🇮🇹 Erasmus+ Training Course in Italy 🎓 Training of Trainers: Working with Excluded Youth 🌍

Youth workers who train others to reach excluded and vulnerable young people carry a heavy load — and often need stronger tools, better facilitation skills and real peer support to do it well. Training of Trainers: Increasing Competencies Needed to Work with Excluded Youth is an Erasmus+ KA153 Training Course running from 21 to 28 September 2026 in Venetico Marina, Sicily, Italy, bringing together 32 youth workers from eight countries for six days of hands-on professional development by the sea. At Youth Works Hub we gather funded training for youth workers, and this one pairs competence-building with something rarely put on the agenda: the trainer's own well-being.

About the Project

Run by das forum JUGEND! e.V., this Erasmus+ KA153-YOU mobility project focuses on strengthening the professional competencies of youth workers who already work as trainers with young people facing exclusion, discrimination and fewer opportunities. It responds to a clear need — trainers working with vulnerable youth often need stronger methodological tools, better facilitation skills and more professional support to deliver high-quality learning — and it deliberately combines competence development with well-being and peer support, because trainers in this field frequently face emotional pressure, stress and burnout. The project brings 32 youth workers from Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, Czechia, Greece, Romania and Türkiye to Sicily for eight days (six activity days plus two travel days).

🎓 New to this format and what it involves? Here's the essential guide: What Is a Training Course? → https://youthworkshub.org/trainingcourse

What You Will Work On

The training is built around the ETS Competence Model for Trainers, with a strong focus on facilitating individual and group learning, learning to learn, designing educational programmes, teamwork and cooperation, meaningful communication, intercultural competence and civic engagement. Beyond the model, you will:

🧰 Gain new non-formal education tools, methodologies and approaches to use in training activities with vulnerable youth;

🧠 Develop concrete strategies for well-being and burnout prevention as a trainer working in difficult social contexts;

🎭 Build confidence designing inclusive educational programmes;

🤝 Join a peer-support network of trainers working with similar target groups, and help create training materials that can be shared beyond the partnership.

The six activity days move from getting to know each other and non-formal education, through the ETS Competence Model and learning to learn, intercultural competence, teamwork and facilitation, working with vulnerable youth, designing educational programmes, and finally Erasmus+ and next steps. Methods include icebreakers and team-building, simulations and theatre-based activities, plenary debates, peer exchange of tools, practical programme design, reflection trios and evaluation.

🤝 Wondering who actually makes these projects run? This breaks down the roles: The Role of Youth Workers in Erasmus+ and ESC Projects → https://youthworkshub.org/role-of-youth-workers

Who Can Apply

The course is for youth workers aged 18+ from the eight partner countries who work with, or want to work with, vulnerable youth — including young people with migrant backgrounds, refugees, rural youth, NEETs, and those facing discrimination or limited access to education. You should be motivated to develop and deliver programmes for young people with fewer opportunities, eager to enhance your training practice and apply the learning in your organisation, and have at least a B1 level of English. Each country sends four participants (two of them from backgrounds with fewer opportunities), and selected participants must engage across the pre-, during- and post-project phases.

🇮🇹 Also drawn to inclusion work in Sicily? Take a look at this ESC Volunteering — Art and Inclusion with People with Disabilities in 🇮🇹 Italy → https://youthworkshub.org/21520

Costs and What's Covered

Accommodation, three meals a day and all training materials are provided by the host organisation. Participants stay at Karma Resort in Venetico Marina, in quadruple rooms. Travel costs are reimbursed according to the Erasmus+ distance bands (with higher amounts for green travel by bus or train), and there is a project and management fee of €40. Please note that health coverage is not provided by the project, so bring a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or other valid health insurance.

🧠 Prefer another Erasmus+ training on reaching vulnerable young people? See the Trauma-Informed Youth Work with the HEAL-SET Methodology in 🇧🇬 Bulgaria → https://youthworkshub.org/erasmus-training-course-heal-set-trauma-informed-youth-work-bulgaria

Frequently Asked Questions

❓ Who is this for? Youth workers aged 18+ from Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, Czechia, Greece, Romania or Türkiye who train or support vulnerable and excluded young people.

❓ What are the dates and where? 21–28 September 2026 (six activity + two travel days) at Karma Resort in Venetico Marina, Sicily, Italy.

❓ What does it cost? Accommodation, meals and materials are covered and travel is reimbursed by Erasmus+ distance band; there is a €40 project and management fee. Health insurance is not covered — bring your own (EHIC).

❓ What English level do I need? At least B1.

Deadline

⏳ As soon as possible! No fixed application deadline is stated in the source and the course begins on 21 September 2026, so apply right away. Youth Works Hub flags time-sensitive opportunities like this so you don't miss them.