TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Alexandro Jan Lai
The training (a KA105 Erasmus+ project), wanted to tackle the structural underdevelopment and lagging behind of the small rural areas where opportunities for young people are getting increasingly small, overall social cohesion is falling apart and generational gaps are becoming wider and wider. The course, planned with, implemented in and involving small rural communities, was meant to equip youth workers, youth leaders, volunteers, inclusion workers and activists with competences in planning, implementing and evaluating short and long term activities and programmes to revitalize rural areas through active participation of youth. It wanted to
explore extensively the potential of youth work, youth activism and non-formal education in rural areas and small communities and practice some of the tools gained in the local community where the TC took place, share best practices, discuss challenges and constraints and develop common strategies for joint future projects. Partners were chosen among organisations loperating in similar contexts and thus sharing challenges and objectives with the applicant partner and with the TC program.
Target group was made of 20 youth workers, young volunteers, and inclusion workers.
Participants were chosen among young residents and/or working in rural areas and/or small communities (up to 20.000 people) in the participating countries with a priority given to those participants working with youth with fewer opportunities (geographical obstacles, socio-economical obstacles, migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees.
Partner countries were:
Italy, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Serbia and Portugal.
Besides the usual active and participative methodologies normally included in a non formal learning training course we (a team of 2 trainers and 2 logistic support persons) also implemented a full blown event organisation by the participants in first person, who organised a presentation of our course to the local population through a dinner and a circus show along with the 1Table4All methodology. The activities also included a close interaction with a local group of refugees hosted in the village and that were involved in some of the key activities such as the outdoor "exploring the village" team building activity.
The project, a first experience for the Rise Hub organisation in the international mobility area, succeeded in introducing the participants to the topics of local development in a rural context. The country groups were almost all able to prepare a follow up activity and the level of project making skills at the end of the course was, especially considering the very low entry level at the beginning of the training, quite satisfactory.
Websites mentioning the TC:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=407311349877635
https://www.tg24.info/gallinaro-al-via-youth-for-smart-communities/
https://it.geosnews.com/p/it/lazio/fr/san-donato-val-di-comino/gallinaro-una-serata-multietnica-con-i-partecipanti-del-progetto-erasmus-youth-for-smart-communities_24852287
https://www.iowebbo.it/gallinaro-il-progetto-europeo-youth-for-smart-communities/
I was senior trainer and member of a team of two together with Silvia Di Passio. We collaborated closely at designing the agenda of the course, implementing it and ensuring the necessary daily and final evaluations.