Background
Experiencing recent crises such as COVID-19, economic downturns, and a reduction in financial resources has emphasized the importance of our organization’s international engagement. This includes learning, networking, and launching new projects. The demand for specific training programs has increased among our organization’s staff and volunteers who work in the fields of psychological and career counselling, equality consulting, and academic guidance. These professionals seek opportunities for diverse, multicultural learning environment in English, as there is a growing number of young adults among their clients who are foreign, refugees, economically disadvantaged, or have special needs. These individuals often face severe psychological challenges and have difficulty accessing basic services or finding employment, among other issues. Additionally, there is a need to develop leadership skills so that our organization can respond resiliently to challenges and renew its training programs.
Objectives
We aim to achieve four objectives:
- Developing counselling competencies, focusing on supporting disadvantaged and special-needs young adults. This aims to enable professionals to assist their clients in a culturally sensitive, inclusive, and reflective manner, using methods that manage the effects of social exclusion while focusing on strengths and resources.
- Enhancement of trainer skills for working with individuals and groups with diverse ethnic, religious, etc., backgrounds. This includes effectively engaging them in programs, inspiring cooperative communication, and bridging the gap in terms of linguistic and cultural differences.
- Development of leadership skills for involving employees in strategic processes, increasing motivation, and fostering constructive collaboration with relevant external partners.
- Integration of our organisation into the European professional network, expanding our knowledge and relationship network to strengthen our organisation.
Activities
The project will focus on developing the competencies of leadership, employees, and volunteers through professional training and job-shadowing. We plan to participate in the following 5-day courses:
Counselling Competence Development:
Narrative Coaching and Counselling – training for a wide spectrum of human professionals to support people using a narrative approach in articulating and rewriting their identities and lives in a way that opens up new paths and gives them the courage to embark on and complete their journey.
Trainer and Facilitator Skills Development:
Using visual and creative tools in training and workshops to inspire and engage participants.
Leadership Skills Development:
Leadership in a complex environment – a course for managers and leaders to reflect on their leadership practices, share their experiences and knowledge with other leaders, and gain deeper insights into the approaches that can be applied within their organizations.
Impacts
Every participant in the project within our organization will be able to:
- renew and rethink their training and/or counselling competencies,
- develop skills in communication with people of different cultures, perspectives, values, and opinions,
- acquire knowledge of best practices from various European countries,
- expand their international professional network,
- be motivated to continue international collaborations.
Those in leadership positions will:
- be more confident and prepared to lead in challenging and crisis-filled situations,
- be capable of applying new approaches in supporting volunteers and working with colleagues.
Trainers and consultants will:
- expand their toolkit with narrative and visual approaches,
- expand their toolkit in the field of intercultural consulting competencies.