TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Marcin Księżopolski
Training Course for youth workers to promote active youth participation in local social development in the time of social and economic crisis in Europe aiming the strengthening and improving the responsibility of young people in Europe towards their local communities and their social and civic development as an answer to the current socio-economic crisis. Main goal was to empower youth workers to tackle the local effects of the crisis and to give an appropriate answer through youth participation, and to support the development of skills, knowledge and attitudes of youth workers to motivate, facilitate and in turn empower young people to be protagonists in their own social and civic development.
Project involved young leaders from Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Macedonia, Portugal, Romania and Turkey.
The whole project was based on non-formal learning instruments including team building exercises and name games, team work during thematic, creative workshops, drama and simulation exercises, speeches and presentations, cultural presentations organized by the participants, open space for developing own follow-up activities, daily reflections and final evaluation. All activities were prepared within frames of non-formal methodology including Experiential Learning, Intercultural Learning, Holistic Approach, as well as Learning through Challenges.
By learning about the principles of active citizenship and creative participation in democracy, providing participants possibility of acquiring konwledge, experience, skills and new attitudes, they got and developed their competences such as leadership, facilitation, coaching and other non-formal education methods, useful for Youth workers. It let them also widen their contacts, see different points of view, understand the labor market today in Europe, what was also necessary to see the huge role of youth workers bringing young people closer to societies, the market and to employability.
My resposibility during this projects consists of leading workshops focused on exchange of good practices, creating effective team, looking for different tools that could be used in Youth work, inspiring participants to take initiative and think about next activities in more open, creative way, taking into account needs of different societies. Workshops were based on drama, team work, creative brain storming and dealing with challenges in multinational groups.