PROJECT SUMMARY
“YOUth 4 Peace” was a training course under the Erasmus+ program which was developed and implemented by “Alternativi International” . It took place in Bansko, Bulgaria between 10- 18 of June 2017. “Trinity Spa Hotel” hosted 30 youth workers and leaders from Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Poland,Azerbaijan, Spain, UK, Cyprus, Armenia and Romania.
The overall aim of the project was to cover different types of conflicts in all kinds of settings and backrounds and find ways to resolve those conflicts by non-violent actions. This was done by promoting non-violent approaches to actions on peace-building. The background of the project outline was constituted by existing regional conflicts in Eastern Europe, Caucasus, the Middle East and the growing tension and violence among smaller ethnic/migrant groups and the increasing tensions within many EU countries in regards to nationalism and racism.
The main activities were first of all the team building one. During the week we also did other interesting activities like the Forum Theatre , the open Space and the Sharing of the Country realities. Our team was mostly intrigued by the analysing and sharing our Countries Reality. During that activity we had to do some research and analyse the history behind the conflict between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot. We focused on the Conflict Escalation and got many people interested in our issue.
This program gave me new knowledges in the field of Conflict Resolutions which I can implement on my everyday life. Furthermore the change I had to meet new people and inform them as getting informed myself about the different country realities was an experience I wouldn’t exchange with anything else.
General objectives:
• deepening youth worker`s understanding of key concepts of conflict management and peacebuilding
and non-violent actions;
• familiarizing participants with the concepts and approaches of nonviolent action, ie how to use it best and to adapt it to local conditions and realities in order to promote peace-building;
• Motivate participants to advocate for non-violent actions;
• improving the competences of the participants (knowledge, skills) to work as multipliers and activists for peace building using tools informal education / activities after completion of the course
in their local communities
