HAND-PRINT Youth Work for Urban Development and Social Inclusion

Aims & objectives

The project aimsed at developing new social inclusion routes able to involve youngsters coming from suburbs, at higher risk of social exclusion and marginalization, at involving them in concrete, deep-rooted actions based on voluntarism and active citizenship and at giving them new tools and knowledge, based on art and voluntarism, to struggle against the unemployment.

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

The group was composed by 16 youth workers, representatives of youth centres, peer educators and volunteers active at local
and international level, with past experience in voluntary work and social inclusion. Participants came from Hungary, Czech Republic, Belgium, Romania, Spain, France, Greece and Italy.

Training methods used & main activities

The training course included two main workshops: one on social inclusion and one on on street art (writing) as a tool to foresee the social inclusion.
During the training an interactive methodology, based on the principles of non formal education, was proposed. The aim was to stimulate the active involvement of the participants, to generate a permanent sharing and to facilitate the mutual exchange of experiences and knowledge.
In every activity, a peer to peer approach has been actively encouraged: trainers and participants shared tools in an horizontal manner in order to guarantee the different approach in learning.

Outcomes of the activity

These are the following outcomes achieved through the training:
1. the study in depth of the problems faced by young people and adults coming for European suburbs, the definition of their needs and of a concrete strategy to meet them;
2. the development of new forms of interaction among youth and adults;
3. the definition of new interactive and peaceful strategies to manage the daily conflicts that might raise and explode in the European suburbs;
4. the testing of good practices, based on the use of the street art, to re-qualify the urban dimensions in the different countries;
5. the development of the quality of support systems for youth and adults activities thanks to the testing and the use of innovative methodologies, like street art.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

Member of trainers team, developing and evaluating the contents of the training agenda as well as implementing it;
Trainer on intercultural learning, on social inclusion and youth policies workshops.

I worked on this training for 7 days as a full time trainer.