TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Vitalii Volodchenko
'Youth Exchanges for ALL' course gives concrete examples of what is possible, brings you in contact with other inclusion youth organisations, shows you what funding is available specifically for youth inclusion projects and walks you step-by-step through the process in case you would like to try it.
At the end of the course, you will be ready to start organising a youth exchange with/by/for the young people with fewer opportunities in your organisation.
This course was for 27 NEWCOMERS to Erasmus+ Youth (e.g., youth workers, social workers, etc.) who are directly working with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g., facing social, economic, educational, geographic, cultural, health, and disability challenges) from Albania, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and Türkiye
We used various non-formal education methods including energizers, name games, team building activities, speed-taking, organisational market, small group work, simulations, study visits, presentations, debriefing, reflections, evaluations, etc.
The training course successfully met participants' expectations, receiving an average rating of 4.5 out of 5. It was highly relevant to youth work, particularly Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges, which scored 4.46 in alignment with participants' needs. Knowledge about Erasmus+ significantly improved, with understanding rising from 3.67 to 7.46 (on a scale of 1-10), and confidence to implement projects also increased from 4.46 to 7.46.
Collaboration was a key outcome, with 87.5% of participants finding potential partners. Discussions led to project ideas focusing on inclusion, integration, and hands-on youth engagement, many of which are likely to be implemented. Key learnings included Erasmus+ project planning, youth participation, cultural exchange, and essential skills like patience and deadline management.
Participants praised the training team’s expertise and support, as well as the logistics, though some suggested hosting the training in different countries and extending it to four days for deeper engagement.
Together with Mara Avrai, we worked on the preparation of adaptation of the flow and tasks of the activity, online onboarding meeting with participants before the training, facilitation of training session, and evaluation of the outcomes.