I would like to say that participation in “Upgrade” training course in general is very interesting and useful to me. So was also the first part, what we attended in May in Tbilisi.  For me each day brought something positive and as I am a youth worker, then it was so inspiring to communicate with other specialists in the sphere of youth work from Estonia, Georgia, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine. We learned new methods together, shared our own experience and knowledge. Spoke about differences and similarities, thought about future possibilities. 

We visited local youth center and saw how youth work happens in Georgia with our eyes, had our own conference where each participant could ask different things from each other and as a result we shared our experience even more. Also I personally enjoyed visiting office of our Georgian partner association Droni (probably one of the most creative offices I have ever been to) and City Hall where we had an option to go deeper into theme of Georgian youth work with the help of the representatives of municipality (it was so inspiring).
There are so many other things to remember from this training course and I am happy and thankful that it is possible to be part of it. This brought me a lot of inspiration. Also for me it would be very interesting to use received knowledge in practice and organize some follow-up activities by my own. Now I am looking forward to seeing other participants again during new parts of our project with whom we will go even deeper into topic, learn more new methods and share our skills. I find all of aforementioned really efficient and useful!
Maria
Participant, youth worker and Shokkin member
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It was very beneficial for me to participate in the training course”Upgrade”, which took place in May in Tbilsi, Georgia. The project gathered different specialists in the field of youth work coming from Estonia, Sweden, Poland, Ukrain and Georgia. We were actively learning and sharing our knowledge & experience during the whole week. It was both interesting and useful to discover similarities and differences of youth work in countries-participants as well as to learn new methods from each other which we can apply back home.

We shared our experience and visions using Human Library method, presented our organisations, had a simulation of international youth work conference and cultural evening, had a study visit in youth centre and a meeting with municipality (that was definitely one of my favourite parts, I appreciate that the representatives of municipality joined our TC). At the end we worked on development plan and reflected on the project.

I am grateful for this experience, cant wait for implementation of follow – up activities as well as the next stages of the project.

What exactly did I learn?

  • Youth work competences, key aspects and core principles (the most interesting was “to have a holistic perspective on young people”.
  • Identification of target group (we created very interesting collective images of youngsters who visit our youth centres from available materials – that was the most creative session, I am gonna use this method in future).
  •  Youth work policy & needs & quality indicators (and effects of quality youth work, for sure!).
  • Youth work outcomes (skills, knowledge, attitudes, behaviour.
  • Criteria for participation.
  • Phases of youth work.

Ella
Participant, youth worker and Shokkin member

 

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