The Excellence Center in Europe has participated in the BiTriMulti (BTM) – Multilateral Training Course for newcomers to Youth Exchanges in the city of Budapest, Hungary in February of 2019. The course spanned five days of intensive training that enabled its participants to develop and hone their competencies in creating high-quality Youth Exchange projects.

Rafat Shantir, manager of The Excellence Center, represented the Excellence Center in Europe in Budapest. Budapest’s training course hosted 25 participants from about 20 countries, including Germany, Austria, Belgium, Lithuania, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Finland, Latvia, Ireland, Bulgaria, and Poland.  

The training course welcomed workers who are both full time and volunteer youth workers, as well as all who seek to develop their first international Youth Exchange within the framework of the Erasmus+: Youth in Action Programme.

Rafat commented that „During the training course we learned a lot of different things about how to set up a youth exchange: what is needed to create it, and how to implement it, all the while taking into consideration such things as intercultural differences. It was unique in that we had a lot of practice during the course. Participants worked in small groups in order to develop sample youth projects.

There were four participants in my group from Germany, Ireland, Latvia, and Spain.

The training course included in-depth discussions regarding cooperation amongst European countries and nationalities. Those discussions revealed that the participants share common ideas regarding youth exchanges, and that there are diverse interests as well. Importantly, it was a great opportunity for networking. I met many people from different countries; I remain in contact with some of them for future cooperation in organizing a youth exchange.“

Rafat continued, „The course also helps me in my work at the Excellence Center in Halle. It has provided me with ideas for organizing youth exchanges in Germany or other European countries. The training course in Budapest not only supplied me with much practical information and examples for organizing youth exchanges in Europe, it also presented games, jokes, and words in other languages. It was a great learning experience, and I would recommend it to others for sure,“ concluded Rafat.

This training course in Budapest was Organised by Hungarian Erasmus+: Youth in Action National Agency (National Agency)