are a few places for participants from the neighbouring regions: Western Balkan countries, EuroMed countries (Southern Mediterranean) and Eastern Partnership countries.

Team of trainers

The team of trainers is composed of:

• Manina Ott, she/her (Munich, Germany) - focus on radical diversity, especially migration and anti-racism
• Sara Bertolino, she/her (Torino, Italy) - focus on gender, queerness and neurodiversity
• Stéphanie Fritz, she/her (Essen, Germany) - focus on inclusion, especially disability and accessibility

Application procedure

• You can apply until 31 March 23:59 CET via this form. You can choose to apply by completing the full form, or by sending a video or voice recording. All application methods will be processed equally, we invite you to use the one that feels the most comfortable. Please go to the form for more information.
• We’re aiming for a group that is diverse in terms of experience and expertise. The selection will be made by national agencies and regional SALTOs. We will inform you by 4 May the latest whether you are selected or not.
•  We're happy to provide you with a screen reader-friendly version. Just send a mail to pieterjan@salto-youth.net.