Social Economy in Practice (SEP) - Two-phase training course

Aims & objectives

Social Economy in Practice was a long-term training course aimed on providing participants with a theory of Social Economy approaches by experiential learning.

The general aim of the long-term training course “Social Economy in Practice” was to create a complex knowledge base for participants about Social Economy context and its approaches, methods and tools in order to be applied directly by them to create the social impact in their reality

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

The project brought together in total 22 participants. The course was designed for participants aged 18+ from Armenia, Latvia, Austria, Czech Republic, Portugal, Ukraine, France and Russia
Main criteria for the participants was:
● Would like to learn more about Social Economy
● Wants to make an impact and a change in the local area where (s)he
lives
● Are committed to participate in all 3 phases

Training methods used & main activities

Non-Formal methodology was the main basis of the training course. The activity flow of the project followed development curve when we started from basics of group dynamics (name games, teambuilding) through the understanding of common ground, Social Economy (SE) and individual elements of SE, basics of project management in order to be able to structurize the independent work, and evaluation. Each day covers a specific theme which develops and builds on the previous one. Naturally, we start with basic information about the project, its aim and objectives, team etc.

Outcomes of the activity

During the first training in Armenia the main knowledge the participants gained was the whole context of the existence of the Social Economy, its various parts both mainstream and non-mainstream. As far as the Training Course was based on experiential learning and non-formal methods, they also got skills of implementation of approaches. In other words, they learnt about the palette of approaches and should be able to select appropriately based on their previous experience therefore having a skill of selection and implementation of a SE approach. With that goes attitude, as they will gain confidence as future leaders of social innovation in their region. As a main outcome the participants lost misconceptions about economics as a complicated science and they will see it by realistic eyes with the ability to use its strengths and mend its weaknesses.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I worked on Social Economy in Practice - Two-phase training course in total for 12 days as a co-trainer both in Armenia and Czech Republic.

I worked on this training for 12 days in total (Armenia and Czech Republic) days as a full time trainer.