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13 facilitators join the pool of trainers-in-the-making of ESN Romania
From 8th to 13th of June 2022, 13 Romanian ESN volunteers attended a Training of Trainers event inPăltiniș, Brașov county. Their aspiration to become facilitators, and eventually trainers, was aided bythe content of internal ESN trainers (from the Eduk8 programme), as well as external experts who havevast experience in delivering ToT to student NGOs
INSPIRE: next gen training of trainers is an initiative launched by ESN Romania to address its growing need of long-term capable facilitators and trainers within its ranks. The project consisted of a five-days Training of Trainers event in June 2022, in a remote location in Romania, that not only provided the necessary facilities, but was also secluded enough to allow the participants to focus on the content being delivered and on honing their skills.
The Team of Trainers was formed by four people: one senior volunteer from the ESN Eduk8 programme, who provided the touch of ESN culture to the content of the ToT and steered it towards self-development, facilitation methods, and inclusivity of the content being prepared; and three external experts from Trainifique, who have vast experience in delivering ToT content to student NGOs and who focused on the public speaking and audience engagement aspects of the content.
Together, the Team of Trainers, took a practical approach to the event agenda, including a progressive series of tasks for the participants. At first, they were required to deliver an impromptu 1-minute presentation on a topic of their choice, in order to assess their profiles and competencies. By the third day, the participants had to deliver 10-minute mock workshops in teams of three, being allowed to split the tasks among them and use specific facilitation methods that they learned. On the last day of the event, each participant had to deliver a 10-minute presentation / mock workshop alone, being left to apply any of the techniques or skills learned during the previous days. Great improvement was seen in all participants, who grew accustomed to the environment, developed new skills and gained confidence in themselves. The participants were able to use their creativity and to prepare content on their favourite topics, that can serve as the basis for future workshops, with the help of the training materials that were also put at their disposal.
ESN Romania is looking forward to seeing the growth of its 13 new facilitators! Even during the ToT, the participants expressed their wishes to use their newfound skills to teach new local volunteers on ESN topics, to apply their skills in Teams of Trainers at national events, or to hold workshops in external places (e.g.: at work).
by Claudiu Nicolae FAGADAR on 29.06.2022
edited by the service provider
