TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Karlo Brunović
Youth in partners’ local communities belong to ethnic and religious minorities; migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, and some live in rural areas. They face cultural, social, economic and geographical obstacles and are at risk of social exclusion. Youth in partners’ communities also lack knowledge about the European Union. Organisations involved in this project believe youth can become more active citizens if they improve media literacy and critical thinking skills, and gain knowledge on the EU, especially about the Union's functioning, its values and cultural heritage.
The general objective of the project was to increase the quality of youth work of partner organisations in promoting active citizenship. Project’s general objective was achieved through three specific objectives:
● increasing youth workers’ knowledge related to the Union’s functioning, common EU values, and fundamental rights
● increasing youth workers’ knowledge, competences and skills related to promoting media literacy and critical thinking among youth
● exchanging experiences of participating organisations on how to use non-formal education in promoting active citizenship among youth.
Target group were youth workers from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Portugal, France, Spain and Netherlands - working with youth who face cultural, social, economic and geographical obstacles .
Firstly, I used World Cafe to spark discussion on active citizenship among participants. In the session about the EU, I used Kahoot quiz to engage youth workers and test their knowledge. Moreover, I used "Four Corners" to provide participants and opportunity to practice their argumentation regarding active citizenship. Also, I used "Percipio" cards deck to give a chance to participants to express and share their opinions on active citizenship issues. Percipio is a card game that is built on the perceptions and associations of the participants on different social issues.
During the workshop on fake news, I provided participants with five web articles, only one being true. They needed to read them and decide which one of that news would they post in their Facebook (or any other social media), given the criteria of how accurate they are in terms of information. Afterwards, I analysed their decisions and guided them towards understanding how to recognise fake news.
During "Logical Fallacies and Mental Biases" workshop I used a quiz that provides basic knowledge of the different kinds of fallacious argumentation and bias that may occur in media discourse. It was a practical task to discern fallacies and biases. In the next session, I used Critical Thinking Cards (developed by The School of Thought organisation) with examples of common fallacies and biases to deepen participants' knowledge and skills of critical thinking.
The training generated knowledge, skills, and competencies needed by partner organizations to foster and facilitate young people’s participation in Europe’s democratic life. After the training, a toolkit was produced containing basic information about the EU, its values, and
fundamental rights, as well as non-formal methods to foster active citizenship among youth. By increasing the level of quality of youth work through training on media literacy and critical thinking, the Union’s functioning, and common EU values, the training positively impacted youth in local communities.
After the implementation of the training
course and during the dissemination phase, the trainers assessed the participants’ final evaluation surveys and EU Commission surveys, concluding that project objectives were successfully met.
Udruga Prizma's website (https://www.udrugaprizma.hr/civitas) includes a link to digital toolkit "Non-formal approach to
fostering active citizenship among youth" developed after the training. The publication is also available on Salto.
I was responsible for overall preparation and implementation of the training course, including design of training programme. Besides conducting core training sessions, I also contributed to reflection sessions, including mid and final evaluation by motivating participants to share their impressions and reflect upon their learning. After the training, I was responsible to produce a toolkit on the non-formal approach to fostering active citizenship among youth.