The 3 project training Courses differ for the specific topic that they address, but they all share a common methodology based on non-formal educational settings.

The structure and learning objectives of the trainings have been designed with respect to the 8 European key Competences for Lifelong Learning, defined as a “a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes”, focusing on 5 competences:

• digital
• personal, social and learning to learn
• citizenship
• entrepreneurship
• cultural awareness and expression

The Youth Workers learned and experiment specific learning and teaching tools that afterwards they will implement in their local communities, while working on the grassroots project with the young women. 

From June 27th to July 1st 2022, the training for trainers on Entrepreneurial skills and social Innovation took place in Cali – capital city of the Valle del Cauca department in Colombia.

Local partner provided some useful infos before departure.

The training was addressed to 2 Youth Workers of each W4GEA project partner.

It was a very rich and intense week of work, coordinated by Stati Generali dell’Innovazione for the training part and by Corporacion para el desarollo regional for the logistical aspects and the awareness and learning activities with important local realities.

The rich agenda was organised by dividing the five days between classroom training and visits to associations and meetings with local activists.

The classroom training activities, coordinated by SGI, were carried out using non-formal learning methods, consisting of a guided but spontaneous experiential approach. The objective of the training was to provide the Youth Workers with knowledge on entrepreneurship and innovation necessary for the subsequent implementation of a grassroots project and local engagement activities.

On the first day, the various ice-breaking activities were useful to get to know each other and to find the right linguistic and cultural balance: introducing all participants and their respective associations, sharing expectations about the course, identifying common rules for organising and running the classroom.

On the following days, each partner contributed by organising thematic workshops. The workshop organised by EURIndia focused on team work, conflict management and time management. In addition, the issue of violence against women linked to the caste system was addressed as a ‘case study’. A theme that generated a very engaging and profound moment of collective reflection.

Eduplius, on the other hand, focused its workshop on effective communication and negotiation, using dynamics of collaboration and play, including the use of a special pack of cards. Two workshops were held by Invasioni Digitali and Stati Generali dell’Innovazione, one on the principles of fundraising and how to set up a fundraising campaign, and the other dedicated to storytelling and digital communication.

Finally, Stati Generali dell’Innovazione also held a workshop to reflect on awareness of one’s online presence: through an experiential workshop in which the online presence of a number of participants was analysed, elements that could be detrimental to personal privacy or that of others and to one’s image were identified, with particular reference to the job market and personal safety.

The training ended with an evaluation of the course modalities and contents, which also took place through a non-formal and innovative approach, thus going beyond the classic feedback questionnaire. The afternoons left room for a round of sessions with associations and activists operating in the Calì district, in particular:

• The Asomucaf association, based in a farmhouse in the centre of Calì, works to create an alternative development model for women heads of families who do not have access to work or have their own assets.

• Fundación Artistica y Cultural Generacion Latina is an association that operates in Villa del Mar, in Cali’s municipality 1, and works to promote art and culture through dance, welcoming children, adolescents and young people.

• Cesoles is a community association located on the hill of Los Chorros, in the south-west of Cali, which seeks to build, together with children, young people and families, a society of solidarity, dignity and equity through the accompaniment and development of educational processes that favour transformation and change.
•  

In addition to the visits to these associations, a particularly significant day was when, in a public event held in Calì on the Bulevar del Rìo, the ‘Final Report of the Truth Commission’ (Informe comisiòn de la Verdad) was presented, i.e., the result of the investigation, analysis and confrontation process carried out by the Commission during its mandate, based on a broad and plural listening to victims, executioners, public forces, entrepreneurs, former presidents and other actors and sectors of civil society directly or indirectly linked to the Colombian armed conflict.

A very touching and profound moment was lived when meeting a group of relatives of young desaparecidos, to whom our project partner Corporacion para el desarollo regional offers support and assistance.

The week was enriched by a tour of the city and moments of conviviality and cultural exchange. At the end of the training week, the grassroots project, also coordinated by SGI, was immediately launched.