Category Archive : training

Training Course „First Steps“ – Hollókő/Hungary

„First Steps“ brought together 28 people from Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Poland, Austria and Italy in a small place called Hollókő in Hungary (which is also a UNESCO world heritage site) in December 2019. Thanks to our friends from „MOVE to Be You„, who were the partner organization from Austria, we were part of it.

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Training Course „Hop On – The Train to Trainings“ – Klagenfurt/Austria

After I attended many Erasmus+ projects I thought it’s time for my first training course. And so I took the challenge and applied for the training Course “Hop On – The Train to Trainings” implemented by wEUnite and I was really happy when they accepted my application. I had big expectations for the project because I wanted to improve my skills as a facilitator and learn how to write and organize my own projects.

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YOUnique from another point of view

“Younique” – Diving into a new realityFrom the 05.09. – 14.09.2019, I and 23 other people from eight countries took part in an Erasmus+ trainings course called “Younique”. As the title of the training already tells, it was all about how to find your own uniqueness and how to help others finding theirs. The great thing with Erasmus+ is that everything you do is interactive – it´s based on non-formal-learning and for me it´s just so much more rewarding being part of a non-formal-learning environment than being cramped into a formal-learning system.

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Basic Training for Trainers – our follow-ups :)

After coming home from „Basic Training for Trainers“ two events were organized to put into practice what we have learnt in Lecce and also to spread the spirit of and idea behind Erasmus+:

  • Happy thoughts! Workshop on happiness in daily life“ by Elisa and Nina, in Graz
  • High Performance Workshop: Gain Focus“ by Manuel, in Vienna

Happy thoughts!

On the 19th October both of us, Elisa and Nina, implemented our workshop under the title „Happy thoughts! Positiv denken im Alltag“ (=think positively on daily basis) in Graz. The workshop aimed to give an understanding how positive thinking can change the daily life and to provide tools which help to “get caught” in an upward spiral. The participants were encouraged to brainstorm about what makes them happy and what keeps them in positive mood and to share it with other people. With the help of visualization the participants got an idea of the upward and downward spiral. Moreover they got an theoretical input on “the happy chemicals” oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin and endorphin. It was explained what they are needed for and what provokes their production in the body. Afterwards the participants could experience some easy tools which can boost their mood in daily life. In the end it was showed how they can have an impact on themselves but also on the people around them and in their society.

In order to have this workshop take place we needed participants to join our event. We did not have much time actually as we were pretty spontaneous with the idea and date which is why we were more than happy to have a local youth center (Logo Jugendzentrum Graz) as support. In order to inform people about our event and invite them we created an open event on Facebook and told everyone we knew about it. Both of us met a week before to plan the programme of the workshop session, to prepare the materials needed and to distribute further planning and responsibilities. On the day of the workshop we met early to go through the schedule again, talk last things through and to prepare our location. We were a bit nervous before our workshop as none of the participants had experience with non-formal learning before – but everything worked out amazingly well! Everybody participated fully 🙂 We got lovely feedback right after the session but also some days later – and we definitely got our participants to be curious about Erasmus+ !

Selfie in the end! 

High Performance Workshop: Gain Focus

… „Use Meditation, master Transitions and take Power-Breaks to direct your spotlight!“. This was the title of my (Manuel’s) workshop, I (Manuel) that took place on 21st of November 2017 in the Catalysts office in Vienna. For this workshop I used formal and non-formal learning methods to give the participants information as well as hands-on practice on different methods and techniques to keep their focus on their doings during the day. 13 participants joined my workshop to reach their next level. The workshop took around 1h 15 min and started with an introduction of myself, why I chose this topic and a little energizer to activate the body and the mind of the participants, followed by the three topics to gain focus: Meditation 101, Master Transitions and Power-Breaks. Check out the slides here.

In general, I also talked about my experiences from the past (on how to improve myself and become a High Performer), why I chose the topic (I found lot of great information on my journey that helped me a lot, and I want to share it with others, such that they can improve their life too) and why I do this now (I did some trainings (e.g. Basic Training for Trainers) and I feel ready to do this kind of things and also the necessity to share the things I know… I want to make a transition from being a student to becoming a teacher).

I got a lot of great feedback from the participants and from some already know, that they used some methods I taught, to improve their performance and life. Big thanks to all participants for the active involvement in my workshop. I enjoyed it a lot! If you want to have more background information about my workshop and tips&tricks, read the Behind the Scenes here!

– Elisa, Manuel, Nina

Desire To Inspire – Leadership training

Some week ago, from 15th until 22nd of September 23 people from Austria, Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Macedonia and Malta gathered in Klagenfurt for the training course under the title “Desire To Inspire”. This training course was based on the importance of leadership in everyday life situations and even more on those appearing in youth work. The focus was put on methods and aspects for and about leading groups, but also on how to present oneself and behave in order to be respected.

In order to make this week as great as possible and a secure learning environment the first one and a half days were dedicated to the topic of getting-to-know each other and building a team out of this group of people. Having been blind-folded, for example, was part of a trust- and team building activity and from the trainer’s perspective definitely made those 20 participants an amazingly strong team for the upcoming days.

Each day had a different topic such as group dynamics, live action role play, myself as superhero and overall leadership. Aside from theory we tried to give the stage to participants and let them learn by putting into action their new knowledge and receiving feedback for further improvement. Everyone was so into the topic that even offered free time was used to keep on doing workshops and discussing topics of the sessions.

Together we all got new perspectives and a bigger understanding of leadership and its importance in youthwork. Having had the chance to discuss about and work on this topic intensively I can definitely say I’ve improved my skills and learnt from everyone of the 22 other people there.

Besides working there was also time for cultural exchange, game nights and story telling in the evenings.


And here are some impressions about Desire To Inspire:

Aleksandra, Macedonia

„The DTI was an unforgettable experience for me. Things that I have learned there about leadership, team work, trust and friendship were surprisingly amazing. The organization was perfect, the group was like one big hearted family and I can honestly and truly say that I had the time of my life, time filled with lots of fun,crazy games, laughter and inspiration. We were many deferences connected together in one perfectly big puzzle.“ 

Kristina, Slovakia

„Desire To Inspire was the first training course I participated in but given my previous experience with youth exchanges, I kept my expectations low. The projects I’ve been to before were great but their organisation was rather disappointing. That’s why I was so amazed when I saw all the effort wEUnite made to make sure everything is prepared and on point. We had all we needed (or even more) and we got the opportunity to improve our soft skills & leadership skills. The activities we did were always innovative and enriching so I really enjoyed each one of them. Besides that, I’ve also made many new friends and got to know myself better. Thank you for everything !“

Krzysztof B., Poland

„Desire to Inspire was quite a special training. Each activity and workshop managed to help the participants in learning something new about working with groups, about being a leader as well as what happens when there is no leader. IT was an amazing privilege to take part in it.“

Manuel G., Austria

„The training gave me a lot of opportunities to practice leadership, as well as being a follower and possibilities to support others. I put my focus also on communication with people in terms of helping them to see their potentials and how they can enable it. Furthermore, I took special opportunities from the organizers to facilitate and lead workshops which gave me the confidence to be able to perform on different stages in front of people in future and to create and facilitate activities and workshops for other people to help them to improve themselves. During this training I improved my skills to be in lead by being authentic, pro-active, open-minded, team-oriented and a role-model in order to successfully achieve goals. Thanks a lot to all organizers for realizing this great training! It was a pleasure to be part of it!“

Lucy, Czech Republic

„The training course DTI influenced my personality a lot. We were busy but as I am retrospecting, I am appreciating it at the same time. Now I believe in myself much more but what is more important, I met people who are like me and they are my friends now.“

Triinu, Estonia

„I went to training course with high hopes, and I was pretty surprised at the end of the week – my expectations weren’t just fulfilled, but exceeded. I learned so much in such a short period of time and I experienced so many things and feelings. All this thanks to the team and magical group of people that we had. <3 blockquote="">




A very big, big thank you from the whole team behind this training course! It was great to work together and we hope to see you soon in one place or another 🙂