Eastern Europe & Caucasus Resource Centre

Call for trainers: 2024 Training for Trainers in context of the European Solidarity Corps

Published: 12th February

AIM: to develop professional competences of new / beginning youth trainers active in the European Solidarity Corps field.

OBJECTIVES

to develop quality knowledge of the European Solidarity Corps (esp. the focus on solidarity and priorities of the programme);
to develop trainer competencies to work in context of European Solidarity Corps;
to practise trainer competencies in the youth work field;
to network for future collaboration;

EXPECTED GENERAL OUTCOME

The European youth work field will be enhanced by a number of trainers who are competent to work in context of priorities of the European Solidarity Corps programme as well as with a wide range of the programme’s stakeholders. Therefore the quality of the programme will be higher.

TARGET GROUP

24 participants, who are either new / beginning TEC trainers, trainers who want to become (more) involved in the field of European Solidarity Corps training (of coordinators, mentors, volunteers). Approximately half of participants from Eastern Partnership countries and half from programme countries.

Participants are expected to be motivated and ready to devote time for all elements of the training of trainers (9 days of residential activities, 24 hours of online course learning and 8 hours of online meet-ups), to have at least 1 experience of being part of the team preparing and facilitating international youth training activity, to be involved either as trainer in a National Agency or a youth organisation, able to work in English and to have identified possibility to practise own trainer competencies (either within TEC trainings of the sending national agency or in a training course of the organisation, where they are involved).

RESIDENTIAL ACTIVITIES

The Training of Trainers consists of 2 residential activities: 20-25 May in Georgia and 16-18 October in Poland. The event in Georgia should at minimum focus on reflection and practical exercises of principles of non-formal education, intercultural learning, facilitating learning of individuals and group work, designing and evaluating educational programmes, etc. The event in Poland should at minimum allow to summarise experiences of the practice period, reflect working within trainers teams as well as in various environments, share trainers' inspirations and to network for future collaboration. The learning should be framed in the context of 4 priorities of the European Solidarity Corps (inclusion and diversity, digital transformation, environmental protection and sustainable development, participation in democratic life). In both events, special focus should be given to solidarity and civic aspects of youth training.

ONLINE ELEMENTS

The Training of Trainers consists of 4 online meet-ups with participants, 2 hours each, that should provide participants with necessary information for following steps as well as offer spaces for discussions and sharing on the topics relevant for youth trainers.

The Training of Trainers is also made of asynchronous online course of 4 modules at the HOP platform, which should equip participants with theoretical background of youth training, including principles of non-formal education, working within trainers teams, intercultural learning, facilitating learning of individuals and group work, designing and evaluating educational programmes, working in different environments, etc. The learning should include the context of 4 priorities of the European Solidarity Corps (inclusion and diversity, digital transformation, environmental protection and sustainable development, participation in democratic life). In both events, special focus should be given to solidarity and civic aspects of youth training.

Each module, beside its informative elements of text and multimedia (publicly available, we will not be creating new multimedia beside basic illustrations for the course layout), should have interactive elements, allowing learners to be actively engaged in the learning process.

Each module should be estimated at 6 hours of learning.

After the last residential course, the online course should be adjusted for 2 groups: one being facilitated in frames of future Training of Trainers and the other one as an open, self-paced online course.

TRAINERS COMPETENCE MODEL

Both kinds of activities: residential and online should focus at developing and reflecting Trainers Competences of participants as established in the ETS model. The model is available in English as well as the languages of the Eastern Partnership countries.

TIMEFRAME

12-29 February: recruitment of the 3 trainers
8th March: information about the trainers selection
15th March: 1st online team prep-meeting (ca. 4 hours)
mid-March - mid-April: establishment of online course modules (at least modules 1 and 2)
20 March - 7 April: recruitment of participants
12 April: information about the participants selection
19th April: 1st online meet-up with participants: onboarding
19th April - 20th May online asynchronous learning (modules 1 and 2)
end of April: 2nd online team prep-meeting (ca. 3 hours)
6th May: 2nd online meet-up with participants: following online course and getting ready for the residential activity
20-25 May: residential activity (Georgia) of 6 working days
June: online asynchronous learning (module 3)
June-September: practice period
19th July: 3rd online meet-up with participants: reflection on practice activities
just after each practice: online asynchronous learning (module 4)
mid-September: 3rd online team prep-meeting (ca. 3 hours)
4th October: 4th online meet-up with participants: preparation for the final meeting
16-18 October: residential activity (Poland) of 3 working days
November: team online evaluation meeting (ca. 2 hours)

If for some reason these dates are not exactly fitting your calendar, please apply anyway and indicate in the end of the Offer Form, what is the problematic date for you.

WORKING TIME AND TRAINERS FEE

Online meet-ups: 4 meetings of 2 hours = 8 hours = 1 working day
Residential activities: 6 days + 3 days = 9 working days

TOTAL of 10 working days +50% for preparation, evaluation and reporting = 15 working days for each trainer

Online course: 4 modules of ca. 6 hours of learning content = 24 hours + 150% for preparation and adjustments = 72 hours / 3 trainers = 24 hours = 3 working days per trainer

Each trainer will be paid a fixed amount of 5400 euro.

TEAM

The team will be composed of 3 trainers (2 from the Eastern Partnership countries and 1 from the Programme countries), with:

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA (this is a must; if you do not meet these criteria, your application will be automatically rejected without further evaluation)

at least 4 years of experience in supporting competence development of youth workers and/or trainers;
having experiences of working as facilitator/trainer in at least 3 TEC activities in the last 5 years (OATs, MTMs, Final Events, Coordinators Meetings, Mentors Trainings);
having experience in working with learning self-assessment tools and Youthpass;
experience of youth activities in cooperation between the programme and the partner countries;

SELECTION CRITERIA (this is the competition; you can present less experiences than indicated below, but you will get less points - it does not mean that you will lose, this depends on the number and quality of the other applications we get)

max. 16 points for each experience in designing long-term non-formal education activities, where at least one was training of trainers (max. 3 experiences = max. 48 points)
max. 4 points for each experience in creating contents in online learning (max. 4 experiences = max. 16 points)
max. 4 points for each experience of being EVS/ESC project coordinator and/or EVS/ESC volunteers’ mentor (max. 3 experiences = max. 12 points)
max. 3 points for each experience in designing activities using ETS trainers competence model (max. 3 experiences = max. 9 points)
max. 15 points for recommendation from your TEC training provider (regional SALTO resource centre, National Agency, or organisation where the TEC was outsourced)

APPLICATION FORM AND DEADLINE

Deadline to apply: 29th February 2024, 18:00 CET. Please send the application to . The applicants will be informed about selection by 8th March, Friday.

ORGANISERS

The activity is financed by Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes and co-organised by German and Polish National Agencies of the both programmes and the SALTO Eastern Europe and Caucasus Resource Centre.

ANNEXES