TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Sofia Chorna (Chernaia)
The main aims and objectives:
• to provide the overview, understanding and feeling of Improvisation Theatre as a tool for personal development and method in youth work;
• to develop self-awareness, self-expression and emotional quotient (EQ);
• to develop the ability to accept risks and not to be afraid of mistakes;
• to develop creative and critical thinking of youth workers;
• to develop spontaneity, flexibility and ability to react and adjust to any kinds of changing situations;
• to develop public speech and self-presentation skills;
• to develop improvisation, performance skills, establishing connection and interaction with the group;
• to explore the applicability and expansion of Improvisation Theatre (as a method and a tool) use in online environment;
• to discover and discuss various youth/social work issues in which Improvisation Theatre can be efficiently applied;
• to elaborate and design follow-up local projects ideas aimed at the increase of active youth participation in civic life, raising youth social activism and community development with the help of Improv method and tools.
The participants' profile of the TC:
• 18+ years old youth/social workers/leaders/NGO key staff;
• responsible, motivated and open to the new experience and learning opportunities;
• open-minded and flexible towards new knowledge, viewpoints and perspectives;
• with knowledge and experience in working with NFL programs (desirable, but not mandatory);
• ready to contribute to the project implementation: share relevant knowledge and experience, organize a workshop, lead a session, etc.;
• ready to implement the project results in further work;
• with good command of English.
The training involved 36 participants from 8 countries: Armenia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Ukraine.
For 8 days, 36 youth workers deeply dived into the topic, playing, discovering and assimilating our working methods suitable for small and large groups. The goals of this activity were to reveal the applicability of Improv in social work dimension; to discover, how the Improv method and tools can be used for the aims of raising youth social activism, increasing active youth participation and involvement in civic life, promotion of alternative forms of participation, community development; to elaborate follow-up local projects ideas, based on Improv method and tools.
The learning by doing approach ensured many immersive activities, such as role-plays, simulations, short and long forms of Improv, performances, theatresports, jams and other theatrical techniques. We had long debrief sessions on all the elements of each method, ensuring a detailed understanding and feeling for all participants.
The TC had a sustainable impact on
• Participating organizations and youth workers (raising quality and bringing innovations to their youth work by the personal and professional development of the participating youth workers and by supplying them with innovative, interactive and efficient method and tools of Improvisational Theatre, applicable to a wide range of NFE topics);
• Outside of participating organizations, on local communities’ and various target groups’ development (by elaborating the local follow-up projects, aimed at the increase of active youth participation in civil life, raising youth social activism and community development with the help of Improv method and tools, particularly, applicable to online use);
• On youth work in general (by bringing innovations to youth work in general, enriching its “toolkit” with Improvisation Theatre methods and tools, which the dissemination activities will allow to wide-spread).
I was one of the full time Trainers responsible for the content.