Training of Trainers in Bergamo and Rifugio Curò: learning in the mountains

From 14 to 19 September 2026, youth workers and educators from the MOUNTAIN partnership came together in Italy for the project's Training of Trainers. The week took place between Bergamo and Rifugio Curò, a mountain refuge above Valbondione, and combined training sessions and group work with outdoor activities in an alpine environment.

After arriving in Bergamo, participants met for a first dinner at Palamonti, the headquarters of CAI Bergamo. The next morning the group travelled to Valbondione and hiked up CAI trail 305 to Rifugio Curò, which became the base for the rest of the training. All outdoor and mountain activities were planned and led by guides from Club Alpino Italiano.

At the refuge, the programme worked through the MOUNTAIN training modules, including:

• Working with youth groups in mountain settings, through trekking sessions led by CAI

• Soft skills for youth workers

• Structuring non-formal, informal and restorative activities, in theory and practice

• Youth at risk of deviance and in conflict with the law

• Understanding and intervening: stigma, trauma and intercultural competence

The residential week was part of a wider blended programme. It was preceded by online sessions in early September on the project and its partners, the roles and responsibilities of mountain youth workers, the sociology of deviance, juvenile justice and reception systems, and working with youth groups in the mountains. Two final online sessions on 24 and 25 September focus on the validation of competences and on preparing the local pilot actions.

The Training of Trainers brought together partners from CCB, Club Alpino Italiano, Asociación Deses 3, FEDME and Welcome Home International. It gave partners the chance to test the training materials in a real mountain environment and to prepare for the next phase of the project: local pilot activities with young people in Italy, Spain and Belgium.

A big thank you to CAI Bergamo and the team at Rifugio Curò for their hospitality, and to all participants for a week of learning, walking and working together.