During 30/11 to 04/12, as a member of U.S.B, I participated in an online training course among youth workers in the context of the KA2 project RAISE (Raising Awareness for Inclusive Societies Expression). Its aim was to bring together youth workers, that would contribute to the construction of a Toolkit, which would provide them and fellow youth workers with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to deal with discrimination and hate speech, in order to promote peace, diversity and intercultural dialogue. Thus, members from the 6 European partner organisations of this project, delivered and participated in workshops for the duration of a week. These workshops consisted of various non-formal education activities that were evaluated from the whole group, in order to optimise their effectiveness when implemented on the field with youth.
In particular, the session started and ended with a SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) analysis of the Toolkit, so that we hold a clearer vision of its potential. In between, members from each partner organisation conducted the workshops that they prepared; workshops that overall consisted of discussions on stereotypes and prejudice, self-awareness body scans, role plays, real-life simulations and a lot of debriefings and reflections. What made this training great for me was that I could feel the unifying energy of a group of people that held true interest for the same purpose. Everyone’s eagerness to not compromise with a moderate result, but to challenge and discuss all the aspects of the workshops that could go wrong when implemented, was what took this experience from fun and educational to mind-opening and inspiring.
An opinion article by Zach Piazas, member of USB