TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Claudio Tocchi
The project “WE A.R.” aimed to combat discrimination and promote inclusion transforming youth
centres, schools and youth organizations into innovative “Anti-Rumours hubs”, fostering the
role of youth workers, educators and young people as leaders of positive change in their local
communities.
The training course on Anti-Rumours methodologies aimed at equipping educators, youth
workers and staff of partner organizations with practical tools and knowledge to apply the Anti-Rumours
methodology / strategy in different educational contexts and in the local communities.
The training allowed participants to gain competences and tools to transfer the experience of Anti-
Rumours pilot activities in schools/youth centres within the local communities and in setting up stronger
local networks to engage the communities in implementing Anti-Rumours strategies together with
schools, youth centres and kids/young people.
The training course took place in Milan (Italy) and it involved 3 youth workers / staff members /
educators from each partner organization, for a total of 12 participants.
The training included the following specific contents, which will also be reflected in the educational
modules subsequently created:
- Recognising and defining rumours, stereotypes, prejudices and discriminations (shared definitions,
understanding and exploring the concepts, where do they come from, the impact and effects of
rumours/stereotypes/etc., sharing direct experiences and situations)
- Diversity awareness and diversity advantage (what diversity is, understanding multiple identities,
exploring the advantages of diversity)
- Intercultural competences (discussing and exploring the concepts of culture, cultural diversity,
intercultural dialogue and communication, working together in intercultural groups and contexts)
- Anti-rumours strategy (history and origins of the Anti-Rumours strategy, main principles and elements,
examples and good practices)
- Anti-rumours counteracting strategy and communication approach (how do we react against of
rumours? Why is that so important to avoid the spiral of rumours being unpunished? How do we behave
in a face-to-face AR conversation?)
The training course took place in Milan (Italy) and it involved 3 youth workers / staff members /
educators from each partner organization, for a total of 12 participants from Italy, Spain, Poland and Portugal.
The training made extensive use of non-formal education methodology meant as a form to enhance cooperation among partners and triggering creativity. Activities were mostly designed according the pattern experience-reflect-produce-debrief.
Among the several activities, we find:
- silent floor activity to collect inputs and keywords to define key concepts such as Discrimination, Stereotypes, Rumours;
- Anti-Rumours super-hero(ine)s, group activity where participants needed to draw and describe the superpowers of their antirumours agents;
- in-person emotional evaluation activity
The project was listed in all the partners' websites. Here ICEI page: https://icei.it/progetti/we-a-r-we-against-rumours/?lang=en
One of the main outputs of the project was a MOOC, drafted during the training and built in the following months by all partner and curated by Cazalla Intercultural: https://youth-mooc.eu/courses/we-ar-we-against-rumours/
I was the senior trainer and training coordinator.