Call for participants — Burst the Bubble Training
Burst the Bubble — Building Connections with Oneself and Others as a Tool for Peace and Understanding
The Burst the Bubble project consists of two international activities:
- 5-day training on connection with self and others (in Germany);
- 5-day training course on connection to the world (in Spain).
The aim of both training is to empower 20 youth workers and young people to become storytellers for peace by creating spaces to expand their perspectives and foster meaningful connections across diverse communities through developing competences for connection to self (mindfulness), others (dialogue) and the world (storytelling) and ultimately contributing to more inclusive, peaceful, and understanding local communities.
FIRST TRAINING ON CONNECTION TO SELF AND THE OTHERS
mindfulness, exploring identities, recognizing biases, dialogue
In Germany on 11–17 June 2025
The learning of the first training will focus on:
- understanding concepts of concepts of peace, conflict, violence, human rights, and community;
- exploration of peace-building processes and its role in conflict resolution;
- boosting self-awareness and emotional literacy through mindfulness techniques;
- reflection on own identities and biases and how these relate to human rights;
- practising dialogue skills, including active listening and nonviolent communication,
- formation of working groups which will be a practice ecosystem to translate participants’ learnings into everyday life and their local work.
SECOND TRAINING ON CONNECTION TO THE WORLD
storytelling, narratives, human rights
In Spain, on 6–12 November
The learning of the second training will focus on:
- understanding of human rights principles, their protection mechanisms and common violations;
- understanding of the concept of discrimination and strategies for its elimination;
- developing skills on storytelling and its impact of social media on narrative construction and perceptions;
- understanding the concept of “bubbles” in social, cultural, and digital contexts, and their impact on personal growth, civic engagement and peace-building;
- participants’ critical thinking abilities in relation to social media, narrative construction and perceptions of self, others, and society at large in Europe;
- getting to know how to plan and organise 5 follow-up actions by participants, aimed at practising newly acquired skills by bursting bubbles and boosting peaceful connections in their local communities.
In between the activities participants will go through the practice phase, which would require on average around 1 hour of your time per week.
When applying, you apply for both trainings and for participation in the practice phase.
BASICS ABOUT THE PROJECT
🌍 We are looking for 20 participants from Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany and Cyprus.
🌳⛰️ Venue of 1st Training: Bergisches Land, Germany
🗓️ Dates: Arrival on 11th June and departure on 17th June 2025
🌳⛰️ Venue of 2nd Training: Spain
🗓️ Dates: Arrival on 6th November and departure on 12th November 2025
⏳Deadline for application for both Trainings: April 24th 2025
⌨️ Link to apply → Apply here
IS THIS PROJECT FOR YOU?
If you would like to learn:
- learn how to be active locally,
- learn how to develop a culture of peace and human rights,
- get to know people with whom you can plan it and ways how to do it,
then yes, those trainings are for you ❤️
PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS 🐧
This training is for you if you are (or want to become) active in your local community and contribute to more inclusive, peaceful, and understanding society, and you are:
- young person with interest to be engaged in peaceful change in your community
- youth worker and youth leader, especially within organisations involved in peacebuilding and human rights education
- member of youth work organisation willing to multiply gained knowledge
- trainer and educator.
Also, you are …
- living in one of these countries: Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy and Cyprus (you don’t need to hold passport of those countries, you need to live and travel from there)
- 18–35 year old (if you are a youth worker — apply no matter of your age range)
- able to communicate in English (this the language of the trainings).
HOW WE WORK 🤝🏻
The training courses will be based on the principles of non-formal education.
We will implement the basic elements of the non-formal education, such as the education being voluntary, organised with educational objectives, participatory and learner-centred, about learning life skills and preparing for active citizenship, based on involving both individual and group learning with a collective approach, holistic and process-oriented, as well as based on experience and action (we will plan the follow-up activities) and starts from the needs of the participants. We will use working methods, such as working in small groups, role plays, buzz groups, energisers, presentations and more of participatory activities.
Basically is a peer-to-peer (you share & learn from others) approach 😊
COSTS — LET’S TALK ABOUT THE 💰
We believe in one thing, the power of peace education and the right for all to have an opportunity. That is why, thanks to the ERASMUS+ scheme, we are able to provide this training for you for FREE.
We will be able to reimburse you for your travel to Bergisches Land with a limit of:
- Germany, Italy — 417 € (green travel required)
- Spain, Portugal — 309 €
- Cyprus — 395 €
Just know that all reimbursements are done after each of the trainings and once you submit all your travel tickets.
Traveling limits for the second activity, in Spain, will be shared with you after acceptance.
WHO WE ARE 🌱
give & grow is a social start-up from Germany and one of the first online platforms dedicated to travel education. The organisation focuses on intercultural learning and uses youth exchange and sustainable tourism as powerful tools to promote peace and understanding among young people.
YPAN
The Youth Peace Ambassadors Network (ypa.network) wants to develop a culture of peace by empowering young people, and promoting human rights, dignity, equality, and respect for diversity through education, advocacy, and other non-violent actions through projects at the local and international levels.
We are a network of over 140 young peacebuilders and activists who want to develop a culture of peace.
DEADLINE
24 April 2025
APPLY HERE
CONTACT
Write to this e-mail with the Subject: “Burst the Bubble”
kathrin@giveandgrow.world
This project is financed by Erasmus+ with the number 2024–3-DE04-KA153-YOU-000265368. Learn more about Erasmus+ here
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