The Objectives of the Erasmus+ training course aimed to empower young people aged 18 to 35 and promote democracy in youth work.
Throughout the week-long project, key concepts of leadership and how leadership works in youth work were covered. A wide range of topics related to youth work such as democracy in youth work, leadership skills, communication styles, conflict resolution, and more helped the participants to understand how a facilitator should work during the youth exchanges and workshops. To create a safe space, the participants were engaged in various energisers, ice breaking and team building sessions to learn about each other and solidify bonds between them. This helped in making people familiar with each other so that they are able to express themselves in an open manner.
Additionally, cultural nights provided opportunities for participants to learn from each other’s diverse backgrounds and experiences, the project had two cultural nights showcasing the cultures of North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Italy, Sweden and Spain. The exchange of culture was done through food, quizzes, dancing and music.
The training course was operated in a hybrid mode where theory mingled with application based activities to solidify the knowledge learned throughout the workshop. These activities included Model UN to simulate collaboration while achieving personal goals, leadership styles through city budgeting, and solving case studies to understand various key topics which were followed by discussions to identify various opinions and reflect upon the topics.
On the final day of learning, the participants were divided into groups to lead the learning process through activities devised by themselves to learn about, conflict resolution, inclusivity dynamics, safe environment and Communication styles. This gave them the opportunity to put themselves in the role of a facilitator. It was interesting to see how uniquely the activities were designed to explain the concepts. These included roleplay, situation discussion, meditation, and speed dating.
The way the training course was designed, allowed the participants to explore the city of Alicante and the surrounding areas. This helped to forge even stronger bonds. The group as a whole decided to either visit the island of Tabarca or the city of Benidorn during the free day between the week-long training. The workshop ended up as a successful one with the majority of the participants learning about the set objectives to prepare themselves to act as effective leaders in their respective organization and in youth work related activities.
Written by Transformative Youth Leadership Erasmus+ training course participants.
