Erasmus+: A tool against Early School Leaving

Aims & objectives

Main aim:
The general aim of a contact-making event is to enable organisations and groups active in the youth field to find partners for transnational co-operation and for project development. The activity supported initial preparation of joint projects around the topic of ESL.

Specific objectives:
• Foster the exchange of good practices at European level in the field of combatting early school leaving;
• Enhance the ability of networking between European organizations working against early school leaving in order to create new
partnerships and to stimulate the mobility of youth workers;
• Develop personal and professional skills and competencies of youth workers especially in the field of ESL

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

Altogether, 27 youth workers from Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Turkey took part in the project. All participants were part of the staff of the participating organizations and worked usually with young people at risk of ESL and/or as project manager.

Training methods used & main activities

The main activity of the project was a Partnership Building Activity, Erasmus+ KA1 – Training and networking of youth workers. The ndifferent non-formal methods have been used, such as creative workshops, simulations, role plays, focus groups, team building activities, drama activities, audiovisual presentations, story-telling.

An important part of the PBA was dedicated to methods aiming at facilitating a process of participatory project design.

Outcomes of the activity

- Knowledge on Erasmus+ Programme,
- Project management skills
-Broaden knowledge on ESL
-Networking among partners
-Checklist for Quality Standard Partnerships
- Erasmus+ project proposals for reducing ESL
-Creation of a blog on ESL.
Other trainers: Luisa Costa, Carmelo Pollichino

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

My role was to facilitate and organize some of the activities foreseen during the PBA together with other two experienced trainers.

During this activity I implemented the following methods and sessions:
- Teambuilding activity: "Mission Impossible" on the topic of the project
- Interactive presentation on the phenomenon of ESL in Europe and in the World
- Faciliate the country groups to prepare their own presentation on ESL in their local contexts
- Stimulate round table discussions among participants based on 6 questions: 1. what are the learning methods used by your organization to prevent ESL? 2. What are the successful projects of your organization 3. what are the challenges your organization faces? 4. what do I like most in my organization? 5. what are the future plans of your organization? 6. Have your organization managed Erasmus+ projects? Which Actions?If so make some examples
- Organize a partners' fair to foster networking among the participating organizations
- Use Energizers and Warm-ups to introduce the topic of the day/sessions
-Facilitate the process of participatory project design based on the methodologies of Project Cycle Management, Logical Framework, GOPP (Goal Oriented Project Planning)
- Faciliate the self-reflection on individual and group learning process using the methods of the blob-tree and personal journal.

I worked on this training for 5 days as a full time trainer.