In recent decades Europe has become more and more diverse. Migration from South to North, fromEast to West, increase of Diaspora in many countries in Europe, are all making today’s Europeculturally the most diverse continent.
This cultural diversification also led to various social problems:intolerance, discrimination, exclusion, human rights violation, conflicts, etc.Fortunately, Intercultural dialogue and education is a major tool to create intercultural (not onlymulticultural) and cohesive societies without which it will be difficult to safeguard the freedom andwell-being of everyone living on our continent. And this is precisely where this training course iscoming from.
The main goal of the project is to increase capacities of youth workers to promote and
facilitate intercultural education as trainers and facilitators.
More specific objectives are:
- To increase the level of knowledge of youth workers in ICL topics (culture, identity, prejudices, stereotypes, discrimination, communication, etc);
- To develop competences of trainers in non-formal education focused on designing and facilitating Intercultural learning and to put them in practice with young people in Belgrade;
- To empower youth workers to act as multipliers of Intercultural learning;
- To develop practical skills in intercultural education and “awareness making” in their own communities;
- To encourage participation and involvement of young workers in social processes;
- To develop sense of common responsibility for the future of their local communities from a global perspective;
- To introduce Youth in Action as a great provider of intercultural educational opportunities for young people.
Training course
The “approach” of the training will be focused on developing specific practical skills for youthworkers and leaders in youth field to act as trainers, focusing on intercultural education and work inintercultural settings and it will make use of the richness of experiential learning and non-formaleducation in general.
The main topics that will be part of the training course: Intercultural learning (theory, methods,approached, challenges, etc); Working in intercultural settings; Learning in non-formal education;Role, ethics & competences of trainers; Design, facilitation & reflection on/of non-formal learning andgroup processes; Feedback, empathy & communication skills; Group and individual dynamics,Common challenges and best practices in training processes; Developing and delivering own trainingsessions & modules; Self-assessment, coaching & professional development plan.
Target group
The target audience are youth workers (aged 18 and above) that work in intercultural settings andneed to develop in-depth skills as trainers in intercultural education. Previous training experience isdesired, but not necessary.There will be 26 participants in total and youth workers from following countries are invited toapply: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Iceland, Italy, Macedonia,Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, UK, Turkey.
Dynamics of the training course
The training has three integrated learning phases:
1. Introductory phase (preparation for the course) through distance e-learning, starting from March
12th till the beginning of the residential
2. Residential training course, from April 21st to April 30th in Belgrade, Serbia
3. Follow-up phase through distance e-learning, starting from May 7th to June 3rd.
Implementing organisation
The Youth Dialogue Programme (YDP) has emerged from the initiative of young people from Serbiaand Kosovo at the beginning of 2005, with the aim of reviving the interrupted cooperation betweenyoung Serbs and Albanians after the conflicts in 1999. The main focus of the Youth DialogueProgramme is intercultural dialogue and understanding, together with the empowerment of youngpeople, especially the ones coming from marginalised and vulnerable groups. The organisation isdedicated to facilitating dialogue and intercultural learning of those who are separated by deep-rootedconflicts. From the experience of the organisation in this field came the realisation that there are onlyfew youth workers/trainers who are truly capable to facilitate delicate ICL learning processes that gobeyond one session required to be implemented in every international event.
Costs
This project is funded by the Youth in Action Programme. According to its rules, all costs ofboard and logging will be covered by the organisers. In addition, the Youth Dialogue Programme isgoing to reimburse 70% of the participants’ travel costs, upon the receipt of all original tickets andinvoices.
If you are interested in taking part in “ToTrain is ToTransform the Future”training course, please fill in the application form and return it completed not later thanMarch 1st, 2012 to baclijas@ydprogramme.org!
