Learning opportunities
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Learning Opportunity
October 12, 2026
October 20, 2026
Slovenia
18+
05/07/2026
The training is built on the idea that safe and trusting relationships are at the heart of effective youth work. Through a highly experiential learning process, participants will explore how to foster community, encourage participation, and create environments where young people feel supported, connected, and empowered. The programme combines community-building practices, communication exercises, improvisation techniques, creative and embodied activities, adventure-based learning, peer exchange, and reflective methods.
Throughout the training, participants will have the opportunity to reconnect with the core principles of youth work while discovering practical tools that bring more lightness, fun, and authenticity into their daily practice. By learning through experience, experimentation, and collaboration, they will strengthen their capacity to build trust, facilitate groups, and support the personal and social development of young people.
The project also includes a follow-up phase in which participants will transfer the knowledge, methods, and experiences gained during the training into their local communities through workshops, dissemination activities, and knowledge-sharing initiatives, ensuring a lasting impact beyond the mobility itself.
The main objective of PlayGrounded is to strengthen the capacity of youth workers to create safe, trustworthy, and meaningful connections with young people through playfulness, creativity, and experiential learning.
The project aims to deepen participants' understanding of why safe spaces are fundamental to effective youth work and how they can be intentionally created and maintained. It seeks to equip participants with practical facilitation skills based on improvisation, creative expression, adventure learning, and community-building methodologies. The training also encourages youth workers to bring more joy, curiosity, and authenticity into their practice while fostering trust, cooperation, and social skills among young people.
Through reflection, peer learning, and hands-on experiences, participants will reconnect with the core values of youth work, strengthen their confidence as facilitators, and develop new approaches for building inclusive communities and supporting meaningful learning processes. Ultimately, the project promotes a more human-centered, creative, and relationship-based approach to youth work that can be adapted and applied in diverse local contexts.
The training is designed for youth workers, trainers, facilitators of non-formal education, volunteers, youth leaders, and other professionals actively engaged in working with young people or supporting teams of youth workers. Participants should be actively involved in the youth sector and motivated to apply the knowledge, skills, and methods gained during the training in their everyday work.
The project is open to participants aged 18 and above who are comfortable communicating in English, willing to participate fully in all phases of the programme, including preparatory and follow-up activities, and interested in exploring creative, experiential, and play-based approaches to youth work. The training particularly welcomes individuals who value authentic relationships, community building, and personal growth as essential elements of their practice.
