, Training for Youth Ambassadors for German–Turkish Exchange

Aims & objectives

This training aimed at bringing together Turkish and German youth who had done exchanges before and who would like to get equipped with tools and resources in order to develop their own projects and initiatives while promoting youth exchanges in their communities.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

Turkish and German students who had a previous exchage experience and who is motivated to develop their own projects

Training methods used & main activities

Experiential nonformal learning methodologies. As an example; Culture session aimed at introducing the concept of culture, creating a common definition of culture while referring to the intercultural experiences participants had had previously. To start with participants are given the following instructions;
1. Think of an intercultural encounter (a situation that involves cultural differences) you had in your host country (Germany and Turkey). What do you identify as main challenge? Who were involved?
2. Briefly describe how the situation was managed.
3. Do you remember how you felt in the situation?
4. How do you evaluate the situation (positive or negative) now? Why?

After discussing with the partners, pax are shown culture ppt.

At the last phase of the session participants were divided into groups based on nationality and asked to discuss the national cultural values in general. The question discussed is “Could we define typically German and typically Turkish?”

After each group describes value patterns at national level, trainer introduced the Value Lenses ((see Appendix in Drive folder) and continues the conversation.

It is highly essential to speak at more general level, provide perspectives rather that specific information, touristic facts and insights about certain cultures to avoid stereotypes. That is the reason trainer focuses on personal stories and experiences as well as knowledge the participants have about certain cultures including their own.

Outcomes of the activity

Participants are promoting youth exchanges in their communities while working on their projects.

Here are some outcomes;
http://turkkulturvakfi.org.tr/newsdetail.php?id=289
https://www.tog.org.tr/tr/hakkimizda/haber/genclik-koprusu-cagrisi-turkiye-almanya-genclik-degisimi-icin-genclik-elcisi-ol

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I was the co designer, logistics responsible, coordinator and cofacilitator of the training as a full time.

I worked on this training for 5 days as a full time trainer.