Digital Pathways: Digital Tools for youthwork
Digital Pathways: Innovating Facilitation for Youth Empowerment and Active Citizenship
Nina Baranovičová, Rebeca Tomagová, Kamila Plačková
Sun-bathed landscapes, useful and original digital tools, priceless knowledge and friendships for a lifetime. All of that and more was brought to us by the Digital pathways training course implemented in the framework of Erasmus+ programme.
Over the course of a week, in the beautiful city of Kalamata in Greece, people of all ages from 10 different countries worked together under the common goals of empowering youth workers, strengthening digital competences, encouraging active citizenship, supporting organisational growth, promoting transnational cooperation and fostering social inclusion.
Digital Pathways: Innovating Facilitation for Youth Empowerment and Active Citizenship managed to do just that, successfully meeting its aim and going above and beyond. This was achieved throughout a week of activities, varying in methods and goals from digital to artistic, from groups to pairs, from icebreakers to evaluations – more often than not combining many of those categories, resulting in fun, educational and meaningful experiences.
Our activities at glance
The first day of this project was dedicated to so-called icebreakers, activities which allowed the whole group to get to know each other. That proved crucial to our following activities, considering all of them were carried out in different groups. Thanks to meeting everyone properly, sharing our expectations and getting to know the agenda, soon enough we felt like old friends and colleagues, ready to take on the upcoming non-formal learning experience.
On the second day, we got to know some important terminology as well as info about youth work and ETS competences through engaging digital tools. For some, it was new knowledge, for others, it was useful repetition – nonetheless, it was the perfect step for laying the groundwork for what was coming next.
The third day was a really creative one. After going for a dive in the waters of digital facilitation, we had the chance to become storytellers – combining both good old traditional storytelling with today’s technologies, practicing teamwork, creativity and communication.
On the fourth day of the project, many of us had the chance to step outside of our comfort zone. After a quick warmup, we tried out how theater can be a priceless tool in creative facilitation. Next up was the topic of music, giving us the chance to practice using movement as a communication device. After that, a free afternoon followed, allowing us to explore more of Kalamata’s beauty through its nature and community.
The fifth day was all about empowerment and inclusion. Through an activity called World cafe, we shared new ideas on topics such as working with NEETs and designing our own activities. Later on, these ideas became action, when each group was tasked with creating their own activities, using digital tools and our combined skills and effort.
On the sixth day, we picked up where we left off before. With our own activities from the day before ready, we had the chance to become the facilitators for a while, carrying out the programmes we designed, listening to feedback, learning from our own mistakes and of course, having a lot of fun. Afterwards came the time to wrap it all up – we engaged in some final reflections regarding the week as well as discussing our next steps going forward. Then, having successfully navigated the eventful week together, we were happy to receive our new YouthPasses.
The next morning, it was time to say our goodbyes. And although from Kalamata, we each went our separate ways, we will always carry the amazing experiences, ready and eager to pass our newfound knowledge and skills to others.
