Game is not just a game

Aims & objectives

The goals of this training are to :
- To exchange good practice, using games as methods and tools to acquire relevant knowledge and acquiring new skills.
- To enable participants to use the Design thinking methodology and Principles of Game Design to: 1) strengthen their personal capacities 2) the capacities of organisations and young people directly, who will be the users.
-To enable young people to see the bigger picture, a different perspective and raise self-confidence.
Strengthening the capacity of people working with young people
- To adopt new ways to work with young people
-To find new ways to support reflection methods
-To support the creation of new content to our existing programs through different games
-To plan future projects with reliable partners

- Participants discover new competences
- Participants network with youth workers from different countries and discover their local reality
- Participants use methods like games, design thinking, improvisation, peer learning, reflection
- Participants create a personal action plan how to apply the learnings in their local context

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

There were 4 trainers in the team:
- Igor Spetic, Croatia
- Mariana Vieira da Rocha, Portugal (Croatia)
- Sami Sorjonen, Finland
- Vedran Stajdohar, Croatia

- Participants from Croatia and Finland

Training methods used & main activities

In the training we used variety of non formal learning methods, Group activities, educational board games, self-and group reflection through THOR method. De-briefing.

Outcomes of the activity

The feedback from the participants says that the training developed enables participants to understand more about game based methods in youth work.
Participants understand the importance of reflection, and self assessment.
Participants find new tools and methods to be used in their daily work with young people.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

My role in the team was a full time trainer, delivering my own sessions:

- Step-Forward: To promote empathy with others who are different; To raise awareness about the inequality of opportunities in society; To foster an understanding of possible personal consequences of belonging to certain social minorities or cultural groups;

- Storytelling in Games;

-Co-trainer for other trainers sessions;

I worked on this training for 6 days as a full time trainer.

Testimonial of the reference person

Workin with Mariana is always a pleasure. Her approach towards participants is awesome on top of this she's truly a team player.