TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Kristiana Stoyanova
This activity aims at increasing participant’s capacity to actively engage and promote peaceful societies by providing them with the competencies to promote peace within themselves, to play an active role in their communities, and to promote cooperation with neighbouring and other world regions.
International students/volunteers for Erasmus Student Network (ESN)
Conflict transformation
Human rights education
Peace-building
Trauma informed youth work
The recent and ongoing conflicts have highlighted the need for preserving peaceful and inclusive societies. Volunteers in over 40 countries have faced trauma, discrimination, and limited opportunities, emphasizing the importance of education in conflict navigation and empowerment.
Therefore Erasmus Student Network (ESN) involved 33 volunteers from 11 countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, The Netherlands, Poland and UK), aged 18-30, selected for their background, motivation & interest, English proficiency, and plans to share acquired knowledge. The team also consisted of volunteers of ESN and their pool of trainers Eduk8, so there was some internal capacity building on the topic of peace and conflict transformation as this was the first time this topic was explored in ESN.
The study session was designed as to equip volunteers with skills, knowledge, and attitudes for peacebuilding in their communities. How? The sessions aimed to enhance participants' competencies in creating peaceful societies, providing them with knowledge on peace, conflict, human rights, and conflict transformation.
They learned mediation and non-violent communication, understanding the Council of Europe's work in these fields. Participants also designed activities and materials to promote peace locally and aimed to develop a toolkit for wider dissemination.
Leading the team of trainers