TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Snežana Bačlija Knoch
The main aim of the training was to increase the employability of young people in Europe through tailored inclusive volunteering programmes.
Specific objectives:
- To train 26 youth workers to develop and implement inclusive volunteering programmes that would lead to enhancement of young people’s employability;
- To understand volunteering as a powerful tool for inclusion, empowerment and personal development of young people;
- To increase ability to asses competences of young people and develop programmes that would build up on their existing ones and develop ones missing for future employment;
- To develop skills for matching needs of young people and job markets;
- To develop a base of competences for implementation and facilitation of inclusive programmes;
- To publishing online “Manual for employable volunteering programmes” to be available for wider youth worker community.
Participants of the training were youth workers that:
· are dedicated to working with young people in their local reality;
· are motivated to improve the programmes for young people in their organisations, making them
more sustainable and effective;
· are motivated to work with young people with fewer opportunities and involving them in
volunteering programmes in their respective organisations;
· are motivated to work on empowering young people through volunteering programmes in order
to make them more employable.
The participants were coming from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine.
The team of the training was composed of 3 trainers: Ajsa Hadzibegovic (Montengro), Ivana Volf (Serbia) and Snezana Baclija Knoch (Serbia).
Training course was composed of two components: distance learning and residential training.
Distance learning was based on interactive units, focused on introduction of learning materials, online discussions, self-reflection, mentoring and support from the trainers and partner organisations.
Residential training used a whole range of non-formal education methods, such as: self-reflection, brainstorming, case studies, inventories, outdoor activities, presentations, inputs by experts, role-plays, simulations etc.
The strong non-formal education approach allowed the working methods to be flexible and adaptable to the group level and rhythm. The main focus of the training was inclusion and personal development connected to employment, and participants had the chance to learn from experience in order to pass it onto their young people. By looking closely at development of competences and self-directive learning, participants were able to learn how to be in charge of their own personal development.
The main outcome of the training is "Manual for employable volunteering programs" that was developed by the group. Additionally, participants were encouraged to work on their own volunteering programs and follow the steps to make them "more employable". They also: enhanced their skills of facilitating personal development, inclusion and empowerment of young people; knowledge of non-formal learning processes, as well as skills to facilitate and support non-formal, experiential and learning to learn of young people; reflective attitude and skills for self-directed learning; skills for matching needs of young people and requirements of job markets; knowledge and skills of creating and producing a Manual.
I was the author of this training course. I was preparing, implementing and evaluating the programme, as main and/or assistant trainer pending on different sessions. Additionally, I was involved in creating the outline and then editing the Manual.