ICY: INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE FOR YOUTH WORKERS

ICY for Youth and Sports

Find your strengths and help your group become more inclusive! Methods, sports activities, and training for youth workers and coaches of intercultural groups.

Sports Clubs and Youth organizations all around Europe are considered as great places for integration and safe spaces for young people from all backgrounds. However, they can also be places of discrimination if leaders are not well equipped to manage diverse groups. The ability to create bonds with all group members from very different cultural, religious, or socioeconomic backgrounds is instrumental in building empathy, understanding of diverse teams, and ultimately more inclusive groups.

By training youth workers and coaches in intercultural competence, ICY-project aims to improve social inclusion in youth groups. ICY is a one-year project (Spring 2019 – Spring 2020) co-funded by the European Union Erasmus+ Programme.

The four partners learn from each other to gain best practices in leading youth groups towards cultural awareness.
Within the project, the four partners observe and learn different ways of leading the group and facilitating social inclusion. These methods and activities are recorded, tested in different contexts and shared with you here in March 2020!

Partners:


ACSESO	City Pirates	Changemakerz

What is intercultural competence?

Intercultural competence is a key working life skill in our highly networked world. Coaches, trainers, teachers and other instructors have daily encounters with diverse groups: young people from all around the world and varying socioeconomical backgrounds. To ensure the culturally sensitive approach and inclusive groups, instructors need training and practice in intercultural competence.

In ICY, intercultural competence is defined through Deardorff’s studies (2006) in interculturality. The competence can be divided in three categories:

Knowledge: self-awareness, knowledge of other cultures and current global issues, and socio-linguistic awareness
Skills: listening, observing, evaluating, empathy
Attitudes: respect, openness and discovery, curiosity

Throughout the project, we will keep these elements in mind aiming to develop all aspects of Intercultural Competence. The progress will be measured IDI analysis (Intercultural Development Inventory by Hammer Holdings).