“Perfect crime - training course for more inclusive youth exchange projects!”

Aims & objectives

1. To increase understanding of key quality criteria of the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange projects;
2. To explore and understand how all stakeholders (young people, youth workers, local community) can be involved in all stages of the project;
3. To foster social inclusion by targeting not only youth workers but also staff members working with young people at risk of social exclusion in other institutions;
4. To increase number of youth exchange projects.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

28 participants from Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Malta, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Netherlands, Finland. Teams of youth worker and 1 or 2 young people from the same organization.

Training methods used & main activities

Getting to know each other and ice-breaking games
Movement exercises as a group building method
Simulation exercise of "Perfect crime" (as a metaphor for project planning) - participants prepare a local action which they implement in the nearby city the next day.
Group discussions
Sessions facilitated by participants
Reflection groups
Idea generation and networking for future projects
Evening program with games and contests

Outcomes of the activity

All participants mention in evaluation forms, that their understanding of Youth exchanges have increased On average the score on the scale from 1 to 10 – before the training course 4.5 (0 being the lowest mark mentioned), after the training course – 8. 89% of participants (25) evaluate their current understanding with 7 or higher.
58% of participants (16) mention in their evaluation forms, that they will apply with one or more projects.
21% of participants (6) say that they feel ready, but doesn’t express the concrete aim to apply.
18% (5 participants) say that they feel about average that they would be ready to apply with a project ad 7% (2) mention that they don’t feel ready.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

Developing the whole training concept, starting with identifying the need, setting aims and objectives, developing the program flow.
During the training together with my colleague (Jo Clayes) we had shared responsibilities for session facilitation and program flow guidance.
As well, I was preparing the documentation part necessary for Latvian National Agency (the program description and report).

I worked on this training for 5 preparation days + 5 training days days as a full time trainer.