TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Emre Hüseyin Yiğit
The objective is to increase public accountability and effective policymaking towards sustainable development. The training will combine theoretical inputs and discussions with the sharing of best practices in this field.
Objectives:
-to involve, inform and educate young people about the benefits of integrity, transparency and good governance can make a significant difference in the shaping of future societies and the balance of power within them.
-to give young people and young leaders from various sectors the tools and incentives to become strong supporters of open and responsible governance, and to mobilize their peers.
-to bring together people with very diverse backgrounds, including journalists, students, artists, civil servants.
- to alternate presentations and training from professionals and interactive lessons and activities, such as role-playing games and simulations. Participants are taught about their rights, existing legislation and institutions, and the way government should work. They are also encouraged to come up with creative approaches to mobilize citizens, raise awareness about corruption and wrong-doings, and hold leaders to account.
-to engage youth in the fight against corruption does not necessarily mean involving young people in existing “adult-led” structures. It can also take the form of separate youth-led movements. The anti-corruption movement can benefit from working with existing youth networks. Such initiatives can be an efficient way to attract interest from and engage a new and broad audience in the topics of corruption and good governance. Youth groups can find it easier to act at the local, grass-roots level but the latter can add significant catalyzing value by providing platforms, resources, knowledge, visibility, etc. A necessary condition for making this approach successful is to be in a supportive role, give up some control and leave the leadership and freedom of choice to the youth group.
-to give young people the opportunity to raise their voice, using the networks and visibility of existing NGOs, and implement their ideas through competitions and seed grants. A common way is to use writing and essay competitions. These have been organized by many organizations and they allow young people to communicate how they perceive corruption, how it affects their lives, and what they think should be done to stop it. Writing competitions are not only a way to encourage youth to think about the issue, they also serve as a method for NGOs to learn about other perspectives and to understand how young people could get involved.
-to educate young people in film-making, journalistic writing, photography, etc., to allow young people to become a relay to disseminate the values of transparency, integrity, and good governance.
The training focused to involve participants from different youth like socially excluded youth, young women, to have different points of view and a wide spectrum of situations, sharing best practices and challenges in different contexts, and significantly increasing the knowledge and confidence of the participants on the topic. According to the non-formal pedagogical approach, participants were selected on the basis of their real interest to participate and the content of the training was reflected firstly the needs, interests, and expectations expressed in the application form sent by participants before starting the training, then, during the training, participants were asked to express their expectations and needs throughout the process, for examples during the reflection groups, taking place every day.
Participants were actively engaged in all project stages – before the training, they had to write down their follow-up project idea and send it to the organizers. They communicated with organizers, trainers, and other participants the specially by created a Facebook group and via e-mailing list. During the project they had the main role in all workshops – they had come as they were motivated to learn and wanted to improve themselves, so the quality of training dependent on active participation. It is all voluntary, so participants participated because they wanted to, not because they were told to.
Project “Lighten Your Pathway” was training held.
The project was intended for the leaders and active members of youth organizations and public groups from the EU, Eastern Partnership countries, and Turkey. There were 3 people from each country, 11 countries(Turkey, North Macedonia, Georgia, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Russian Federation, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Armenia) in total and there were 34 participants involved.
The hosts in the project would be TSYDV and other partners will have the role of promoters/partners and sending motivated participants.
• The training was included several different working methods. As planned, among those methods were:
-Informal education methods and intercultural learning method (ice braking, brainstorms, role games, etc) at the beginning of the training and as a part of the evening programme;
-Workshops and lectures on topics such as combat corruption, the promise of civil liberties and inalienable rights; business unimpaired by corruption, project ideas, Erasmus+ Programme and cooperation with the 3rd countries;
-Panel discussions;
-Presentations;
-Group work on project development.
-Inputs from experts
-Intercultural and experiential learning
-Movies
This was a very inspiring element of the program, because the participants had a chance to see that many things are possible, even for young people.
All the working methods responded to the following criteria:
-helped to establish an open and friendly atmosphere;
-broke the communication barriers;
-provided a floor for the exchange of ideas and best-practices;
-helped to achieve maximum effectiveness and productivity in group works (in project development);
-promoted active participation of all partners;
-guaranteed that everybody’s opinion was heard and taken into consideration.
Training offered the opportunity to share experiences, ideas, tools, and methods for better and improved youth work in strengthening democracy and thereby reducing corruption:
- inspiring more cross-sectoral and holistic approach in youth work
- presenting new opportunities to advance professional and personal development
- empowering youth so that they can, later on,
- empower the young people with whom they work within whatever context
“The impact of democracy on corruption depends on how quickly newly democratic governments can build their institutions of trust, transparency, and accountability governing the activities of the private sector…the sooner the cost of corrupt activities rises…the sooner the turning point between corruption an democracy is reached” (from Corruption and Democracy, Michael T. Rock, United Nations DESA Paper No.55, 2007).
With the tools to “fight the good fight”, transferred by way of the Workshop, the Eastern European countries most affected by limited democracy and considerable corruption may generate a groundswell and gain traction.
The participants gained knowledge about each other as individuals, their different cultures, and the diversity between different people coming from the same context. They got to know more about the issues of corruption, democracy, and rule of law. They were together for 7 days to start a process that didn't end with training, but it’s only a starting point for future work and sustainable, long-term cooperation. With their new competencies, and with the help and support of their NGOs, they were able to implement new activities to start a positive change in their societies.
The local community was in touch with a variety of people from different countries, areas, and backgrounds for 7 days, getting to know new cultures, increasing their feeling of union and solidarity, raising their awareness, and getting them new points of view on the topic treated in the training.
I was a full-time senior trainer who has delivered workshops on;
-Introduction to the Map of Europe and objectives of the training as well as delivering workshops on warm-ups
-Introduction on YouthPass and Key Competence Model
-Informing on Democracy and delivering a workshop by Interactive tools on Corruption Business Environment
-Moderating session on Country-Case Sharing about the "corrupting concept".
-Presenting OECD Principles, UN Convention, and Council of Europe against the Corruption.
-Giving input on how to create a thematic workshop, by using non-formal methods such as theather, simulation, debate, and world cafè.
-Facilitating sessions on how to build projects and collaborate for further actions.
-Sharing information on Erasmus+ and its structure.