Long Term Training Course Intercultural Learning A European Training for Youth Leaders and Youth Workers carrying out projects with young people in a multi-cultural context November 2 - 16 2003 European Youth Centre, Strasbourg 1 - 12 July 2004

European Youth Centre, Budapest Why train youth leaders and workers? Over recent years, training has become an increasingly important instrument to pursue the aims and principles of the Council of Europe's youth policy. Similarly, within youth movements and institutions, it is nowadays acknowledged that the ever-growing complexity and diversity of youth work requires competent and motivated volunteers or staff members to secure quality and a maximisation of results. For those active in youth work, on a volunteer or remunerated basis, temporarily or permanently, the commitment put into and the experience acquired in youth work can be better valued in other professional circles if accompanied by training. At the level of European youth activities - and what may be broadly defined as European youth work -training is necessary and important in order to prepare those volunteers or professionals to act within an international and intercultural environment and, generally to develop their competence to work and act within a European framework. The priorities of international youth organisations and also those of the Council of Europe have traditionally been put in this area, through the training of leaders to run international youth activities, youth projects, to run and develop European organisations and generally to participate in the definition of European youth policy. The need for intercultural competence has also been highlighted in the European Union's Youth for Europe and now in the Youth programme. A Partnership exists between the Council of Europe and the European Commission, precisely in the area of training youth. Within non-formal education - a priority area for the Directorate of Youth and Sport - training and education activities form the backbone of youth work. While their non-formal nature gives them credibility, flexibility and increased relevance to the young people's needs, their status and quality can only improve with an increase in the number of qualified and trained youth workers and youth leaders working in the field. The Long Term Training Course "Intercultural Learning"

A European Training for Youth Leaders and Youth Workers carrying out projects with young people in a multi-cultural context The Long Terms Training Course (LTTC) is one of the most intensive training courses offered by the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe. It aims to enable youth workers and youth leaders (both professionals and volunteers) to give an international, European and intercultural dimension to their youth projects and to become more effective the preparation, implementation and evaluation of youth projects with an intercultural dimension or that take place within a multi-cultural context. The partners of the Council of Europe Directorate of Youth and Sport: international non-governmental youth organisations, national youth councils and municipal, regional or national youth services regularly express the need to offer their members training which emphasises project development and intercultural learning.

Since 1990, the LTTC has effectively provided project development training using intercultural approaches for youth workers and leaders who carry out youth projects which have an international, intercultural or European dimension. The construction of a social Europe, and the challenges European societies face in managing cultural diversity, demand concrete action in favour of social cohesion and intercultural understanding. Therefore, this course is particularly relevant for youth workers or leaders who work with young people in a multi-cultural context, who have to deal with issues of diversity in the daily practice of their youth work and who wish to more competently undertake the challenge of working in or with multi-cultural groups of young people. The course is also designed for those youth workers or leaders who wish to undertake projects with young people on an international level, or which take place within the context of multi-cultural environments. Since the end of the 1990's the issues of peace and intercultural dialogue have become more important key areas of work for the DYS. From 2000 to the end of 2002, the work in this area was concentrated on young people who experience life in regions of conflict. For the years 2003 to 2005, the Directorate of Youth and Sport has initiated a broad based programme on "Youth Building Peace and Intercultural Dialogue", considering young people to important carriers for the promotion of a culture of peace and for intercultural dialogue. The aims of the three year programme are: - To increase awareness of the importance of intercultural dialogue and education for the development of a "culture of peace"; - To support youth organisations and multiipliers in the youth field in developing activities aimed at peace building and intercultural dialogue; - To provide practitioners in the fields of peace education and intercultural education with materials and training relevant to their work. This LTTC is one of the highlight training activities within the three year programme of the DYS on "Youth Building Peace and Intercultural Dialogue". Aims and objectives of the training course Within the context outlined above, the "Long Term Training Course - Intercultural Learning" aims to: Empower and train youth leaders and workers to develop projects and associative strategies with an international, European or an intercultural dimension and taking place in a multi-cultural context and based in the values of democracy, active youth citizenship, civil society, youth participation and intercultural education. Specific objectives: - To enable participants to prepare, run and evaluate a project with an intercultural / multi-cultural dimension in all its aspects;
- To develop participants' skills in the areas of leadership, project and programme development, project management, intercultural communication and organisational capacity building and development;
- To create an environment conducive to developing innovative operational tools and methods that can be used in youth work in multi-cultural contexts;
- To provide information about European institutions, structures and programmes relevant for youth work with an international, European or intercultural dimension;
- To motivate and enable participants to share their acquired knowledge and experience and to act as multipliers;
- To develop new approaches to working with the challenge of diversity (national, religious, linguistic, cultural and lifestyle, etc.) as manifest in youth work and in youth projects with an intercultural dimension;
- To initiate innovative youth projects that can have a relevant impact on the life contexts of young people living in multi-cultural contexts. Participants stand to gain the following as a result of the Long Term Training Course:
- Skills for how to prepare, run and evaluate a project;
- Experience of living and working in a multi-cultural and intercultural group of young people;
- Knowledge about multi-cultural realities and situations of youth work in other countries of Europe or further;
- A deeper understanding of youth work with an intercultural dimension; - A deeper understanding of the concepts such as peace and intercultural dialogue, as well as attendant issues such as conflict, interreligious dialogue, intercultural communication, etc.
- Useful contacts and partners for further work on the theme. Methodology and calendar of the course The Long Term Training Course takes place in three phases: an introductory seminar, a project phase and an evaluation seminar. The course is designed as an open learning process ased on participant experience and exchange. The multi-cultural group of participants is in itself a forum for intercultural learning and a framework for personal development. The course programme and contents are organised so as to allow for the maximum participation of the group using active and participatory methods. A team of experienced trainers organises the learning process and provides guidance to the development and evaluation of the project work as well as other training inputs. The planning and implementation of a concrete youth project by each participant serves a dual purpose. In the first place, the project is a tool for learning, developing practical experience. In the second place, the project is seen as a concrete initiative that can contribute to the improvement of the quality and outreach of youth work on local and regional levels.
Phase Dates Place Function Introduction seminar 2 - 16 November 2003 European
Youth Centre Strasbourg, France Exploring the key issues and institutional framework of the course. Development of the projects with the assistance of the trainers and the other participants. Basic information on European youth work, work on the course themes. Project planning and management skills. Additional skills training. Project phase November - June 2003 Participants' country and organisation Participants implement their projects in their country. Networking with other participants and projects. Visits by team members to participants' projects. Evaluation seminar 2 - 12 July 2003 European Youth CentreBudapest, Hungary Evaluation of the projects. Completion of skills training. Contributions for the development of networks amongst participants and their organisations. Reviewing the key educational approaches and preparing for the course follow-up. Criteria for the projects The projects to be developed within the course must conform to the following criteria

. Projects should:
a) Address multi-cultural realities of young people, intercultural dialogue and learning and/or situations of tension and conflict that have a cultural or religious dimension Projects should address situations that young people face in their multi-cultural environments, the needs of young people in terms of increased competence for managing or dealing with tensions that have at their roots cultural or religious reasons, situations of dialogue between young people from different cultures, and provide opportunities for young people to engage in intercultural learning.
b) Be concrete and relevant, reflecting the situations and challenges faced by the young people that it addresses.
They should address a particular community and/or group of young people. Projects can also have a national, international or European target group. They can also embrace different categories of young people within one project. They must be based on real needs and aspirations of the target group(s) and represent an added value to the community or to the organisation.
c) Aim at empowering young people and fostering their participation. Empowerment and participation should be understood in a broad sense as strategies to overcome or counter the barriers of many kinds, including social exclusion, oppression, discrimination or isolation, that can be met by young people who take part in youth activities in a multi-cultural context. This can be pursued through, for example, the development of projects that involve education and training or the development of structures of participation.
d) Be based on an intercultural approach. The aims and activities undertaken by the project should contribute to better understanding between different national and cultural groups and to improving relations between young people of different backgrounds.
e) Have clear aims and objectives. For this purpose the projects must have a beginning and an end - even if a follow-up is foreseen - so as to allow an evaluation and assessment of the results achieved. A project is thus more than a single activity but should be concrete enough to be effectively managed and evaluated.
f) Run by and for young people. The leaders of the project should be youth leaders or representatives of young people and the project should have young people as the ultimate target group or should promote their interests as an ultimate aim. Young people should be involved in the definition of the project, its implementation and evaluation. They should be truly concerned partners and not just "recipients". Projects should be run by a team, of which the project carrier that participates in the LTTC is a member.
g) Carried out in the framework of an organisation or association. Purely individual projects will not be accepted, in as far as possible, the projects should correspond to the organisation's priorities. The nature and size of the organisation or association can vary (from small and local to national or international/European organisations) and so may the form (informal association, foundation, federation, etc.). The scope of the project should respect the capacity (in human and financial terms) of the organisation promoting it.
h) Initiated during the course. Since the nature and size of the projects will be very different, it might not always be possible to finish the projects before the evaluation seminar. But to benefit from the support by the course team and in order to allow for an evaluation, at least some activities should be undertaken before July 2003 and the beginning of the evaluation seminar.

NB: Financing of the projects : During the course, participants will receive information and advice about different European/international funding sources that could be interesting for co-financing the projects.The Council of Europe, however, cannot make any commitment to finance the projects of the participants. Fundraising and the financial management of the projects are the sole responsibility of the project leader (the participant) and of the sending organisation, group or
association.
Working languages
English and French are foreseen as working languages. Simultaneous interpretation in these two languages shall be provided.
Profile of participants Participants will be youth workers and youth leaders who are:
- active in local associations, community organisations, youth clubs and initiatives,
- active in regional, national or international associations
- representatives of local, regional and/or national governmental youth structures/services
- interested in or already responsible for developing projects with an international, European or intercultural dimension for young people in a multi-cultural context

All participants must also be:
- Resident of a Council of Europe member state or of a country signatory to the Council of Europe Cultural Convention (some places may however be offered to participants resident in other countries);
- Willing to undergo training and set up a project within the framework of the course;
- Aged between 18 to 30 years;
- Ready and able to attend for the full duration of the course;
- Supported by their organisation or association;
- Competently able to work in either English or French.

Financial conditions
- Board and lodging are provided at and paid for by the European Youth Centres;
- Travel expenses are fully reimbursed according to the rules of the Council of Europe;
- An enrolment fee of 54 EURO is due by each participant for each seminar. This fee will be deducted from the amount to be reimbursed for travel expenses;
- The Directorate of Youth and Sport operates a system of compensation for the cost of living for young workers and young unemployed people under the age of 30 who are obliged to take unpaid leave in order to attend one of its activities. Eligible participants will receive further information and details at a later date.

Procedure for applications
Candidates must send all 4 pages of the enclosed application forms directly to the EYC by post, fax or e-mail. Candidates accepted will be informed end September or beginning of October 2003 and will subsequently receive a course file with additional information and a draft course programme.

Deadline for applications: 1 June 2003
Applications must be sent to:
European Youth Centre Strasbourg 30 rue Pierre Coubertin 67000 Strasbourg France
e-mail: nina.kapoor@coe.int
http://www.coe.int/youth