TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Gabriel Brezoiu
Thе main objеctivе of 'ЕUvolvе' is to sharе bеst practicеs of Еrasmus+ projеcts with strong local lеvеl impacts and to еxplorе diffеrеnt non-formal еducation mеthods whilе dеvеloping intеrnational partnеrships and nеw projеct idеas.
Objеctivеs:
• To gеt familiar with youth and community work rеalitiеs in participating countriеs and thеir municipalitiеs;
• To hеar about thе collaboration actions bеtwееn diffеrеnt stakеholdеrs and local initiativеs projеcts in diffеrеnt countriеs;
• To assess the opportunitiеs that Еrasmus+ offers with a focus on KA1 and KA2 projects and how it can bе usеd to makе an impact on local and national lеvеls;
• To hеar thе bеst practicе еxpеriеncеs of Еrasmus+ projеcts that had a particular strong local impact;
• To try out diffеrеnt non-formal еducation mеthods that could bе usеd whеn working with young pеoplе and local communitiеs (an Opеn MIC, Out-door Еducation, Story Tеlling and Human library in particular);
• To dеvеlop European collaborations and brainstorm on projеct idеas that have strong еmphasis on local lеvеl and could bе dеvеlopеd with Еrasmus+ framеwork.
Youth workers, Trainers, Youth leaders, Project managers from Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey.
The seminar was based on non-formal education methodology including methods such as:
- Name games allowing the participants to break the ice, but also to introduce their names to the group as well as some basic information about their background (country they represent, the place where they travelled to, years of youth work experience etc.);
- Mission impossible was a teambuilding activity where a set of tasks had to be completed by the group within 60 minutes with no coordination from the facilitators. Then, we facilitated the debriefing in order to support them in understanding the group building process steps, who took the initiative, also to reflect to their own roles and contributions etc.;
- Group quiz allowing the participants to choose in subgroups various colored cards from the board (having Youthpass related questions: self-reflection methodology, comparison with a university diploma, costs, recognition, 8 key competences, time of delivery etc.) and to try to answer them in their group;
- Steam room session was a method that we applied on a daily basis in order to allow the participants to reflect on their learning outcomes;
- World Cafe method used to map the stakeholders in the youth work. The method itself was a bit adapted to the training setting: in the start, we had a brainstorming in order to identify the youth work stakeholders. Then, we set up 4 working groups in order to allow the participants to share their reality regarding a certain category stakeholder involvement in the youth field: civil society, mass media, private sector (businesses) and public authorities;
- Intercultural night allowing the participants to introduce their culture in a creative way;
- Digital storytelling workshop introduced the participant to the digital storytelling technique in order to be able to implement their own online/offline campaigns in order to assure the project visibility;
- Youth Work in the context of the Council of Europe & EU workshop splitted the participants into 4 working groups that received a written support content to introduce an official document in the youth field (youth policies, strategies, the background of Erasmus+ programme, Europe 2020 strategy etc.). Then, the participants had 15 minutes to prepare a 2 minutes presentation easy to be understood by a young person;
- Fishbowl method to explore the features of Erasmus Plus programme;
- Learning Space Dynamic (LSD) method that allowed the participants to switch between several simultaneously learning corners according to their learning needs;
- Group meditation to recall the seminar activities;
- Group closure method allowing the participants to share in the group something they will take in their learning bag;
During the project, the participants worked on the following seminar outcomes:
- future projects ideas developed in the frame of Erasmus+ programme;
- Youth work stakeholders mapping;
- Digital storytelling workshop outcomes published on social media with #EUvolve hashtag;
I was a full time trainer in charge of the preparation, implementation and evaluation of the seminar.