TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Maria Larisa Giangkambozidou
The project Ideas Hub responds through its activities to the Europe 2020 strategy which is the EU's agenda for growth and jobs for the current decade. Europe 2020 strategy It emphasise smart, sustainable and inclusive growth as a way to overcome the structural weaknesses in Europe's economy, improve its
competitiveness and productivity and underpin a sustainable social market economy. The main targets are Employment, Research and development (R&D), Climate change and energy, Education and Poverty
and social exclusion. According to the EU Youth Strategy one essential method of integrating young people into the labour market is to increase youth entrepreneurship. Youth entrepreneurship is an important factor for employment creation, increasing innovation and addressing social inequalities. Beyond fiscal considerations and the availability of financial resources, one obstacle is the lack of entrepreneurial education at the primary and secondary level. One of the project objectives was to prepare the youth workers as mentors for social
Youth entrepreneurs taking into consideration the trends from the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan in 3 areas for immediate intervention: entrepreneurial education and training to support growth and business
creation; removing existing administrative barriers and supporting entrepreneurs in crucial phases of the business life cycle and reigniting the culture of entrepreneurship in Europe and nurturing the new Generation of entrepreneurs. These align to Erasmus+ priority: to fight high levels of unemployment among young people. The European NGOs involved were able to know how to guide youngsters to develop the skills and competencies to access the labour market and available funding resources. According to the need analysis made in each partner organisation and community with focus groups, we had identified that there is a need to develop the youth workers competencies and the capacity to deliver high-quality entrepreneurship learning to socially disadvantaged young people. With this training we were able to empower youth workers and equip them with the proper tools and they could transfer the know-how and guide the young people to have an open attitude regarding the entrepreneurship ecosystem and as a possible option for their future career. We’ve chosen as the main activity a TC taking into account the multiplying dimension of youth work (youth workers can reach more young people in the long term compared to young people as participants) and also for the sustainability of the project.
We had designed the project to develop a network of European youth workers specialised in social entrepreneurship, expand their know-how in this topic and we guided them to develop their competencies, while mapping the local social entrepreneurship ecosystem through 1 training course in Greece and 8 multiplying activities, by December 2022.
Specific objectives:
O1:We developed the competencies of 32 youth workers and know-how on social entrepreneurship education through : A 8 day TC, 3 visits of entrepreneurs, 6 fresh youth start up ideas, and 8 workshops for 80 to 160 young people with or without fewer opportunities, 1 digital toolkit with NFE curriculum on entrepreneurship education.
O2: We raised awareness among young people regarding start-up opportunities and experiences of young entrepreneurs by creating startup ideas within smaller groups of the participants and promoting them in the local workshops they implemented.
O3: We created with 32 youth workers and 8 partners 8 digital and printed maps with entrepreneurship hot spots from each country: NGOs, Universities, private projects where the youth workers and young people can develop their knowledge in entrepreneurship, crowdfunding platforms, competitions.
Before the youth workers became educators of youth, the partner NGOs decided to provide customised training opportunities, exposing them to best practices and quality methodology. As a result, the entire organisation benefited from the training experience of youth workers and got included in an environment for networking and international collaboration. Another important aspect was that the best way to learn about youth in their terms is from youth workers who have access to youth in everyday life, with all the social and economical struggles they are encountering.
The participants, 4 per country were:
between 20-40 years old;
interested in social entrepreneurship;
motivated to experience non formal education;
willing to broaden their perspective on their european citizenship;
young people with limited access to educational courses and from rural areas;
able to communicate in English at a moderate level (Participants with limited knowledge are also welcome if they are willing to try to improve themselves before and during the activity dates)
Participating organisations were: Greece, Italy, Slovakia, Croatia, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Turkey. The project is a Training course under Erasmus+ KA1.
KA153-YOU-CE54F0A0
As society and reality is giving many opportunities for formal education and hard skills development we focused mainly on the non formal education as well as informal communication and learning in the process of getting the group bonded.
More specifically, in the non formal education aspect we had included activities and sessions where participants work mostly in groups and learn from each other. There is no wrong or right answer to the approach, moreover they intend to cooperate with groups and reach a deeper understanding through meaningful dialogues. There were many inspirational content that took place in the sessions and they were interactive and thoughtful. Moreover, there were activities with simulations and role playing as well as use of specific tools in practice so youth workers were able to experience and learn from that.
The methods and tools used were always adapted to the participants' needs. We had evaluations daily so we can assess what is working well on the designed process and what needs to improve. And the alterations were
rapid and from one day to the other depending on participant ́s feedback. That way we could not only provide the best experience for the group but also improve ourselves and enrichen our experience on the field.
Also, there were various reflection methods throughout the project to give the space to participants to explore their learning process. Sometimes learning occurs and due to the rapidness and recklessness we do not pay attention to that.
For that reason we included creative and mindful moments through the project in general and specifically in the PDA so we could inspire them with this mindset and process in their life and work afterwards. We aspire to give youth workers all
the tools and inspirations they can adapt and encompass in their own surroundings.
We created safe learning spaces for youth workers with design innovation & creative processes and we created a feedback culture, based on collaboration and powerful questions. We also developed communication skills through practical experiences and sharing best practices.
There was space for sharing know-how focusing on personal and professional skills and development of leadership skills to become mentors for future young entrepreneurs.
They discovered the opportunities around them to fulfill youth needs and increase the confidence and trust in the
innovative ideas and creativity tools. Last but not leasr, they discovered the concept of social entrepreneurship (trying to solve their own local and organisational problems, answer needs of youth) and working with people who are excluded, have fewer opportunities and perspectives; personal and interpersonal development. The TC encourage the participants to reflect on European topics and involved them in the construction of European entrepreneurial ecosystem, identifying common values with people from different countries regardless their cultural differences, challenge viewpoints that perpetuate inequality and discrimination.
Article about the training course:
https://povyou.wordpress.com/2023/02/23/ideas-hub-training-course-gritsa-litochoro-greece-1-10-octomber-2022/?fbclid=IwAR3xP8krOm8UZMSNZ3ROBQ97WQ7x0e-OnM9TvwUclZRzWVi-LiRcqqKKIDo
Photos from the sessions:
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOz0h_ICmCAofSyx6lcdbcbZ48WRQz_113srljKbDg_dd_ogQMCTlwGajj8UQsjjg?pli=1&key=UkRqa09zOTRXNHpXWVlDNHl1S1M2ZU9ZSTNzNHBn
Padlet with all the resources and the work brainstorming from the participants:
https://padlet.com/vestineanudiana/tc-greece-ideas-hub-our-needs-padlet-m76i0fgid3yx052y
To co-write the project proposal
To co-design the learning path and reflection process of the team
Be responsible for the learning outcomes of the training course
Facilitate constructive dialogues and session in the framework of non formal education
To lead the sessions and activities
To write the report of the project