TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Filip Kňažek
By implementing Steps to Connection project, we were aiming on the topics of , engaging, connection, inclusion and equal acceptance of everyone and every member of the team/ group/ community, regardless the background, religion, nationality, social classes etc. As written in our application, according to 2020 Eurostat data 27.8 % of young adults (aged 18-24 years) are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, more often women rather than men. Not all young people have similar access to the same opportunities and those who are disadvantaged tend to face more obstacles.
We achieved our aims by letting the youthworkers (our participants) go through different demanding and difficult situations (many times everyday-life situations), where they could feel exclusion, not being good enough, skilled enough and where they had to face their emotions. We believe that one has to start from him/herself in order to make the change in other and inspires and motivate others – the youth. Through this we were supporting self-worth, appreciation and self-love of our participants and also allowing them to accept differences (not only in opinions) much more easily and openly.
The specific objectives of our project were:
1. To develop the resources and competencies of youth workers to create transformational and sustainable learning environments for supporting youth inclusion in social and professional life.
2. To increase the knowledge related to social connectedness and professional inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities, but also everyone suffering from covid-19 pandemics for 27 youth workers.
3. To enhance the skills in guiding and empowering young people on the path of professional inclusion and social connectedness for 27 youth workers.
4. To increase the motivation of 27 youth workers to be more inclusive and work also with disadvantaged youth.
5. To equip 27 youth workers with innovative and quality non-formal education methods and tools that foster social and professional connection and inclusion.
6. To provide youth organisations and youth workers with opportunities for cooperation and peer support, fostering quality improvements in European youth work
Our project brought together 30 people (27 participants) from 9 countries - Italy, Slovakia, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Latvia, Slovenia, Bulgaria . We had a really various group from 19 to 57 years old. The age average was 28 years. We had 21 women and 9 men in the group. As mentioned at the project application we prioritized the motivation and impact the participants may have over the gender. Even though we didn´t have enough good male applicants. The participants had different skills and expertise – from psychology, environmental students, to ESC volunteers, couch, primary school teachers, high school English and arts teacher, professional dancer and chef, university teacher, psychotherapist, youth work municipality specialist, trainers, facilitators, project coordinator, unemployed trainer, social worker or specialist pedagogue.
The training emerged the participants in a wide variety of educational elements (methodology and conceptualization). It was based on the principles of of non-formal education We used brainstorming, constructive discussions, theatre and role-plays, feedback, team building activities, group dynamics, movements, usage of other senses (apart from sight), non- verbal communication, a lot of personal reflection and group reflection. Participants experienced working with the whole group, in smaller groups, pairs or individually.
The project contributed to personal and professional growth of participants, including but not limited to:
-increased capacity to design and create educational activities for social and professional inclusion and to address issues of inclusion and diversity in their regular activities
• deeper understanding and responsiveness to the challenges disadvantaged young people deal with in the modern society, including social disconnectedness
• increased motivation to work in the youth field
• increased involvement in education for inclusion
• increased competences to innovate and create more efficient solutions to different exclusion problems
-increased capacity to empower young people to access their potential
-better access to specialized resources regarding social and professional inclusion
Impact and benefits on the participating organizations:
-higher quality and greater diversity of their educational offer thanks to the new methodologies gained at our TC using NFE and informal learning
-increased connections with the local stakeholders
• greater number of social and professional inclusion-based initiatives/ activities
-increased capacity to develop European projects and partnerships, thanks to the network that created within the partners of our TC
-increased capacity to innovate and integrate good practices from the disadvantaged youth field
-increased quality of staff’s competences
-higher job satisfaction and motivation of staff
• higher dynamism and adaptability in the youth sector
Through our youth workers we expect they will have positive impact on young people they work with (which started already by follow-up activities) which would include:
-greater social connectedness and inclusion in social life
-greater inclusion in professional life
-increased self-esteem due to the participation in activities based on innovative practices
• improved levels of 8 key competences
-greater self - awareness and ability to access inner potential and resources
Specific results of this project are following:
1.A booklet "Steps to Connection" which sums up some of the good practices and know-how of trainers and participants to extend the impact of the project at national and international level containing specific information about the project, specific tools used in it that are useful for the connection and inclusion (through authenticity), examples of follow-ups of participants
2. Video - presentation from the TC. This video is raising awareness about the project and its topics, ADEL, other partner organisations and Erasmus+ programme.
3. Follow - up activities by the participants organised on local level in form of a event/workshop/seminar inspired by the methodology and themes used for this project.
4. Online dissemination: Through partner organisations, articles, photos and social media.
booklet:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qtsQ4tw5wQP6vVlqdH2Kw0vc3RP6zdzt/view?usp=share_link
video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cn3CiafeSUN0DLMfmmkQpXmfGJ43PFh9/view?usp=share_link
I was the main trainer, who also wrote and coorcinated the project