“Knowing who you are and who you want to be helps you to make your own decisions and take the responsibility to shape your own life”.

Empowerment is the learning process in which a person becomes aware of their own strengths and abilities, passions and learning needs and is capable of choosing how and when to use these and/or develop them more. It is about developing self-awareness and confidence, and from this being able to self-guide what you want to do and take responsibility for one’s own life.

It is important that young people have the capacity to focus on their own learning process so that they can identify their strengths and abilities that in turn empower them to act in a positive way in society.

Youth work and Non-formal education can positively influence youth empowerment. It can provide an encouraging and safe space in which young people can become more self-aware of skills, and focus on the development of confidence, new skills and learn how to take responsibility. The youth worker / youth leader plays an important role in guiding and mentoring the young people in this process of learning.

This training course will use a variety of interactive non-formal learning methods and is focused on:
1. Exploring the important elements of empowerment as a learning process,
2. How youth work can provide a valuable space for these empowering learning processes, and
3. How youth workers and youth leaders can create and facilitate this process to maximize empowerment of young people.

We will be exploring how non-formal learning activities can be used to this end. Furthermore, we explore how the Erasmus+ Youth programme can be used to inspire and empower young people to actively participate in society.