TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Patricia Eguía Mayor
“From Idea To Action” was a 5 days training course, which aimed to empower young people in order to be entrepreneurs and guide them to put their idea in a concrete action plan.
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
The programme was based on these elements;
• Learn how to implement an idea into practice (by using business concepts and tools such as Business plan, Marketing and visibility, Business analysis (for example SWOT), financing and funding.
• Work on their own concrete idea (social entrepreneur, creation of organizations, projects….)
• Get the space, resources and links to be able to implement their projects in cooperation with people in as well as outside the TC.
It was aimed to bring business concepts into non-formal learning, and adapt these concepts in simple and ready to use tools for developing social entrepreneurial projects.
The focus was two-fold inclusive, serving either people who want to implement their ideas under the YiA programme (youth initiatives, exchanges, youth democracy projects…) or to set up a concrete structure like an association, NGO, social entrepreneurial projects…
The unique point of this training course was that the team of trainers is a mixture of non-formal and business trainers, allowing for a multileveled spectrum into the “what is needed to concretize an entrepreneurial project”.
The target group of the TC was young people (students, youth workers, social workers, …) who had a concrete idea they wished to use, investigate and develop during this training course (related to social initiatives which can lead to a project, the creation of an association, a social business …)
They were 17 participants coming from 9 counties: Spain, Lithuania, Turkey, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Romania and Portugal
The didactic methodology of the training was based in three main points:
• Mix of theoretical inputs combined with practical exercises to allow the comprehension of the concepts and tools.
• Working with different learning methods based on non-formal education; like self-directed learning methods, reflection, peer to peer learning to allow the transfer of the learning into different situations and their reality.
• Using the existing resources in the TC: participants, trainers and real entrepreneurial examples that we got to know during the TC.
The training methods were based on non-formal education tools to let participants get actively involved. The training program contained;
• Supporting teams
• Plenary discussions
• Case studies
• Media tools
• Visits to existing projects
• Sharing experiences and examples of good practice
• Feedback, reflection and evaluation
The outcomes of the training course were:
• An action plan for the participants to put their ideas into practice
• A platform for support and network of participants
• A video as a multimedia promoting tool
I was organizer and trainer in the activity