TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Marie Svobodová
These were the aims of the project:
1. To raise the quality of youth work carried out by the partner organizations by improving the professional skills of the
youth workers involved in them.
2. To raise the capacity of the organization to work with children in outdoor settings.
3. To work also with young people from the local area and teach them new skills.
4. To organize at least 3 follow-up activities per country in order to make an impact on the young people the organization is
working with.
5. To strengthen cooperation between youth organizations by creating new contacts between the young members of the
organizations, who have the potential to develop international activities/projects together.
Target group of the training course were youth workers from 6 European countries and Turkey. These were people that expressed interest and commitment to organize summer camps or other outdoor activities in their home countries and they needed to gain the necessary know-how and experience of working with youth in outdoor settings.
The training methodology consisted of a mixture of debates, group work, simulation exercises, presentations, reflection, etc.
The most important method of the training, however, was learning by doing. The training course was taking place together with a real summer camp for children, therefore, the participants could really step into the shoes of camp leaders. The participants were divided into international teams and they prepared complex activities for the children. We supported the learning process of the participants since the planning of the activities to the final reflection.
The training was a successful one and the participants learned many skills relevant for their future work.
Each of the participants learned:
- what it takes to be a leader of outdoor activities
- various games and workshops to be implemented in nature
- to assess and prevent risks of outdoor activities
- to work in an international team of leaders and with and international team of children
- to solve basic problems connected with logistics of the summer camp
The participants planned concrete ways of using the new skills in their future professional lifes and they planned 3 concrete follow-up activities per country.
I was the trainer together with my colleague. I wrote the project application form, prepared the schedule and methodology, implemented the activities and carried out the project dissemination and evaluation.