TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Katerina Martinkova
The project was designed as a training for trainers, bringing together starting trainers, youthworkers and facilitators with aim to provide them with tools, methods, practice and feedback that will support them in their growth as trainers of non-formal education.
Specific objectives:
- To support participants in understanding of learning processes and group dynamics, especially in the context of intercultural learning and non-formal education, so that they are able to design safe and inclusive learning processes
- To familiarize participants with NAOMIE planning tool and to provide them with opportunity to use it practically in designing and delivering their NFE workshops.
- To create safe space for practice of design and delivery of activities, connected with individual feedback
- To support participants in creating specific outcomes - delivery of peer-to-peer and school workshops, design onf Trainers Toolbox, follow up activities
- To encourage international cooperation, networking and knowledge sharing among youth workers throughout Europe
The project targeted youthworkes, trainers and people working with people, coming from the Czech
Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Greece, Portugal, Croatia and Italy.
In total there were 28 people involved (including participants + trainers and team members)
The programme was highly participatory, using experiential learning and non-formal education methods such as:
- NAOMIE - planning method that support participants in designing a complete learning programme (Needs- Aims-Outcomes-Methods-Implementation-Evaluation)
- Kolb cycle - experiential learning model, a four-stage cycle of learning and four separate learning styles.
- Way of Council - circle sharing, using the technique of Council (offering a safe space for everybody to share what they want to share in the given moment, holding the space for the others, being active listeners).
- Reflection groups - small support groups used for reflection of learning
- Body movement activities - used with the intention to create space for connecting not only to the mind and thinking but also to the body, physical state, emotions, feelings, energy.
- Journaling - a tool for individual reflection
- Practice sessions and feedback - in order to directly apply the methods in practice
- Workshop design and delivery
- Open space method - networking and future cooperations planning
During the training, participating youth workers designed and delivered workshop sessions of 60 minutes within their group and interactive workshops for youngsters in local schools, involving NFE methods.
Participants created a Toolbox for Trainers including detail description of 24 NFE activities, with intention to offer an open-source toolbox shared within and outside our networks.
As a follow up and impact of the training, participants designed their own acitivitie, both on local and international level where they used their newly acquired competences from the training.
I was one of the trainers of the programme, delivering the programme together with a colleague trainer, Ivan Kobelev.
I was also coordinator of the project - writing the project application, coordinating the project, evaluating it.