July 2009

EGEA PLANNING THE EGEA TRAINING PLATFORM

www.egea.eu | EGEA University

I. Introduction
Include whatever you deem appropriate to start our meeting
with.
It can include an EGEA mission statement, a description of
EGEA Training’s target population, the coordination of other
EGEA bodies within this project, and references to established
training platforms of other student organizations.

The potential of youth organizations lies in providing

ALTERNATIVE means of education, beyond formal means.
EGEA’s mission statement should be extended: mission to
promote non-formal learning of Geography in higher
education students, and enlarged to include non-geographic
mission scope for development of new skills and competencies.
EGEA must deliver added value back to its members.
An extended mission for personal development and
leadership opportunities for its members

The human factor development should become core value.

Making a strategic decision to place members as the
comparative advantage of our organization. We must be
prepared to make a large investment in people, pilot
programs, capacity development and training.

A Human Resources Development (HRD) Committee should

facilitate long-term learning capacity for individual members,
groups within EGEA, and EGEA’s organizational levels.
Take advantage of synergies between different existing
Committees.

A Training Platform should take in consideration the various

background experiences and different abilities of EGEA
member groups. Training customized on group segmentation.
TRAINING PLATFORMS in STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

AEGEE Academy: AEGEE has 23.000 members in Europe. The basic

training arm is AEGEE Academy. The Academy is run by a 5-member
committee, elected for 6 months. They offer Local Training Events and
participate with 2 –day trainings in Regional Meetings. There are also
two European-wide training events: a 7-day European School for young
motivated AEGEE members, and a 10-day more advanced European
School, which attracts youth leaders that work on specific assignments.

AEGEE Academy organizes also thematic trainings on Public Relations,

Information Technology, Fundraising, Board candidates training, and
media. There is also a Summer University focused on cultural and
language trainings, a Training for Trainers event.

AIESEC: With 35.000 members in 100 countries worldwide, AIESEC

delivers annually more than 450 training conferences. Most of its
activities rotate around trainings, learning circles and traineeships.
Members are trained for internships and exchanges. There are local
motivational conferences that train new members, leadership
conferences for board candidates, transit conferences for incoming
boards’ transition, international training programs.

BEST: Collecting 1800 active members, BEST has established 10 years

ago a Training Group that takes care of internal trainings. Trainings are
delivered locally, and European-wide. The European events, called
‘TrainShops’, last one week, and offer trainings on specific subjects:
leadership, marketing, project management and fundraising. BEST is
open for collaboration on trainings.

EESTEC: EESTEC represents 1.700 members in 40 entities. It established

an EESTEC Training system as early as 2008, after the General Assembly
adopted the “Training system strategy.” They started with a “Training for
Trainers – T4T” event and already produced the first Official EESTEC
Trainers. They focused on soft skills and presentation skills. The goal is to
have at least one trainer in every local entity.

ESTIEM: The organization of European Students of Industrial Engineering

and Management, represents more than 45,000 students, and through
its “Knowledge Management” Committee creates trainings and best
practices documents.

ESN: Organizes internal training events (e.g. a one-day national

communication training or 7-day training on non-formal education,
training others, motivating volunteers, project management)
IFSA: It represents 10.000 Forestry students in 60 entities worldwide.
They do not have a training system yet. It’s included in their strategy for
2010.

IFMSA: They have created a “Training Support Division” within their

structure. Their goal is to prepare medical students for leadership and
management roles. They have established the Training and Resourced
Development Program (TRD) that provides training for: Conflict
Prevention, Communication, Strategic Planning, Project Planning,
Leading and Facilitating Meetings, Financial Management, Fundraising,
Advocacy, Marketing, Writing and Presenting. International Training
Programs are organized twice each year. They also organize initiative-
building and capacity-building workshops on regional and subregional
level.

IPSF: The International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF) is the

world’s oldest international student volunteer organization. Establishing
a “training culture” is a flagship project for IPSF. With the collaboration
of the International Federation of Medical Students’Associations
(IFMSA), IPSF employs professional trainers to train identified IPSF
leaders on leadership styles, presentation skills, group dynamics, project
development etc in small group workshops.
 II. Needs/Problems
Identify the needs or problems to be addressed.
Include the EGEA target population and any statistical
information that you may have.
Ideas for information to include here are:

 Reference to EGEA’s SWOT analysis

 Whether need/problem has ever been addressed before in EGEA’s

past, and what the outcome was

 Impact of problem to EGEA’s target population

 Impact of problem to EGEA’s internal and external relations

NEEDS

 Youth Leaders for EGEA, Leadership Opportunities

 Strategic Planning Training
 Communication Facilitation
 Public Relations, Promotion, Marketing Training
 Project Management Training
 Human Resources Development (New skills, competencies)
 Qualified EGEA staff: Trainers for Trainers (T4T), Facilitators, Peer
Educators, Committee staff, Accredited EGEA trainers for external
representation
 Need for initiative-building, motivation-building
 Career Support for Geographers
 Significance in activities, Sophisticated activities
 Intercultural Learning Training
 Conflict Management Training
 IT skills
 Fundraising
 Head-hunting Training/Recruitment practices
 Creation of Learning Environment within EGEA
 Organizational Knowledge Management
PROBLEMS

 Insuffiecient Organizational leadership/Organizational

management (poor work ethics, goal-setting, prioritizing)
 Lack of motivation, self-knowledge, discipline, decisiveness
 Lack of Capacity-Building Opportunities
 Lack of experience in organizational finances’ management
(entities, EGEA Europe)
 Lack of incentive-based organizational development
 Lack of Talent Management within EGEA
 Lack of Activities’ Quality Management
 Lack of variety in methods and working tools, Lack of
methodological debate
 Low innovation and creativity in favorable fields
(GIS/geoinformatics, geographic education)
 Lack of Interdisciplinary dimension, Monographic input (too local
or European-focused, not too theoretical)
 Low Visibility of scientific outcomes
 Assessment practices, Feedback, Participant evaluation
 Time management
 Non-effective Group Dynamics, Cross-team capabilities
 Low External Impact in Geography-related fields
 Low collaboration with other stakeholders in Geography higher
education (universities, institutes, journals)
 Increased competition from rival student organizations, already
having training platforms
 Insufficient Networking processes internally and externally
 Lack of branding, EGEA identity, unique EGEA experience
 Insufficient competition among Geographers
 Poor relations with the Media (traditional, social media, new
media), Poor use of EGEA publications
 Poor public perception about Geography
III. Goals/Objectives
State the desired goals and objectives to address the
needs/problems stated above. Also include key benefits of
reaching goals/objectives through the Training Platform.

Introduction

The Training Platform we intend to establish acquires the

following characteristics: participant-centered, team-based and
within the scope of non-formal learning.
However, training is not solely an educational process; it is
neither neutral nor generic. It is also utilitarian: EGEA as
student association is served through it.

Training skills are not inborn; they have to be learned.

Goals

We acknowledge as our goals that:

 EGEA can have a great potential in establishing a

Training Platform and providing alternative means of
education, mostly through non-formal learning;

 EGEA can create and manage a human talent portfolio

to serve the organizational management needs (develop
leaders, develop capacity within its members);

 EGEA can enrich the personal development

opportunities through its Training platform, creating
added value for its members, fostering a positive-sum
game learning strategy and create a learning culture;
  EGEA can stimulate Knowledge Production through a
Training Platform: Organizational Intuition, Best
Practices, ‘Tacit Knowledge’, Geographic Research,
Indicators;

 EGEA can -through the Training Platform - enhance

Network Management performance, promote
volunteerism further, promote associative life to non-
member Geographers.

Training Objectives

a) Translate individual learning outcomes into training

objectives:

 Enable participants to prepare, run and evaluate a

project
 Develop skills in Geography education, program
development, management, leadership, project
management, intercultural learning
 Increase knowledge and awareness of non-formal
learning
 Use of innovative methods and tools
 Increase competence and motivation for youth
activities
 Provide an overview of different concepts of training
 Support participants assessing their own training
needs
 Re-valorization of volunteering (important asset for
CV)
b) Create objectives that address the organizational
improvements expected in EGEA

 Improve Leadership Opportunities

 Enlarge existing group of organizationally
experienced members
 Facilitate intercultural/international group processes
 Improve usage of existing resources of various EGEA
stakeholders and create synergies among
 Extend training capabilities horizontally (between
EGEA groups) and vertically (on
local/national/regional level)
 Deal with realities in own local communities
(versatility)
 Improve communication within EGEA
 Create a learning environment
 Financial commitment through effective budgeting to
support the learning process
 Each training session is related to future action
 Contribute to the quality and sustainability of EGEA
youth activities
 Training should not only benefit the person taking
part in
 Innovative activities
 Broaden EGEA’s institutional framework with external
collaborations in the European youth field
IV. Planning Stage
Devise a workable scheme to accomplish the project’s goals.
Provide detailed information about proposed procedures.
Identify the project’s milestones, tasks, expected outcomes,
and resources required to implement the project.
Include information on recruiting, testing, training the trainers,
fundraising, promotion and division of tasks.

Training Strategy
Things to Consider:

 The topics of the Training must clearly denote the reason

why everybody is there
 Recognize Participants’ needs and expectations
(relevance of the training to their realities)
 Training and Learning at different speeds (orientation
sessions, advanced sessions)
 Recognition of the participants’ prior knowledge (using
the knowledge resources of participants, active
involvement, participants with relevant knowledge or
skills can contribute in specific ways in the training)
 Responsibility for the learning process (participants take
in what they want to learn or what they feel they need
or is there a responsibility to discover needs they are not
aware of?)
 Group size
 Use of local environment, training space, local resources
 Program Structure or Flexibility?
 Time planning (free time, social time, working time)
  Sophisticated Promotion and Individual approach
 Open Recruitment and Open Training (involve non-
participating EGEA members through blogging, social
media)
 Variety in learning styles (but not showmanship)
 Competency in English language is crucial?

PHASE I
Needs’ Assessment for EGEA

- Organizational Analysis
 Main areas of concentration of EGEA
 EGEA’s Strategy
 Ongoing developments in EGEA
 Membership profiling
 EGEA Staff continuity
 Finances

- Task Analysis
 Identify specific tasks within EGEA (BoE, Committees,
Publications, Fundraising, Trainers, Facilitators, etc)
 Create a pool of EGEA Work profiles & what skills,
knowledge and competencies are needed
- Personnel Analysis
 Current suitability of EGEA people for leadership,
organizational management and activities
 Who needs training then?
 Readiness and willingness for training
 Dynamic changes in youth organizations: a change in
EGEA leadership could result in either a huge
improvement or disaster; Training Platform as safety net

- Environmental Scan
 Define Supply for the Training: Input (adequate training
facilities, in-house experienced trainers, previous
experience in organizing such events, etc)
Lack (funds to implement the training, no appropriate
training aids, etc)
 Define Demand for the Training: Demand from inside
and outside EGEA, volunteering members that have
never received any training, low awareness among EGEA
entities for the need of such training, high interest for
specific training topics)
 Possible collaborators in the youth field
 Relevant competition from other student organizations
 Key actors in the youth field
PHASE II
Training Sessions’ Methodology & Design

A. PLENARIES: Structured Training Program

Orientation Lectures

 Directing Coaching by keynote speakers on issues that

learners have no or little background experience
 Not interactive, but immediate

Interactive Lectures
 Facilitating Coaching by keynote speakers with Open
Questions
 Learners identify solutions
 Learners contribute in effective questioning

Moderated discussions

 Panel discussions
 Training focused on communication skills
 Enhances performance at EGEA’s discussion meetings
(General Assembly, regional meetings, e-meetings)
 New discussion techniques

Simulation
 Representation of a real-life situation with compressed
time scale
 Creation of artificial competition for learning purposes
Cases studies
 Presentations from EGEA experience or external
examples

B. PLENARIES: Training Program built on Group Experiences

& Resources

Group Experiential Learning

 Participants decide their individual program from day to

day, learn at their own speed
 Reflection on own experiences is an essential element
 Training is constantly evolving

Open Space Technology

 Creating “open” units within the program where

participants bring resources and interests
 A whole day is needed for OST
 Participants set the subjects of their choice
 We must define time-slots for each session
 Responsibility of the sessions on participants

Future Factory

 Start with problems on one side, then ideal image on the

other side
 Try to bridge problems with ideal image through
strategies, actions, developments
 A whole day needed
C. GROUP DIVISIONS

Mini-seminars

 Deepen specific subject

 Simultaneous training processes
 Expertise on the subject needed

Workshops

 Smaller hands-on working groups

 Development of particular skills and competencies
 Extend in one or maximum two training sessions
(relatively little time)
 Flexible
 Targeted at specific interests
 Work-intensive (not lectures) and well-coordinated

Task Forces

 Simulating the process of creating a project

 Simulating the process of making a project application
for EU funding
 Simulating the preparation of a workshop for others
 Create an EGEA product and present it to other teams
 Challenge between groups, creativity and innovation
involved
 Focus on how a non-formal educational process is
created (e.g. a workshop), how a real project is
developed, how group dynamics are experienced
PHASE III
Training Funding

 Establish various scenarios for funding

 Applying for European Union’s YOUTH Programme
Funding on Action 4.3 “Training and Networking”
(Varying Deadlines for application submitting)
 Council of Europe financing for International Youth NGOs
activities (Deadline October 1st and April 1st)
 Own resources, plus participant fees
 Fundraising campaign
 Cost-saving strategy through collaborations with other
youth organizations

PHASE IV
Trainers’ Recruitment

 International composition of the trainers’ team

 Balanced composition with regards to nationality, age and
gender
 The composition of trainers’ team should reflect the
composition of the participants’ team
 The knowledge and competencies’ portfolio of trainers
should reflect the variety and knowledge needed to
implement the training project
 Prospective trainers should be willing to meet in a
preparatory meeting
 Ethical and financial incentives and rewards
 Clear agreements between the training organizers, team of
trainers and participants
 Description of Work Deadlines

NEEDS ASSESSMENT conducted

at the Live Meeting in Poland Late August 2009

Proposals on the Training

TOPICS and Training SESSIONS’
DESIGN
Phase One
FINAL REPORT for the Training
Platform Submitted for Public Mid-September 2009
Consultation

NEEDS ASSESSMENT conducted October 2009

at the Open Space in AC’09

DECISIONS on Training Program

Structure, DATES, HOSTING
Phase Two
ORGANIZATION request,
Late November 2009
DEADLINES

OPEN CALL placed for Hosting

Organization
Phase Two
•A DESIGNATION of Hosting
Organization and Expected
Support requests submitted December 2009

Research for available

FUNDING, according to
Phase
Scenario for External Funding
Three
Writing the grant application Till February 2010 max.

Selection of Training
PREPARATORY TEAM December 2009
Phase
Three • A Preparatory team MEETING at
the Training Venue with the
Hosting Organization Spring 2010
 Description of Work Deadlines

Following External Funding

Results, INVITATIONS to EGEA
Phase Four
experts and external trainers
start Spring 2010

INVITATIONS to EGEA bodies,

Phase Four EGEA entities and other youth
•A organizations, universities and
Spring 2010
sponsors are sent

Applications are SHORTLISTED

Phase Five
ACCEPTANCE LETTERS are sent Late Spring 2010

Phase Five
•A VISA requirements are resolved Early Summer 2010

Phase Six Payment of participation fee Early Summer 2010

Preparation of Training
Phase LOGISTICS (Training material,
Seven Documents, T-shirts, Certificates
of Attendance) Early Summer 2010
V. Implementation Stage
Describe which resources will be assigned to each specific
task, namely: work resources (people), material resources
(training materials, organization materials) and cost resources
(organization costs, travel costs).

Training Program Flow

1. Welcome, Introduction, Getting to know each other

2. Group-building phase
3. Sharing experiences from EGEA activities and other projects
4. Main training: New Knowledge, New Skills, New Experiences
5. Analysis and reflection, and Transfer (how to apply training
knowledge to EGEA context, how to fit training experiences to
participants’ realities)
6. Action Planning/Follow-up (Are they expected to implement
actual projects? How do they incorporate what they have
learned in EGEA or local entity projects?
7. Conclusions & closure (conclusions for the final report)
8. Evaluation (impact of the training course, where participants
should focus)

Group sizes

3-6 people for Task Forces

7-10 people for Small Thematic Workshops

11-18 people for Workshops

19-30+ people for Plenary sessions

V. Implementation Stage (continued)

A. Timetable
Provide detailed information on the expected
timetable for the project. Break the project into
phases, and provide a schedule for each phase.

Description of Work Start and End Dates

Phase PREPARATORY TEAM Two days before

One meeting at the Venue Training starts

Phase ADMINISTRATIVE and

During the Training
Two LOGISTICAL tasks

Phase Daily REPORT and BLOG

Three POSTING During the Training

In case of EU/CoE funding:

signing the PARTICIPANTS
Phase
LIST, Travel Costs
Four
REIMBURSEMENT CLAIM
End of the Training
forms

B. Key Personnel
List the key personnel (by name or position) who will
be responsible for the completion of this EGEA
project, along with other personnel indirectly
involved in this project.
VI. Evaluation Stage
Discuss how the progress of this EGEA project will be
monitored throughout and at the end of it, how changes will
be managed, and how the project information will be
communicated and recorded at the end.

Evaluation

1. An ex-ante evaluation, when participants are firstly defined, to

see if their expectations match the intended training program
and make adjustments
2. Ongoing evaluation daily – thematic evaluation (oral/visual
and written feedback)
3. Final evaluation on the last day (where methods appraised?
Goals and objectives were attained?
4. Ex-post evaluation, at least 6 months after the training (impact
on personal development of the participants, assessment of
entire organization and new activities)

VII. Next Steps

We should specify to readers of this document the immediate
actions required, after our meeting is concluded.

 Final Report following the Live Meeting in Poland

 Public Consultation at the EGEA Forum

 Presentation and Evaluation at the Annual Congress

 Funding Research

 Research for Collaborations with other Youth Organizations