TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Vassilena Varbanova
The training activity aimed to increase participants’ awareness and understanding of different cultures, traditions, and customs, while developing their intercultural communication skills, tolerance, and ability to engage in multicultural environments. Participants were encouraged to actively experience intercultural dialogue and reflect on cultural diversity, European values, and non-formal learning methods.
The training addressed the need for young people to communicate effectively in intercultural settings, raise tolerance, and develop skills to navigate diverse social and cultural contexts. It responded to the gap in non-formal learning opportunities for intercultural understanding, particularly among youth interested in culture, history, and art.
The activity fit the goals of the partner organizations by empowering youth, fostering cultural understanding, and promoting tolerance and dialogue. Through interactive workshops, group work, and experiential methods, the training strengthened organizational capacity to engage youth in intercultural learning and ensured a multiplier effect, as participants are encouraged to share knowledge and values within their communities.
The target group consisted of 35 young people aged 17–25 with an interest in culture, history, and art. Each national group included 4 participants and 1 group leader, all actively motivated to develop intercultural understanding and communication skills.
Participants came from Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Estonia, Poland, France, and Turkey, making this a fully international training activity. The diverse cultural, social, and religious backgrounds of participants created a rich environment for intercultural dialogue, peer learning, and experiential exploration of cultural diversity, directly supporting the project’s aims and the organizations’ objectives in fostering tolerance and European values.
The training used non-formal, participatory, and experiential learning methods to engage participants in intercultural learning. Methods included interactive workshops, role-plays, simulation games, group discussions, and collaborative exercises.
These methods allowed participants to experience cultural diversity directly, reflect on European values, and practice communication in multicultural contexts. By working together in international groups, participants developed intercultural dialogue skills, tolerance, and the ability to act as multipliers of cultural awareness in their communities.
The training activity achieved its goal of increasing participants’ intercultural awareness, tolerance, and communication skills. Participants improved their knowledge of different cultures, traditions, and customs, enhanced their intercultural communication and foreign language skills, and developed competencies to act as multipliers of tolerance and European values in their communities.
The success of the training is evident from active participant engagement in workshops, role-plays, simulation games, and group discussions, as well as their ability to apply learning in practical exercises and collaborative projects. Feedback from participants and facilitators confirmed that the learning objectives were met, and participants demonstrated improved skills, confidence, and awareness by the end of the exchange.
Documentation: Outcomes, activities, and participant-created content are recorded on the project’s Facebook page, which hosts materials, tips, and resources developed during the training.
I worked as a full-time trainer and facilitator in this youth exchange. My role included designing and delivering workshops, facilitating non-formal learning activities, guiding group reflections, and supporting participants in developing intercultural communication skills, tolerance, and awareness of cultural diversity. I also contributed to planning interactive sessions, applying experiential learning methods, monitoring learning outcomes, and ensuring an inclusive and participatory learning environment.
As a co-trainer in the international youth exchange “ETHIC”, I worked closely with Vassilena during the full implementation of the activity in Smolyan, Bulgaria.
Vassilena contributed actively to the facilitation of non-formal and experiential learning activities focused on intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity, and European values. She supported international group work, guided reflective processes, and helped create a safe and inclusive learning environment that encouraged open communication and mutual respect among participants from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Through her engagement, participants were supported in developing intercultural communication skills, tolerance, and awareness of cultural differences, as well as the confidence to apply these competences in their local communities. Her professionalism, commitment, and teamwork were a strong asset to the training and contributed meaningfully to the achievement of the project’s learning objectives.