TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Simona Muršec
Aim of the activity: The 2nd EAYW event followed the successful 1st pilot edition, which was organised in May 2019 in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, and brought together around 170 professionals from youth work practice, research and policy, including institutions supporting youth work at different levels.
The 2nd edition built on the experiences of the first EAYW event, but also went a step further by putting a stronger emphasis on learning about the mechanisms that spark and support innovation in youth work as a response to challenges and changing realities faced by societies and young people. It took into account the outcomes of current research on innovation in youth work carried out by the EAYW.
The EAYW aim was to offer a space for knowledge-building through peer learning and exchange, and networking, in particular:
- To jointly explore what are the main challenges and trends in and of relevance for youth work that are calling for and leading to new, innovative and creative approaches and developments;
- To showcase and mainstream innovative practices, approaches, concepts and strategies developed in response to these challenges and trends;
- Based on the presented innovative examples and other inputs during the event as well as current research on the topic of innovation in youth work, to find out more about how innovation has evolved in youth work, and which conditions are needed by young people, youth workers, organisations working with young people and other relevant stakeholders to spark and sustain innovative and impactful approaches, practices or strategies and
- To produce outcomes of the reflections and discussions during the event, which will support further developments related to innovation in youth work.
The target group of the EAYW were youth workers, paid and/or volunteers, active at all levels (local, regional, national, European) as well as professionals in areas with relevance for the youth sector, such as youth work policy and public services, National Agencies and other youth work structures, [I]NGOs as a well as science and research.
Geographically, the EAYW addressed stakeholders from the wider European context, including Europe’s neighbouring countries South of the Mediterranean.
It hosted in total 150 participants.
The team was composed of a bigger international team of trainers and facilitators for implementation of EAYW workshops.
The EAYW aimed to be inclusive and participatory in its approach and gave a voice to contributions representing the diverse levels, environments and stakeholders in youth work. Furthermore, it promoted cross-sectorial and multi-perspective approaches involving youth work practice, research, and policy, which have proven vital to successfully address identified developments or challenges.
Reflection based on different perspectives helped to identify responses to trends that could be taken up by different roles. Based on this overall approach, the 2nd EAYW offered a forum for presenting and learning from diverse contributions that stimulate and enable reflection, exchange and learning outcomes.
The programme was implemented based on non-formal education methodology and approaches.
Outcomes of the reflections and discussions during the event, which are supporting further developments related to innovation in youth work.
My role was to prepare and implement several workshops, coordinating the input from contributors and the participatory engagement from the participants wia a set of non-formal education methods.