Training in Cyprus

The activity is a training that will gather youth workers or leaders from organizations, community activist and young people with fewer opportunities - minority groups, refugees, migrants, IDPes - 4 participants from 6 countries, from Cyprus and North macedonia 5 and Georgia 6 participants (2 trainers and 2 facilitators are included in the amount of participants) for a 5-day activity in June 2021, in Pedoulas (Cyprus). The seminar will be hosted by NGO ACPELIA.

The programme is built so that the participants:

• start to get to know each other and build a team (Day 1);

• have a space to share about local realities and best practices (Day 2);

• discuss discrimination and non-discrimination (Day 2);

• learn about participation (Day 3);

• continue to dive into the topic of participation and alternative ways of participation of young people by discovering activism as an effective tool (Day 4);

• start to work on the next steps of the project and evaluate the training (Day 5).

All the activities and sessions of the seminar will be based on non-formal education and approach, using different pedagogical resources and respecting working principles of Erasmus +:

• Participation of ALL

• Participants' centred

• Combination of methods

• Safe learning environment

• Intercultural learning process

• Development of competences

• Experiential learning and practice

The facilitators will choose creative and active methods to provide a safe learning space to explore the topic and achieve the objectives.

The programme will be built so that the participants use peer-to-peer learning by allowing enough space for them to share and learn from each other and by organising relevant field visit on spot. For the training, we will invite experts in youth participation coming from other European networks and organisations like member of European youth Forum - National Youth Council of Georgia and the representative from Advisory Council on Youth of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe - as Georgia has 2 representative at advisory council for next two years - One represents IGLYO - international network, and second HREYN - international network.

About Venue place:

We have contacted Cyprus organization and both of us, as the host organizations, have shortlisted a number of venues for the activity and accommodation and made provisional bookings. Because of the hosting organizations have several venue places , IDC with partner organizations have a chance to choose the one who will provide the best conditions. All venue places are capable of providing all the necessary conditions, including conference hall, access to wifi, full security, hot water and clean rooms. We will have 2-3 youngsters in each room. Boys and girls will be separate, but each group will be mixed with different countries. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided by the venue place. Also, project include dinner out in Georgian restaurant - during first training. - Venue place of the project is fully equipped with first aid kit and with a responsible person for first support , also the security guard and receptionist is working for 24 hours in case of any emergency; - All participants will receive information services providing emergency assistance;

Working methods during training: It is designed to give participants the opportunity to experience and reflect upon activities and concepts of non-formal education based on experiential learning approaches. It is also designed as a mutual learning situation, where participants can compare their approaches to training and to non-formal education across Europe in a dialogue and inter cultural approach and environment. Contributions in the field of non-formal education and youth work will establish a theoretical framework and a common reference point for learning and communication. The training also will built around the expectation that participants will put in practice their learning by doing follow-up activities in their communities or developing a common Erasmus + project for the next deadline. Specific methods will be following: games, ice-breakers, team building exercises, individual and group activities, discussions, sharing experiences and reflections, work on practical examples in a small groups, workshops, energizers, simulation game, speaker experts. Through these games youngsters will experience the team building concept in the form of experiential learning. The program will also include the cultural exchange to provide specific positive features of each country.

Approaches: The sessions will be organized referring educational settings of non-formal education. Essentially during the whole flow of the event, participants will have opportunity to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs and values and to confront them with others in a safe working environment considering local needs, freedom of thought/expression and the respect for others' opinions