Peer Power for Young People (and those who support them!) - Partnership invitation

Dear members, Dear colleagues,

EPTO, the European Peer Training Organisation, would like you to join the main two events of 2018: the Event for Members (E4M 2018) and the Peer Forum (PF2018).

Event for EPTO members 2018

We chose to dedicate our Event for members to the issue of social inclusion among young people as it is a growing concern of youth workers from our network, and way beyond.

Initiatives start to emerge at the policy and institutional level but there's still a lot to be done in the educational field, and we believe peer education can support different approaches in the field of education for tackling the issue. We think that addressing this topic during our Event for members 2018 will create emulation and commitment to action among the membership and to build a community of practice.

The range of educational expertise existing among our member and partner youth-serving organisations allows for a fruitful exchange of tools, coming from grassroots practices.

During this event to be held in Croatia (15-16/09/2018), we will open up the floor to various members organisations to approach the topic of social inclusion from different perspectives and fields of action: theatre, well-being, global education, digital tools, new practices in youth work, etc., all using the dynamics of peer education.

The Event for EPTO members is also an opportunity to question the needs of our membership and to build up the future projects and strategic goals based on the responses. It aims at fostering ownership and responsibility on both sides and at reaching a critical mass of active players in the field of peer education.

The Peer Forum 2018

The PEER FORUM is an opportunity for EPTO members and practioners to meet and share their experience in using the methodology of peer education. The theme of the Peer Forum 2018 will be "Peer Power for Young People (and those who support them)!”.

This edition will focus on peer education practices developed at European and local level, providing opportunities to see peer education in real and to disseminate the results and local implementation of European projects.

The main aims of 2018’s Peer Forum will be:

• Mapping good practice in peer-to-peer approaches used by local youth organisations in structural functioning

• Stimulating peer learning between organisations on critical issues related to their work with young people (based on a previous scoping of needs)

• Building capacity of youth organisations to implement peer-to-peer approaches in order to increase innovation, participation and accountability

• Design strategies to support peer learning between local youth organisations in Europe, including face-to-face and online opportunities.

• Pitch and incubate a pilot initiative of organising “local peer learning days” across Europe (2019)

The event will be held in Romania (07-10/12/2018) in partnership with Ofensiva Tinerilor. EPTO and its members will play the role of facilitators in engaging participants into interactive presentations, discussions and reflections about best practices and challenges faced during the implementation of their peer education projects.

How to join?

We will use the opportunity to apply for funding to the Erasmus+ programme Key Action 1 through the Croatian National Agency (February deadline). The application will be submitted through our Croatian member, Udruga Andjeli.

We are looking for partners from Programme countries and Partners countries neighbouring the EU (regions 1-4) who could commit to at least one of the following:

• send 1-2 members of their organisation to the E4M, who will represent them in the annual members’ meeting.

• send 2 participants/organisation to the PF2018, who are interested in better knowing about peer education and/or willing to exchange their experience with other participants. This event is also meant to reflect about own practices, to create emulation between the participants, to build new partnerships and to bring new ideas for future projects using peer education.

In terms of administration, we would need from you to :

1) Complete the Partner Identification Form for this project (PIF Peer Power for young people_template.doc)

2) Complete the project Mandate (E+KA1_Peer Power_Mandate_template.doc) – complete all sections, sign/stamp as appropriate (please do not use digital signature), then scan into PDF format. Please make sure the mandate contents fits on two pages only

3) E-mail both forms back to Dorothea ELEK (elek.thea@gmail.com) by January, 27,2018

We will inform you once the project is submitted to the Erasmus+ Croatian National Agency.

We expect the selection results to be released by June 2018.

Thank you!

Best,

The EPTO Team