🇫🇷 Erasmus+ Training Course in France 🌿 Authentic Leaders for Collective Action: Cooperation & Embodiment Practices 🤸

Authentic Leaders for Collective Action is a unique 10-day immersion where 22 youth workers will discover cooperation tools and embodiment practices, organised by Fertîles at the Oasis des Âges ecovillage in France, from 1 to 12 September 2026. It creates a time and space to experiment, between theoretical moments and body practices, with how we can cooperate with others and understand ourselves better.

About the Project

The course provides tools to gain new facilitation skills, combining a head-heart-body pedagogy and creative processes to offer a supportive posture in the work of youth leaders, then explores how to embody, disseminate and empower these practices.

Curious what youth workers actually do and the role they play? Here's a closer look: https://youthworkshub.org/15128/

Methodology

🗣️ Participation and sharing personal experiences, with learning emerging from the group

👀 Learning by observation, encouraging critical thinking around learning and beliefs

🙌 Learning by doing, emphasising experimentation and practical application

🔄 Continuous improvement of the ability to learn and teach

🧠 Head-Heart-Body: combining theory and movement to learn from feeling, in your body, what a concept means

🤝 Becoming a learning community, with a space of trust and peer-to-peer exchange

What You'll Discover

🎲 Games and reflective concepts to rethink your role and place in a group and identify what makes you unique

💃 Dance, contact improvisation and somatic practices to better perceive your body sensations, reactions and self (no dance experience needed; these practices help you return to the present, regulate stress and emotions, and express yourself from a centered energy)

🛠️ Various tools and methodologies such as the art of feedback, co-development and facilitation

What You'll Gain

Personal growth & self-awareness

🌱 Discover more about yourself, your posture, attitude, talents and skills

👂 Improve your capacity to listen and to express your emotions, needs and limits

💪 Gain self-confidence and body awareness

Interpersonal & community connection

🤝 Meet 22 youth workers of 5 nationalities, share experiences and create lasting connections

✨ Take your place in a group with a deeper quality of presence and authenticity

Professional objectives

🧭 Develop head-heart-body facilitation skills and the ability to teach cooperation tools and attitudes

👂 Refine your posture in a group through active listening, communication and observation of your reflexive postures

🤲 Create a framework of trust to encourage group learning and continuous improvement

📋 Acquire key practices and tools for effective cooperation, and draw up a personal action plan to promote a culture of cooperation back home

Who Is This For?

🧑‍🏫 Youth leaders, social workers, volunteers, teachers and people who work with youth, willing to experiment with cooperative tools and embodiment practices

📍 Residents of (and travelling from/to) France, Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain and Portugal

🔞 18+ and able to understand and communicate in English (the working language)

⏱️ Ready to participate in the whole programme (no late arrivals or early departures) and for an intensive experience of at least 6 hours of activities per day

About Fertîles

🌍 Fertîles is a 5-year-old non-profit training organisation whose mission is to spread a common culture of cooperation and empowerment to foster environmental, social and democratic change, driven by the values of joy, daring, humility, impact, resilience and living

The Venue

🏡 Oasis des Âges, an ecovillage surrounded by fields and forest, where participants stay in shared rooms with plenty of spaces for working and relaxing. The collective uses cooperation tools daily and embodies the course's values (one of the trainers, Chloé, lives there)

The Details

📍 Location: Oasis des Âges, Chartrier-Ferrière, France

🗓️ Dates: 1 to 12 September 2026 (travel days included)

👥 For: 22 youth workers (18+) from France, Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain and Portugal

🇬🇧 Working language: English

🏷️ Type: Erasmus+ Training Course

How to Apply

📝 Read the info-page, then fill in the application form (linked below), answering all questions in detail. Results are announced within one week. Questions: erasmus@fertiles.co