The Excellence Center in Europe participated in the TICTAC – Multilateral Training Course to support quality in youth worker mobility activities under Erasmus+ Youth in Action” from 25 February to 3 March 2019 in Greece. Thirty youth leaders, youth workers, and youth project managers from countries in Europe, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Turkey, participated in the training event in Greece.
A co-founder of the Excellence Center in Europe, Rafat Shantir, represented our organization in Athens. Rafat stated „I was eager to participate in this training seminar because I wanted to experience different educational settings, especially non-formal educational methods, such as role playing, simulation games, and physical, written, and vocabulary exercises. I can use this new knowledge and ability to serve my community in the city of Halle (Saale), Germany, as well as my work with the young people at the Excellence Center in Europe. Furthermore, I wanted to share experiences with other course participants and develop connections with them for future partnership and cooperation. I was also seeking to understand the role of the Erasmus+: Youth in Action Programme within a long term local strategy. Importantly, I wished to learn how to simulate the first steps of organizing a project in the youth field within the context of an international team“.
Rafat added, „During the training course we learned a variety of strategies including how to set up a Youth Project, and what may be required to do so, such as taking into account factors like intercultural differences. The training was unique in that we were exposed to plenty of practice. Representing four countries (Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Bulgaria) four participants, including myself, worked together and developed a new project called „Yalla, Let Us Start“.
“The purpose of our project was to motivate refugees into integrating into the community in which they live. Combining theory with practice in the training course was an excellent practical learning tool. We received feedback from our trainers, as well as the course participants. We had two great trainers, Jo Claeys from Portugal and Denis Morel from France. They were knowledgeable and experienced, and taught us so much about Erasmus+ and Youth in Action Project.“ Rafat Said
Rafat concluded by saying, „The training course in Athens not only exposed me to a lot of information, examples, and practical strategies in organizing youth projects, but it also offered me the chance to meet many people from different countries, such as Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Portugal, Norway, Latvia, and the Netherlands, to name a few. Furthermore, I learned new games, jokes, and words in other languages.“
This training was organized by the YiA National Agency Greece (National Agency) and supported by the JUGEND für Europa (The German National agency)
