About PET

Role of YEU PET

YEU PET (YEU People for Education and Training), is a platform of TRAINERS and FACILITATORS who have worked or who have shown interest in working for YEU International educational activities – training courses, youth exchanges, seminars, conventions and similar events. The main role of the PET is to empower, motivate and coach YEU members and Member Organisations.

PET contributes to the capacity building of the network and by that increases the visibility of YEU International as quality educational activities providing organization. Furthermore, the platform provides a space for exchange of experience, educates and develops the competences of its members.

Their role is to work on the 3 main fields:

 – Capacity building on YEU: Empower, motivate and coach YEU Members and Member organizations.

 – Advise on educational matter and produce educational materials.

 – Capacity building and development of competences of the members of the PET.

The specific role of the PET is based on the reality scan of several areas of YEU, the report from the survey about YEU Learning needs, including last developments and relevant needs of the organization and its members.

The roles of the YEU PET are listed as following:

1. Capacity building of YEU: Empower, motivate and coach YEU Members and Member Organizations. The PET is the tool to improve and support capacity building of the organization and its members. In regards to this, the PET will be used for activities of YEU International and its Members and Partner Organizations (when requested).

The PET provides educational services for:

– International educational activities such as Conventions, Seminars, Trainings, Youth Exchanges and similar events implemented by YEU International, Member Organizations and partners.

– Local educational activities: consultation and training for Member Organizations as a capacity building and competence development of their staff, volunteers and members.

– Ensuring quality in implementation of the activities and programme according to the quality standards, aims and values of YEU.

2. Advise on educational matters and produce resource material

The PET will have an advisory role for educational matters based on their experience during their mandate. Proposals for improvements in the Educational Field can be presented to the MOs, GB, and AO. They are presented and elaborated by the coordinator of the PET and disseminated by GB and AO.

The PET will work on the capitalization of the experience acquired and conceptualization in YEU practice. In regards to this, the PET will have the role to develop new methodologies and approaches, and create manuals, guideline documents (e.g. Manual for organizing Convention) etc. that will further serve improving the quality of the educational activities organized within YEU.

3. Capacity building and development of competences of the members of the PET

The PET is a platform/space for its members to further develop and improve in the field.

– Thematic Meetings: Capacity building training and meetings (at least one per year). The meetings ofthe PET are structured so to allow further development of members’ competences. The meetings of PET are organized on a specific theme, based on the current need assessment on its current members.

– Peer learning: PET Membership is organized as long term training in which member competences are regularly assessed and developed. Capacity building is ensured through: personal assessment processes, vocational trainings, peer learning/education process and mentorship/coaching system established within the PET.

–  E-learning platform: The PET has an e-learning platform available for sharing experience, best practice, implement on-line trainings and gather resource material relevant to youth work and YEU activities.

Who are the members of the PET?

The PET members have competences in youth work, specific set of skills to plan, prepare, run and evaluate activities within non-formal education context and specific expertise on different topics relevant to youth work. Depending on the requirements and member competences they are involved as:

Trainers and Facilitators are:

Members of Core Teams / Training Team that prepare, implement and evaluate educational youth activities, as trainers and facilitators;

General Reporters or editors for reports about the activities of YEU International;

Experts providing input and expertise for the above mentioned activities;

Bases for Operational Rules

Human Resources Development:

“Human Resources Development is a framework for the expansion of human capital within an organization.”

Using HRM tools such as those related to motivation, recognition, and sustainability, e-learning platforms as a tool, quality assurance, trust & transparency, the ideas from the documents that defined the role and relevance for the PET inside the organizational structure are put into practice. All these aspects are related to making the PET a learning platform that stimulates the exchange of best practice and effective knowledge management.

Facilitation process:

PET promotes continuous improvement, capacity building and innovation to its members. It is crucial to create a learning atmosphere where PET members feel comfortable to be part of and that gives them learning opportunities in a collaborative knowledge-building process. Learning is best achieved by actively doing and managing personal learning. Learning takes place in a social context through mind, body and emotions.

Motivation:

It’s one of the key elements for the success of PET. In order to keep PET alive and dynamic it must be a learning space for all members, maximizing it usefulness for the network. Motivation can be expressed in different ways, whether it is a motive for action, inner power, energy and encouragement for action or feeling.

Creativity and space for individual expression:

PET members must have the space to express themselves and exchange opinions with colleagues in the PET, otherwise it cannot be considered a place guided by the values of democracy or an ideal place for learning. The facilitation of this process must rely on the more experienced members. Creativity is one of the most important aspects of the production of knowledge, so it must be stimulated and all initiatives and ideas must be supported.

Communication:

Communication is a tool for providing knowledge and information, motivate PET members, share emotions and feelings of members and to keep within the rules of PET. The most important aspect is that the communication is transparent and based on trust, as it is the best way to keep up the motivation of members and ensure fair learning and training opportunities for all members.

Recognition and Ownership of PET:

PET is made of Trainers/Facilitators in NFE who share the same domain of interest and who are committed to the aims and goals of PET. This belonging will distinguish them from the other trainers in NFE. This status is built not only by the opportunities they have inside the PET through the exchange of information, learning and great social contact, but also by recognition of the PET by other stakeholders that might open new possibilities for PET members. Only if PET is internally active and has a good cooperation with other stakeholders it is a good basis for trainers/organizers to have a strong ownership over it.

Assuring quality:

The performance and approach of PET members must be connected to the quality indicators defined by YEU. How well PET members can do their job is not directly proportional to how much they are paid, but it is directly proportional to how much they are motivated and dedicated to the activity/programme they are responsible for. The quality assurance indicators should be established in a general sense for any training undertaken by the PET and those indicators must be fine-tuned for each specific context of each TC.

The indicators that restrict PET members from giving the right amount of time and energy to fulfill a task needs to be eliminated during the process, always respecting every voluntary contribution of members in the PET. This is crucial if the motivation and sense of ownership of the PET from within is to be maintained and even increased. Other aspects of quality in training must be assured by setting indicators related to the number of trainers per trainee, the space and materials that are required, the number of hours of training, etc.