A few months after the beginning of this three-year Erasmus+ project, the LQN consortium started to implement its qualification programme for active citizenship. The objectives of this train-the-trainer course will be to empower the LQN local facilitators; to train local political representatives in municipalities (mayors, councilors) as well as committed citizens in topics related to active citizenship; to share with them transferable best practices and to support the LQN-process in the municipalities. A three-module training will first train the local facilitators.
A first training module for LQN local facilitators in Austria
The first training module for LQN local facilitators took place from the 22th to the 24th of May 2017 in one of the project partners’ facility in SPES Zukunftsakademie in Schlierbach (Upper Austria). 21 participants came from Germany, Italy (South Tyrol) and Austria.
The participants learned and experimented the LQN key principles; e.g. the LQN approach and model process, the LQN philosophy and the principles of self-organisation, the role and the attitude of the LQN local facilitators, as well as the team building method entitled TeamMangementSystem (TMS). The first best practices that have been gathered by the project partners were also presented, as for instance Parents’ Bus Stops, Courageous Municipalities, Conclusio and Youth Council.
A special evening program was offered to the participants on the 23th of May with the Agenda 21 network meeting of the Upper Austrian Zukunftsakademie. Ten Agenda 21 municipalities were honored for their great commitment at a celebratory event in the historical Retouden Halls of Linz. These municipalities rely on an in-depth citizen participation for the initiation and implementation of their future-oriented projects. The governor Thomas Stelzer and the regional councilor Rudi Anschober hold the ceremony.
Next project step in Italy
The second module of the LQN training for local facilitators will take place in early September in another project partner’s facility in the Monastery Neustift in South Tyrol (Italy). The LQN basic principles will be further discussed and the project partners will present other LQN project outputs, such as the Competence-check tool for citizens and the LQN awareness-raising implementation tools.