Building a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence

This is a training for youth workers to acquire knowledge and professional skills in nonviolence and peacebuilding, so that they can integrate these in their work. It is taking place from the 19th-28th of August in 2016, in The Netherlands. The training will focus on several core concepts from Johan Galtung, such as ‘positive peace’, (which refers to the title “Peace+”), structural violence, cultural violence and direct violence, and gives excercises to practice Constructive Nonviolence and Peacebuilding.

We want to empower youth workers to become peace builders and active citizens, getting a sense of initiative, fostering social inclusion and countering radicalisation.. This is an important matter, because: 1. Europe is becoming increasingly fragmented and polarized, 2. Youth are particularly sensitive to violent ideologies and they are the ones that can impact our future the most.  3. Young people (and older too) lack opportunities to learn and gain skills in this area.

The over-all aim is to empower youth workers by knowledge, skills, insights and experiences so they can build a culture of peace and sustain peaceful international relations in and around the EU. The objectives indicate how. Objectives are:
1. To give youth workers the chance to reflect on nonviolence and their way of dealing with it in their personal and professional life, offering tools to resolve conflicts, possibly prevent them and build more peace in both their jobs and private lives.
2. To present the opportunity to practice conflict resolution and communication skills in a culturally diverse setting, so that youth workers  can understand the democratic principle ‘agree to disagree’, as well as the principle ‘different but equal’.
3. To counter radicalization of youth by letting them experience and understand ‘positive peace’ (valuing diversity and establish respect in community building), structural and cultural violence, meaning they challenge and deconstructing prejudices and get a birds-eye perspective on how different social problems are inter-connected in systems of violence.
4. To facilitate intercultural understanding and cooperation as well as synergy in the field of youth work, by exchanging insights and knowledge among youth workers during (and after) the program and develop connections among them.

Program

The topics that we will discuss are as follows:

Day 1: Exploring violence

Day 2: Structural violence

Day 2: Exploring nonviolence

Day 4: Constructive Nonviolence

Day 5: Conflict Transformation

Day 6: Identity and Conflict Transformation

Day 7: Analyzing power and planning actions

Day 8: Opportunities and Collaboration

How to apply

You are elegible to participte when you are a youth worker, by which we understand: a person that can impact youth directly, in both the NGO and nonformal education sector and formal education, or indirectly through policy, advocacy, lobbying, or research. The training is aimed at youth workers who experience a lack of knowledge, skills, and competences in Nonviolence, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding. It is addressed to people who work in contexts where they could benefit from a learning experience where they can share their difficulties, discovering methods to improve communication, tolerance and cooperation. The training is based on participative methods, trying to address different learning styles. We hope that what is learned will be passed on, yet the focus is on learning, not learning to teach. 

We are looking for 21 participants in total, from (or residing in) Germany, Spain, Greece, Romenia, Hungary, Kosovo, Georgia, Egypt, Turkey and The Netherlands. (Unfortunately people from other countries can’t apply). 

To apply you should fill out the application form (deadline June 15)