Training Course in Malaga (Spain)

After months of online work and local activ­i­ties in each project coun­try, last week we could imple­ment the first inter­na­tion­al mobil­i­ty of our “Urban Art for Inclu­sion” project: the Inter­na­tion­al Train­ing Course.

21 peo­ple par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Train­ing host­ed by Ini­cia­ti­va Inter­na­cional Joven in Mala­ga (Spain). The pro­file of the par­tic­i­pants was 3 youth workers/professionals in the field of youth per organ­i­sa­tion, with at least 2 artists from dif­fer­ent ele­ments of hip hop cul­ture. Par­tic­i­pants came from dif­fer­ent back­grounds and many of them were migrants and/or have a famil­iar his­to­ry of migration.

The main objec­tives of the Train­ing Course were:
‑To improve key com­pe­tences of par­tic­i­pants for their per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al development;
‑To pro­vide par­tic­i­pants new knowl­edge and skills so they are able to car­ry out their projects/activities of social transformation;
‑To offer and exchange tools to raise aware­ness about the inclu­sion of migrants through urban art;
‑To fos­ter coop­er­a­tion and exchange of knowl­edge, good prac­tices and com­pe­tences on among Pro­gramme Coun­tries and oth­er coun­tries of the world.

The Train­ing began with the pre­sen­ta­tion of par­tic­i­pants and team, name games and team build­ing activ­i­ties to sup­port the cre­ationg of a com­fort­able work­ing atmos­phere and a space of mutu­al exchange among par­tic­i­pants. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Andalu­sian Youth Insti­tute, which is part of the Span­ish Nation­al Agency of the Eras­mus+ Pro­gramme, of the Cen­tro de Inno­vación Social “La Noria” and of the Diputación Provin­cial de Mála­ga (provin­cial gov­ern­ment of the province of Mála­ga) wel­comed par­tic­i­pants officially.

After the pre­sen­ta­tion of the Train­ing Course, par­tic­i­pants could express their expec­ta­tions con­nect­ed with this mobil­i­ty and how they could con­tribute to it. They pre­sent­ed their send­ing organ­i­sa­tions and main activ­i­ties con­nect­ed with the project top­ics; it was very inspir­ing to know it as some activ­i­ties or projects can also be repli­cat­ed in oth­er countries/organisations. Dur­ing the after­noon, par­tic­i­pants pre­sent­ed the good prac­tices and the analy­sis of the sit­u­a­tion, which were very inter­est­ing to know and sup­port­ed the reflec­tion of par­tic­i­pants on the top­ic. Final­ly, at night we organ­ised an Inter­cul­tur­al Din­ner where par­tic­i­pants could taste tra­di­tion­al food and share prod­ucts from all project coun­tries and/or par­tic­i­pants’ cities.

On day 3, we start­ed with an adap­ta­tion of the learn­ing game “Take a step for­ward” as we want­ed to make par­tic­i­pants reflect on the dif­fer­ent sit­u­a­tions peo­ple can face accord­ing to their back­ground, char­ac­ter­is­tics, age, ori­gin, etc. After an his­tor­i­cal overview of human migra­tion and its caus­es, we pro­vid­ed par­tic­i­pants with key con­cepts relat­ed to the topic.

After this con­cep­tu­al­iza­tion and a brain­storm­ing, we divid­ed them in four small groups and, with the sup­port of the graf­fi­ti writ­ers, they had to express their cre­ativ­i­ty and feel­ings from the abstract con­cepts. The results of the small groups work (four draw­ings) have been used as the basis and inspi­ra­tion for the large graf­fi­ti that the writ­ers have paint­ed the next day on one of the walls locat­ed at the entrance of La Noria. The graf­fi­ti rep­re­sents an eagle break­ing its chains to be free and it has also two eyes, one of them with a world as pupil and dif­fer­ent words, such as peace, Inter­cul­tur­al­i­ty and inclu­sion, writ­ten as a spi­ral. Dur­ing the after­noon, after the divi­sion of par­tic­i­pants in small groups and a first moment to think on their artis­tic cre­ations, we orga­nized a round­table on social inclu­sion of eth­nic minori­ties and migrants with dif­fer­ent organ­i­sa­tions and insti­tu­tions of Mala­ga that works with young peo­ple, migrants, urban artists, etc.

On Novem­ber 17, par­tic­i­pants learnt about dif­fer­ent types of edu­ca­tion, method­olo­gies and eval­u­a­tion and how to design a work­shop using a ped­a­gog­i­cal sheet. As prac­ti­cal exer­cise of the ped­a­gog­i­cal mod­ule, they were divid­ed in three small groups and they had to cre­ate a new work­shop con­nect­ed with one of the two topics:
‑Urban Art as a tool for inclusion;
‑Unit­ed in diver­si­ty through urban art.
The new work­shops were pre­sent­ed and some of its parts imple­ment­ed hav­ing a direct feed­back from oth­er par­tic­i­pants and train­ers in order to imple­ment it dur­ing the phase of Local Activ­i­ties II. Par­tic­i­pants had also the oppor­tu­ni­ty to take part in an impro­vi­sa­tion the­atre work­shop where they learnt dif­fer­ent tech­niques to strength creativity.

Dur­ing the Train­ing Course, after a cul­tur­al vis­it of Mala­ga city cen­tre and Lagu­nil­las, we car­ried out also a vis­i­bil­i­ty activ­i­ty in Lagu­nil­las neigh­bour­hood, with the col­lab­o­ra­tion of the local organ­i­sa­tion “INCIDE”, which works close­ly with the most vul­ner­a­ble com­mu­ni­ties in Mala­ga. Par­tic­i­pants from the Train­ing pre­sent­ed the artis­tic cre­ations (a chore­og­ra­phy and a song) to the pub­lic and had an artis­tic exchange with local artists and par­tic­i­pants of the neighbourhood’s fla­men­co work­shop. The graf­fi­ti writ­ers had also the oppor­tu­ni­ty to cre­ate anoth­er piece of art rep­re­sent­ing inclu­sion. This vis­i­bil­i­ty activ­i­ty was a very grat­i­fy­ing expe­ri­ence for all par­ties and we could all feel the great inclu­sive pow­er that art has.

The next day we pre­sent­ed the new Eras­mus+ pro­gramme, par­tic­i­pants could share ideas of future project and reflect on the key com­pe­tences they acquired. The Train­ing end­ed with the eval­u­a­tion ses­sion, where par­tic­i­pants could learn dif­fer­ent tech­niques and ways for eval­u­at­ing activ­i­ties, work­shops or class­es. All par­tic­i­pants improved their com­pe­tences, appre­ci­at­ed the method­ol­o­gy based on non-for­mal edu­ca­tion and they think that the Train­ing will be very use­ful for their per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al future.

It was an emo­tion­al eval­u­a­tion and clos­ing ses­sion as many par­tic­i­pants shared their feel­ings and under­lined the great atmos­phere and ener­gy cre­at­ed with­in the group and how this Train­ing has been a light in their path as indi­vid­u­als, as artists and as youth workers.

Super grate­ful for this Trip! It was one of the most incred­i­ble expe­ri­ences of my life, and I will nev­er for­get the peo­ple I’ve shared laughs with and the chil­dren I hope we’ve inspired [Par­tic­i­pant of Urban Art for Inclu­sion Train­ing Course]