Civic Skills Academy: Training for Mentors

“Civic Skills Academy: International Partnership for Young People”

Training for Mentors at Galati, Romania
April 29th – May 3rd, 2008

The project is designed to support the development of civil society in the SE European region by creating a cross-border cooperation for empowering local youth.

During a training seminar, 20 teachers have got known with the Civic skills Concept also with the steps for civic skills development and would become ”the mentors” in their communities.

Snezana Cekovic Vocational School ``Dusan Trivunac Dragos`` Svrljig, Goran Vasiljevic of NGO ``KONKVIS`` Svrljig and Dragana Nikolic and Milan Djordjevic of Denizen took part in the training altogether with colleagues from Macedonia, Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania.

Training Agenda:

Day I
Presentation of Organizations/Schools the participants come from represented as drawings that aimed to explain the main activities, projects, etc.

Participants were asked to make or draw a boat and then put it on a piece of paper under one word that describes their personal attitude towards this training course. The boats are made to be flexible and could be moved from one place to another according to personal aspiration of each participant

Preparation and Presentations: using Flip Chart or Power Point the participants’ presented their schools or organizationsevery day.

Day II

Recognize Civic Skills
1. Interpersonal Civic Skills
2. Intrapersonal Civic Skills
3. Civic Skills for community
4. Civic Skills for mediation of conflict

Day III

Basic levels of problem resolution among Youth groups
Level 1: TO DO
Level 2: TO KNOW
Level 3: TO HAVE
Level 4: TO SHOW

Participants read the story about little bear that was different from the others and a way that she found some real values in life using the help of her friends. Chosen by the facilitators and divided into four groups, participants were asked to, after hearing the story, which ended with: “…after she got conscious of her personal values and qualities despite being different, she set on a chair.” make a chair for a bear to sit on. Each group got old newspapers and tape to make the chair. The chairs were evaluated by the criteria of team work, fun and a result. The organizers chose the best one.

Day IV

The Decadal of Civic Life:
Tolerance
Cooperation
Team Work
Public Work
Creativity
Communication
Active Participation
Recognition of Rights & Responsibilities
Morality
Flexibility

Role Play – choosing one of the 10 rules that were established as the Decadal of Civic Life the participants were asked to, divided into pairs, act their rule. The others should guess the Civic Skill.

Day V

Follow-up: Project Proposals for Future Cooperation and Sharing Ideas.

And, at the end, let’s give a due recognition to the organizers of this training seminar… Thanks for everything; we really had a great time.

Hope to see you all soon!!!