Empowerment – Refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals or communities.
Hi everyone Amy here. At the end of April I went on a SALTO training programme in Bulgaria ran by the national agency. The programme was called ‘Give Power to Empower’ and was aimed at people working in the youth sector. A course creating empowerment in the participants so we could go forward and pass this empowerment on to others we are working with. The trainers were from across Europe; Bogan Rominica from Romania, Eleni Michail from Cyprus and Ognian Gadoularov from Bulgaria. Three fantastically motivating trainers who ran the programme to cover theory and future planning, with active and engaging workshops. A great balance that was worked great for the pace of the group.
The participants were from across Europe; Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Turkey, Malta, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, France, UK and even as far as Iceland. They all work in the field of youth development or teaching and all came with the same goal to learn skills that will benefit those they work with.
The programme started with teambuilding activities, designed to get us working as one unit to increase and build on the power of the group. The participants on the programme were amazing, it was great to work with such a variety of different people from across Europe, they were possibly the best bit about the project.As the week progressed we did a lot of work around multiple intelligences and Erikson’s Psychological development model. This was great as it was a new area of interest for me and something I had only touched on lightly. The course allowed me not only to understand the theory of this practices but also look at myself and how I work best and maybe the reasons why.
The group looked at techniques and activities we can use with the young people we work with and how these programmes can help empower and inspire a new group to go forward. Whilst making these fun, engaging and educational the key to good non-formal learning.
Overall the course really made me think that as a youth worker if you don’t believe in yourself, your abilities and what you want to do it is virtually impossible to help guide others to find these answers from within themselves. Take time to get to know yourself and what your goals, aims and ambitions are and you can become a better stronger person from this.