TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Lilit Simonyan
The objectives were to:
- share experience and develop skills in enhancing youth entrepreneurial skills and enhancing creativity and involvement of youth in EU/EECA
- create new partnerships and develop ideas for concrete projects in the frame of YiA between EU and EECA countries
- provide resources/skills to improve the quality of projects and cooperation between organizations in EU and EECA
- to develop and promote friendship, mutual understanding, tolerance, respect and harmony among European youth
Two trainers were from Armenia and Hungary.
Participants were from Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Czech Republic, Sweden, Lithuania, Hungary and Poland.
The working methods of the project were non-formal, participatory, diverse and multipurpose. They included presentations, working sessions, parallel workshops, working in (small) groups, creative activities, question and answer sessions, study visits, discussions, practical work - developing projects, fair of organizations, market of ideas, open space, etc. (more details described in the project agenda). The chosen methods were based on interactive participation to allow the best input and involvement of participants.
The project brought together youth workers and young people from all parts of Europe. As one of the EU participants mentioned after the project, it provided opportunity to meet people from quite different regions and part of Europe to whom they did not have chances to work with before. It was interesting for SEE and EECA regions to be both present in the project, as this is more rare to happen in frame of YiA. The seminar was targeting environmental issues which are not very popular among youth organizations to on. The project was designed the way that allowed participants to exchange experience and learn new skills, learn from practices and develop their ideas into projects.
I was one of the two trainers of the program. I was responsible for planning, preparation, facilitation and reporting of the program together with my co-trainer.