TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Nazarii Boiarskyi
Aim of the training course is: Development of the competencies on human rights education of the experts in the field of formal and non-formal education, youth workers and activists to reduce cases/expressions of hate speech.
Objectives of the training course are:
- To promote a better understanding of the phenomenon of hate speech and its implications in the context of human rights;
- To familiarise the participants with the approaches of the Council of Europe on human rights education;
- To present the Manual Bookmarks as an instrument of human rights education and possibility of its use to combat hate speech;
- Increase the activity / involvement of participants in the implementation of the No Hate Speech Movement (NHSM) campaign at European and national levels;
- Promote networking among participants in combating hate speech.
During the preparation meeting of the team of trainers and organisers that held on 21 – 22 February 2015 in EYC Strasbourg, France it was decided that the group of the participants should consist of:
• 33 total number of participants: 15 international participants, 16 from the Russian Federation (13 national, 3 regional), plus 2 places to keep reserved in case of outstanding applications from any of the sides. It was recommended to enrol at least one participant from Kazakhstan and promote the NHSM in Moldova and Ukraine to select more participants from those countries.
The team received 43 applications from the Russian Federation and 35 applications from international applicants (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Turkey, UK and Ukraine).
The training course brought together 27 participants: 15 of them were international participants selected through the Youth Department of the Council of Europe. Unfortunately, due to last minute cancellations the number of the participants was less than it was expected; as a result Georgia and Kazakhstan were not represented at all.
According to the decision of the team the profile of the participants should correspond to the following requirements:
• Be aged between 18 and 30 years with possible exceptions – most of the applicants were in this age group and the selected ones as well;
• Have experience in combating hate speech, involved in the NHSM at the national level – as for this requirement, the group of applicants and the group of participants accordingly was very polarised as we had participants who were heads and members of the National Committees and at the same time participants whose knowledge/information about the NHSM was very theoretical but they have been selected because of their strong motivation and possibility of multiplication;
• Be able to translate the obtained knowledge during the training – the requirement was fulfilled;
• Be active users of Internet and social networks - the requirement was fulfilled;
• Have stable motivation and interest in the initiation and implementation of ideas and projects to combat hate speech - the requirement was fulfilled;
• Be prepared to participate in the whole training course - the requirement was fulfilled;
• Being able to work in Russian - the requirement was fulfilled.
The team of the trainers and organisers found the group of participants as an interesting one, full of curiosity. The only thing that can be considered as a disadvantage of this group was the lack of experience of using the method of non formal education and practical knowledge of the human rights education.
The training course was based on the principles and practice of non-formal education in youth worker and youth leader training. The methodology used during the training course was using of mutual learning and intercultural exchange, the individual work, group work, interventions. The manual Bookmarks - was also widely used, more particularly presentation of the theoretical sections and using of the activities, and transformation the learning process and project monitoring.
In conjunction with the topic of the curse – combating hate speech- this determines that the learning process was:
• Based on the intrinsic motivation of the learner;
• Generally not implying the control of individual learning achievement;
• Learner-centred and based on the experiences of participants;
• Enabled participants to apply and transfer the gained knowledge from theory to youth work practice;
• Taken into account the needs and motivation of participants.
During the project were developed a few project ideas for follow-up multiplication of the results/outcomes of the training course.
The developed ideas were the following:
• A local training course on development of knowledge on understanding of hate speech for journalists to be implemented in Moldova;
• An international training course for youth leaders on using the Bookmarks in the local youth work;
• Preparation and publication of the Manual “ABC book for tolerance” which is supposed to be used in the schools to prevent hate speech;
• Creation of an online platform to develop critical thinking on issues concerning conflicts and their outcomes.
• Movie project – young people from conflicting countries develop film-making skills and work together to make short documentaries reflecting the realities of their everyday lives and results of stereotypes, prejudice, racism, discrimination, hate speech and hate crime.
Due to the short duration of the training course the participants did not have enough time to develop the ideas till the level of a project but some of the ideas are in the process of being developed further.
selection of participants, preparation of a training program, conducting sessions on human rights and hate speech, facilitation of groups, evaluation of training, preparation of a report.