Open call for participants— New Stories

training courses on deconstructing narratives and constructing alternative narratives on peaceful co-existence in Europe

Training 1: 9-16 November — Cyprus

Training 2: March 2023 — France

👧 We are looking for 32 participants from Poland, Greece, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Belarus and Cyprus

🌳🏡 Venue:

Training 1: Nicosia, Cyprus (November 2022)

Training 2: close to Bordeaux, France (March 2023)

🗓️ Dates: Arrival on November 9th and departure on November 16th of 2022

⏳Deadline for application: September 26th 2022

⌨️ Link to apply → Apply here

LET US TELL YOU ABOUT THIS PROJECT

Why does this project take place?

In today’s Europe, there are existing narratives around us that are fueling hostility towards “the others” and are in line with normalizing violence. The violent narratives are concerning not only the interpersonal level, but also the planetary one on which the environment is not being treated as a priority. Being youth workers and working with young people from all over Europe we see that there is a need to address those challenges to human rights and peace culture.

You saw violent narrative.
You heard violent narrative.
Would you be willing to change it?

AIM

The project aim is to equip youth workers and young activists with competences to practice active citizenship by standing against human rights violations around them by deconstructing existing violent narratives and constructing peaceful alternative narratives with the use of visuals, artistic tools and innovative educational methods.

OBJECTIVES

- To get participants familiar with the concepts of human rights, mechanisms of human rights protection, peace and violence, active participation and citizenship, community building, discourse, alternative narratives and counter narratives;

- To understand the importance of peaceful alternative narratives in the context of human rights and combating hate speech;

- To map the realities in the participating countries on the existing violent narratives in the field of global inequalities, xenophobia and social injustice;

- To gain the knowledge on how the violent narratives are constructed and the ability to use critical thinking to deconstruct them;

- To develop the skills of participants in using nonviolent communication, emotional literacy and peace education as tool for building local communities and construction of peaceful alternative narratives;

- To exchange good practices and tools to address xenophobia, inequalities and lack of social justice such as: media literacy, storytelling, advocacy and conflict transformation.

- develop innovative education tools for youth workers by designing at least 4 guidelines on how to design and implement a local workshop for tackling xenophobia, inequalitie social injustice or other harmfull narratives and construct alternative narratives promoting culture of peace in the European communities;

⚠️ This is a project with two training activities. By applying you are committing to taking part in both trainings :)

The activities (training) will take place in:
- Nicosia, Cyprus— 9–16 November 2022
- Thonon-les-Bains, France — March 2023

In the meantime between the activities, we will run online meetings and mentorship programs to support the creation of local workshops.

PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS 🐧

We are looking for:

• 18–35 year old (if you are a youth worker — apply no matter of your age range)
• who is living in one of these countries: Poland, Greece, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France Belarus or Cyprus (you don’t need to hold passport of those countries, you need to live there)
• active or interested in the field of peace, human rights, and youth work
• Youth workers or youth leaders that work with youth in their communities
• people active as trainers or educators in non–formal education, especially within youth organizations and associations
• young people who believe in peaceful changes in their communities are passionate about issues facing their community
• people with experience or interest in conflict resolution or transformation, human rights, peacebuilding, or youth work
• able to communicate in English (this the language of the trainings)
• ready to commit to take part in two trainings of this project & to run local workshop that will be a follow-up of the first activity

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, organized with educational objectives, participatory and learner-centered, 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.

Basically is a peer-to-peer (you teach & learn from others) approach :)

COSTS

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 Nicosia with a limit of:

• Cyprus — 20 euros;
• Greece — 180 euros;
• France, Germany, Poland, Belarus — 360 euros;
• Portugal , Spain — 530 euros;
• If you choose green travel (train, carpooling,boat etc.), we will try to support you with a higher reimbursement.

The majority of the members of the network are trained on human rights, non-formal education, and conflict transformation by the Council of Europe in the long-term project (2011–2014).

Our Mission: The 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.

Follow us on 👉🏿 INSTAGRAM👈🏾

Youth Peace Ambassadors Network France

The activities of the organization focus on 3 main areas: human rights in general, peacebuilding and conflict transformation. YPAN France works with international experts, youth workers, and human rights activists in order to provide a new way to transform society, from local to global.

DEADLINE — September 26 2022

APPLY HERE — APPLICATION

CONTACT
Write to this e-mail with the Subject: “New Stories”
ypanfrance@gmail.com

New Stories is a project financed by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme.

The content of the page represents the views of the author only and is their sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.