TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Alejandro Reyes
What is peace? Is it the absence of war? Maybe the lack of conflict? Or maybe it includes free access to the most basic elements, like water, food or education. The fact that we can so easily describe other concepts, but still believe that this one is so abstract is intriguing and challenging. But…. how do we start, if we don’t even have spaces to talk about it?
“The Peace Dialogues” is an interactive experience with the aim of bringing together people from different countries, backgrounds, ages and life experiences to collaboratively define “peace“ and to co-create a real life canvas, where the abstract can become tangible.
Peace Dialogues highlight the importance of overcoming the culture of indifference and silence, developing citizens’ critical and analytical thinking so that they can differentiate reality from propaganda, emphasizing non-violent resistance, recognizing the importance of the role and voice of the citizen, promoting civilian supervision of decision-making processes, and ensuring civil participation in the peaceful resolution of local, national, and regional conflicts. Peace Dialogue promotes a culture of peace and tries to contribute to forming a global peace movement. In such a culture, everyone would understand their role and responsibility in the community and in peace acquisition and maintenance in the country and the region.
The Format
The idea behind the whole concept is to create, every session, new collaborative definitions of ‘’peace’’ according to the participants. ‘’Peace’’ means something totally different to a white, European man than to a black person, a refugee or a homosexual, a woman, a child or a migrant. Some relate peace to security, others to the freedom to move, live, work or establish a family. Maybe somebody relates it to the access to water, to vote or to express their opinions. This is also directly related to our experiences in our countries, families and among fellow humans during peace or war. Understanding this simple idea helps us build new bridges between cultures by discovering where we as humans agree, instead of focusing on what makes us different. We start off from listening to the other instead of imposing our point of view.
Every workshop had the following basic design:
a) Warm Up/ Teambuilding:
In the beginning we have a group of individuals with no connection other that their interest on the topic. It is therefore important to create an environment where they can all feel that their opinions will be respected and valued. Moreover, it is also a perfect opportunity to start creating links to collaborative work and general peace definitions approaches. Experience proves that the best way to start are dynamic, related activities that make participants active and introduce the idea of how much more can be achieved by working together, collaboratively instead of individually and through competition.
b) Challenge
This stage strives to take the early established team into a new, maybe even undiscovered field outside their ‘’comfort zone’’. A new element is brought to our attention to redefine the way we understand peace and to ignite the following dialogue based on this reference. Sometimes it may start the dialogue, or it may be just a good excuse to get the team to think and/ or relating previous knowledge. Some examples of possible challenges may be:
- (Newspaper) articles
- YouTube
- A blog (entry)
- A TED X Speech
- Multimedia
- A Phrase
- A Picture
- A fragment from a book
- A theory
- A realia
- A TV spot
c) Dialogue
Being curious, asking, being empathic, listening and wanting to understand our other participants and the way they perceive the world is essential on this stage. We begin to discuss the topic focusing more on others rather than trying to convince or persuade others. Our desire is to understand instead of prejudge or reinforce preconceptions. What is peace then according to our challenge and based on our world view? Is a different world possible?
d) Production
This stage is important to go into action. Dialogues should never remain in beautiful words. They must be revolutionary, innovative, disruptive. Participants are provided with flipcharts and further materials to first define peace collaboratively according to their previous dialogue(s). The new challenge is now to create an innovative initiative to spread this new peace concept in different social spaces and to influence decision makers and average individuals. It is very encouraged at the end of the dialogue to further deepen on this initiative to keep in contact among the participants and to make it happen.
The activity was open to any participants with emphasize on youth with international/ refugee background as solicited by the organizers.
Participants and trainers from Jordania, Rumania, Israel, Palestine, Colombia, USA, France and Spain gave their point of view on the topic.
Design Thinking Approach
Trust Creation Activities
Warm Ups with GameStorming tecniques
Improvisation Theater and Theatre of the Opressed.
World Maps
Fishbowl techniques
Peace Education Collaborative Learning
Evaluation Sheets were used at the end of the session with and outstanding satisfaction from the more than 50 participants, that mentioned that they would recommend the activity to other people.
I was the main trainer facilitator and overall concept designer of the Training.