Training course for youth leaders
Leaders are those who empower others. For eight days, members of the partner organisations, many of them former exchange participants ready to take “one step more”, trained to guide their groups and facilitate activities themselves.
Why
Over years of youth exchanges, Kora and its partners noticed a pattern: the quality of an exchange depends a lot on how involved its group leaders are. Too often leaders are left out of the preparation and a facilitator ends up running everything, which weakens peer-to-peer learning. LEAD UP! put youth leaders at the centre.
What happened
- The key elements of a youth exchange and the role of the leader in each phase.
- Active listening, giving feedback and mentoring.
- Risk management and group dynamics.
- Writing and designing activities, then facilitating them for the rest of the group.
Participants organised part of the programme themselves, including two intercultural evenings. The second was open to young people from Passignano sul Trasimeno, who joined the dances, traditional games and international buffet at the farm.
Results
- 7 group leaders trained in LEAD UP! went on to lead their national groups in the project’s youth exchanges.
- Participants’ average overall score for the course: 8.6 out of 10 (20 responses).
“Observing myself in a position of leader… the best thing I could do here was to already enact the mindset of leader.” (a LEAD UP! participant)
“To see myself improving, learning and growing every day.” (a LEAD UP! participant)