Online Training Course to Improve Skills and Knowledge in the Field of Volunteering in Conflict Areas

AN ONLINE COURSE WITH MANY INNOVATIVE ELEMENTS!

The Raising Peace Campaign aims at strengthening and improving the visibility of the role of the International Voluntary Service movement in the construction of Peace and Human Rights, through raising awareness, training activists and making advocacy and networking. In the framework of the Campaign, CCIVS proposes an online Training Course focused on volunteering in conflict areas, featuring the following innovative elements:

• the presence of 2 experts from the Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) of the University of Coventry and the University of Leicester;
• the presence of a graphic harvester, who will accompany the group during a day of the course to provide graphic facilitation and production;
• interactive and creative non-formal education methods, proposed by 2 experienced trainers from the International Voluntary Service (IVS) movement, who will present contents focused on the history of the IVS movement and the impact of IVS workcamps and projects in peace-building, in the past and now;
• an online platform accessible to the participants, which will contain additional contents, reading material, homework and learning resources.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ONLINE COURSE

The VICA course aims at strengthen organisations' and participants’ commitment and capacity in the field of volunteering in conflict areas.

Its specific objectives are:

• to provide definitions and clarifications on key concepts: conflicts, reconciliation, international cooperation, volunteering in conflict areas;
• to develop skills, competences, and personal qualities needed to provide an active contribution in IVS peace projects, especially those implemented in conflict areas;
• to raise participants awareness and sensitivity on specific dynamics: conflict resolution, intercultural communication, volunteers’ expectations, gender and environmental issues, code of conduct and role of volunteers in conflict areas;
• to provide inputs. 

WHEN AND WHAT

The course consists of 5 online sessions (all hours are CEST, Paris Time):

1) Friday, 4 June, from 14:00 to 15:30 – Introductory session, presentation of the programme, getting-to-know-each-other, team building.

2) Friday, 11 June, from 14:00 to 16:00 - Definition of key concepts: peace, conflict, volunteering in conflict areas; The IVS approach: history and study cases; why volunteering in conflict areas today? [featuring Graphic Facilitation!]

3) Friday, 18 June, from 14:00 to 16:00 - Conflict theories;  Challenges of intercultural communication; Code of conduct when volunteering in conflict areas; Mapping skills and competences for volunteers and peacebuilders; Volunteering in conflict areas in action: real scenarios. [featuring experts of the CTPSR and the University of Leicester!]

4) Thursday, 24 June, from 14:00 to 16:00 - Gendered Peacebuilding, Gender in Conflict studies, Gender and post-conflict reconstruction; Emotional dimension of project in conflict areas; Constructive engagement with communities and stakeholders [featuring experts of the CTPSR and the University of Leicester!]

5) Friday, 2 July, from 14:00 to 16:00 - Presentation of IVS Non-formal Education tools to be used in Peace projects; Working on the Toolkit: group work to update the contents and visibility of the 2008 Toolkit on Conflict and Volunteering: How to deal constructively with conflicts in relation to international voluntary service; Final evaluation of the online training.

PARTICIPANTS PROFILE

• interest in the topics of the training: peace-building and peace work, volunteering, conflict resolution, cooperation with local communities, intercultural communication;
• availability to join the whole 5 online sessions and to participate to the task on the Toolkit;
• availability to use the skills and knowledge gained in the training to support the activities of the partner organisations;
• capable of following the training in English.

In the selection process, priority will be given to the partner organisations of the project: CCIVS (France), YRS (Serbia), BINS (Serbia), Zavod Voluntariat (Slovenia), SCI Hellas (Greece), CVS (Bulgaria), VAP (UK), Concordia (UK), SCI Catalunya (Spain), Association Building Bridges (Spain).

Candidates who are not active members of the above-mentioned organisations are welcome to apply. If selected, they will be redirected to the partners and there will be the opportunity to be involved in their local and international activities.

Candidates from countries not represented by the partners will be redirected to IVS organisations active in their region.

Selected participants will join the sessions using Zoom and will be involved in presentation, group work, exercises, plenary sessions.

Sessions 2, 3 and 4 will be live-streamed on Facebook and will be accessible to the public. However, Facebook viewers will not be able to take part in the group work sessions (in Zoom break-out rooms), but we will moderate the discussion using the Facebook live chat space.

Please click HERE to view the bio of the Experts Team.