TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Sofya Piradyan
The aim of the training was to empower and equip young leaders and youth workers with negotiation, intercultural communication, diversity management and conflict resolution skills on personal, interpersonal and organizational level to contribute to the culture of peace and cooperation.
Objectives of the training course were:
• Equip participants with interpersonal communication and negotiation skills
• Explore tools, approaches and attitudes for effective conflict intervention and resolving seemingly intractable disputes on all levels (personal, organizational, community and country level)
• Develop and promote intercultural competences and diversity management skills for youth work in multi-cultural environments with high conflict risks. Encourage participants to see diversity as an opportunity for value creation and cooperation.
• Promote active citizenship and non-violent actions towards peace and democracy.
• Promote the non formal education approach as a powerful method for dealing with conflicts
• Promote EU programs and opportunities for youth.
During this training course countries, which have been involved :
Armenia
Belarus
Bulgaria
Georgia
Italy
Moldova
Poland
Romania
Turkey
The TC was based on the specific needs of the participants and was highly participatory. The TC used non formal education methodologies and was centered on participants’ input and experience as the main source of mutual learning through group discussions, role plays, simulation exercises, case studies and interactive presentations. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) was used to assess participants’ personal conflict handling modes and see how different conflict-handling styles affect interpersonal and group dynamics.
Participants could express their thoughts and feelings as well as provide feedback about their daily experience during the training course. The team also interacted with the participants continuously. This way, the team received useful feedback from each participant, and participants received the support and mentoring they needed. There is also ongoing support taking place via the Facebook page of the event. https://www.facebook.com/groups/210534775822606/
Having in common the fact that they all are involved actively in the partners’ activities, the participants of this training course were:
- be more aware of the importance of the effective communication for providing a supportive learning for youngsters;
- understood better the mechanisms of conflict at the personal, interpersonal and external level in order to be able to resolve it in their personal and professional life;
- identified and defined one's own role in conflict within the working team and with the target groups;
- developed creativity and innovative thinking, as well as greater confidence in developing new resolution approaches for the conflicts;
- learnt new conflict resolution approaches/techniques to working with young people and communities, especially targeting the fewer opportunities groups;
- get to know more about the conflict resolution approaches used in different countries and in different fields of activities;
- developed skills in using/experiencing new tools and approaches for delivering messages with specific content and with academic content.Participants have maintained contact since the training course via social media. The project has an impact on the European level because participants came from 8 countries. They expressed that they would be interested to work with one another (and their organisations) and planned to organise youth projects as partners
I have been one of the trainers during this program.