TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Adrià Sonet
Our objectives were: to create a new cultural dialogue leading to a peaceful, inclusive co-existence; to share, exchange and gain new tools, knowledge and skills for work with youth and to increase quality of personal life; to explore nature as a key to good quality of life, to personal freedom, and as an innovative tool for self-development, cultural tolerance and inclusion to build a multicultural spirit in young people‘s life. Our objective is as well to increase individual accountability for the decisions and learnings, to increase the trust in oneself and people around, to strengthen the principle inside-out, to improve the communication and self-expression skills, to be able to stand for own opinion even in a confronting situations, to open heart and include unknown people – understand the wider picture, that we are all in it together.
Our participants and target group were 20 youth workers and people lacking the experience, skills or knowledge, yet they were interested in gaining them in order to be able to work with youth, to empower them to re-connect with themselves through nature. Participants wanted to develop their youth workers’ competences and want to re-connect with their unique potential, discovering the new ways of multicultural dialogue through new forms of self-expression and communication. They were coming from 8 different countries and cultures: Spain, Czech Republic, Romania, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, France and Greece.
The basic method of this project was non-formal learning by doing, outdoor experiential learning, meaning unique intense personal experience with reflexion.
The outcomes of the “Re-connecting“ training were to increase awareness about the need for social inclusion and creation of new cultural dialogue, leading to tolerant co-living within a multicultural European environment, based on natural connection. Youth workers from 8 different countries adopted the tools for self re-connection through nature inclusive methods. This helped them to create more freedom and inclusion in their personal and working lives and in their communities.
Trainer and project manager.