We are delighted to be sharing with you the results of the training course GO LOCALY!
This learning experience took place from 8th to 12th July 2024 in the Monastery of Santa María de Valdediós, located in the beautiful valley of Valdediós (“valley of Gods”) in Asturias, Spain.
The aim of this activity was to prepare 16 youth workers, youth leaders, and volunteers of youth to support young people to implement community-based interventions through their self-initiated local environmental projects.
The week was intense and the activities diverse. We used collective intelligence, group work, nature immersions, individual and group reflections, and many other non-formal learning methods to navigate across the learning plan.
After the training, we asked participants for their opinion regarding the degree of accomplishment of the project objectives. This was the result:
- 1st objective: For participants to learn how to support young people (13-17 y.o.) in implementing community-based interventions through local environmental projects.
42,9% of participants voted 3/5 and 35,7% voted 4/5. This means that almost 80% of participants think that this objective was well accomplished.
- 2nd objective: For participants to learn how to use the LOCALY Toolkit.
64,3% of participants voted 4/5, 14,3% voted 5/5 and 14,3% voted 3/5. This means that almost 93% of participants think that this objective was well accomplished.
- 3rd objective: For participants to feel ready for the project’s implementation phase.
57,1% of participants voted 4/5 and 35,7% voted 3/5. This means that almost 93% of participants think that this objective was well accomplished.
The most remembered activities 10 days after the training were:
- The values & feelings workshop
- The systems thinking sessions
- The play role
- The reflection groups
- The opening and presentation of the toolkit followed by the implementation of numerous methods and exercises from the book
- The icebreakers, energizers and group activities
- The Way of Council
- The outdoor exploration
- The closing ceremony
The main learnings that participants will apply in their work are:
- Activities to express themselves, methods of design plan, fun warm up activities
- Some activities from the toolkit, in particular the five-fingers sensing (page 25 of the toolkit), the self and group + external awareness (page 27), the Way of Council (pages 28-31), feelings + values (pages 34-35), Systems Thinking game (pages 36-37), the five finger reflection (page 46), the human knot (page 55), the human continuum (page 56), salt and pepper (page 57), all those who (page 58), what I like in nature (page 68), natural mandala (page 69), apple swap game (page 70), emotion collage (page 73), handprint paper game (page 81), find your climate superpower (pages 82-83), promote your project (pages 102-103), roleplay: a new hotel (pages 106-107).
- Some feedback sessions and the Way of Council.
- Bonding games.
- Practical and group activities that foster participants’ self reflection and thinking on a specific topic.
- Systems thinking.
- To be mindful of everybody’s needs and be better at comunicating things.
- The energizers, the Way of Council, systems thinking.
- Design the activities by what the young people want, including then on the planning, and geting to know them.
- The role playing activity, the «mandatory» self care time, some techniques on how to give motivation.
- The three project management techniques.
- The tools for designing a project such as the Project Concept Note or the Circle of Creativity.
- Respecting everyone’s turn to speak and having an open mindset.
- The systems thinking activity, the role play, the creativity circle.
Here are the testimonies of some of the participants in the training:
“This training was creatively led and designed in a way that each activity that we conducted during this week proved in the end to be a step-by-step journey towards the practical implementation of locally led environmental actions. From exploring and mapping our neighbourhood, familiarising ourselves with the locals to reflecting and debating with the different constituents of our locality through roleplay; from assessing the problems facing our environment to learning how to implement long-lasting action through the study of theoretical framework: during this training we learned the importance of supporting young people to address the issues facing their environment while guiding them towards a deeper reflection of the global systems underpinning our world. We became more conscious of how to empower them to be daring, adventurous and ingenious and to take action, locally”. – Anna-Lee Clarté, Germany/France
“I gained a lot of ideas and techniques from the structured training course that I could utilize to my practice. I liked that there was an interactive component to the activities and that we could test the ones that were developed in the months before outdoors. I like the blend of hard and soft skills, the interactions with the surroundings, and the small local community. I noticed that I was thinking about how I could apply certain of the exercises. I stepped a little beyond my comfort zone while making suggestions or participating in some activities”. – Maria Zisi, Greece
“Some ideas were nice, like some of the role-play exercises and the reference to the basic methodology, and I will definitely use them in my work”. – Viviana Koukou, Greece
“It was a great experience! The purpose of the project that we will work for is really important and I can’t wait to meet my group of children and to begin”. – Anthi Paschalidou, Greece.
Stay tuned on our project page, as we will soon be linking the toolkit for you to use it in your own community.
