TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Makbule Temel
The training aimed to empower youth workers to practice and promote inclusive, value-based thinking within their daily work and to combat social exclusion. It addressed the urgent need for practical, low-threshold tools to make international youth activities genuinely accessible to young people with diverse challenges, particularly physical and cognitive disabilities. This directly supported the core mission of Grenzenlos, which focuses on intercultural exchange and the full inclusion of marginalized groups. The activity provided a safe space for European and international organizations to exchange best practices on human rights education and accessible methodologies.
The target group consisted of around 30 international youth workers, youth leaders, and young people, including a large number of participants with various physical and cognitive disabilities. The project was strictly international and cross-border, bringing together organizations and participants from several European countries, including Austria, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Spain, alongside participants from Georgia and Armenia. We also integrated a partner organization from Egypt. Since their representative could not travel due to visa issues, we flexibly turned her sessions into an online format, ensuring a truly multinational and diverse hybrid exchange.
The entire training was strictly based on non-formal learning methodologies, ensuring an interactive, participant-centered, and low-threshold environment. To make complex value-based topics accessible, we focused on linguistic simplicity, visual aids, and haptic materials built into the room design. A central method I developed was an interactive simulation game where participants took on different roles to experience firsthand the daily realities, physical barriers, and cognitive challenges faced by people with disabilities. We also used small group work, tactile reflection exercises, and experiential team-building, all dynamically adapted to be completely barrier-free.
The training successfully equipped youth workers with concrete, practical tools to implement inclusive practices in their local realities. Its success was proven by our continuous and final evaluations: participants reported feeling exceptionally safe, respected, and fully included regardless of their individual needs. The simulation game I designed created deep 'aha' moments regarding privilege and hidden barriers, and participants expressed high confidence in transferring these tools back home. As a public documentation of the project's impact and outcomes, the training course and its results were published in an international article on Medium (https://medium.com/@BuildingResiliencesStories/a-culture-of-inclusion-towards-a-value-based-youth-work-2a625acba89d).
I worked as a full-time co-trainer for the entire duration of the 5-day activity, collaborating closely with my colleague Markus Rauchenecker from Grenzenlos. While Markus was primarily responsible for the complex local logistics and organizational onboarding, we co-designed the educational program as equal partners. During the live training, my main responsibility was the full-time facilitation and pedagogical delivery of the sessions.Together, we co-created the educational framework, and my main focus during the training was the hands-on facilitation and continuous adaptation of the inclusive, non-formal methodologies.
Makbule Temel facilitated this training together with a second trainer of grenzenlos. The team work was very smooth and the creative and inclusive methods of Makbule were appreciated by the team and the participants.