Mindfulness & Non-Violent Communication as Tools for Conflict Transformation

when: 22-29/11/23  (including travel dates — 6 days of training and 2 days of travel)

What you need to know

The project is aimed at preventing violence, fostering non-violent dialogue, and deepening awareness and discourse on conflict transformation and peacebuilding.

We do believe that by equipping participants with those skills and competencies, and by them becoming peace and mindfulness multipliers, we can foster a future culture of peace all over Europe.

We are implementing this project as a collective of youth workers — Iasmos Collective Project in cooperation with the informal network of young peacebuilders — Youth Peace Ambassadors Network.

In the YPAN and Iasmos, among core values we have sustainability and we believe in peace on 3 levels: inner, social, and environmental. Therefore, we will aim with this project to promote sustainability and peace with the environment as well.

AIM

The aim of the project is to raise awareness and sensitize 28 young change-makers on the concepts of common values, conflict transformation, and personal growth through mindfulness and nonviolent communication as a way for peace-building in our communities.

The intention is to equip them with competencies in nonviolent communication, mindfulness, and conflict transformation methods. We want to encourage them to be active citizens and multipliers of the democratic values in their respective communities.

OBJECTIVES

The specific objectives are:

1. To build participants' understanding of peace by making them familiar with the concept of nonviolence, forms of violence, conflict and conflict transformation, peacebuilding, the culture of peace and human rights, interpersonal human rights violations, and mindfulness;

2. To give young people and youth workers space and support to collectively reflect on challenges and conflicts in their local realities and to explore solutions that can guide them to discover their own agency and to provide you with the know-how needed to handle stress, stay grounded and in the present moment.

3. To equip participants with skills to be vocal actors in peacebuilding processes by getting familiar with tools such as conflict analysis, nonviolent communication, and mindfulness, so they can be empowered in participating in democratic life, common values, and civic engagement;

4. To develop skills in facilitation and teaching which will ensure the multiplying effect of the learnings contributing to peace among the young generation growing up in conflict and post-conflict environments;

5. To plan at least 6 follow-up projects by the participants on the topic of active citizenship which would be space for them to act as multipliers in the format of educational workshops run locally.

PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS 

We are looking for participants who are:

• Above 18 years
• living in one of these 8 countries: Greece, France, Cyprus, Italy, Germany, Poland, Spain & Portugal.
• Able to communicate in English (we use this language)
• active or interested in the field of conflict transformation, mindfulness, non-violent communication (NVC), and youth work in the community.
• willing to be committed to participating in the full training course of 6 days + a 1-hour online ‘meet and greet’ session prior to the training + to organize a local workshop that will be a follow-up.

& with some other characteristics (these are not mandatory, but nice to have):

• Youth workers or youth leaders that work with youth in their communities
• People active as trainers or educators in non–formal education, especially within youth organizations and associations
• Young people who believe in peaceful changes in their communities are passionate about issues facing their community
• People with experience or interest in conflict resolution or transformation, mindfulness, NVC, peacebuilding, or youth work

HOW WE WORK

The training course will be based on the principles of non-formal education. We will implement the basic elements of non-formal education, such as the education being voluntary, organized with educational objectives, participatory and learner-centered, about learning life skills and preparing for active citizenship, based on involving both individual and group learning with a collective approach, holistic and process-oriented, as well as based on experience and action (we will plan the follow-up activities) and starts from the needs of the participants. Basically is a peer-to-peer (you teach & learn from others) approach 

Who are we?!

Youth Peace Ambassadors Network

The Youth Peace Ambassadors Network (YPAN) is an informal network of 108 young peacebuilders from across Europe who work with and in conflict-affected communities. The majority of the members of the network are trained on human rights, non-formal education, and conflict transformation by the Council of Europe in the long-term project (2011–2014). Our Mission: The YPA Network wants to develop a culture of peace by empowering young people, and promoting human rights, dignity, equality, and respect for diversity through education, advocacy, and other non-violent actions through projects at the local and international levels.

Iasmos Collective Project - The Iasmos Collective Project (ICP) constitutes a community of individuals driven by the mission of empowering our local community through psychoeducational initiatives and actions focused on fostering communal connections. ICP is an NGO established in Rhodes in December of 2021.

CONTACT

Write to this e-mail with the Subject: “Mindfulness & Nvc KA1” - iasmoscollective [at] gmail.com

Mindfulness & Non-Violent Communication (NVC) as Tools for Conflict Transformation is a project financed by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme.