Date : 30/11/2015 - 07/12/2015


Place : surroundings of Brussels, Belgium


Number of Participants from DNB: 1


Project Summary :
Change management is a very important concept in the private and sometimes the governmental sector. We believe that youth organizations should also be capable to efficiently and effectively manage the change. It represents the right approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations to a desired future state and this is what we want to achieve! We aim to build the capacities of youth organizations to deal with low youth participation, develop a vision about it and manage the transitions towards it successfully.

In this context, YEU invites you to participate, inspire change and refine the existing situation! You are welcome to take part in this training course! But, before your decision, let us introduce you to the events.

Title: Training course (TC) “Change management in youth NGOs”
Dates: from the 1st to the 6th of December (travel days are: 30th November for arrival and 7th December for departure)
Place: Brussels and surroundings

Organizers
Youth for Exchange and Understanding (YEU) is an International Non-Governmental Youth Organization established in 1986 and member of the European Youth Forum in Brussels as an INGYO. YEU looks forward to increase tolerance and awareness between different countries, cultures and traditions, and to promote a greater level of comprehension through the development of various youth activities. The main aim of YEU is to promote peace, understanding and co-operation between the young people of the world, in a spirit of respect for human rights. YEU is a non-profit making, interdenominational youth organization independent of all political affiliation, run by young people for young people by means of a democratic structure. Visit our website for more details about YEU: www.yeu-international.org

Context
Low youth participation is recently becoming more and more evident. Usually, as an indicator of the low youth participation, the young voters’ turnout is used (which indeed becomes worse every year). However, low youth participation does not appear only when voting, better, it becomes part of all aspects of the democratic life and especially in the everyday life of the youth NGOs. The youth’s response to calls for volunteers or participants is sometimes relatively low, while the there is an increase in the last minute cancellations before the events. Still, the most striking phenomenon is the lack of participation in decision making positions in the youth organizations. The last elections of European Youth Forum, hardly reached 13 candidates for 12 positions while last YEU elections faced similar situation. Moreover, some of the YEU member organizations face difficulties to change generations in their board because there is no interest from the younger generation to be involved. It seems that the interest of young people to take the lead or the responsibility has dropped significantly down and this embeds apparently a lot of threats.

The idea of the training course “Change management in youth NGOs”
The TC “Change management in youth NGOs” targets youth workers and youth leaders. These are people who work directly with young people, who manage the youth organizations, who are in leading positions in the organization.
The objectives are:
- To explore the existing situation regarding low youth participation
- To understand the concept of change management and its elements as a way to foster youth participation
- To develop skills related to change management
- To cultivate a positive attitude and motivation to put the gained knowledge and skills in practise
- To develop a publication with tips and techniques related to change management
- To develop organizational action plans

Results of the TC
The training course will involve the participants in a series of educational elements. Below, the specific skills, knowledge and attitudes participants will gain are indicated;

Knowledge:
- Knowledge related to change management in youth organizations as a way to foster youth participation
- Understanding what is youth participation in democratic life and active citizenship
- Conceptualizing what is the situation related to low youth participation in different countries
- Exploring ways of using change management in youth organizations in order to foster youth participation
- Identifying potential challenges when using change management approach and learning ways to overcome them.
- Knowledge related to preparing action plans

Skills:
- Skills related to using change management concept in youth organizations
- Skills related to adjusting the activities/practises of the organization with the current context and the needs/expectations of young people
- Active listening and Communication through the interaction with other participants: ability to listen to different opinions and to express their own
- Cooperation in group, shared responsibility and working together with others for common benefit
- Democratic participation in activities with their peers
Attitudes:
- Motivation to use change management concept in their daily work in youth organizations
- Desire to contribute to fostering youth participation
- Sense of responsibility to share with others the competences they gained
- Respect to other people despite gender, cultural or other diversity
- Appreciation of diversity and empathy for others

Methodology
The event will be based on non-formal education methods, encouraging active participation of young people involved. Some of the methods used will be the following:
•Ice-breakers, energisers.
•Inputs from experts
•Intercultural and experiential learning
•Variety of visuals for thematic input
•Brainstorming and discussions both in working groups and in plenary

Working language
The working language of the training course will be English.

Finances
Youth for Exchange and Understanding will cover 70% of travel costs (maximum travel costs are indicated below) from the resident country. The food and lodging cost will be covered by YEU and YEU Cyprus. The participants are obliged to have receipts of all tickets they will use, boarding passes and invoices of the credit card that was used for buying the tickets for online payments otherwise they will not be reimbursed! In addition, the participants are expected to fully participate in the sessions unless there are health related unexpected circumstances. If there is unjustified absence from the sessions, YEU will not reimburse the participants. All participants will be reimbursed after the event by bank transfer.

Participation fee: 50 EUR (EU countries); 30 EUR (non-EU countries)

Number of participants divided per country and maximum travel costs per country
Country Nb Max. travel costs (100%)
Belgium 3 0
Lithuania 2 275 €
FYRO M 3 275 €
Romania 2 275 €
Montenegro 1 275 €
Ukraine 2 275 €
Italy 2 275 €
Egypt 1 530 €
Armenia 2 530 €
Serbia 3 275 €
Morocco 1 360 €
Azerbaijan 2 530 €
Netherlands 3 180 €