At the beginning of April, young leaders from across the country came together at Woodcraft Folk’s Height Gate centre for a weekend of training and skill sharing. The weekend was part of the E-mpACT project which is a three-year project focusing on addressing youth needs during and post COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization, non-formal education and international solidarity. E-mpACT aims to raise awareness in youth work by examining the pandemic’s impact on non-formal education and international solidarity.
The young leaders who attended work with the charity’s local groups in Birkenhead, London, Manchester, Derbyshire and Leicester.
Over the weekend participants took part in certified first aid training and sessions around supporting young people’s mental health. These helped the group to learn new skills to take back to their own groups so that they are in a good position to support the young people they are working with.
Carmen, young leader says:
“The most important learning moment for me was during the mental health workshop focussing on supporting young people”
The later half of the weekend focused on those attending taking part in some basic leader training such as sharing activity ideas, looking at why young people, parents and volunteers choose Woodcraft Folk. As the E-mpACT project is looking at the affects covid and lockdowns have had on youth work, part of the weekend was spent looking at social media and digital youth work and how this has been used in different situations and what the young leaders experience of this was.
On the Sunday, the group took part in a session to share their ideas around what should be priorities for governments, schools, universities and organisations like Woodcraft Folk to fight the ongoing climate and nature crisis. The outcomes of this session will be shared with think tank Think NPC who will use their ideas, along with others from across the organisation, to write a report to the government about young people’s views on tackling the climate crisis
As well as taking part in training sessions, the group had time to get to know each other and cook some delicious food to enjoy such as home made pizza and fajitas. Everyone had time to enjoy the early April sunshine and explore the beautiful surroundings of the centre.
The group will continue to stay in touch as the project progresses and will use online platforms to share skills, activity ideas and experiences to support each other whilst working with different groups.
Young leader Isaac says:
“I am looking forward to meeting the group again and working together to produce some social media content that would engage the younger generation”
If you would like to find out more about the E-mpACT project get in touch with lauren@woodcraft.org.uk
