We held our last activity of the year at the end of November: “The Art of Togetherness II” gathered 24 youth/social workers in La Claquette (France) for an advanced training of trainers.

This training of trainers was the last activity of our work plan “ArtSI: The Art of Social Inclusion“. Its aim was to increase the capacity of youth/social workers & facilitators to improve access to social rights of all young people and to complete their learning process started during the first training they attended back in may.

Objectives:

1. Deepen the knowledge and understanding of participants on social inclusion and youth work with young people with fewer opportunities
2. Give value to youth work as an instrument for the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities using artistic expression
3. Design a toolkit for the access to social inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities based on the experience of the participants + draft reports of the youth exchanges “All Inclusive” and other practice phases
4. Evaluate the practice phase(s), the whole project and the participants’ learning process

DAY 1

On Day 1, the participants got to reconnect with each other and their own personal experiences as facilitators and trainers. The day started with an overview on the Work Plan’s past phases: the first Training of Trainers that took place in Strasbourg in May 2018, and the two youth exchanges that happened during the summer in Georgia and Poland.

After solving a puzzle and composing together the week’s programme, the group went on a “Walk and talk” to reconnect with each other. On the afternoon, each participant got to draw and tell to the other the journey they went through from May to this final training.

DAY 2

Day 2 was focused on debriefing on past experiences and the participant’s practice phase which took place during the summer. They shared with each other the skills they learned  and the difficulties they faced and were able to reflect on the points they still need to work on.

On the afternoon, they worked on writing final reports, another crucial part of being a trainer.

DAY 3

The third day of our training allowed some participants to practice their skills and knowledge by facilitating sessions for their peers. Within these practice sessions, they all worked together on deepening their knowledge on Human Rights and Social Inclusion.

Through the first activity, they reflected on several Study Cases and identified the different human rights. They then took part in three Role Plays illustrating different cases of violation of rights. On the afternoon, they tackled Social Inclusion and reflected together on stereotypes and diversity. They ended the day with the Trainer Checklist: How to be inclusive when preparing a European Youth Project?

DAY 4

On day 4, the participants reflected on how to work with young people from vulnerable groups. In groups, they mapped the difficulties youth face nowadays and worked on specific case studies directly inspired by their own experiences. Thanks to these, they came up with problems to anticipate during projects and solutions to implement on spot.

On the afternoon, they developed a toolkit together to help other trainers work with vulnerable youth. We will publish this toolkit soon. It will be designed by our graphic reporter Coline Robin. 

DAY 5

On the 5th day, the participants got to learn more on intercultural learning whilst two of their peers facilitated the session as a practice. The group also gained new keys on team work and co-facilitation.

DAY 6

Day 6 aimed at exploring the different learning styles and inviting the participants to reflect on their personal/professional learnings. They did this through land art, building an art piece representing themselves with natural items collected through the week.

Later that day, the participants got to fill in a self-assessment form to evaluate their progression. They also were presented how they can be involved in Y-E-N’s future activities, and how to become a SAYer (member of Y-E-N’s pool of trainers).

DAY 7

As always, the last day aimed at evaluating the whole process. The participants got to develop their own action plan and give their feedback and comments on the training, the whole work plan and their personal/professional experience of it all.

Overall, this training was a success and we can’t wait to work with these brilliant trainers in a near future!! Stay tuned to catch the upcoming video showing this training and read the toolkit our participants made on how to work with young people coming from vulnerable groups 🙂