Youth workers’ and educators’ training “Make gender equity reality” blog by Linda

Though I have participated in several Erasmus+ projects before, this was my first Erasmus+ training. The topic for this training was gender discrimination and inequality.

Every day we had several hours of in-depth sessions which included a lot of discussion on the key topic. It was fascinating to hear that people from very different cultural backgrounds experience very similar issues in today's society. I enjoyed the group tasks that we were assigned to complete where we had to battle with stereotypes or solve puzzles which were centred around the topic of the project. My favourite workshops were the Theatre of Oppression, Abigail.

For me the most surprising part of the training was that seemingly simple exercises can have a huge emotional impact.

Personally, I have developed a great deal of compassion for the topic that I will without a doubt incorporate more into my daily life and I will also share these emotions with friends and family, foster greater understanding and pave the way to a kinder community. As a youth worker I believe most of the exercises can be used as teaching tools for younger kids to help them understand the difficulties a lot of people face whether they are a woman, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, or from a different race. Just to name a few of the matters at hand.

My best memories will be the finished and unfinished conversations with the participants and trainers of the project. I was lucky to have been a part of a group with such diverse and incredibly interesting backgrounds, which in some beautiful way united all of us. I cannot avoid mentioning the wonderful island of St Maarten where we stayed, as it is truly a Caribbean gem with luscious nature and magnificent wildlife. I believe this training can be useful for not only youth workers but everybody who is open to discussions about serious matters in most communities. The key is to keep an open-mind and have compassion for those who struggle.