Evelina Taunyte

Trainer background

Current occupation

freelance educator, (anti)artist, publicist, consultant

Work experience

September 2011

Facilitation of the Youth Forum "For Mutual Understanding in the Caucasus", in co-operation with the Council of Europe, 3 days

July 2011

TC "Actor in the Shadow", 2nd edition, Czech Republic, in co-operation with the Czech NA, 5 days (on personal development in youth work)

January - June 2011
Peace Education Consultant in a Schneller Educational Training Center, Amman, Jordan. In cooperation with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ)

April 2011
TC "Mind the Gap - Mind the Culture", Turkey, in co-operation with Turkish NA, 5 days (about the cultural relativity of the concept "participation")
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October 2010
3 Media Workshops with young people in Georgia and Armenia for the "Transkaukasja" festival, in co-operation with Interkulturelles Zentrum, Austria.

December 2009
Facilitation of the "Future Lab" workshop within a project "South Caucasus - A Part of Europe", Interkulturelles Zentrum, Innsbruck, Austria, 5 days.

November 2009
Trainer in the TC "Olympic Games: Sports and Games in Youth Work" Hamburg, Klick e.V and "Projects Are Us", 7 days.

October 2009
Initiator and trainer of TC "Actor in the Shadow" - training course for trainers and youth workers on personal development, Turkish NA, Antalya, 6 days.

September 2008
Trainer in a TC "Building Bridges in Conflict Areas",
Turkish NA and SALTO EECA, Istanbul, 5 days.

April 2008
Trainer in a TC "LAB 3 active", aiming to transmit methods and approaches encouraging youth participation, Turkish NA, SALTO EECA and SALTO SEE, Trabzon, Turkey, 5 days.

July - November 2007
Photo project on minorities in Georgia using inclusive methods empowering locals to produce their own artwork.

May 2007 - Sept 2008
Trainer and media expert in a project "South Caucasus - a Part of Europe", 5 day training courses in Tbilisi and Yerevan and 2x3 day follow-up activities, Association for Non-Formal Education of Lithuania, Interkulturelles Zentrum, Austria.

November 2006
An art project in Tbilisi Georgia (Grant by Gulliver Connect Program)

April 2006
Trainer in a TC "Culture Market" on cultural diversity, NA Lithuania, Birstonas, 5 days.

Feb. 2006
Trainer in a TC "PiPo" - Peer Education and Diversity Training, SALTO Diversity Resource Center and NA Austria, Vienna, 6 days.

Dec. 2005
Publishing of a SALTO Cultural Diversity Calendar 2006, SALTO Diversity RC, London.

2005 - 2006
Facilitating and animating a group of activists and building up a an alternative community movement in Vilnius [kulturnamis]. We organized screenings of documentaries with discussions, planed political and cultural local actions on global and local justice issues.

2005-2006
Development of an Educational Program on Ecology for the "Grazute" Regional Natural Park in Lithuania (Zarasai Municipality, supported by EU Baltic Sea Region INTERREG Program) using non-formal education methods to promote the public awareness about the ecological issues on the local level.

September 2005
Facilitating a Contact Making Seminar in Lithuania in co-operation with PANOIPC.

July 2005
TC "Around the Corner - Creative Thinking and Planning Methods in Youth Work"
(Family Planning Association in Cyprus)

Jan. - Oct 2005
3 TC's for youth workers on issues of Inclusion & Diversity, "ID modules" (in co-operation with SALTO Inclusion and Diversity Resource Centers)

2005
Several TC's on non-formal education for community workers in Lithuania

Jan.- May 2005
"POKALBIAI" - a sequence of interactive lectures/public talks on alternative political issues as globalisation, gender, sustainable development, in bars and cafes in Vilnius, following up coaching and facilitating for a number of initiatives, such as "ERDVES", initiating various civic actions in Vilnius.

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December 2004
Coordinating and facilitating a youth exchange project with Euro-Med countries on stereotypes, in cooperation with PANOIPC, Lithuania

November 2004
Interactional lectures on globalisation and consumerism in cooperation with Environmental Information Center, Vilnius

September 2004
Human Study Center in Vilnius - Workshops on Creative Thinking and Planning

February 2004
Jugendakademie Walberberg
Seminars for youngsters on Future Planning

June 2003
Training for multipliers on a method “Future Workshop” by R. Jungk in a World Lithuanian Youth Congress

since Jan. 2003
Freelance Trainer in a non-formal education and future workshops in the Youth Academy Walberberg, Germany
(Seminars for young people on conflict management, personal future planning, )

since
Oct. 2002
working as a musician and artist Candycactus
(www.candycactus.net)

Oct. 2001-Sept. 2002
ConVista Consulting GmbH, Cologne
(software development, consulting, training)

Oct. 1999 - Jan. 2001
Intern in a Youth Welfare Office in Bonn
(Recruiting, training and consulting volunteers and youth organisations)

1997 – 2000
Foundation Stiftung Mitarbeit, supporting grass-root democratic organisations, Bonn
(Organising conferences and seminars on methods and tools for a civil society, facilitating)

Educational pathway

I finished my studies as a social educator in Germany (1999), I worked in the NGO supporting foundation Stiftung Mitarbeit, organizing seminars and conferences on alternative participation models, volunteer management, etc. I ran various seminars for youngsters and youth initiatives in the Youth Office in Bonn and Jugendakademie Walberberg.

After having spent many years abroad I returned back to Lithuania in the beginning of 2004 and was working here these two years as a freelance facilitator and community worker and artist.

Since three years I live without a sedentary base traveling from village to village on a bicycle, foot or horse. Living as a nomad I get involved in youth work in local realities in particular ways. I traveled by bike from Lithuania and took part in the lives of some Gypsies in Romania, Kurdish in Turkey and Muslims in Georgia. I initiated several social art projects in Georgia (one of them was working with rural people from minorities, engaging them in photography) and also got involved as a trainer in Georgia and Armenia in a long term project encouraging young people to use media such as photo and video as a tool of civic expression.

Winter 2007/2008 I spent in the Adjarian (Georgia) mountains, animating people to found a community center and working on its project.

During these three years I got to know Palestine, Turkey, South East Asia, but the region of Caucasus I got to know particularly well.

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Motivation that leads me to this unconventional solution of youth work and life is realizing that there is an immense practical gap between the programs that are being offered by the EU or other structures and the people that seem never to be reached by them. Therefore, beyond the training courses and other official engagements I choose partially personal action - going to places and doing things with people using the local resources, thus not creating dependencies as conventional development policies tend to do.

Living this way I rely on my own experiences as a base of learning. I live with extremely small ecological footprint. Getting to know people who live in remote rural places or belong to minorities I have a chance to inspire those for youth work and non-formal education, who are barely reached by state programs.