Stepping into Leadership
A two-year training programme for young leaders.
We have secured funding from Léargas (from the Erasmus+ Programme for Youth, under the action Youth Participation Activities) to run a two-year programme for 15 to 17 years old in creative leadership training.
Why this project?
Stepping Into Leadership (SIL) is a creative and practical leadership development programme for teenagers aged 15 to 17. This age group are usually involved as dependent participants in organisations (both formal and non-formal) where many key decisions about their involvement are made by older people in their environments. SIL aims to start them on the journey of exploring what leadership means, what skills and attributes are useful to have, and how young leaders can create, plan, implement and evaluate projects on their own. There is a little bit of flexibility regarding the upper age limit (some people can be aged 18).
The project is a partnership between FOCO (Spain) and Crooked House (Ireland). We use creative methods in workshops to explore theoretical and practical aspects of leadership.
Participants
Participants take part in one monthly meeting with the SIL Project Leader. This is Graham Butler Breen. At these meetings they receive training, based on creative and practical exercises, to develop leadership and organisational skills.
There are 5 official participants in that the Erasmus+ project applied for only 5. However, in Crooked House we have decided to select all who applied, making it 9. 4 of these are not officially registered but they will be able to take part in the whole project.
What do participants do?
They have one monthly meeting to train in and explore leadership, event management, and organisation. These are over the period of two years.
They attend three online workshops with the group from Spain.
They develop, with the Project Leader, a resource Handbook that will share creative ways to develop leadership abilities in the younger age groups.
They organise at least three public events for young people in our community.
There are also 2 mobilities that the group of young people will plan and implement with the help of the organisations.
Youth Exchanges
A mobility is a youth exchange. The first one will be to bring the Irish group together with the Spanish group in Spain. It will be from 15/02/2027 – 19/02/2027 (includes travel days). This is during schools’ mid-term break in Ireland.
Then, the Spanish young people will come to Newbridge, Ireland. This will be from 29/04/2027 – 03/05/2027 (includes travel days).
During both exchanges the two groups will work together with their leaders.
The project began in July 2026
If you need further information, please email info@crookedhouse.ie
