"Special Effects" is an innovative 8-day training course for youth workers to develop training and facilitation competence with a focus on skills that will make your inner ?tool box? richer, special, sparkle. Organised by Act In Ostrava in winter 2014: 6.-14. December 2014 (including travel days) in Kaprál?v Mlýn (www.kapraluvmlyn.cz), Czech Republic, close to Brno. "Special Effects" - training course for trainers, facilitators and youth workers who are interested in improving their skills, competences or know-how, or acquiring new ones, in order to be more effective in their work and in the field of non formal education. The focus will be put on hands-on activities and practical applications to improve skills and competences based on: communication, creativity and artistic expression, how to deliver information, facilitation techniques, coaching, training, how to work with groups, nature based methods and outdoor education - with a few theoretical inputs used mainly to frame the activities and give a backbone to the course. We want to boost the quality of youth work and non formal education across Europe, we are involving a very wide network of organisations including well established partners from previous cooperations as well as new ones, and our activities will also aim to inspire reflection on topics like sustainability, personal development, sense of initiative, inspiration to change. We aim to host 28 participants from 11 countries and partner organisations, plus 4 trainers and 2 support staff (total number of participants: 34 people). The main objectives of our training course are: - to establish an international platform, to discuss and share knowledge, experience and good practices related to training and non-formal education in Europe today; with special mphasis on nature-based and community-based approaches in youth work and education; - to deepen participants? understanding of key concepts in non-formal education such as: training, learning, facilitation and coaching both on theoretical and practical level; to define formal and non formal education, and to create a bridge between these two worlds through a practical experience of non-formal activities in a local high school; - to provide participants with experience of topics relevant to the course in a variety of interactive methods and participants-centered learning processes, such as parallel workshops (e.g. different activities for beginner / advanced level...), Open Space, Way of Council, threshold walk, reflection time and guided time in nature; - to create a social experience of community, through sharing living and working spaces, participating in housekeeping tasks and daily practices, and to valorise this as an opportunity for learning and personal and social growth.