What is a learning facilitator?

Learning facilitation is the process of guiding and supporting learners to take an active role in their own education. Unlike traditional methods of teaching (where the transmission of knowledge is unidirectional, from teacher to student), facilitation focuses on creating an environment where learners are encouraged to explore, question and build their own understanding.

A learning facilitator acts more as a coach or mentor, using strategies that promote collaboration, critical thinking and self-directed learning. The goal is to empower individuals to become independent, lifelong learners who can adapt to new challenges and continuously grow.

My journey in group learning facilitation started in 2015 when I became a freelancer in professional coaching and nonformal education. Looking to develop the attitude, skills and knowledge to build and deliver my own learning programs on self-leadership, I joined a well-structured, certified ToT – Train of Trainers program in Bucharest. I wanted to understand more about learning by doing, structuring content and designing engaging learning sessions, group dynamics and how to manage energy for a healthy balance between giving and receiving. Also, learn how to ask for feedback from peers and use it to build strength and better up. I wanted to learn how to create safe and inspiring spaces for people to engage in meaningful activities that enable them develop self-leadership competencies:

self-awareness, goal-setting, autonomy, emotional regulation, decision-making, motivation and focus, resilience, self-care and discipline, teamwork, effective communication, conflict resolution, time management, relationships building, creativity, change making, continuous learning…

Ten years later, I still believe self-leadership is, paradoxically, a resourceful way to actually stay humble, gracefully leading others from a full cup.

Meaningful leading of others starts with the mindful leading of ourselves first.

The Erasmus+ ToT – Train of Trainers course “Be the trainer the youth need” was spot on! The program was smoothly organised by Romanian NGO Ask Yourself and took place in Bușteni (Romania) between March 29 – April 6, 2025. It brought together two experienced trainers – Kunka Velikova from Bulgaria and Ana-Maria Ilie from Romania – facilitating the learning process for 27 participants with a diverse background in youth working and coming from 6 different countries: Greece, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Serbia and Spain. Youth leaders, trainers, social workers, youth project managers, youth policy makers, volunteering mentors, youth researchers, youth coaches, teachers, NGO members.

The project had three main goals: 1. improve participants’ competences in finding the needs of the young people they work with. 2. Help participants better understand how to prepare and implement a training session. 3. Develop participants’ skills in implementing and debriefing non-formal education methods.

Reflecting on my experience as both participant and contributor in Erasmus+ projects, I noticed this ToT project in Romania was my fifth. A chance for me to get back to the basics, revisit my profession, unlearn and relearn with a beginner’s mind.

I remember how Erasmus projects started for me: youth work in the digital era (Luxembourg, 2020), critical thinking (France & Türkiye, 2023 & 2024), skill grow in nonformal education (Cyprus, 2024) and resilience (Croatia, 2025). It felt like this ToT – Train of Trainers program was the perfect chance to celebrate a decade of training and facilitation! And a great opportunity to experience a new framework, rethink my approach and find other ways to connect with the communities of international youth workers. Maybe write Erasmus+ projects together, become co-trainers, partner up with NGOs to offer my skills as facilitator in local and international projects, build a network or contribute by staying in touch and sharing resources.

For this project – “Be the trainer the youth need” – I set 3 intentions for myself:

1. GROWING AWARENESS – Understand my practice through the lens of the Erasmus+ Competence Model for Trainers framework to better serve multicultural and diverse audiences
2. EXPANDING LEARNING – Revisit my competences as trainer and facilitator and surrender the unknown in terms of learning process and content
3. CREATING IMPACT – As Barbara Soalheiro from MESA Brasil would say: in order to find solutions, we need to bring at the table all the knowledge and very skill. In this case: share my passion, support others grow!

1. GROWING AWARENESS

As youth workers and participants traveling on international projects, it is important to self-check and calibrate our style, either in regard to our contribution as facilitator or when being asked to assess other trainers’ activity. Which is why the following topic was one of the highlights of this training for me.

The Competence Model for Trainers

within Erasmus+ ASK competence framework – Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge

1. Understanding and facilitating individual and group learning processes
2. Designing educational programmes
3. Cooperating successfully in teams
4. Learning to learn
5. Communicating meaningfully with others
6. Intercultural competence
7. Being civically engaged

2. EXPANDING LEARNING

This project was all about knowledge, skills and attitudes in action! Practice what we had been preaching for a the entire week before. The partnership between project organisers and the local high-school “Ion Kalinderu” in Bușteni created the perfect opportunity for us to team up and build a memorable learning experience for the students. As I could notice, it was quite fruitful for the kids too – welcome a nonformal activity during their formal school hours!

From Facilitator to a Team of Facilitators

10 tips & tricks for effective same-role collaboration

Engaging with a multi-cultural team in designing and delivering a one-hour course to high-schoolers was so revealing! We started as complete strangers – a diverse group of people from Spain (originally Germany), Greece, Italy and Romania with various levels of experience in work, facilitation and life in general. What brought us together were the enthusiasm and empathy we all shared as a value. Hence our name: Empatheam!

Working as a team towards a common goal (create a useful and engaging workshop for the students) actually started with being together. Not doing, but being.

How to get from ME to WE:

1. Bonding – Getting to really know each other, creating a safe space to open up in full trust. Connect through honest questioning and active listening.
2. Building – Patiently discovering each other’s strengths. Find our sweet spots, what we most enjoy and what we are best at. Build on our needs to develop.
3. Believing – Having full confidence in the team’s goals and the abilities of each member to make them happen. Create a common vision, empowering the whole team.
4. Boundaries – Expressing and respecting personal limits. Address concerns. Set realistic expectations.
5. Brainstorming – Collaborating on new ideas and solutions. Look for sparks.
6. Balancing – Ensuring equal participation of team members and workload distribution. Reflect on level of involvement, agree on specific roles.
7. Blending – Fostering a harmonious integration of different ideas and perspectives. Surrender to suggestions, new ways of working and the assigned roles.
8. Bravery – Having the courage to challenge, share ideas and take risks. Get feedback and integrate insights if needed.
9. Benevolence – Show kindness and a willingness to help at any point during the process. Be present for each other.
10. Behaving – Offering active support to team members whenever asked for it. Walk the talk.

Quoting martial arts master Bruce Lee: be like water. What we did was to stay shapeless, formless, flexible, adaptable. Breathing and adjusting to circumstances. Joyful, yet calm and composed. Grateful to be there and enjoying the experience as it was unfolding. A learning facilitator’s journey may look solo, yet it’s the teamwork that makes the dream work! 

4 key-takeaways from my experience as facilitator when interacting with the 16 year-old students:

• teens need to reflect on their own learning process and be invited to take action (as teacher, feel free to cultivate the self-directed learning approach)

• teens need more adventure – experiencing various types of learning (as teacher, you can blend the formal teaching methodology with nonformal tools and techniques to make learning more interactive for both of you, student and teacher alike)

• teens need to know (hear/ see/ feel) they are fully accepted – enthusiastic, curious, sometimes detached and with a natural impulse to ask questions freely (as teacher, you can connect by voicing out your acceptance for them and match your nonverbal communication – remember: before knowing it, people feel it first!)

• teens need to develop both critical thinking and an empathetic attitude (mind, body, heart) when speaking to themselves or interacting with others (as teacher, you can show yourself as a model of self-acceptance and kindness, inspiring them to understand how to practice self-resilience and move on)

I noticed how teens have the same needs as we do as adults, either facilitators or professionals in other fields of work : time and encouragement for self-reflection, challenges and adventure in learning, self-acceptance and connection with leaders and peers, mindful awareness and empathetic communication style.

Also, at their age, traveling, making new friends and getting to know about the world is so important! Which is why in the end of our workshop, we shared some personal insights about Erasmus+ learning opportunities for youth. Being fully funded by the European Commission, the programs offer youngsters the possibility to travel and learn for free. From youth exchanges, ESC volunteering, seminars, conferences or training courses for youth workers, learning opportunities can easily be found on the Erasmus local agency in Romania (ErasmusPlus.ro) or Salto-Youth platform (in English). Which leads us to the last chapter of this article:

3. CREATING IMPACT

Share Your Passion, Support Others Grow

Erasmus+ programs are also about discovering the beauty of diversity and the richness of multiculturalism. The intercultural evening is a time for teams of each country to take the opportunity and showcase their specificity. We had it all! From tasty home-made foods, folk dances and beautiful landscape to sharing personal stories, funny role-playing of stereotypes or guided language practice. Latvian sounds incredible!

Throughout the program, all participants were invited to contribute to the learning process. Either by engaging people with energisers at the beginning of each session, by sharing opinions or relevant experiences during the content delivery or by supporting each other to the best of their ability.

Some personal contributions turned into precious gifts of experimenting and learning. For instance,

• the embodied creativity and improvisation workshop with Michalis from Greece turned into a 3-hour playful generator of release and exchange of energy

• the voice workshop with Mike from Italy turned into a mindful karaoke session to practice free speech and controlled breathing

• the self-exploring workshop with me turned into a 2-hour journey into the 6 basic human needs, tools to develop meta-cognition and a self-grounding practice

After a long week of intensive learning and generous sharing, the KISS strategy (Keep It Short and Simple) seems the best to answer the burning question:

How can you be the trainer the youth need?

Be yourself. Zoom out. Get feedback. Collaborate.