By Zsófi Perényi, TVE, Special Expert on Education and Training for the International Committee of Urgenci.
The “Train the trainer event” was an important milestone of the CSact! project team, as one of the main activity of the project is the adaptation of the Be part of CSA! training programme to local contexts. 18 international participants from 7 European countries met in Vác (a small city close to Budapest) where the Hungarian host organisation TVE shared all of the knowledge and experience what they gained about the training.
Based on the needs analyses, the focus of the three days long training event was not only on the improvement of training skills, but also on some CSA related topics (e.g. budget, community building). So with the use of really participative informal training methods we went through the key elements of a training process – from the planning till the evaluation- and the participants also tried out some key methodologies of the modular training programme. We have to say, this was a useful and also funny experience. Energisers and other informal methodologies such as the “role playing game” contributed to the mutual learning among the experienced trainers from several countries.
Participants emphasized that the second day, when the training event was organised on a CSA farm, was a really special element of the programme. The Háromkaptár organic CSA farm has a special atmosphere where everybody could experience how is to visit a kind family who are dedicated to the concept of CSA. And the other really special learning point was that on the special farm visit day a heavy rain started at the morning. So the local trainers had to be flexible and adapt the schedule to the special circumstances. Well, this can happen with all of the CSA related traininers, so we could discuss the lessons related to that.
The main information and some useful resources will be summarised in a toolkit which will be available in English on URGENCI’s website. And the next step is the adaptation. So if you are interested, follow our partners in Greece, Italy, Poland and Spain for the CSA trainings.
