Project place: Chotěboř, Czech Republic
Project dates: 29th September – 9th October 2018
Application deadline: 31st July 2018
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Agents of Change (AoC) is a 9 days training course aiming to improve the leadership skills of the participants through self-reflection. It will take place in Chata Doubravka near Chotěboř, Czech Republic from 29th September to 9th October 2018.
THE TRAINING IS HERE FOR YOU TO:
1. reflect the role of leadership and explore your own attitudes, approach and inner motivation for your work with volunteering;
2. improve and boost your practical skills (especially leading teams and projects) for working with groups and projects in volunteering.
3. put your experience into practice and multiply among your colleagues and target groups.
WHO CAN APPLY?
The training is intended for participants, who:
Are planning to lead a project or a workcamp in 2018 or 2019 and ideally have been to or are planning to go to regular skills oriented project or workcamp leaders trainings
Have ideally participated at least 1 workcamp as participants, previous experiences with leading a workcamp or other type of project are welcome, but not required
Are at least 18 years old and can communicate in English
Are willing to work on their personal and professional development
Are able to participate fully at the programme from the beginning till the end
THE WORKING APPROACH OF THIS TRAINING:
The Agents of Change (AoC) is NOT the regular training you might be used to when it comes to non-formal education/Erasmus+. We combine elements from formal education, non-formal and informal learning, as we find all of them purposeful when applied to the right context. We work from a perspective which unites learning by experience with coaching, as we believe that this supports the most the participants in their own development.
The training is here to challenge participants’ perceptions, beliefs and assumptions and to settle themselves as people and leaders. Due to this approach, which focuses highly on the personal background of the participants, it might be emotionally intensive. It is so as we aim to create an impactful and useful process, by focusing on what is relevant on the participants’ personal and professional life. Therefore, the majority of the program will consist of activities for self-reflection, supported by some models and tools we find relevant and powerful. The participants will explore, play and try out, so they can find their own conclusions. The training is there for people who want to work on themselves; therefore each participant is the creator of their own experience. By doing so, participants will be able to develop the powerful capacity for self-coaching: the ability to bring yourself towards the results you want to achieve in life, while enjoying it.
We use a specific methodology, developed for more than over 10 years in a network of youth organisations, with a specific culture:
We take each day as a working day with a length of 10 to 14 hours, including meals and breaks;
For the majority of the training the program is pre-defined;
Our activities stimulate participants to bring what is relevant for them, independently from whatever culture they come from; therefore, we will not use the traditional name games, icebreakers or intercultural evening activities.
We will use for the most part a theatrical setting: specific room’s settings, specific materials, music and we will have as a team a specific approach. We create the stage for participants to bring what is relevant for themselves and work it out.
TESTIMONIALS
To illustrate, here are some quotes from the participants of previous AoC training, which we organised in April/May 2018 in Hungary:
“I was challenged and thrown out of my comfort zone on a daily basis but I’ve learned so much about myself, my strengths and my weaknesses. This was one of the best and most useful trainings I have participated in and I am able to trust myself much more after it.”
“Go there with an open mind, be there as the vulnerable and pure person you really are, leave the training empowered and thrilled to pursue your own goals.”
“It’s a training to discover yourself in which you will check every part of your life that has shape you to understand the way you are now, and the way you behave to the others and after that you will practice all the competences learnt in real life.”
“If you want to go beyond your border and experience the unexpected, go for this training.”
WHAT EXPERIENCE CAN YOU EXPECT?
AoC is divided into 4 main parts:
1. Self-Reflection (days 1 to 3) – During these days the participants will have the opportunity to get a better and deeper understanding on how and why they lead people and how this affects the results they obtain, and they can maintain what works and improve what doesn’t. Shortly: the participants will have the opportunity to look into the relationship between beliefs, concepts, automatic behaviours, teamwork and decision making. They will do so through input, activities and reflection spaces.
2. Transformation (days 4 & 5) – The participants will have the space to create practical links between the previous days of self-reflection and their own working lives. They will have the chance to transform any personal insights into long-lasting professional competences with the support of tools and input coming from such fields as management and leading teams or project planning.
3. Outdoor / Submersion (days 6 to 8) – The best way to put knowledge from to theory is to practice in a real-life situation or context. Therefore, in small groups, the participants will have several assignments to complete in the local communities around the venue where they can put into practice the knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired throughout the previous days of the TC.
4. Integration & Closing (Days 8 & 9) – These last 2 days are there to wrap up the learning experience of the TC, in such a way that the insights can be taken home in a structured manner, to plan follow-up steps and close the TC together.
In case you have any questions for the nature or programme of the training, don’t hesitate to contact the project coordinator Lenka Polcerová – lenka.polcerova@inexsda.cz, +420 724 236 972.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
Venue: Chata Doubravka, Dolní Sokolovec (near Chotěboř), Czech Republic
Dates of the training are 29th September to 9th October 2018, specifically:
29th September – arrivals to the venue – a bus will be arranged from Prague to take most of the participants to the venue (those that will fly or arrive to Prague)
30th September – 8th October – training
9th October – departures from the venue (again by bus)
Conditions:
It is necessary to participate from the beginning of the TC till the end, no late arrivals / early departures.
There is 20€ contribution fee from each participant. If you are very interested in participating, but this fee is too high for you, please, let us know and we will sort it out.
The organizer will arrange the boarding, accommodation, materials, content of the training
The organizer will reimburse the travel costs of the participants after they complete the training course up to the lump sum amounts in Erasmus + rules (275€ for participants from Italy, Macedonia, Spain, Estonia, France, UK; 180€ for participants from Slovenia, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary)
HOW TO APPLY:
If you want to apply, please, fill in this questionnaire by 31st July 2018.
You will know by 8th August if you are selected, so you will have enough time to arrange the travel and get ready for the training course.
THE TRAINING IS COORDINATED AND HOSTED BY: INEX-SDA, Czech Republic
IN CLOSE COOPERATION WITH: Egyesek, Hungary
OTHER PARTNER ORGANISATIONS:
De Amicitia, Spain
Associazione per la Formazione, gli Scambi e le Attivita Interculturali (AFSAI), Italy
Association Center for Intercultural Dialogue – Kumanovo, Macedonia
Internationale Begegnung in Gemenischaftsdiensten (IBG), Germany
MTÜ Noortevahetuse Arengu Ühing Estyes, Estonia
Zavod Voluntariat, Slovenia
Solidarités Jeunesses, France
XCHANGE Scotland and International Voluntary Service, UK