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Level UP

2019-1-CZ01-KA105-0610862019Youth mobilityfinalizedGood practice
Countries: CZ|ES|EL|LT|AM|BY · Grant: €42,853.5
Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learningCreativity and cultureNew innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Objectives

The project Level Up was based on experience gained through work with youngsters over the years. The young generation that was born into the digital era struggles with seemingly basic communication skills and generally responds badly to different forms of direct communication confrontation, including public speaking. Alongside basic problems came also problems like social anxiety, shyness, internal blocks etc. These social stigmas are more frequent especially among young people and were enhanced by human interactions becoming more and more digital, overuse of social networks, dating apps, food deliveries, etc. The project Level Up was created in order to address these problems in international environment and to create space for participants to develop needed skills, receive feedback and learn how to apply in daily life, as these skills are needed both for youth and youth workers. In youth work the communication is a crucial aspect. Though, not only. Communication is part of daily life of all human beings. Our main goal was to cover the topic of communication from the very practical side. For the development of the whole project the techniques of NFE and from areas of improvisational theatre, public speaking, and performance art were used. Techniques and the whole project were developed and delivered in a way that participants had an opportunity to improve their base of communication skills and face their feared areas. Special attention was paid to apply what was learnt in their life as youthworkers and in their personal life as human beings. The aim of the first stage was to cover basic techniques of communication, self-presentation, rhetoric and presentation skills. The second stage was devoted to more complex things, especially moderating the debate, leading dialogue, facilitating disputes, group facilitation, public speaking and mentoring. The objectives of the project were met through non-formal education, theatrical and impro techniques and performance art. Through this project, the participants learned and developed active listening, how to form a proper structure of oral message, how to give feedback, how to work with stress, how to keep people's attention, how to breath properly, how to fact check during conversation, how to work with silence, tips for group facilitation and youth mentoring and much more. We used combination above mentioned methods through which we achieved the increase of their self-esteem when talking in front of people, developed ability to speak freely, more fluently and with more confidence. Knowledge about communication structures, styles and methods were shared. We used learning through experience and practice but many supportive materials were shared with participants so they can use them in their workshop and support the experience by theory and activity descriptions. Learning outcomes were many, we will mention below. Needed to say, the topic of communication works with us in a longterm. Many times the participants perceive the impact of the project months or even years after the project itself. However, thanks to our active communication channels and the community created during the project we are able to monitor this process even after the project period. Actually until today - more described in the sections below. The criteria for the first stage were met without exception. The project was organized in a calm and supporting center near Olomouc (Sluňákov) where we had a whole place to ourselves and nothing was disturbing the learning process. We managed to cover all set objectives including the basics of public speaking. It was beautiful when at the end of the mobility, Deinora from Lithuania shared with us that the activities helped her with public speaking - until the project she tried many ways but nothing helped. Here she found the way. And she really needs this is her organization.Many other participants who tried to work on their communication skills in past agreed that this was a completely different, unique and effective project for them. Also other added specific examples how they improved their skills, overcame their fears, learnt a lot about feedback, active listening or team communication - so they can directly use in their organizations. Due to pandemic, the program of the 2nd stage had to be adjusted. We had to do new participant recruiting and fit the program according to the new group so this project still could meet its objectives and respond to partners needs and possibilities. Even though the program of the second stage was slightly changed and adapted,we are glad we managed to meet all the aims and objectives planned. Even though we faced lot of last-minute changes due to pandemic restrictions. Venue in Spain fit the needs perfectly. Even though we faced challenges due to pandemic situations, travel restrictions, we are glad we delivered a high-quality training with significant impact to the participants, organizations and communities.

Project partners (6)