Seed. Tree. Forest  -  Training courses on conflict transformation

The Seed.Tree.Forest project was designed by a group of international youth workers and activists — members of the Youth Peace Ambassadors Network (YPAN) — working in the field of peacebuilding and Human Rights, especially in conflict-affected communities.

We want to change things, we want to be heard, and we want youth to be part of society's decisions. Especially, concerning conflicts in intercultural or local communities.

The aim of the project is to equip youth workers, activists, and trainers with competencies in nonviolent conflict transformation, nonviolent communication, and emotional literacy, in order to be leaders in building a sustainable culture of peace and respect for human rights by working at the grassroots level in their respective communities.

OBJECTIVES 

• To provide participants with knowledge of concepts on peace, nonviolence, various forms of violence, conflict, peacebuilding, the culture of peace, and human rights.
• To understand the importance of nonviolent conflict transformation and its links to the context of human rights.
• To explore nonviolent conflict transformation in theory.
• To develop the skills of participants in the field of emotional literacy as a tool of conflict transformation;
• To provide participants with practical tools for peaceful and nonviolent conflict transformation, mediation, and emotional literacy in the context of youth work and youth engagement in conflict-stricken regions.
• To map the realities in the participating countries on how conflict and violence affect local communities and practicing human rights;
• To facilitate the process of planning at least 6 follow-up activities at the grassroots level leading to tackling local conflicts and aiming for its transformation

The activities (training) will take place in:
- Leposavic, Kosovo — 28th July — 3rd August 2022
- Thonon-das-Bains, France — January 2023 (to be confirmed)

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:

• Youth between 16–35 years (older generations are also welcome!)
• that is living in one of these countries: Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Kosovo*, Serbia, Spain, France, or Ukraine* (you don't need to be national, you need to live there)
• active or interested in the field of peace, human rights, and youth work

with some other characteristics (these are not mandatory, but nice to have): 

• 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 positive 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 (we use this language)
• ready to commit to the 2-activities of this training course + the local workshop that will be a follow-up of the first activity

YPAN, as so its trainings, is open to everyone, no matter your gender, age, nationality, religion, or ideology. We believe and advocate for Human Rights.