On 15 and 16 November 2008, educators of YMCAs of Sorocaba, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo participated in the first stage of training for the YMCA project leaders.

The program is scheduled to begin in 2009 and aims to become the reference in the training of leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean. The idea stems from a youth group in 2004 and has come a long way from discussions at the continental level to format a new vision for the work of youth development at the YMCA.

Among the new features is the adoption of a single pedagogical frame, "Teaching for Understanding" methodology created at Harvard University and spreads widely in formal education in various educational institutions around the globe.

In this first stage of training, 11 were certified trainers who come to know the principles of the program and manage the chosen methodology. The second level will come with preparing to conduct working sessions.

The training activity was attended by the leadership of the facilitators Sergio Solano Loo, ACM Peru and Romulo Dantas ACM São Paulo, both members of the steering committee of the program.