TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Lucie Schubert
The main aim of the activity was to empower young people by increasing their self-organisational and facilitating skills in order to create a sustainable multiplier effect in youth projects.
The activity objectives:
- to enrich the knowledge of the participants on the topics of leadership, motivation, participation, conflict management and group dynamics (through experience and non-formal education as well as through some theoretical imputs)
- to promote environmental education and sustainability through the activities, which can be then further transmitted to the future participants of planned youth exchanges
- to train the young volunteers in practical using non-formal education methods and tools (outdoor education, teambuilding and trust games, experiential activities, amateur art techniques) for their later use as youth exchange facilitators
- to prepare participants for the daily agenda present in youth exchanges by their presentation, analysis and simulation activities (safety issues, taking care of participants' learning process, conflict management…)
- to create a platform for mutual learning of the participants coming from various cultural and organisational backgrounds
- to give participants the possibility of presenting their organisations and enable networking among them for the purpose of future cooperation on educational projects focusing on peer global education
- to get more familiar with the opportunities provided by Youth in Action programme with the relevance to the participants‘ needs and experience.
- to support intercultural informal learning of the participants in the time of the training and to foster creative atmosphere in order to inspire participants in further developing of original projects as well as ensuring their quality.
The international group of participants was composed of representatives of 10 countries: Italy, Slovakia, Czech republic, Portugal, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Romania, Belgium and Netherlands.
The team of trainers consisted of 2 main trainers from Czech republic and Slovakia and of one junior trainer from Latvia.
The working methods applied in the training course were used within the framework of non-formal education with a methodological focus on intercultural learning, experiential learning as well as on active participation and self-organisation of the participants.
The most desired outcomes of the activity were successful and sustainable youth projects designed by the participants of the training course.
Many participants - genuinely touched by the power of non-formal education, decided to design their own projects and promote its values further. Apart from the theoretical knowledge which the participants gained during the training course, they learnt much through their own participation and interactions, in which the most learning points and AHA moments aroused.
The great asset which the training course brought to participants consisted not only in the experience and knowledge they got in the activity, but also in motivation and interest which were evoked and which encouraged participants in their further development and study. They learnt what to expect and what to get ready for in order to be good youth leaders and organisers, of which evidence are two recently approved youth exchanges by Youth in Action Programme – designed and to be ran by our participants.
My main tasks and responsibilities within the team consisted in:
• Developing and preparing the design, contents and programme of the activity
• Preparing hand-outs for the participants
• Supporting marketing of the activity through personal network and contacts
• Facilitating the training
• Developing the final report by writing parts of the reports
• Preparing of text for certificates of the activity and for follow-up mailing to the participants
• Supporting and providing consultations for participants interested in creating youth projects