TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Jonathan Robertson
This was a training course for motivated members of NGOs operating in Egypt, Germany, Israel, Palestine, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom (36 altogether). It provided the opportunity to learn, discuss, share experiences and practice the creative methods of Loesje and how to use these within the work of Human Rights ('Freedom of Speech’ and ‘Freedom of Expression’) and to stimulate intercultural dialogue.
The participants were involved within NGOs working on these topics, and the training course provided a quality space for them to get trained up in the creative methods of Loesje, including poster-writing, final editing and layout.
The participants have been recruited over the winter by the partner organisations involved. Association for Culture and Education PiNA from Slovenia, Loesje e.V. from Germany, Juzoor from Palestine, One Voice from Israel, Xchange Scotland from Scotland and Development NO Borders from Egypt.
The unique and inspiring learning forum started with the group getting to know each other. There has already been some great chat on the group Facebook page – where participants have been introducing themselves and their countries to the other groups. From there, the groups chose 1 of 2 different guided tours round Berlin related to the themes of the training (Berlin Wall or Holocaust Memorial).
At the training venue, the course then went through the well-established and practiced Loesje methods. These started from the collaborative creative text-writing - introduction, warm up exercises, theme-collecting, writing and selecting the favourite proposals. From there, we went through Loesje final editing, the continuation of the selection process and lay-out. All these activities were done using fully participative methods - experiential learning - getting the participants to experience the methods first-hand.
At the training venue all the different groups will take part in a Loesje poster-writing activity, and also have space to introduce their countries and discuss the Freedom of Speech situation in their countries. After this, the participants will build their abilities and confidence in how to deliver a Loesje poster-writing activity themselves.
Following this training course in Berlin, the participants will work together on conducting Loesje workshops and producing exhibitions, aimed at furthering the goals of Loesje and their respective NGOs in their home countries. It will be fantastic to see how each of these 36 participants develops their ideas over their time in Berlin and when they get back to their own countries – and how they spread their inspiration.
My role was to work with my team of trainers (3 in total) to devise, prepare, deliver and evaluate the training course. Also, I recruited and prepared the participants from the UK who attended.