TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Andreea-Loredana Tudorache
Associazione Ottovolante (Italy) and A.R.T. Fusion Association (Romania), together with their partners, developed this project to answer to different needs detected in partner organisations’ countries and regions. In youth work field there is a lack of advanced intercultural working competencies and sensitivity in youth work field, especially of the ones active and working in international, multicultural or global settings.
This project empowered youth workers with intercultural competencies and sensitivity transferable towards excluded and/or discriminated groups, as well as for changing the mentalities of young people having discriminatory thoughts.
The project was implemented between February 2017 and October 2018.
The aim of this project was to increase the level of competent, sensitive and quality intercultural youth work field in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.
The project achieved the following objectives:
-To increase/upgrade the knowledge level of youth workers from 4 continents in intercultural learning topics (culture, identity, prejudices, stereotypes, assumptions, relativism, communication, clashes, intercultural sensitivity);
-To develop the practical skills of youth workers in working and managing quality intercultural learning process in international projects with young people;
-To upgrade skills in managing and facilitating intercultural encounters in youth work (international volunteering, exchanges, local projects in multicultural settings, trainings, etc.);
-To develop highly interculturally sensitive attitudes in youth work field;
-To empower youth workers to act as responsible interculturally sensitive actors in international field and projects;
-To provide a space for sharing best practices among youth organisations in intercontinental youth cooperation field;
-To increase the level of innovation and creativity in youth work field;
-To stimulate long-term involvement of youth organisations’ beneficiaries in international (and intercontinental) projects;
The project’s main beneficiaries (33 youth workers from Romania, Italy, Sri Lanka, India, Nigeria, Mozambique, Argentina and Uruguay) took part in a long-term training course focused on developing practical working competencies in intercultural education.
The training approach was designed as the following:
1) An initial training course for developing basic intercultural competencies for future multipliers (it took place in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in October 2017);
2) A practice phase in each of the partner countries (Argentina, Italy, India, Mozambique, Nigeria, Romania and Uruguay), where the multipliers, prepared and implemented intercultural learning workshops/sessions for at least 1200 young people (at least 150 in each country). Topics of the workshops were focused on stereotypes, prejudices and diversity.
3) The practice phase was followed by the second training course (which took place in Busteni, Romania, in March 2018), for assessing the first practice phase results and for developing advanced competencies in intercultural learning area and development of new intercultural learning tools.
4) The second practice phase took place in the partner countries, where the multipliers transferred their competencies in a new round of workshops, for more than 150 people in each country. The topics tackled in this phase were: norms, privileges, poverty porn, gender-related issues, etc.
5) A final evaluation meeting was organized in Nigeria, Ibadan, in July 2018, in order to assess and evaluate the impact of the whole project and plan how the network will continue to work in a coordinated manner from now on.
The training activities used where included in the manual produced in the project.
One of the main outcomes of the training program was the production of a Manual for Facilitators in Diversity and Sensitivity Learning (https://goo.gl/yLCca6 or
https://toolbox.salto-youth.net/2421).
My role was of full time trainer and coordinating the team of trainers. Together we realised the
- Learning needs analysis
- Selection and preparation of participants
- Preparation and coordination out local activities (practice phase);
- Design of the trainings session and preparation of materials
- Delivery of sessions;
- The short and long term evaluation;
- Drafting and finalizing the manual;
- Report to the organizers;