Trainers’ Life Hacks Lab

The International Youth Work Trainers Guild and her partners are holding a laboratory (Lab) for trainers: “Trainers’ Life Hacks Lab” in Sremski Karlovci, in the Vojvodina region of Serbia. The Lab is part of a long-term strategic project open to all trainers, dedicated to personal and professional well-being, motivation and job satisfaction of trainers. The Lab will provide space to explore current tools in development and to co-create new tools and inputs for the well-being, motivation and job satisfaction of trainers. As a trainer, if you have an interest in the holistic wellbeing of trainers and have something to offer in one or more of the areas being explored, we invite you to apply. This is an opportunity to learn about yourself, network with peers, learn about the Guild of Trainers, network, and be a part of the future of European trainers development as a profession.

Background:

The Lab is part of the long-term strategic partnership project “Trainer life and how to hack it (Holistic Trainer)”. “Holistic Trainer” aims to increase the quality and impact of youth work training by exploring the life of the European level trainer in a holistic way in order to support trainers in their well-being, motivation, and job satisfaction. 

The European Training Strategy has provided much support to trainers in the last years; the ETS Competence Model for Trainers, Training of Trainers, Bridges for Trainers, the COMETS training courses, etc. All of these focus on the development of the sector and the development of individual trainers competences - which is very necessary and important.

This project however is focusing in a holistic way on the practical, the emotional and the intellectual aspects of a trainers development and trainer life. Specifically, this is viewed in 5 areas:

• Mental and emotional well-being
• Physical well-being
• Life on the road
• Legal matters
• Self-management

To give some concrete examples, these areas include among others issues about continuous travel, lack of control over own diet, large amounts of time in hotels, hostels and conference centres, understanding contracts, tax and VAT laws, intellectual property rights and ownership of materials produced, the physical impact on the body, long periods of standing or sitting, the daily mental and emotional impact, and being more ecologically sustainable in the work.

The project so far has been exploring and researching each of these topic areas, using further research, peer knowledge, exchange of practices and expert input. The project is now at the stage of developing life hacks, tips and tricks, specific knowledge and proper guidance that can improve the quality of life of a trainer and therefore improve the quality of their work. All the materials produced (in many formats), will be freely available to the youth work trainer (and wider) community. 

Aims of the Lab:

• Involve the wider trainer community in testing, reviewing and providing feedback on the developed outputs that have been developed so far. 
• Co-create (further) tools and methods for the personal and professional support of trainers.
• Promote the visibility and impact of the project to the youth work trainers community of practice at the European level.
• Provide the opportunity for the creation of a lasting holistic support community of trainers
• To raise the profile of the Trainers Guild as a leading actor in the care and personal and professional development of trainers in the European youth sector. 

State of Play:

The Lab is an opportunity to review the work done so far which includes… 

• Challenges collected from the community of trainers.
• Issue and solution stories collected from the community of trainers.
• Hacks and tips and tricks collected from the community of trainers and external experts.
• Development of gamified resources.
• Drafting of a survival guide.
• Concept development for a MOOC.

The Lab will provide space for a full exploration of the resources for the well-being, motivation and job satisfaction of a trainer. The Lab is a space to test the existing resources and co-create further resources. In terms of formats, the project has so far developed or is still working on…

• Audio teasers
• Videos
• Games (eg cards)
• Survival guide
• MOOC
• Infographics
• Illustrations
• Webinars

So what can you expect during the Lab?

• Exploration of resources for the well-being, motivation and job satisfaction as trainer
• Support and inspiration from peers and external experts
• Possibility to co-create and further develop tools for the Holistic Trainer project
• Take a break from your busy trainer life and dedicate time to your personal and professional well-being (did we hear you say “yoga”?)
• Enjoy the nature and cultural richness of Vojvodina region (there are rumours there will be wine tasting, as well as opportunity for bike rides and hikes)

Target group:

We invite experienced youth work trainers, with a European / international dimension in their work: 

• Working at the European level for at least 3 years.
• Experience of working on local level as well is desirable
• Highly motivated for the co-creation of tools/methods to support the well-being, motivation and job satisfaction of trainers in the personal and professional life
• Ready to support the project further on after the Lab, eg via promotion and dissemination of the developed resources for trainers

Conditions:

Accommodation, meals and activity content are provided thanks to the funding of ERASMUS+. 

We will be accommodated at Eco Center Radulovački in Sremski Karlovci, Vojvodina region of Serbia. The Centre is situated in the town of Sremski Karlovci, just a couple of minutes away from small shops, exchange offices, and bars, etc.

Arrival is on October 9th, departure is on October 15th. Full attendance of the Lab is required to be eligible for the reimbursement of travel costs.

Travel is covered based on real costs with the following maximum amounts defined in the Erasmus+ distance bands:

• For travel distances between 100 and 499 KM: up to 180 EUR per participant
• For travel distances between 500 and 1999 KM: up to 275 EUR per participant
• For travel distances between 2000 and 2999 KM: up to  360 EUR per participant 

It is encouraged for participants to find the most environmental and economical means of travelling. Healthy planet, healthy lives. 

Application:

Please fill in the application form by 5th of September 2023: https://forms.gle/uxJFFqdcXefuQMSb6

We will get back to you by the 10th of September.

Funding

The activity is part of the project “Trainer life and how to hack it” with the support of the European Union, under the Erasmus+ Youth programme. 

Neither the European Commission nor the EU are responsible for the content. For any copyrights, please contact International Youth Work Trainers Guild, Germany.

Partners

"Holistic Trainer" has been created and is implemented by an international consortium of four organisations:

                - International Youth Work Trainers Guild, Germany

                - Coobra - Cooperativa Braccianti, Austria

                - BalkanIDEA, Serbia

                - Team MAIS, Portugal

Contact: 

For any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Ivana Volf from the hosting team: holistic.trainer@iywt.org.

And please disseminate this call to any person or institution who you think might benefit from the offered opportunity, thank you!