TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Anna Michael
The Mid-Term Evaluation Meeting aimed to support volunteers in reflecting on their ongoing European Solidarity Corps experience, assessing their learning journey so far, and identifying future learning goals and challenges. It also aimed to strengthen motivation, peer learning, and the overall quality of the volunteering experience.
The training addressed key needs such as reflection on personal development, adjustment to the hosting environment, dealing with challenges in volunteering placements, and improving understanding of the ESC framework. It also responded to the need for emotional support, peer exchange, and space to process intercultural and personal learning experiences.
The activity strongly aligned with the goals of the European Solidarity Corps and the involved organisations by ensuring quality learning outcomes, supporting volunteer wellbeing, and enhancing the impact of volunteering experiences. It contributed to the programme’s aim of fostering active citizenship, personal growth, and social engagement, while also improving the connection between volunteers, host organisations, and the wider ESC learning framework.
The target group of the activity consisted of European Solidarity Corps volunteers participating in international volunteering placements across Europe. The participants were young people engaged in long-term volunteering experiences within different hosting organisations, coming together to reflect on their learning process, challenges, and personal development at the mid-point of their service.
The group was international, with participants from a range of European countries, including Cyprus, Spain, Slovakia, Germany, France, and Portugal. This diversity created a rich intercultural learning environment, allowing participants to exchange perspectives on volunteering, civic engagement, and adaptation to different social and organisational contexts within the European Solidarity Corps framework.
The training was based on non-formal education methodologies, with an emphasis on experiential learning, reflection, and peer exchange. The process was highly participatory and learner-centred, allowing volunteers to actively engage in their own learning journey.
Methods included structured reflection sessions and guided group discussions, where participants shared experiences from their volunteering placements and explored challenges and learning outcomes. Peer learning was a key element, enabling participants to learn from each other’s realities in different hosting countries.
Interactive tools such as group work, small-circle sharing, and world café-style discussions were used to explore topics like adaptation, motivation, intercultural learning, and personal development. Reflection exercises and individual journaling supported deeper self-awareness and helped participants connect their experiences to learning outcomes within the European Solidarity Corps framework.
Energisers and group dynamics activities were also integrated to maintain engagement and support group cohesion in an international setting.
The training activity supported volunteers in reflecting on their mid-term experience within the European Solidarity Corps and resulted in increased self-awareness, clarity about learning outcomes, and renewed motivation to continue their volunteering journey. Participants were able to identify challenges, recognise personal growth, and set concrete goals for the remaining period of their placement.
The training can be considered successful based on active participation throughout the process, the depth of reflection shared by volunteers, and the quality of peer exchange within the group. Participants demonstrated increased engagement in dialogue, greater openness in discussing challenges, and a stronger understanding of their role within the ESC framework. Informal feedback and group evaluation moments also indicated high levels of satisfaction and perceived learning value.
The outcomes of the activity are documented through internal European Solidarity Corps reporting and evaluation tools used by the coordinating organisation. In addition, reflections and summaries of the Mid-Term Evaluation Meeting are typically integrated into ESC programme documentation and reporting structures at organisational level. No public external publication was produced specifically for this training activity.
I worked as a full-time trainer and core member of the facilitation team, with overall responsibility for the educational design and implementation of the training process. My role included developing the overall methodology of the programme, ensuring that non-formal learning principles were consistently applied, and aligning the learning process with the objectives of the European Solidarity Corps framework.
In addition, I was responsible for coordinating the facilitation team, supporting the preparation and delivery of sessions, and ensuring coherence across different parts of the programme. I played a key role in managing group processes, adapting activities to participants’ needs, and maintaining the flow and quality of the learning experience.
I also had a central role in coordinating elements of reflection and dialogue within the training, ensuring that participants’ experiences were meaningfully integrated into learning outcomes and evaluation processes.