Our Erasmus KA 153 project, ‘The Soul of Coaching,’ supported by the Turkish National Agency, took place from October 10-17, 2022, in our province. The project was attended by 24 young participants from Italy, North Macedonia, and the Czech Republic.
Objectives
Nowadays, many young people, especially individuals with limited socio-economic opportunities, lack hope and face serious obstacles in reaching ideal life opportunities and gaining equal rights with their peers. One out of every six young people in Europe is at risk of being denied from society and marginalized and they are amongst the most vulnerable groups in youth unemployment. Self-perception and self-awareness need to be increased among these young people, especially in order to encourage groups called NEET (house youth) to act as full members of societies. As in the whole world, the number of people at risk of self-harm, violence and substance abuse is increasing in our country, and it is becoming more and more aware that life is really difficult for some young people (Demir, 2020). It is increasingly recognized that a positive and proactive approach, rather than a reactive one, is needed to support the development of young people, increase their competence and improve the quality of youth work (Porter, 2019). For this reason, the project aims to organize some training activities for youth workers and youth leaders on using coaching tools and techniques in order to develop the target groups’ ability to act proactively in youth work, personal and social relations and the labor market.
The project objectives can be summarized as follows:
– Increasing the theoretical and practical knowledge level of target groups about the common methods, coaching and mentoring styles used in coaching studies on disadvantaged youth and especially NEET youth,
– Establishing a functional methodology and program to guide coaching tools and techniques into the youth work framework and NEET youth,
– To provide practical experience to target groups in activities to be carried out for young people by introducing different coaching techniques and tools to target groups,
– To introduce the target groups to the good practices in the participating countries in terms of youth employment and to have information about the network and international communities operating on youth employment and career management,
– To equip the participants with the necessary coaching skills to provide the necessary guidance to young people who are at risk of being marginalized due to their cultural, social or ethnic origins,
One of the problems frequently mentioned in youth work in recent years is that youth workers working in NGOs lack coaching skills and more importantly, youth workers are not aware of the importance of these coaching skills. The lack of professional coaches, coaching trainers and trainings ready to share their knowledge and experience with youth workers in our country and in many parts of Europe, as well as the lack of non-formal education, and the lack of international cooperation and joint projects in this field are among the needs in this field.
Buruciye Genclik ve Egitim Dernegi is a non-governmental organization established in 2020. It was established as a mission to contribute to meeting the needs of young people by organizing activities for all kinds of needs in their educational, social, cultural and professional lives and to support them to educate themselves as required by the age by equipping them with 21st century knowledge, skills and competencies. It is a known fact that an institution must first have sufficient institutional capacity and human resources in order to achieve these goals. At this point, when we look at the results of the needs analysis we carried out during the project preparation phase, it has been concluded that many of our partner institutions have similar problems, that the youth workers cannot develop themselves enough in this field, that they lack in guiding the youth and that they cannot act like a professional in their approach to the youth. In addition, the needs of the target groups, the need for continuous development of the human resources in the institutions and organizations that deal with the youth, emerged as a result of the problems faced by these groups that we addressed in various activities (meetings, trainings, events, seminars). For this reason, institutions want to carry out some activities on coaching and mentoring issues, which are of serious importance in youth activities, by designing a project in line with these needs.
Activities
Project trainings include training, outdoor activities, workshops, drama and workshops that support each other and are based on the principle of gradualism. 36 participants will be held in Sivas between 13 – 19 November 2022 in different training halls and venues. The activities are planned as 6 hours a day for 7 days and will be supported by institution visits, socio-cultural activities and excursions. The events that will take place in Sivas can be summarized as follows:
– The participants will be met from the airport and placed in their accommodation places (12 November)
– Tax number, bank account opening, institution and city orientation, icebreaking activities (13-19 November)
Day 1: Definition and Philosophy of Coaching 09.00-12.00 (Meryem Şanlı), (Presentation, Question and Answer, Role Playing), Who is the Coach, Who is the Consultant, Who is the Mentor? 13.00- 16.00 (Melike Saylan) (Drama, Six Hat Technique, Jigsaw Reading)
Day 2: Coaching Process and Management 09.00-12.00 (Meryem Şanlı) (Presentation, Question and Answer), Coaching Wheels Applications 13.00 – 16.00 (Melike Saylan) (Collectium, Station)
Day 3: Coaching Dialogues and Designing Action 09.00-12.00 (Melike Saylan) (Demonstration, Brainstorming), Career Coaching 13.00- 16.00 (Olcay Atbin) (Presentation, Case Study, Question and Answer)
Day 4: Executive Coaching 09.00-12.00 (Meryem Şanlı) (Presentation, Question and Answer, Brainstorming), Basic Competencies of Coaching 13.00 – 16.00 (Melike Saylan) (Drama, Problem Solving)
Day 5: Coaching in Youth Activities 09.00-12.00 (Olcay Atbin) (Presentation, Case Study, Question and Answer), Effective Mentoring Activities 13.00 – 16.00 (Melike Saylan) (Presentation, Question and Answer, Role Playing)
Day 6: Ethical Values in Coaching 09.00-12.00 (Meryem Şanlı) (Presentation, Drama, Six Hats Technique)
Coaching Materials Training 13.00 – 16.00 (Melike Saylan) (Station, Teamwork)
Day 7: Closing, Evaluation and Planning of Future Project Activities
All training processes aim to develop the initiative and entrepreneurial competencies of the participants in the coaching processes, to introduce contemporary individual and team coaching methods, to synthesize these methods and to enable each institution to adapt it to its own locale.
There are some target groups that are aimed to be reached within the scope of the project. These groups are in order of priority;
a) youth workers who will be involved in the project activities of the institutions in the project partnership,
These individuals represent the group that will directly benefit from the project activities, and after the training they will receive, they will perform more effectively in coaching and mentoring in the youth work they will carry out in their own institutions, and will guide the youth workers in their own institutions and regions through the courses, seminars and informal training activities they will give in their own institutions after the activity. In this way, the institutions will both ensure the development of their youth workers and serve the sustainability of the project and spread the impact to a wider base with the training activities in the following processes.
b) all employees who are engaged in youth activities in public, private and NGOs in their own cities, regions and countries that institutions will reach through dissemination activities
These target groups will benefit from the project activities secondarily. Participants who will participate in the project activities will share the gains they will gain after the project activity in their own cities and regions with these groups
Impact
The project will have some impact on the participants and the youth institutions that the participants will attend. These effects can be summarized as follows. The impact of the program on the participants:
– participants will gain new theoretical, practical knowledge and technical skills on coaching tools, experiential learning, inspirational motivation and soft skills that they can use to touch the lives of young people who meet the definition of NEET and have limited opportunities,
– will get rid of stagnation by gaining energy, dynamism and new perspectives on youth work; they will gain interest and curiosity towards new and different practices and they will better understand how to use these gains in youth work,
– will better understand how to motivate young people and gain knowledge and sensitivity, especially in the inclusion of disadvantaged young people in informal programmes,
– learn the necessary methods and techniques to focus on group dynamics and help young people really get to know each other while working on a project,
Learn more about the 7 types of inclusion and how different coaching methods can create an environment where young people can see the person as an individual without judging them based on their social, cultural or ethnic background.
– will be more experienced in future Erasmus+ programmes; they will be able to carry out more qualified training and guidance activities by increasing their skills and competencies,
– will help them design new projects together in the future, make new friendships and professional connections.
For participating organizations
– ensure that youth workers are trained in methods of promoting diversity and inclusion in their work and that their skills and competencies will be enhanced to enable them to implement similar programs for marginalized youth groups in their country;
– will enable institutions to reach wider target groups by providing adequate human resources in order to reach marginalized and disadvantaged young people,
– developing the capacity to reach marginalized and disadvantaged youth, after the training course, the participating and participating institutions will transfer their experiences to other youth workers and leaders in their own and in their regions.
– will also benefit from the increase in the quality of youth work services offered to the community and implement projects that truly reflect the needs of young people and in which they can be involved, encouraged and empowered, from planning to dissemination.
As a result, youth workers will develop their skills of working with local and international institutions and groups in the projects they will carry out after the project, and they will become more skilled in designing and facilitating learning processes throughout youth work with effective coaching and mentoring methods. Youth workers will develop young people’s entrepreneurship, employability and awareness of active citizenship by using the new methods and skills they will learn; they will contribute to their participation in personal and social initiatives as individuals responsible for social events.
As tangible results of the project:
1) an infographic series for youth workers and mentors describing their own map of coaching processes,
2) a toolkit to be used by the participants in institutions, which will include coaching sessions for the inclusion of young people and their orientation on issues such as career and career choice,
3) the participating youth workers can identify other youth workers, volunteers, organization members, etc. a workshop (after the activity) that allows him to train on coaching and mentoring
4) A booklet explaining the concepts of ‘Coaching and Mentoring’ to be prepared for dissemination activities.
Intangible results:
– Increasing the institutional capacity and competence of youth work and the long-term development of organizations, higher quality guidance based on coaching and mentoring activities, more qualified cooperation, development of intercultural dialogue skills and increasing the competence of youth workers and leaders in order to develop European identity and solidarity.