EPTO provides a space where young people can be learners and educators, sharing with their peers their competencies in a spirit of collaboration.
In EPTO, individual knowledge becomes collective knowledge.
The kick-off meeting for our Erasmus+ KA3 project "#PeerAct - Upscaling peer-to-peer anti-bias education for promoting common values"
Over the next two years we will be scaling-up the peer-to-peer solutions developed by EPTO around the "A world of difference – AWOD”® Institute anti-bias training programme to tackle prejudice and discrimination among youth in Romania, Portugal, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia and Spain.
We aim to equip 1700 youngsters across these communities with the necessary social and civic competencies that will make them embrace the values of non-discrimination, tolerance, solidarity and equality.
Damien Grosjean, led EPTO's first local workshop on Cultural Diversity Awareness with youngsters at the Centre Culturel de Jette, as part of the #PeersforIntegration project.
The first training took place, 15 January, at Maison de Quartier Malibran in Ixelles, with the second one, 17 January at O’YES.
Two one-day training sessions under the title “The facilitator's posture in Education for Relational, Emotional and Sexual Life” at the organisation O’YES (Organization for Youth Education & Sexuality).
Altogether 40 social workers from the commune of Ixelles are taking part in the trainings, working on how to deal with potentially difficult situations in awareness-raising and training environments.The participants will be learning and practising methods in preparation for a one week event where they will be working with youth from different schools across Ixelles.
The objectives of this half-day awareness workshop was for the young participants to become more aware of their personal and cultural identity and to address diversity issues in their own environments.
To enable animators in the field of Affective and Sexual Health and HIV Prevention to deal with potentially difficult situations in awareness-raising and training environments
This final event promoted and disseminated the results of the project.
All persons and organisations involved in the project, representatives of local authorities, the traditional media and the general public were invited to hear the testimonials of the young participants and discover the impact of their initiatives in Brussels. The various video supports were presented to the public. A debate with the participants was then be facilitated by young people.
- To experiment and test peer education approach in school students and youth work activities.
- To reflect on peer education approach and its added value for school students.
- To experience new methods and new concepts through a peer education approach.
- To ensure a better recognition and implementation of peer education in school students’ unions and organisations.
The objectives of this 5-day theamtic awareness training for the participants are to:
- Become aware of their personal and cultural identity;
- Recognise their own prejudices and stereotypes;
- Examine and confront all of forms prejudice and discrimination;
- Develop empathy, critical thinking, and communication skills;
- Create inclusive environments;
- Develop an action plan.
This 2-day action-training will lead participants to plan citizen actions in the field of an inclusive living together in Brussels and beyond. Youth will be provided with tools to start imagining their project, design an action plan, pitch their project, create a provisional budget, etc.
Through its partnership with CEJI, EPTO delivers two-day workshops in French-speaking Belgium using the program "Belieforama" on the topic of Islam and Islamophobia. These workshops are organized as part of the continuing education of teachers in French-speaking Belgium (Continuing Education Institute) and aim at the following objectives for participating teachers:
- Become aware of the need to go out from an ethnocentric point of view before any work on cultural diversity.
-To learn to identify stereotypes in order to deconstruct them.
- Learn about the notions of identity, belief and cultural codes in order to take them into account in learning.
- To learn to take into account these different cultural codes as well as the beliefs and cultural identities related to them in exchanges between students and students.
2019-03-24 PeaceJam Slam
Louvain-La-Neuve - Belgium
Participants : 0
5-day awareness-raising training for 20 Brussels-based youth to:
- Become aware of their personal and cultural identity;
- Recognise their own prejudices and stereotypes;
- Examine and confront all of forms prejudice and discrimination;
- Develop empathy, critical thinking, and communication skills;
- Reflect and plan actions for Brussels' future.
PeaceJam Conferences and Slams are essential components of PeaceJam's programming and provide youth and educators with an inspiring and powerful opportunity to engage face to face with Nobel Peace Laureates, youth from diverse backgrounds, content experts, and community leaders.
The flow and structure of these events has been developed over the past 20 years with the direct assistance of our Nobel Peace Laureates to create a very specific experience for youth - something they call the "PeaceJam magic" which includes the intense bonding, inspiration and transformation that transpires over two days.
Through its partnership with CEJI, EPTO delivers two-day workshops in French-speaking Belgium using the program "Belieforama" on the topic of Islam and Islamophobia. These workshops are organized as part of the continuing education of teachers in French-speaking Belgium (Continuing Education Institute) and aim at the following objectives for participating teachers:
- Become aware of the need to go out from an ethnocentric point of view before any work on cultural diversity.
-To learn to identify stereotypes in order to deconstruct them.
- Learn about the notions of identity, belief and cultural codes in order to take them into account in learning.
- To learn to take into account these different cultural codes as well as the beliefs and cultural identities related to them in exchanges between students and students.
The workshop provided high school pupils with activities stimulating reflections and emotions related to their identity, their spirituality, the way they learn and interact with others in school environments, aiming to favour an inclusive group dynamics in the classrom(s).
The objectives of the Peers-To-Professionals training include:
- To create a network of 13 Senior Trainers (who will be able and certified to train other peer educators to facilitate workshops tackling gender based discrimination in youth environment)
- To develop a framework for quality-assurance in peer education and support the assessment of peer education programs
The project aims to facilitate the social inclusion of refugees by supporting their process of cultural adaptation and reducing the discrimination they are facing. For this, it proposes an innovative integrated approach, targeting youth education for fostering the development of civic and intercultural competences, both for young refugees and young residents of European countries.
The main result of the project will be a peer education programme, addressing both young refugees and young EU citizens. The refugees/asylum seekers will gain sufficient understanding of European cultural norms and self-advocacy skills. Youngsters from EU countries will adopt an open attitude towards diversity and will develop their inter-cultural and civic competencies.
Another result of the project will be a network of peer trainers consisting in 10 young refugees and 24 young people from EU countries. Additionally there will be the project's e-platform - an open instrument for disseminating the programme and other good practices in the area of refugee inclusion.
The aim is to bring together 20 youths from different social and cultural backgrounds that would not usually meet, to discuss questions of identity and diversity, to learn how to recognise and deconstruct prejudice (through a 5-day training in March 2019, and to ultimately set up their own citizen projects across the city). These initiatives will be aimed at 500 other young people and the general public.
The purpose of this PeaceJam project “Nobel Peace Laureates mentoring youth to build an inclusive Europe” is to support the development of PeaceJam in Europe over the next decade. The general objective is to enhance the acquisition of social and civic competences for 12-18 year old youth going school, fostering knowledge and understanding through exposing them to our tried and tested Compassion in Action Curriculum. This Curriculum will be bringing ownership of fundamental values, promoting mutual respect and intercultural dialogue through our service-learning programme connecting youth from a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds.
Through this project, we want to consolidate a solid European network of schools, universities, public authorities and youthserving organisations implementing, disseminating and scaling up the best PeaceJam practices at their own local level. This project will help strengthen the existing initiatives in Greece, UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, and scale-up in at least least 2 new countries (Romania, Luxemburg) over the next 3 years.
The envisaged results for this 3-year project for each of the 4 partners are:
The UK: 50 schools, 3000 pupils, 320 teachers. Greece: 25 schools, 650 pupils, 86 teachers, Belgium: 25 schools, 500 pupils, 45 teachers, The Netherlands, 20 schools, 400 pupils, 30 teachers.
The targets for Romania and Luxembourg who will start piloting in January 2019 are: Romania: 6 schools, 120 pupils,18 teachers. Luxembourg: 6 schools, 120 pupils, 18 teachers.
Secondly, through the youth conferences (7 at national level, 1 at European level) nearly 2000 young people from 6 European countries will be reached.
A third result for this project is to establish a revised European Curriculum that will be fit for purpose for a European target group with the ultimate objective to upscale its exposure to 12-18 year olds in all European Member States over the next 10 years.
Also, we want the use the opportunity of this project to test a new format of training for peer trainers using the
“Compassion in Action” curriculum building on the expertise EPTO is bringing to the partnership.
In 2016 our member organisation Ofensiva Tinerilor and other project partners did a research in 5 countries on the inclusion and participation of young people with visual impairments in youth and lifelong learning activities (in the frame of an Erasmus+ funded project KA2 called “Erasmus 4 VIP”). The results were quite upsetting. For example, as little as 2% to 4% of youth with visual impairments were participating in activities conducted by a youth organisation and close to 90% of youth organisations were not providing accessible services to persons with visual impairments. Further research showed that this is quite a general trend, as in a lot of the EU28 countries the participation rate to non-formal activities of persons who have difficulties in performing basic activities is about half the one of the ones who are not facing these difficulties (Eurostat). Statistics, own research and observations indisputably showed that at EU level persons with disabilities have far less opportunities to get engaged in youth and non formal education activities than their peers with no disabilities.
The project
“Peers for Inclusion” comes as a response to the identified need in the form of an Erasmus+ KA1 Mobility for Youth workers project, involving partners from 11 countries (Belgium, Estonia, FYROM, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and the United Kingdom). It consists of 2 training modules that will take place in Arad, Romania, in 2018:
Peers for Inclusion - Thematic Awareness Training (TAT*) - 15/05/18 > 21/05/18 - in Arad, Romania
(Arrival Day 14th of May / Departure Day 22rd of May)
During the “thematic awareness training” , youth workers will learn how to improve the activities that their associations are doing so that people with visual impairments can also participate. They will learn more about what they need to take into consideration when working with persons with visual impairments, how they should act as a sighted guide, how to prepare accessible working materials and much more.
Peers for Inclusion - Train-The-Trainer (TTT*) - 19/09/18 > 23/09/18 - in Arad, Romania
(Arrival Day 18th of September / Departure Day 24th of September)
During the second training (19-23/09/18), the same participants who will have gained some experience in working with persons with disabilities will discover how to teach others to be more inclusive in their work. This “train-the-trainer” will give them the chance to develop their facilitation skills and to learn how to develop a training programme that addresses inclusion.
Peers for Diversity is a new European project funded by Erasmus+ and coordinated by our member organisation Ofensiva Tinerilor. It aims to train youth workers and youth mentors to use different peer education tools to fight cultural discrimination and to be able to raise awareness in their own communities through local workshops on this topic.
The project objectives are the following:
To equip 20 youth workers through 2 x 6-day training activities to raise awareness about the complexity of diversity and to tackle discrimination, exclusion and extremism;
To provide youth workers with competences (knowledge, skills and attitudes) and a certification to facilitate discussions and lead workshops about antidiscrimination with their peers;
To prevent various forms of extremism among young people through the projects initiated by the peer trainers after their trainings;
To promote the powerful impact of youth-led peer education projects on the integration of vulnerable groups.
In this frame, 2 trainings will be organised in 2018:
1. Thematic Awareness Training (TAT*) "Peer training against discrimination and extremism": 20.03.2018 - 25.03.2018 in Arad, Romania (Arrival day 19.03.18, departure day 26.03.18)
2. Train-the-Trainer (TTT*) against discrimination and extremism: October 2018 in Luxembourg
What does it look to be a member of EPTO? Our membership structure is mostly based on youth and youth-serving organisations and institutions. 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. As a member of EPTO, you can expect to be provided with a space to share your practice and “expeertise”, to build new partnerships, to exchange resources and to be involved in decision-making processes. All in the spirit of peer education, experiential and non-formal learning.
On September 22-23, through the support of the Erasmus+ programme and ANEFORE (the national agency in Luxembourg), the members of EPTO had the chance to gather in beautiful Modica, Sicily, for the Annual Event for Members. Our Sicilian member organisation, Attiva-Mente, has been the perfect host for the team and the participants coming from Portugal, Romania, Belgium, Hungary and Macedonia. Through the programme, the participants had the opportunity to know about their respective work in the field of social inclusion, to collect tools aiming at fostering peer education at all levels of an organisation (in the governance, management and programmes), to develop strategies for giving more visibility to their actions at local level and to create the conditions for future joint projects.
Also, as members, they raised their voices during the extra-ordinary General Assembly mainly aiming at acknowledging the recent changes in the management and electing the new Board of EPTO (more info to come soon//to know more about it, please the related articles…).
We can’t wait for preparing 2019 all together and to provide youth in Europe with more opportunities to shine and take responsibilities towards the social issues affecting them directly.
“Peers for Equality” is a new European project funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission (KA2 Capacity Building in the Field of Youth) coordinated by Ofensiva Tinerilor (Romania) in partnership with the European Peer Training Organisation (EPTO, Belgium) and Y-PEER Kyrgyzstan. It aims at developing the capacity of peer education platforms and NGOs for reducing gender-based discrimination. To achieve this, the partners will design a new peer education programme by exchanging, adapting and creating non-formal methods and tools which can be used in youth work. This programme will be put together in a new toolkit, upon which a group of 22 participants will be trained through 3 mobilities:
• a “thematic awareness training” (TAT) in April 2018 in Romania;
• a “train-the-trainer” (TTT) training in June 2018 in Kyrgyzstan;
• a “Peers-To-Professionals” (PTP) training in December 2018 in Belgium.
In 2016 our member organisation Ofensiva Tinerilor and other project partners did a research in 5 countries on the inclusion and participation of young people with visual impairments in youth and lifelong learning activities (in the frame of an Erasmus+ funded project KA2 called “Erasmus 4 VIP”). The results were quite upsetting. For example, as little as 2% to 4% of youth with visual impairments were participating in activities conducted by a youth organisation and close to 90% of youth organisations were not providing accessible services to persons with visual impairments. Further research showed that this is quite a general trend, as in a lot of the EU28 countries the participation rate to non-formal activities of persons who have difficulties in performing basic activities is about half the one of the ones who are not facing these difficulties (Eurostat). Statistics, own research and observations indisputably showed that at EU level persons with disabilities have far less opportunities to get engaged in youth and non formal education activities than their peers with no disabilities.
The project
“Peers for Inclusion” comes as a response to the identified need in the form of an Erasmus+ KA1 Mobility for Youth workers project, involving partners from 11 countries (Belgium, Estonia, FYROM, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and the United Kingdom). It consists of 2 training modules that will take place in Arad, Romania, in 2018:
Peers for Inclusion - Thematic Awareness Training (TAT*) - 15/05/18 > 21/05/18 - in Arad, Romania
(Arrival Day 14th of May / Departure Day 22rd of May)
During the “thematic awareness training” , youth workers will learn how to improve the activities that their associations are doing so that people with visual impairments can also participate. They will learn more about what they need to take into consideration when working with persons with visual impairments, how they should act as a sighted guide, how to prepare accessible working materials and much more.
Peers for Inclusion - Train-The-Trainer (TTT*) - 19/09/18 > 23/09/18 - in Arad, Romania
(Arrival Day 18th of September / Departure Day 24th of September)
During the second training (19-23/09/18), the same participants who will have gained some experience in working with persons with disabilities will discover how to teach others to be more inclusive in their work. This “train-the-trainer” will give them the chance to develop their facilitation skills and to learn how to develop a training programme that addresses inclusion.
Developing capacities for tackling gender based discrimination
Thematic Awareness Training “Peer training for tackling gender based discrimination”
19.04.2018 – 26.04.2018
Arad, Romania
Ofensiva Tinerilor is URGENTLY looking for 2 Romanian and 3 Belgian participants who are determined to go through this once-in-a-lifetime learning adventure!
“Peers for Equality” is a new European project funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission (KA2 Capacity Building in the Field of Youth) coordinated by Ofensiva Tinerilor (Romania) in partnership with the European Peer Training Organisation (EPTO, Belgium) and Y-PEER Kyrgyzstan. It aims at developing the capacity of peer education platforms and NGOs for reducing gender-based discrimination. To achieve this, the partners will design a new peer education programme by exchanging, adapting and creating non-formal methods and tools which can be used in youth work. This programme will be put together in a new toolkit, upon which a group of 22 participants will be trained through 3 mobilities:
• a “thematic awareness training” (TAT) in April 2018 in Romania;
• a “train-the-trainer” (TTT) training in June 2018 in Kyrgyzstan;
• a “Peers-To-Professionals” (PTP) training in December 2018 in Belgium.
Between the mobilities, participants will be asked to practice what they have learned by facilitating workshops tackling gender based discrimination in youth environments:
• 6-hour practice between the TAT and the TTT;
• 24-hour practice between the TTT and the PTP.
2-day workshop - 16 participants
Through its partnership with CEJI, EPTO delivers two-day workshops in French-speaking Belgium using the program "Belieforama" on the topic of Islam and Islamophobia. These workshops are organized as part of the continuing education of teachers in French-speaking Belgium (Continuing Education Institute) and aim at the following objectives for participating teachers:
- Become aware of the need to go out from an ethnocentric point of view before any work on cultural diversity.
-To learn to identify stereotypes in order to deconstruct them.
- Learn about the notions of identity, belief and cultural codes in order to take them into account in learning.
- To learn to take into account these different cultural codes as well as the beliefs and cultural identities related to them in exchanges between students and students.
2018-03-24 PeaceJam Slam
Louvain la neuve - Belgium
Participants : 0
FOR SCHOOL DIRECTORS, TEACHERS, YOUTH WORKERS, STUDENTS,
Thank you for showing up to a precious weekend and sharing this experience with us! We all created a magical event together, and we're excited to keep working with you inspiring changemakers.
The photos from the Jam, you can find them here on our Facebook Page!
PeaceJam Coaches in your Classroom
Now we know you don't want the PeaceJam magic to end, and we don't either. Luckily, you all have the opportunity to reconnect with the Mentors as they are available to visit your school as PeaceJam Coaches. They will support you in implementing PeaceJam curriculum and Acts of Peace, all while preparing for our next gathering, a PeaceJam Slam on March 24th!
Join us as we gather again for the PeaceJam Slam, a one day event on Saturday March 24th at Université Catholique de Louvain. Contact & registration: belgium@peacejam.org
During the Slam we'll reveal which Nobel Laureate will be attending your Jam next November. Don't miss out, save the date, and start preparing now ;)
What is an Act of Peace?
A thoughtful action that spreads more peace in your community, school, organization or business, or is designed to gain traction in one of the Billion Acts key focus areas critical to creating world peace.
Peers for Diversity is a new European project funded by Erasmus+ and coordinated by our member organisation Ofensiva Tinerilor. It aims to train youth workers and youth mentors to use different peer education tools to fight cultural discrimination and to be able to raise awareness in their own communities through local workshops on this topic.
The project objectives are the following:
To equip 20 youth workers through 2 x 6-day training activities to raise awareness about the complexity of diversity and to tackle discrimination, exclusion and extremism;
To provide youth workers with competences (knowledge, skills and attitudes) and a certification to facilitate discussions and lead workshops about antidiscrimination with their peers;
To prevent various forms of extremism among young people through the projects initiated by the peer trainers after their trainings;
To promote the powerful impact of youth-led peer education projects on the integration of vulnerable groups.
In this frame, 2 trainings will be organised in 2018:
1. Thematic Awareness Training (TAT*) "Peer training against discrimination and extremism": 20.03.2018 - 25.03.2018 in Arad, Romania (Arrival day 19.03.18, departure day 26.03.18)
2. Train-the-Trainer (TTT*) against discrimination and extremism: October 2018 in Luxembourg (exact dates announced later).
Formation ProJeuneS "Les différences de culture, comment inclure tous les publics dans un centre de vacances ou en formation sans discrimination et en visant le bien-être de chacun ?"
for Animators and educational coordinators of holidays camps; Youth workers
Through its partnership with CEJI, EPTO delivers two-day workshops in French-speaking Belgium using the program "Belieforama" on the topic of Islam and Islamophobia. These workshops are organized as part of the continuing education of teachers in French-speaking Belgium (Continuing Education Institute) and aim at the following objectives for participating teachers:
- Become aware of the need to go out from an ethnocentric point of view before any work on cultural diversity.
-To learn to identify stereotypes in order to deconstruct them.
- Learn about the notions of identity, belief and cultural codes in order to take them into account in learning.
- To learn to take into account these different cultural codes as well as the beliefs and cultural identities related to them in exchanges between students and students.
The aim of the project is to train 10 to 15 youth from the Roma Diaspora who settled back to Serbia and re-entered the education system after some time in Western Europe (mostly in Germany), so that they help their peers (newly arrived ones) to (re)integrate in the Serbian society. The objectives of the training course for participants are:
- to understand what peer training is all about;
- to gain the initial skills to become peer trainers;
- to be able to influence younger peers (17-25 y.o.) on topics such as participation, active citizenship and local decision-making.
2-day workshop - 18 participants
Through its partnership with CEJI, EPTO delivers two-day workshops in French-speaking Belgium using the program "Belieforama" on the topic of Islam and Islamophobia. These workshops are organized as part of the continuing education of teachers in French-speaking Belgium (Continuing Education Institute) and aim at the following objectives for participating teachers:
- Become aware of the need to go out from an ethnocentric point of view before any work on cultural diversity.
-To learn to identify stereotypes in order to deconstruct them.
- Learn about the notions of identity, belief and cultural codes in order to take them into account in learning.
- To learn to take into account these different cultural codes as well as the beliefs and cultural identities related to them in exchanges between students and students.
Du 8 au 12 janvier 2018 a eu lieu à Tilff (BE) une formationPotential for Life organisée grâce à nos organisations membres AMO Reliance et 4motion dans le cadre du projet européen « Bouge et décroche ton potentiel » financé par le programme Erasmus+ de la Commission européenne.
La formation s'adressait à des participants de 17 à 23 ans ayant interrompu leur parcours scolaire ou ayant des difficultés d'orientation. Ces jeunes ont pu être repérés grâce du projet européen Bouge et décroche ton job, lui aussi financé par le programme Erasmus+ de la Commission européenne. Ils ont expérimenté la formation « Potential for Life » afin de se préparer au parcours de formation et de mobilité inhérent au projet.
Pour rappel, le parcours « Bouge et décroche ton job » prévoit une formation pratique pour préparer un métier ciblé (6-10 mois) et un stage professionnel à l’étranger (2-3 mois) afin que les jeunes décrochent directement un contrat de travail, en particulier dans les secteurs d’activités suivants : informatique, logistique, bâtiment, HORECA.
Comme son nom l’indique, le projet « Bouge et décroche ton potentiel » associe donc le public-cible et les finalités de « Bouge et décroche ton job » aux outils de formation développés dans le cadre de « Potential for Life ». Et la fin justifie les moyens, à en juger par les témoignages des jeunes:
We are excited to announce our second official PeaceJam Youth Conference with Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi on November 18 and 19.
Young people ages 12-18, as well as their teachers and adult advisers, have the opportunity to spend two days interacting with this amazing world leader for peace and participating in workshops around current issues, volunteer projects, and family groups led by university mentors!
Nobel Peace Laureate: Shirin Ebadi
In 1992, Ebadi acquired her lawyer's license and established her own practice. She prioritized cases that involved the unfair treatment of women and children. Ebadi became one of the most well-known lawyers in Iran and defended the families of serial murder victims and child abuse victims. Ebadi has lived in exile in the United Kingdom since June 2009 because of death threats from the Iranian government. She continues to work for human rights around the world. Ebadi has been a board member of PeaceJam since 2004.
A new generation of peer trainers had their 2nd adventure on the peer education path! From November 12th to 18th 2017, the second training of the “Peers for Peace” project took place in Struga, Macedonia, with the great support of EPTO and the pedagogical expertise of CEJI - A Jewish Contribution To An Inclusive Europe. This 5-day "Train - The - Trainer" training tackling religious diversity, anti-discrimination and the prevention of extremism gathered 19 participants from Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Macedonia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Spain, who had a few months to practice what they’ve learned through local workshops in order exercise their abilities and competences gained in the field in Struga, Macedonia. We take this opportunity to thank all the facilitators, participants and partner organisations for their involvement and dedication!
On Wednesday October 4, teachers can take part in a full day training on the PeaceJam Curriculum “Compassion in Action Curriculum” for 12-18 year olds held Brussels. Costs are exceptionally at 50€ per person instead of 250€. Invoices can be provided if needed. Please talk to us if the fee is a problem financially and we will look for a solution.
The “Compassion in Action” curriculum based on “Education, Inspiration and Action” has been implemented in 20,000 schools in 39 countries all over the world. It takes students and their school community on an engaging journey that explores issues such as anti-discrimination, tolerance and non-violent communication from a personal, social, and institutional perspective, builds their skills and understanding, and provides them with insights and lessons from role models of peace from around the world.
Given Europe’s specificity in the face of the refugee crisis and political shifts in recent years, giving rise to nationalism, extremism, xenophobia and conflict, we are piloting a European version of this curriculum. Your school could be among the first 40 schools in Belgium to pilot this European version of Compassion in Action.
Interested in the topics of remembrance, media impact on public opinion and Yugoslav wars? EPTO will organise a local event at the EPTO office in Brussels on September 19th 2017 (evening), where the final cut of the “In Retrospect” movie will be presented. The projection will be followed by a discussion about the topics raised by the movie.
2017-06-06 - 2017-06-11 TAT Peers for Peace
Arad - Romania
Participants : 27
A new generation of peer trainers is starting its journey! From June 6th to 11th, the first training of the “Peers for peace” project took place in Arad, Romania, with the great support of our member organisation Ofensiva Tinerilor and the pedagogical expertise of CEJI - A Jewish Contrbution To An Inclusive Europe. This 6-day awareness peer training tackling religious diversity, anti-discrimination and the prevention of extremism gathered 27 participants from Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Macedonia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey, who now have a few months to practice what they’ve learned through local workshops in order to attend the second mobility of this project – The "Train the Trainer" course that will take place between the 12th and 19th of November 2017 in Struga, Macedonia. We take this opportunity to thank all the facilitators, participants and partner organisations for their involvement and dedication – with a special mention to Ofensiva Tinerilor for creating such a unique educational environment in a beautiful Romanian natural park!
On June 2nd, EPTO delivered a PeaceJam training for teachers and youth workers. The training was held in Brussels (BE) and gathered 17 teachers and youth workers from Belgium and the Netherlands.
The participants were introduced to Compassion in Action, PeaceJam's powerful curriculum that is designed to create inclusive communities through positive youth development. It is for young people ages 12-18, with the goal of providing an antidote to radicalization, xenophobia, and discrimination facing our communities.
On July 1st and 2nd, EPTO took part in the final event of the “In Retrospect” project. “In Retrospect” addresses the impact of the media on public opinion during the Yugoslav wars. During seven months prior to this event, EPTO and partners from Greece, Germany, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia worked on creating a newspaper archive with news of 2 national media from three critical instances of the Yugoslav wars and conducted 25 semi-structured interviews with individuals who were in their adulthood at the time of the eruption of the Yugoslav conflicts, out of which 5 individuals were chosen to be recorded on video.
This video footage from 7 countries was used to create a joint documentary film recollecting interviews from citizens about their remembrance of the Yugoslav wars. The movie was presented for thée first time during the conference in Novi Sad. Co-organized by Vojvodina Civic Center (Serbia) and Inter Alia (Greece), this final event also hosted a comparative media archive and collage exhibition, the photo exhibition “Lično” of Bosnian photographer Velija Hasanbegović and several debates gathering speakers from the Balkan countries through a series of panels entitled “In Retrospect”; “Do they really care about us”; “Who is hiding the facts” and “Through artistic praxis”.
As a membership-based organisation, EPTO runs every year an annual event for its member organisations in order to regularly meet, assess their needs and capacities, and support them with tailored services. In a context of rising extremism worldwide and in the aftermath of the horrifying terror attacks that are taking place notably in Europe, thanks to the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe, EPTO launched the third edition of this event in Berlin (8-9/04/2017) to open the floor to youth workers and practitioners to address how the issue of extremism could be better tackled through peer education.
Historically, EPTO has always been involved in understanding the mecanisms of inclusion and exclusion in society and in tackling what is feeding all types of extremist ideologies : xenophobia, racism, sexism, homophobia, islamophobia and/or antisemitism and/or romaphobia and/or afrophobia and now hatred against the so called refugees. This Event for members was an opportunity to assess the needs of our membership and to develop partnerships that could bring complexity, accurancy and subtility into the discussion in the spirit of peer education; meaning allowing us and youth the right to test, to try, to make mistake, to use the wrong terms when talking about the topic. Participants received articles before the event and had the opportunity to listen to Silke Baer, from the association Culture Interactive e.V. Methodologically, Culture Interactive e.V. has developed an approach of youth-cultural social intervention which combines elements of civic education/ pedagogical anti-bias training, psychologically based open-process group-work, and peer-learning in youth-cultural activities (including Breakdance, Skateboarding, Slam Poetry, Techno-DJ-ing, Digital Music Production, Comic and Graffiti, Visual Design and others) – also discussion groups about the young peoples’ preferred fictional media narratives, as films and songs/lyrics (the “Fair Skills”-project).
We then experienced and started compiling a variety of educational activities tackling extreme ideologies among young people and designing partnership projects that could challenge extremism among young people on a wider European scale. Those resources will become available on the online platform for members, some of the activities could directly be integrated in the training for trainers « Peers for Peace » to be held in Romania and Macedonia later this year and will definitely complete our thematic training programmes.
Thank you for the energy of the 36 participants ! Welcome in EPTO family !
"Pairs & repères", EPTO's Brussels-based youth project, brings together 16 young people aged 16-22 from all horizons to develop their own citizen projects across the city.
After a first 5-day training end of February on identity, social and cultural diversity and on how to deconstruct prejudice, the group met again on 25-26 March for a second action-focused training.
During two intense days of workshops, the participants reflected on the change they want to see around themselves and how to have an impact as a young citizen. They learned about all phases of project management, from defining clear objectives to identifying key partners, opportunities and potential obstacles, to drafting a budget and action plan.
They now have 3 months to implement their projects, which include a short film on youth and school dropout in one Brussels neighbourhood, an intercultural evening, a debate on current challenges in youth work, and a ludic course in a Brussels forest around an intercultural quizz bringing together young people from different horizons.
“Pairs & repères” has been launched! EPTO’s new project brings together 20 Brussels' youth from all backgrounds to share their experiences regarding identity and diversity matters, and set up their own field-projects to shape an inclusive future for their home city.
The idea of the project was born in the aftermath of the Brussels attacks, which saw a degradation of the social and political climate nationwide, a rise in distrust between communities and a strengthening of extreme ideas across the spectrum. Brussels is home to a very diverse and young population – however, an inclusive society can only be built if these young citizens from all walks of life get a chance to meet and exchange. Which leads us to EPTO’s new project, “Pairs et repères pour construire la Bruxelles de demain” – Peers and references to build the Brussels of tomorrow. The aim is to bring together 20 youths from different social and cultural backgrounds that would not usually meet, to discuss questions of identity and diversity, to learn how to recognise and deconstruct prejudice, and to ultimately come up with their own citizen projects across the city. These projects will be aimed at +300 other young people and the general public. Based on their interests, preoccupations and aspirations, participants will be free to decide what project they want to develop: organise a festival for example, or a photo exhibition, an intercultural sports event, or launch a citizen’s campaign. Through the learning process of setting up their own projects, they will be able to make themselves heard and visible in the public space and debate, reflect and make others reflect on their role as young citizens, and contribute to building an inclusive future for all young people in their hometown.
After an in-house training of 5 days where they will work on their personal trajectories, their family and migration storylines, their own prejudices and those of others, they will meet again for another 2 days of training to develop, together with professional trainers, their own field initiatives. These will be set up and promoted throughout the months of spring 2017 until the summer and documented through short video clips.
Participants will also get a chance to spend 2 days in Paris to meet young members of the NGO “Coexister” and visit together the Museums of National Immigration and of Primitive Arts (“Quai Branly”). The results of the entire process and the individual initiatives will be presented at a large public event in September. A film will be released on that occasion, to serve as an educational and promotional tool for other local, regional, national and/or European organisations that would like to duplicate and/or share the experience. Participants of this first pilot project will then also be given the chance to participate in the training of the next group of participants, to be selected in the city of Verviers, which has also suffered from the psychological and media impact of the Brussels attacks, and possibly in other cities. Those same participants will also be able to take part in further EPTO trainings and the networks’ numerous activities promoting peer education.
The project will be conducted in partnership with Actions in the Mediterranean (AIM) and CEJI – A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe, which will help both with organising the trainings and with rooting the project in Brussels civil society, based on their rich and longstanding field experience. The project will be led in close cooperation with local actors and institutions.
2016-12-08 - 2016-12-11 PEER FORUM 2016
Lisbon - Portugal
Participants : 60
According to the website « Empower yourself with color psychology, « ORANGE is the color of adventure and social communication. The color psychology of orange is optimistic and uplifting, rejuvenating our spirit. In fact orange is so optimistic and uplifting that we should all find ways to use it in our everyday life, even if it is just an orange colored pen that we use. Orange brings spontaneity and a positive outlook on life and is a great color to use during tough economic times, keeping us motivated and helping us to look on the bright side of life ».
Orange is the color of EPTO and has definitely been the color of this PEER FORUM 2016. Organised in partnership with 4motion and Associação PAR – Respostas Sociais, the event held in Lisbon brought 60 participants from 16 different European countries. It has been a moment of sharing and celebration of EPTO's 20 years engagement in using quality peer education towards a more inclusive, peaceful and democratic society.
Thanks the support of the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe and the European Commission through the Erasmus+ programme, the PEER FORUM 2016 was an opportunity to gather different generations of peer trainers and practioners who use(d) peer education as a way to engage young people in tackling social issues affecting them directly. This event was meant to reflect about own practices, to create emulation between the participants, to build new partnerships and to bring new ideas for future projects.
Through a full programme of interactive sessions and peer-led activities, we could showcase EPTO's various training programmes and map peer training initiatives organised in Europe over the past 20 years. The main aim of this edition was to learn from the past and build on it for better demonstrating the impact of peer education on youth empowerment and participation. With the expertise of Robin Sclafani, Vice-Chair of EPTO, the participants had the chance to reflect upon advocacy strategies and share their experience with other peer trainers and professionals in the spirit of peer education.
But the PEER FORUM was mainly an occasion to meet, see and hear about how EPTO and Peer education in general have impacted the life of hundreds of young people; how this particular methodology coupled with the strong belief in the richness of diversity provided a safe space for youth to grow and to fully develop their potential.
If “Orange aids in the assimilation of new ideas and frees the spirit of its limitations, giving us the freedom to be ourselves. At the same time (if) it encourages self-respect and respect of others”, EPTO definitely chose the right color!
Youth workers from seven countries in the EU and the Balkans gathered for the launch of a 1-year project on the Balkan wars and the role of the media in shaping public opinion and remembrance.
From November 21st to 28th, EPTO took part in the launch of “In Retrospect”, a new project on the impact of the media on public opinion during the Yugoslav wars. The project was initiated by our Greek partner Inter Alia, a civic action organisation who aims at building bridges between people through breaking stereotypes, analysing and deconstructing conflict and engaging actively in key political issues and dialogue. In addition to Belgium (EPTO) and Greece, participants represented organisations from Germany, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia – for more information about each partner organisation, see the list below.
After a first 2-day kick-off meeting with project coordinators in Athens, teams gathered for 8 intense days of capacity-building activities in the Northern city of Arta. The programme consisted of three diverse workshops aimed at preparing participants for the implementation of the project, whose background is the European Union’s failure to prevent violent escalation of the Yugoslav wars and the influence of the media in shaping public opinion as well as policy-makers at that time.
During one year, participants will be working towards two major outcomes: a joint documentary film recollecting interviews from citizens across participating countries about their recollection and remembrance of the Yugoslav wars, and a comparative media archive and exhibition centered around three major events during the war. Both will be presented at an international event in Novi Sad, Serbia, in June 2017.
A two-day workshop, animated by Greek film director Silas Michalakas, was dedicated to teaching participants the necessary video production skills for filming interviews. A second workshop, led by Prof. Dimitris Akrivoulis, focused on the role of identity in the Balkan regions, in the EU and in Balkan-EU relations. Prof. Kostis Karpozilos, director of the Greek Archive of Social Contemporary History, directed a third workshop on archiving skills, guiding participants in identifying key events to focus their research on, and in creating and organising their findings into an archive. Last but not least, two Open-Space sessions were animated by participants, focusing on the history of the Balkan wars and on intercultural experiential learning.
Through this series of lectures and non-formal activities as well as an afternoon of practicing filming in the streets of Arta, participants learned not only about the history of the Balkan wars, the role and perception of European neighbourhood policy, and the role of the media in shaping public opinion, but also about each other, including local initiatives to combat prejudice, deconstruct conflict through collective and inclusive remembrance, and mobilise young citizens.
Before the presentation of the documentary film and the exhibition of the local archives in Novi Sad, Serbia, two local events will take place in each of the participating countries – stay tuned for more information!
EPTO and its 4 member organisations Dev-Aid (AL), Dunare.EDU (RO), Forum Társulat (HU) and Humanitas (SI) organise a coaching module on quality peer education which will be designed and delivered by EPTO to its members.
A new pedagogical programme based on the “Toolkit on quality peer education” which will enable participants to support youth in the design and implementation of their own peer education projects at the local level. This coaching module will create a momentum for the implementation of 4 youth-led grassroots projects carried out by EPTO's member organisations from September 2016 to September 2017.
5-day training for partners of thePotential4Life project, introducing the pedagogical approach of inner diversity through peer education.
Hosted by AMO Reliance in Harzé (BE) from August 8th to 12th with participants from Belgium (EPTO, UEF), Luxembourg (4motion), Romania (Ofensiva Tinerilor) and France (EIEPS).
Curriculum Teacher Training on positive youth development and engagement with Peace Jam.
2016-04-01 - 2016-04-03 Members Event
Tartu - Estonia
Participants : 27
As a membership-based organisation, EPTO runs every year an annual event for its member organisations in order to regularly meet, assess their needs and capacities, and support them with tailor-made services. In partnership with our member organisation, Seiklejate Vennaskond, the European mobility brought us to Tartu, Estonia.
On January 20th, EPTO took part in the annual meeting of the Apprentis d'Auteuil's 250 directors in Paray-le-Monial (France).
Apprentis d'Auteuil is a wide French foundation helping vulnerable youth and families.
EPTO facilitated a workshop about how peer training enables people to embrace diversity. Participants were highly involved and several collaborations between EPTO and some structures of the Apprentis d'Auteuil Foundation were already envisioned.
The first project of this kind will be the delivery of a diversity and anti-discrimination “Train-The-Trainer” training to the “Maison des Familles” in Amiens in October 2016.
The EPTO Peer Forum, our last European event of 2015,has been held in October! This year's theme was : 'Peer education a springboard to employment'.
The Peer Forum 'Peer education a springboard to employment' took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg from October 23rd to 28th and was organised in partnership with 4motion. The seminar brought together 34 youth workers and peer trainers coming from Belgium, Luxembourg, Romania, Hungary, Albania, Azerbaïdjan, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands.
The training brought together 15 participants, coming from Belgium, Turkey, Romania, Ireland, Iceland, Germany, Azerbaïdjan, Albania and Luxembourg, who had attended either the 'Quality peer training for well-being' or the 'Quality peer training against discrimination' in August 2014 in Ireland. Through this event, they completed their Train-the-Trainer cycle and were certified EPTO peer trainers.
2014-10-19 - 2014-10-24 PEER FORUM 2014
Budapest - Hungary
Participants : 0
In the frame of the “Cultivating Capacities for Quality Peer Training” project, this 4-day seminar will gather 30 participants being EPTO peer trainers, youth groups as well as representatives of youth-serving organizations willing to implement quality peer education projects. The seminar will be dedicated to coaching and supporting youth and youth workers in the implementation and development of their own peer education project.
A peer education project fostering cooperation between Roma and non-Roma youth
The context: EPTO and its recent “Et pourquoi pas?” project in Belgium The European Peer Training Organisaton (EPTO) is a network of young people and youth-serving organisatons who use peer educaton as a way to overcome all forms of discriminaton. EPTO trains and supports young people to lead actvites that challenge stereotypes and to become actvists against exclusion within their own environments. EPTO's vision is a world where people enjoy learning from each other how to embrace their differences and realize their unique potental. Recently (2011-2013), EPTO implemented a pilot project called “Et Pourquoi Pas?” (“Why not?” in French), aiming at fostering the cooperaton between youth and youth workers from Roma and non- Roma communites. With this project, EPTO basically wanted them to take joint initatves addressing Romaphobia and promotng serene and negotated conditons for living together. This project gathered 14 partcipants from the Belgian French-speaking community commited to be actve towards other young people in the promoton of diversity and the fght against all forms of discriminaton, with a focus on Romaphobia. The peer training part of this project targeted youth and youth workers (mostly from Liège), who were already working or showing interest in working with Roma and Travellers communites in French-speaking Belgium. EPTO managed to build long-term partnerships with local organisatons that have a signifcant impact in their neighbourhood. Synergies between Roma and non-Roma people were created and partcipants were supported in developing their training and project development skills. For EPTO, the project was an incentve to go further and try broaden the scope on the European level.
The theme of the Summer Conference was “Together We Learn, Together We Change”, taken from the campaign EPTO launched on peer education sponsored by the European Youth Foundation in 2010. There to emphasize, enlighten, celebrate how peer training and youth activism are contributing to a Europe they want to see.
For a new generation of young journalist promoting a culture of peace Kigali 2011 : “Take your chance, Be the change !” has one main aim : to create a Europe – Africa network of young people promoting diversity and a culture of peace through the media. To achieve this aim, we want to complete six objectives : to train a group of 24 youngsters from Europe (12) and Africa (12) to raise their awareness of their own stereotypes and prejudices, to raise their awareness about consequences of these prejudices in society and to raise their awareness of the role played by media in spreading these to the public.
In addition, we also want to help them to develop skills to act as multipliers on a local level, to provide them a space to share their own experiences in media, youth field and non-formal education and to reinforce the existing partnerships between African and European organizations, to stimulate new ones and to sustain long term collaborations.
With the collaboration of Instants Productions asbl (Belgium), Urungano Youth and Media (Rwanda), LECS (Romania) and Picha asbl (DR Congo), Bolu Governorship (Turkey), Iriba (Burundi), Pistes Solidaires (France), Be International (Czech Republic), 33 Europa en Espana (Spain), College for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences of Szeged (Hungary), Seikeljate Vennaskond (Estonia), Associazione TDM 2000 (Italy),Associacao Maquina do Mundo (Portugal)
THE THEMES OF THE CAMPAIGN
In order to underline the importance of peer education, we have chosen to highlight 5 themes. 5 ways peer
education contributes to the wellbeing, social and personal development of young people.
PEER TRAINING PROMOTES HUMAN RIGHTS
Your “peer” is someone in which you see a part of yourself. Someone “like you” in one or more
aspects of your identity. Recognizing the humanity that we share is the first step to seeing others
as equal in rights and dignity.
PEER TRAINING COMBATS DISCRIMINATION
By sharing experiences with our peers and considering other points of view, we develop
empathy and understanding for others. Peer education helps us accept and most of all,
appreciate the value in our differences. Once we have this appreciation, we can no longer
stand to accept the injustices suffered due to prejudice and discrimination.
PEER TRAINING EMPOWERS YOUNG PEOPLE
Young people deliver a message to their peers that is often more credible and efficient
than when it is delivered by authority figures. Peer education encourages young people
to find solutions for their own problems, to shape their own lives and the world around
them, and to feel good about who they are with all their diversity.
PEER EDUCATION IS VOLUNTEERING
Everyday young people all over the world volunteer their time and energy to the development of
their peers. When resources are limited and we only have ourselves and what we can do, peer
education creates a space where everyone can be a learner and an educator. Anyone’s knowledge
becomes everyone’s knowledge.
PEER EDUCATION PROMOTES YOUTH ACTIVISM
A lot of what we are and know is learned from our friends. Peer education is way of giving an
intention to such powerful influence. It’s changing in a way that is positive and that can create a
space where everyone feel safe and respected. Young people are ready-made experts. They have a
unique perspective on the issues that affect them and can make things happen.
Nobel Peace Laureate: Shirin Ebadi
For a new generation of young journalist promoting a culture of peace Kigali 2011 : “Take your chance, Be the change !” has one main aim : to create a Europe – Africa network of young people promoting diversity and a culture of peace through the media. To achieve this aim, we want to complete six objectives : to train a group of 24 youngsters from Europe (12) and Africa (12) to raise their awareness of their own stereotypes and prejudices, to raise their awareness about consequences of these prejudices in society and to raise their awareness of the role played by media in spreading these to the public.
