EURECA Training Course
EURECA training course, a space in the mountains for youth workers to share and get inspired by international partners.
EURECA: European Recognition, Evaluation, Certification and Assessment is the first project presented by the international network The GloRe Network, founded in 2017. The network consists of over 30 international and local voluntary organisations and operates the GloRe certification system. EURECA’s main aim is to improve the training, support and recognition of skills acquired by volunteers during volunteering experiences through the European Solidarity Corps (ESC).
This training course took place from 10 to 16 of September in the village of Ligonchio, Emilia Romagna funded by the Erasmus + programme. The GloRe Network has hosted a group of 32 people coming from 13 different countries in the peaceful environment of the Ostello dei Balocchi where they learnt about volunteer certification methods and exchanged good practices of mentoring volunteers.
The participants were youth workers from different organisations involved in volunteering management within the European Solidarity Corps programme. During this time, they were able to get to know the realities of people working in the same field but in different countries and a wide range of contacts to collaborate with, learned about each other’s work and got inspired by them. “Amazing how these people coming from different backgrounds and different cultures melted into one group to make this training into an inspiring and truly fantastic learning experience!” said Els, the representative of AFS Belgium.
Besides the enriching international experience that some participants had the opportunity to live for the first time, the course was a success in terms of teamwork, participation, exchange of good practices and contents. Not only the participants but also the trainers were lucky enough to learn about empowering young people, communication techniques and soft skills. All objectives were successfully met, the participants discussed how to certify their volunteers with different methods and learnt how to become part of The Glore Network, some discovered the Erasmus+ programme, others made new partners for present and future projects both local and international. As Franca from Cabowasi said “This training is creative, absorbing and inspiring. Surrounded by mountains and beautiful people, I’m informally learning, growing and glowing!!!”
The activities were mostly carried out through non-formal education methods, where group cohesion is enhanced and participants are allowed to learn in a dynamic and fun way. Most of them were taken from GloRe Toolkit, available here, and here is visible the programme followed in the activities. Of course, there was no lack of intercultural nights, where the guests introduced their culture and country and shared local products and dances, a very complete experience. On one of these evenings, we had the opportunity to have the participation of different local stakeholders from the area who were interested in learning about the Erasmus+ programme and the GloRe platform while sharing dinner with our group.
Fatima, from the Spanish partner AFAIJ said: “It is extremely rewarding to be part of something this big where your voice matters and allows you to expand, develop and understand many different soft skills through volunteering” We can conclude that it has been a very productive week on a professional level as well as inspiring and enriching on a personal level for each of the participants.