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The Art of Facilitation II: Non-Formal Education and Conflict Transformation
Start date: May 1, 2016, End date: Mar 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Non-formal education in conflict transformation can exert a big influence at different levels: in general population conception of conflicts, in small confronted communities, in youth organizations and CSOs, or in societies facing both, low and high intensity violence. Different organizations and institutions have been working on this field at different levels for decades, and the work with youth at European level clearly had an influence in big part of these societies, with evidences such as the approval, by the UN Security Council on December 2015, of the resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security, recognizing the role of youth in building sustainable peace and to lay out the need for governments and other stakeholders to support young people in this role. With this resolution, youth and youth organizations involved in peace-building see how their role in official or grassroots peace processes gain relevance and importance, but also their responsibility is bigger.In this context, many of the youth workers involved in this type of activities become facilitators of very sensitive activities, sometimes without going through an accurate process to get comprehensive understanding of its complexities. For this reason, these meetings can bring great results when properly planned and facilitated, but also can easily lead to clashes and misunderstandings among those participating, perpetuating or even building new prejudices and barriers among them. Due to the specificities of these environments, youth facilitating these activities precise developing several competences, which basically include: awareness about culture, identity and its dimensions, educational approaches in non-formal learning, problem/conflict solving in intercultural settings and competences on facilitation of activities using appropriate non-formal methods.Organizations are running activities with their staff members, placing them in “facilitator” or “trainer” roles, but in many cases those youngsters have not attended comprehensive education activities that equipped them with all the competences necessary to guarantee effective and tailored educational proposals and methods. In this sense, the objectives of the project are:- To explore and understand the logics of NFL, with special focus on Conflict Transformation;- To understand the general conflict theories and the NFE tools that can be applied to work with them;- To establish new spaces for communication, sharing and creating common understanding for youth leaders and trainers in NFE;- To strengthen the competences of youth leaders/trainers to plan and implement efficient educational activities in international youth encounters, with special focus on the topic of conflict and conflict transformation;- To reinforce existing networks of trainers with common interest in conflict transformation.“The Art of Facilitation II” will provide a double learning dimension. First, understanding the elements of conflict, its dimensions and the complexities, as well as the challenges (misunderstandings, false debates, tensions, escalation of conflicts) that could arise due to the particularities of the setting and that endanger the outcomes of the activity. Second, providing participants with tools to work in these settings, through understanding the logics of non-formal learning, the importance of group dynamics, the different leadership competences and approaches.In this sense, the activity aims to contribute to the objectives of the Erasmus+ KA1, by improving the overall qualityThe main activity is a Training of Trainers. The Training Course will take place in Georgia, from 13th to 21st November 2016, and will include 24 participants from Netherlands, Georgia, Armenia, Estonia, Serbia, Poland, Azerbaijan and Spain.The expected impact on participants will basically focus on their conflict theories knowledge and conflict awareness, their competences as trainers and facilitators and their capacities to develop non-formal education activities with comprehensive educational elements. (See sections G and H.1).In this sense, the activity aims to contribute to the objectives of the Erasmus+ KA1, by improving the overall quality in the implementation of international projects, offering innovation and improved capacities to operate with youth and, contributing to the long-term objective of the KA1, to have a systemic impact on the systems of training and youth in the participating countries.
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