The Association “Development and Innovation Training Center” in cooperation with the Loima Folk School LEKO in Finland has started implementing the Erasmus+ program project “STEAM for strengthening the capacity of youth workers”. It foresees that 14 youth workers from Latvia will go to Finland to, together with 14 Finnish specialists involved in youth work, supplement their knowledge in the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) sectors and gain experience in how to use this knowledge for the social inclusion of young people.
The study visit is planned for February 2023, and during it the participants will visit the Loima Youth Center, the Rauma Youth Inclusion Center, the science center “Heureka” and the Oodi library in Helsinki. During the visit, there will be a meeting with experts from various fields, who promote the development of young people’s skills in STEAM fields on a daily basis, while taking care of the social inclusion of young people. The Finnish cooperation partner LEKO will share its experience on the integration of social inclusion methods and research-based activities in nature. In addition to learning about the Finnish experience, there will be an opportunity to meet with an Irish youth worker who will present the national policy and support in Ireland for the use of STEAM elements in youth work.
Ieva Vītoliņa, chairman of the board of the “Development and Innovation Training Center” association, emphasizes the importance of STEAM in working with youth: “It is essential that in the future, young people, using science, technology, engineering and mathematics, will be able to look for solutions to global problems that we are currently facing, such as poverty and addressing resource scarcity, reducing inequality, generating sustainable economic growth and taking urgent global climate action. With the help of STEAM, young people become agents of change in creating a better world.”
Association “Development and Innovation Training Center” carries out the project “STEAM youth worker capacity building” within the framework of the European Union’s Erasmus+ program’s 1st core activities “Personnel mobilization for educational purposes” project, number of the contract with the International Youth Program Agency: 2022-1-LV02-KA153-YOU-000066085. More information about the projects progress: https://www.aimc.lv/.
INFO poster design: Dace Liepa
Photo: The project “Cooperation for the development of lifelong learning” implemented by the Association “Cooperation Platform” (no. 2021-1-LV01-KA122-ADU-000030519) with the financial support of the European Commission program “Erasmus+”.
The project is financed by the European Union. The information on the website reflects only the views and opinion of the author, and not necessarily
the opinion of the European Union, the European Commission or the Agency for International Youth Programs, which are not responsible for any use of the information contained therein.
