Burn the Bias: International Training Course on Inclusion and Diversity

Aim of the course

This training course cultivates a safe and supportive environment where we will embark on a journey of self-awareness and critical reflection. We invite you to explore your biases, examining the images that you hold of yourself and others in your youth work practice. 

By confronting complex identities and recognizing the impact of unconscious bias, you will gain the tools to proactively foster inclusivity within your work and across society. We will work with non-formal education methods such as experiential learning, embodiment, individual and group reflection in order to empower you to shape inclusive environments that value diversity, respect individuality, and promote equality for all young people.

Objectives

1. Foster peer-to-peer learning, and create a secure learning environment to support youth workers in their personal and professional development;

2. Explore the concept of biases and reflect on their impact on exclusion and discrimination in the youthwork field;

3. Encourage empathy with different aspects of discrimination/exclusion and facilitate the exchange on challenging situations that youth workers encounter at work;

4. Support youth workers in the process of uncovering personal biases through self-analysis;

5. Enable them to deconstruct and overcome those biases, by translating personal learnings into professional growth;

6. Empower youth workers to create actionable change in youth work, developing specific inclusion strategies and action plans. This includes sharing available European resources (ex. SALTO’s inclusion and diversity strategy, EU and CoE inclusion policies).

A note on emotions

During the training course, we will talk about topics such as marginalisation, discrimination and inequality. For many of us, these topics bring up uncomfortable feelings and painful memories - because we have been victims, witnesses and/or (often unconscious and unintentional) perpetrators. Being confronted with the unfairness that was directed towards us or loved ones can be just as painful as realising that we ourselves have been -involuntary and without knowing- harming others due to unconscious biases. We invite you to a space where we look at these challenging parts of ourselves, and welcome you with all your emotions. Please have an honest check-in with yourself, if you are ready to journey with us. From our side, we will do our best to create a space that is safe enough to allow you to be brave, and to hold all that comes up.

The trainers team

The international trainers team consists of Clara Montalbano (FR), José Filipe Costa (PT), Toni Mallach (SE) and Imre Hegedus (HU) who met at SALTO Training of Trainers for European Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Projects. They are united by their passion for inclusion and social justice, while bringing a broad diversity of backgrounds and learning approaches to the team.

Who can apply?

Participants with relevant experience in the Youth Work field: Youth workers, youth leaders, municipal workers, volunteers and active young people involved in the work of youth organisations, NGO/public sector staff working with youth or Youth policies;

Over 18 years old and аble to work and communicate in English;

Available to take active part during the full duration of the training course, including preparation (assessment) and follow-up (feedback) of the activity;

Willing to take action in the field of social inclusion and cultural diversity, whether through new initiatives or enhanced activities;

Open and willing to critically self-reflect and engage into a deep and possibly emotionally challenging process.

Resident of an ERASMUS+ programme country (EU and associated ERASMUS+ countries)

For more information 

Please download the attached pdf file for more information.