From May 22 to 26, Hattingen, Germany, was once again the vibrant hub for our Youth Leader Training programme. The gathering brought together youth leaders from across Europe, ready to enhance their skills, share their experiences, and prepare for future endeavours. It was an intensive event packed with learning, growth, and collaboration.
The training opened with a peer consulting session where youth leaders reflected on their past work and planned the tasks ahead. Together, they evaluated previous experiences and set up realistic and achievable goals for future youth encounters and local group activities. The goal was to learn from one another and further enhance the supportive network of youth work professionals.
Tackling Tough Topics
Youth work often involves navigating complex and controversial issues within society. The workshop “How to Talk About Hot Stuff” provided strategies for addressing these topics constructively. The participants explored ways to facilitate discussions on disputes and conflicts, equipping them with tools to foster understanding and respectful dialogue among young people.
Upcoming Events and Legal Insights
The IBB team, which coordinates this large network of European youth cooperation, presented upcoming milestones, including the European Action Week planned for the autumn and the concept of the symposium “Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers”. Additionally, a session on the legal framework for youth work offered practical guidance on handling challenging situations, ensuring that the youth leaders are well-prepared to navigate legal complexities in their engagements. A deeper dive in working groups allowed the participants to explore real-life scenarios and strategies for managing potential challenges.
A session dedicated to the booklets and other publications produced in the framework of Generation Europe – The Academy provided the youth leaders with valuable resources to enhance their work. The youth work professionals explored ways to integrate these materials into their programmes, ensuring they are effectively utilized to support educational and developmental goals.
Innovative Methods in Youth Work
Workshops on innovative methods, including the construction of escape rooms as an educational learning and experience method and a session on inclusion and diversity, offered hands-on experiences. These activities demonstrated how creative approaches could be incorporated into youth work to engage and educate young people in meaningful ways. On Friday afternoon, the next phase of the youth leader training programme began. Instead of just trying out and implementing existing methods, the focus was now on using the accumulated experience of the professionals present to develop new methods for youth work with diverse target groups that respond to the needs that exist in the network of Generation Europe – The Academy. On Saturday, this work was continued and the methods were tried out in the form of role-playing games, which were followed by a feedback session on Sunday morning.
After that, the focus was on how public relations and social media work can be implemented in the work of the local groups and in the youth encounter as part of the pedagogical process in order to empower young people to become public speakers of their own concerns and needs. And there was also time for the project partners to sit down with the partners with whom they are planning a joint trilateral youth encounter this year.
Many thanks to everyone involved! A few more impressions of the Youth Leader Training 2024: