Religious diversity and anti-discrimination training

Aims & objectives

- To raise awareness of the uniqueness of each individual’s religion and belief identity;
- To facilitate dialogue and sharing of experiences in the area of religion and culture;
- To increase understanding of concepts and issues related to religion and belief diversity;
- To enable participants to recognise contemporary manifestations of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination related to religion
- To develop individual skills for creating inclusive intercultural environments.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

- Target group: French-speaking professionals in the field of education, training, animation, social and youth work, civil servants, etc.
- Participants: 10 adults from Belgium and France.

Training methods used & main activities

- The methods used were based on non formal education, diversity and anti-discrimination education and experiential learning.
- The agenda followed a gradual and carefully developed pedagogical process in 7 units: (1) Building the foundation; (2) Identity; (3) Cultural Awareness (4) Examining issues; (5) Confronting issues; (6) Social Action; (7) Closing.
- Many formats of activities were used: group-building exercises, personal reflections, small group discussions, visualisations, role plays, action planning, etc.

Outcomes of the activity

This activity was a "training of trainers", meaning that all the participants received a manual and a certificate at the end.
We can say it's a success because 3 years later, most of the participants are (still) active in the field of anti-discrimination and most of them reported having used some activities they experienced in the training in their professional environment and practices.
More informations about this training programme can be found here: http://www.belieforama.eu/trainings/religious-diversity-and-anti-discrimination

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I was a "junior" trainer facilitating the training with an older and more experienced colleague working fully for the organiser CEJI - A Jewish Contribution To An Inclusive Europe. However, we facilitated the same number of activities (each of us half of the programme). We gave each other constructive feedback throughout the training. Every day we had a debriefing to assess how the facilitation was working and to adapt to the group's needs.

I worked on this training for 6 days as a full time trainer.