COACHING YOU(TH)
Start date: Jan 1, 2015,
End date: Aug 31, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
The need of continuous development of human resources involved in our organizations dealing with young people came up in several contexts (meetings, trainings, events, seminars) of sharing about programs, emphasizing the challenges of the communities we serve, and the situations that we face working and running inclusive programs, dedicated to youth facing social and/or economical difficulties. Because in Europe the economical situation and migration brought up a higher rate of youth unemployment, attitudes of exclusion, hate, fears and frustrations of the young people, we as youth workers need to be more and more qualified in order to reach their problems, coach them, empower, support and guide them. As our partners have different backgrounds and areas of activity, ranging from working with youngsters with fewer opportunities to personal development and career guidance, we have identified that coaching is the only technique that serves each of their purposes.
Coaching YOU(th) is a 10 days( except the travelling days) training course dedicated to 30 youth workers, leaders in 13 different organizations from all over Europe. Among the participant we also have 8 youth coming from groups with fewer opportunities; they have been beneficiaries of the programs offered by our partners, and later joined their programmes in order to help and facilitate 16-27 April 2015, organizer being Federatia YMCA Romania with partners from Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, Moldova, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Netherlands and Serbia. Through this training the participants will learn coaching techniques, communication styles, emotional intelligence skills, learn and share examples of good coaching practice.
Objectives:
- to improve the skills and key competences of young people, including those with less opportunities , intercultural dialogue, social inclusion through learning mobility of those actively involved in youth work and youth organizations through strengthened links between youth field and labour market;
- to foster quality improvements in youth work through enhanced cooperation between youth organization and other stakeholders
- to enhance the international dimension of youth activities and the role of youth workers and organizations as support structures in complementarity with EU`s external action, in particular through the promotion of mobility and cooperation between organizations from Program countries and Partner countries and international organizations and through targeted capacity building in Partner countries.
- promoting young people`s social inclusion and well being, notably through project tackling the issue of youth unemployment
Profile of participants: youth workers, leaders active in their associations working closely with youth, youth with less opportunities
The program is designed in two parts: (1) theoretical sessions which aim at establishing conceptual frameworks, offer new working models and styles, teach the use of new tools and techniques; (2) practice sessions using non-formal education tools which combine exercises, role-plays, simulations, intercultural learning and outdoor activities.
Methods used: coaching, experiential learning, playing to learn&learning to play, simulations, role plays, action planning, media workshop, energizers, lectures and debates, a class divided method, indoor and outdoor team-buildings, workshops, debriefs, reflective sharing, post–training support.
Results:
- 30 participants trained in using coaching techniques in youth work.
- 13 organizations having more qualified and trained youth workers.
- 8 youngsters with less opportunities trained and qualified in coaching
- the possibility that the 30 trained participants, will train their colleagues from the organizations
- more relevancy and effectiveness in the youth work of each partner involved
- creating a network of staff and organizations specialized in coaching services for youth
- media products: video, ebook, promotional materials (banners, t-shirts, folders)
We expect to impact first the quality of the work done by the participants in this training. This quality also reflects in the development of programs and services for youth provided by these organizations, which lead to capacity building and movement strengthening.
The impact on European level is determined by the variety of countries who will contribute in bringing beside knowledge and skills, the culture and the awareness of building the future and better Europe for youth. As youth workers we have the mission of serving the best we can the young people , we need to know specific situations in each community and embrace learning from each other in order to correct mistakes and take good practices as models. By supporting dialogue and intercultural encounters we create a consortium working in togetherness and for common aims: empowering young people for finding jobs, overcoming difficult situations and discrimination.