You(th) can do it! Supporting active participation and learning in Erasmus+ youth projects

Have you been contemplating about or struggling with the following issues in your everyday youth work practice? • It’s too big - Erasmus+ youth projects seem complicated and demand a lot of effort from young people, • In reality it doesn’t work - it’s difficult to keep up the motivation and active participation of young people during the project life cycle, • I don’t know how - there are not enough good methods or tools to involve young people better into project implementation. These are the issues that inspired us to undertake this Training Course. In Erasmus+ youth projects it’s often difficult to ensure the active participation of young people throughout the project lifetime. In addition, the facilitation of learning process during the project can be a great challenge. In many cases these two issues are combined and derive from the lack of suitable methods and tools which could be used to support young people in carrying out their own project. During this training course we concentrate on coaching* methodology as an effective way to increase the quality of youth projects and work towards the active participation of young people. TARGET GROUP: Youth workers, teachers, coaches or others who support young people in implementing youth projects. We consider Youth Exchanges, Transnational Youth Initiatives and Structured Dialogue meetings as youth projects because of the leading role of young people. This training course is not designed for project managers, but for those who work with young people and use E+ YiA projects as a way to provide non-formal education. In addition, all the participants should be • willing to support their youth in carrying out transnational projects, • speaking and working freely in English, • at least 18 years old. AIM: Youth workers are equipped with the necessary competencies and tools to support young people in implementing youth projects in the frames of E+YIA programme. OBJECTIVES: • to explore the role of youth workers in supporting the active participation of young people in youth projects (Youth Exchanges, Transnational Youth Initiatives, Structured Dialogue meetings); • to support the quality of the learning process in E+ youth projects; • to provide youth workers with coaching methods and tools; • to favour partnership building activities between participants. AGENDA: • looking at the different ways of active participation in youth projects linked with the personal development of youngsters, • practising the facilitation of the learning process and getting to know the Youthpass, • introducing coaching as a way to support active participation and learning, • developing personal skills, knowledge and attitudes for successful coaching of young people, • applying different practical methods and tools for coaching E+ youth projects, • getting to know the basics of E+ youth projects (Youth Exchanges, Transnational Youth Initiatives, Structured Dialogue meetings), • sharing contacts for future partnerships in E+ programme. The activities start in the evening of Thursday, 7 May and finish after lunch on Monday, 11 May. The training course takes place in the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. All the practical details together with the timetable will be sent to the selected participants at least a month before the activity takes place. * Coaching in the context of European youth work is mainly seen as a process in which a support person called a "coach" supports groups or individuals in achieving specific learning goals. A coach aims at the personal development of young people by using a variety of inclusive methods. He/she is a resource person who is outside a youth project (not a project leader) but supports the group of young people in the implementation of their project (providing information and advice, helping with the learning process etc).