SUSUC: Training Course in St. Albans

Step Up and Start Up (SUSUC) is a collaboration between Asociatia Babilon Travel (Romania) and other 5 non-profit organisations from 5 European countries: the UK, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia.

In this project, we are exploring the topic of youth employment and entrepreneurship in Europe. It is important to stress that entrepreneurship is a skill that can be learned and is not just the fate for someone born with charisma or successful parents who can invest in their startup. You can become one by developing entrepreneurial mind-set and skills. As Europe needs more entrepreneurs creating jobs, it’s necessary to support this type of education in all EU countries.

SUSUC will be a multi-activity project designed to employ non-formal education methods in fostering entrepreneurship among young people.

The project is divided into two parts:

• Training Course, will take place in the UK;
• Youth Exchange, will take place in Poland.

Training Course in the UK:

• When: 23rd to 29th of August 2019;
• Where: Academy St Albans, All Saints Pastoral Centre, Shenley Lane, London Colney, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL2 1AF. Website: http://www.academyresidences.co.uk/. This is a lovely venue situated between London and Luton making it a very convenient location that is close to the airport in Luton and also on the outskirts of London. Please be aware that the rooms are mostly twins which means that there will be two people per room with one bathroom per room. Please bring your own toiletries (towel, shower gels, toothbrush),
• Who: 24 participants from 6 countries which counts for 4 participants per country. As for the profile of the participants, we are looking for youth workers (people who work for/with youth in different environments such as schools, youth centers or organisations, etc.). We aim for participants who are between the ages of 18 – 35 years old who possess a minimum level of English as the Course will be in English;
• Logistics: we recommend Luton airport as the airport of the choice for the arrival day (23rd of August) and departure day (29th of August). Connection with the airport can be established using Google maps and/or City Mapper. The recommended route would include: a shuttle bus to Luton (the city) from the Airport followed by a train ride to St. Albans (the city) and then a bus ride to the venue. If the airport of choice shall not be Luton Airport, there are plenty of connections from central London (mostly bus and the overground train system) or other airports;
• Additional information:
  • The currency in the UK is the British Sterling Pound;
  • Accommodation, food and transport are covered under the Erasmus+ funding. You can consider having some pocket money;
  • Once in London, most of the public transport facilities can be operated using a contactless card but you can also opt for buying an Oyster Card (£5). A bus journey in London costs £1.50. The fares for the underground and overground systems are dependent on the zones that you are travelling to and from;
  • Travel insurance is advisable to have but it is not a requirement. We recommend having the European Heath Insurance Card when travelling to any European country;
  • We suggest paying extra attention when crossing the street as the cars drive on the other side of the road compared to most of the European countries.
• Things to bring: the weather in the UK is often unpredictable and at the moment the forecast says temperatures between 24 and 10 degrees around the time of our project. So comfortable summer clothes are ok with keeping in mind that evenings can get a bit chilly. Also have an umbrella for potential rainy weather. Additionally, please bring traditional food and drinks to present during the Cultural Nights. Also, if possible, bring a large flag as well of your country;
• Program: activities include non-formal based methods of education such as group debates, brainstorming sessions, role playing, flipchart presentations and also a NGO fair. Having the participation of youth workers, we will be able to access a new dimension of knowledge and skills in the field of leadership and entrepreneurship and, with consideration to this, our intention is to host an exchange of good practices between the youth workers.

The info pack can be downloaded from here.

If you are interested in applying for the training course in St. Albans, you can find the application form here.

For more details please do not hesitate to contact us at office@babilontravel.net.