TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Maria Kopelyan
The objectives of this training are: 1. To use international experience to come to the common understanding of basic European values with the help of different non-formal education tools like group work, discussion, role play, team-building, living library, forum theatre, group drawings etc. 2. To share the tools and methods of non-formal education that the participants and their respective NGOs could use in their future work with youth for the democratic changes in their countries. 3. To develop new approaches for the better inclusion of youth in social activism and new joint projects ideas for the support of democracy in European countries.
Three groups of countries will be involved - the ones that recently faced mass actions/riots - Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine - the countries with underdeveloped civil society, hard economic conditions, employment issues and high level of corruption; the ones with better developed civil society, - Albania, Estonia, Latvia; and the ones with the best developed democracy and levels of life in Europe - The Netherlands and Portugal. We hope that the representatives of these second and third groups of countries will bring the positive experience of their organisations in our project. We would like their representatives to share the tools and methods of non-formal education they use in their work with other participants. Selecting the partner organisations we also considered main fields of their work: Hellenic Youth Participation stands for intercultural dialogue, non-formal education, mutual understanding and solidarity. They motivate young people to become involved and raise awareness about current values like equal opportunities, social inclusion and cultural diversity. International Sustainable Development Association from Turkey promotes humanitarian development at local, national and international levels. CIC (Russia) provides ethnic minorities in Russia with informational, technical and organizational support and helps ethnic minority associations to protect their rights. Sistema un G Latvija's objectives are: European awareness, democracy, active participation, tolerance, inclusion, information, informal education, international experience, cultural interaction and exchange of experiences. Armenian “World of the light Child and Youth Center” involves children and youth into active social life and organizes various events, trainings aimed at increasing the level of their general development and social-cultural education. NGO "Youth of Yuvileine" (Ukraine) conducts trainings about social work by non-formal education and activities, invites young people to volunteer. One of the aims and principles of ESN Minho (Portugal) is to create values of volunteering and active citizenship, and also to promote European themes for debate and general issues. Bulgarian "Vasil Levski" - concentrated in activities in the field of education, youth projects, cultural heritage, contemporary arts, etc. Work with students in high schools and organize workshops, educational games, theatrical activities in order to promote cultural heritage, arts, human rights. Georgian NGO "Prani" aimed to work on integration and civic education of youth of minorities and different vulnerable groups, conduct researches on youth topics, provide non-formal education. Youth Volunteers promote voluntarism, civil activism, youth and humanitarian work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Open Doors” from Albania aims to the creation and strengthening of cooperation in the fields of culture, social and economic development, creating a free exchange of ideas and cooperation between civil societies in the Mediterranean Region and People to People from Estonia aims to enhance international understanding and friendship through educational, cultural and humanitarian activities involving the exchange of ideas and experiences directly among peoples of different countries and diverse cultures.
So with these partners we have a good set of Eastern and Western Europe representatives (50/50) for the aim of this project and the variety of skills, experience and competences to have great discussions that will allow us to come to the common understanding of basic European values and to share the tools the participants and their NGOs could use in their future work with youth for the democratic changes in their countries and to create new approaches for future projects in support of democracy and international cooperation. It also addresses the needs of participants and their organizations such as: international experience, intercultural awareness, more active participation in the society, better understanding of EU values.
Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine, Albania, Estonia, Latvia, The Netherlands and Portugal.
Discussions, work in pairs, trios, small and big groups, interactive role-playing games, icebreakers, team-building, simulations, living library, forum theatre, city game, intercultural and other parties, energizers, daily evaluations etc. The participants were given a chance to act as trainers/facilitators. Informal communications and visits to local NGOs were included.
According to the TC's Program, we have number of different activities planned that meet the objectives of the project. To come to the common understanding of basic European values we planned: Discussion on Differences in understanding of Democracy; discussion on Cultural codes - our attitudes towards human rights, ethnic and sexual minorities, corruption, religion, people with special needs; Living library; interactive game and discussion What unites us; interactive game Understanding of democracy, roles of civil society, NGOs, Mass-Media; European Union and European values - presentation and discussion; Forum Theatre. To share the tools and methods of non-formal education we planned: different ways of our activities, including team-building, icebreakers, energizers, interactive role-play games, living library, forum theater, city game - the participants will see how different methods and approaches work; a special day with the sessions led by the participants where they could learn from their peers; visits to and from local NGOs sharing their tools and methods. To develop new approaches for the better inclusion of youth in social activism and new joint projects we planned: visits to and from local NGOs giving the participants out-of-the-group networking opportunities; presentations round What your organizations are doing to support democracy; Best practices of youth activism - Sessions led by the participants - sharing their best practices the participants will get an understanding of different tools and methods of non-formal education hat they could use in their future work, and at the same time realize whom they would like to cooperate with in the future plus get some ideas for future joint projects; Networking for democracy is a session directly related to this objective, as well as Follow-ups. Ideas for future joint projects in support of democracy.
Another objective of this project is intercultural dialogue and cultural awareness. To meet this objective we planned: three Intercultural evenings - Eastern Europe and Caucasus, Central Europe, Western Europe; Cultural codes session; Living library; What unites us session; Intercultural game in town “East-West”; Ajarian evening in town.
During this TC the participants came to the common understanding of basic European values. It is very important as the young people from Eastern Europe have completely different understanding of meanings of democracy, freedom and equality than their Western European peers. As a rule the young people from Eastern Europe have only theoretical understanding of European values, which create obstacles in breaking the barriers existing between countries and peoples of Europe, and also in the further development of democratic reforms in Eastern Europe, negatively influencing the levels of life in these countries leading to lack of jobs, migration, street riots. The Eastern European ideas of respect to opponent's position; looking for and accepting compromises; voluntary work; responsibility for own words and promises; law abeyance; attitudes towards religion, gender equality, ethnic and sexual minorities and people with fewer opportunities etc. differ from the ones of their Western European peers. Coming from more traditional societies, it’s sometimes hard for them to be as open-minded as their Western European peers without Western European experience. That’s why their Western European peers traditionally see representatives of Eastern Europe as kind of lower rated people lacking knowledge and experience. They frequently doubt the knowledge and skills of the representatives of Eastern Europe. Democracy, equality and prospering for a limited group of people, as well as “partly” democracy ignoring, for example, human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, play a clumsy assistance for democratic changes. That's why it's important to explain and promote universal human rights and freedoms for representatives of all countries to understand and embrace. The youth workers from different countries collected by this training will receive all the necessary knowledge and skills to become multipliers of this experience in their countries.
The participants shared tools and methods of non-formal education that they could use in their future work with youth for the democratic changes in their countries and created new approaches for future projects in support of democracy. The methods shared during the Day of sessions led by the participants, plus experiencing the methods we plan to use, such as Living Library, Forum Theatre etc. gave them really broad perspective of the tools and methods they could use to increase the capacity of their organisations and the quality of their work. The partnerships and project ideas developed in the frameworks of this TC empowered the participants and their organizations and made their work much more efficient. It influenced the quality of future work of their organisations and created possibilities for new joint projects. Learning each other’s approaches to social activism and projects in support of democracy, the participants would be able to use this knowledge to create similar projects in their countries. As all the partner organisations work with youth or local communities, the target groups would benefit from these new approaches and project ideas.
In this project we made a big accent to intercultural learning and cultural awareness. The participants will learn a lot about different cultures from their peers and also from the surroundings which would help them to be more tolerant and open minded and to promote intercultural communication in their countries.
The article about this training: http://www.west-east-fund.com/index.php/en/news/49-non-formal-education-tools-and-methods-for-democratic-changes-batumi-july-5-14-2015
Writing a project application; Collecting partner organisations; Communicating with partners and participants; Assisting participants with logistics; Facilitating the training process; Conducting sessions alongside two other tariners every working day. Evaluating the training; Writing report.