TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Ognian Gadoularov
The main aim of this training course is to empower youth workers in the specific reality of project based–youth work, so they will become multipliers of youth empowerment.
Objectives of the training:
• To empower youth workers.
• To understand and facilitate the empowerment process of others.
• To explore principles of non-formal education and experiential learning in order to make them more efficient and applicable in youth work.
• To explore educational theories, tools and instruments which can lead to youth empowerment.
• To understand how nature and outdoor activities can be used for youth empowerment.
• To understand how to create sustainable projects with a long lasting impact.
• To support the creation of empowering and sustainable projects.
The profile of the participants that the training course is designed for:
• Youth workers (youth leaders, coaches, project coordinators, mentors) who want to develop new competences and gain new perspectives upon youth work.
• Participants willing to use their competences after TC in their own realities, through youth work.
At this training we had 23 participants from 11 countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Turkey) representing 22 organizations and institutions.
Trainers team was composed by three trainers: Ognian Gadoularov (Bulgaria; Eleni Michail (Cyprus); Bogdan Romanica (Romania))
The TC consists of 6 full training days, which form a progressive learning process. Each day has specific dynamic and specific themes. The participants had the chance to experience and explore different theoretical concepts, educational tools and methods connected with youth empowerment, which can be transferred and applied in different realities. The course is based on non-formal education principles and methods, thus the participants played an active role in the learning process. Outdoor activities represent an important spot in our program, in order to experience and analyze the theories and concepts, from more perspectives and frames. After empowering the participants we focus on creating empowering projects. The last days of the TC were dedicated to sharing good practices and creating common projects which can be more sustainable and empowering. Self-directed learning is an important aspect of this training, so the participants were challenged to take responsibility and initiative for their own learning and development.
As a result of the project 5 teams created 5 future project ideas and developed them for future implementation.
I was involved sin s the creation of the idea of this training, preparation process and delivery of the training course.