Truth project
With the support of an Erasmus+ grant awarded by the European Commission, TRUTH PROJECT aims to foster cooperation between 4 entities from 3 different countries (Belgium, Chile, and Germany) committed to share and exchange good practices, experience, feedback, guidelines, and working methods in the field of peace education. The specific objectives are :
- Capacitating youth workers to acquire competences in conflict resolution, diversity management and multicultural negotiation, to empower them to assume a central role in the society and foster social integration.
- Developing a successful strategy to recruit and retain youth workers.
- Enhancing the cooperation and share experiences between organizations working with youths and vulnerable groups.
To meet the first objective, TRUTH PROJECT elaborates and tests an innovative and proactive training path with the support of certified trainers. The training path is structured in different phases:
- 3 International Seminars, one in Chile, one in Belgium and one in Germany
- An e-learning platform with training modules, tips and ready-to-use materials for trainers and youth workers.
- 3 small projects with local NGOs, to transfer the skills gained during the project to other entities.
- 5 summer camps to transform learning outcomes into practical applications, delivering training themselves.
During this training path, youth workers are constantly encouraged to share their experience and lessons learned with the rest of the group. To do this, when they are not physically together, they will use the e-learning platform, an innovative and interactive tool that will allow them to keep in touch, debate and share experience.
TRUTH PROJECT partners working directly with youths share the challenge of recruiting volunteers for their activities. The project will provide the opportunity to elaborate a common methodology that can be applied in their countries and run recruitment campaigns (future videos and other materials, etc).
Finally, cooperation with local NGOs and dissemination activities will result in an increase of TRUTH PROJECT partners’ network and in the sharing of the project methodologies with other organizations interested in offering a similar training path for their workers.
What is youth work?
Youth work is commonly understood as a tool for personal development, social integration and active citizenship of young people. Youth work is a ‘keyword’ for all kinds of activities with, for and by young people of social, cultural, educational or political nature. It belongs to the domain of ‘out-of-school’ education, most commonly referred to as either non-formal or informal learning. The main objective of youth work is to create opportunities for young people to shape their own future.
The range of themes that youth work covers are just as diverse as the types of people and organizations involved. Political activism, street work, sports activities, social enterprises and leisure-time activities can all be termed ‘youth work’.
Youth work characteristics
Youth work usually has the following characteristics
- Value-driven: youth work tries to serve the higher purposes of inclusion and social cohesion
- Youth-centric: youth work serves key needs and aspirations of youth, identified by young people themselves
- Voluntary: youth work is not obligatory, and relies on the voluntary participation of young people
- Developmental: youth work aims at the personal, social and ethical development of young people
- Self-reflective and critical: youth work tries to make sure it is doing its best to live up to its mission
- Relational: youth work seeks authentic communication with young people and contribute to sustaining viable communities.
Youth work often has a strong educational purpose or dimension. Typically, the education or learning that takes place in youth work is ‘non-formal – not ‘formal’ and not ‘informal’. Youth work and non-formal education have many characteristics in common. Nevertheless, they are not the same.
Formal learning
Learning typically provided by an education or training institution, structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support) and leading to certification. Formal learning is intentional from the learner’s perspective.
Non-formal learning
Learning which takes place through planned activities (in terms of learning objectives, learning time) where some form of learning support is present (e.g. learner-teacher relationships); it may cover programmes to impart work skills, adult literacy and basic education for early school leavers; very common cases of non-formal learning include in-company training, through which companies update and improve the skills of their workers such as ICT skills, structured on-line learning (e.g. by making use of open educational resources), and courses organized by civil society organizations for their members, their target group or the general public (Ibid.).
Informal learning
Learning resulting from daily activities related to work, family or leisure which is not organized or structured in terms of objectives, time or learning support; it may be unintentional from the learner’s perspective; examples of learning outcomes acquired through informal learning are skills acquired through life and work experiences, project management skills, ICT skills acquired at work, languages learned, intercultural skills acquired during a stay in another country, ICT skills acquired outside work, skills acquired through volunteering, cultural activities, sports, youth work and through activities at home e.g. taking care of a child
Source:
- Glossary, (European Commission: Erasmus+ Programme) – http://ec.europa.eu/education/ects/users-guide/glossary_en.htm
- https://www.salto-youth.net/tools/toolbox/tool/training-of-youth-workers-using-non-formal-learning-and-interactive-methods-in-youth-work.1979/
