TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Trisha Wilkinson
Power to You(th)! had four main objectives:
- To explore the meaning, relevance and potential of empowerment in youth work.
- To discover the value of Youth Exchanges as a tool for youth empowerment.
- To experience inspirational tools and methods that can be transferred to working reality.
-To exchange experiences in an international environment
he training course was addressed to youth workers working with young people with fewer opportunities with some previous youth exchange experience. It was important that the selected participants were youth workers who currently work directly with young people on a regular basis.
The final numbers to attend was 13, representing 6 countries, Croatia, Romania, Norway, Slovak Republic, the Netherlands and Portugal.
A diverse range of methods was used throughout the training course. We encouraged many different ways of learning in order to reach and satisfy the individual learning needs of the participants. For example. Interactive activities to support the group to get to know each other, outdoor activities to develop group building and to create challenges, simulation exercise to help the participants to experience the feeling of empowerment, Improvisation theatre to explore youth work reality, creative art to support reflection and the inclusion of a local example of youth empowerment. Discussion and work groups were encouraged in order to share experience, debrief and reflect on activities. Participants were also given space to visit Lisbon with a dedicated task linked to the training theme and a free evening to ensure energy levels stayed and to support the cohesion of the group further. Visual creative support was used throughout the training as shown in the photographs provided. We created space for individual work but also many various ways of group work, in pairs, small groups, and plenary sessions.
The training activity achieved the stated objectives. It gave the space to participants to explore the meaning, relevance and potential of empowerment in youth work., whilst also discover the value of Youth Exchanges as a tool for youth empowerment. . Participants gave very positive feedback in their evaluation
As a trainer team we were glad with the overall training flow, and happy that we were flexible to adapt elements of the programme to suit the learning needs of participants when needed.
The opportunity to work in an international training team provided a strong and valuable learning experience for all of the training team members.
Overall it was a very positive learning experience for both trainers and participants.
I was one of the full time trainers in this team of four.
This was our first international training experience supported by NA Portugal as part of our ToT course.
I engaged in the full process of course design and delivery and was part of the team to carry out the final evaluation and write the final report