TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Liridon Shurdhani
Aim of this project is to a create platform/network of youth workers for online conflict transformation.
-to work on conflict transformation in post war and frozen conflict zones using online youth activism
-to gather youth workers and online activists to work on responses to negative effects of social media in post conflict and frozen conflict areas
-to find new methods for utilizing internet for conflict transformation
-to research existing tools and methods for conflict transformation and its applicability in online world.
This project aimed to create network of youth workers and youth organizations that will deal with conflict transformation in virtual world.
Participants of the training organized within this project were coming from different countries with fresh experiences with conflict and from countries with possible conflict escalation. They were all working on online activism and were motivated to become part of Conflict Transformers net that was result of this project. There were people from members of the Council of Europe 13 countries at the training.
During this activity participants were given the chance to be very active in all segments of the training. They were open for non-formal learning methods and this was proven at the very beginning of the training during the team building session when they composed a song in which the names of their cities were mentioned. Various methods for learning and gaining new skills were used. For example:
Participants got the opportunity to prepare researches- they presented them in a form of “fashion show” just to attract the interlocutors during the following market of ideas. This presented the introduction for the process that followed and was the opportunity for participants to understand the importance of research in this kind of work;
Our main idea was to create platform/network of youth workers for online conflict transformation and this goal was achieved and network gathering organizations from 13 countries hat is still growing is created.
In general participants had opportunity to learn about different theories of conflict, and how to classify conflict in order to work on it. They also learn about methods of conflict transformation and developed ways how to use it in online world. They developed case studies that they used through out entire project as example for building their knowledge and skills step by step.
After this seminar participants can say “I know” conflict theories, how to divide conflicts, what are conflict transformation methods, how conflict reflect to virtual world and how some methods of CT can be used online.
In they also can work now on conflict transformation and help their organizations base their work on theory and practice. So they can do conflict transformation and they can do it online. They changed their attitude toward online world and its influence in conflict transformation. They learned how this tool can be powerful and what is their role as youth activist in this.
They also learn how to support network creation and how they can present to other organizations work that we did.
Evaluation of participants and their commitment even now in work of network show that impact of training was as expected.
Co-Trainer and support staff.