ACT stories
a few relfections of the training on active citizenship and conflict transformation
“It is imperative that we maintain hope even when the harshness of reality may suggest the opposite”
This quote of Pedagogy of Hope by Paulo Freire was our inspiration to design ACT project on active citizenship and conflict transformation. With no hope, we, as young people, would have nothing to lose.
So how do we generate hope for young people in the era of growing conflicts?
With the ACT project we wanted to preserve hope. We worked on equipping young people with skills to see the peaceful change they can bring to our society. There is always a risk that conflicts around can deepen and escalate, but there is also hope that young people can bring constructive contribution to working with conflicts.
Planning reactions to conflicts is a delicate task, and this is why we needed training on sensitive approaches to conflict transformation and empowerment on how to be community leaders bringing peaceful coexistence. As young people and youth workers we wanted to be aware of existing conflicts and capable of dealing with them to contribute to conflict management and transformation.
At ACT training we learned about practical aspects of how to intervene in conflicts, and methods on how to work with various categories of conflict transformation, such as conflict analysis, mapping stakeholders, cooperation solutions, nonviolent communication and dialogue. We gained those skills to empower ourselves to be leaders in our communities and be sustainably active citizens. Read here more detailed description.
Beyond Nicosia’s borders
“On the first day of the training, I was asked a question: Where do you feel more local? Apart from my roots, there is no place to which I belong. Being welcomed makes me feel at home, wherever I am. Even though the Home for Cooperation could seem to be a simple cafeteria at first glance, it is a real symbol of union, especially for those who live on the island not only as passing tourists.”
This reflection by Matilde focuses on two important aspects of the training:
- “where do you feel local?” — as in YPAN activities we usually ask this question instead of “which country are you from?”, so that we focus on what connects us, we emphasize importance of connection to local community, we aim to be conflict sensitive as for disputed territories, we give agency to shape parts of identity one feel comfortable with;
- it took place in Cyprus which is in line with the YPAN work of being present in conflict affected territories. We dedicate time at the training to explore how conflict in Cyprus affects young people.
If you want to explore the full perspective of Matilde on “Beyond Nicosia’s borders” in her article writing after the ACT training — check it here.
Nature of conflict and educational flow
With ACT training we also wanted to develop participants’ understanding of the nature of conflict and approaches on working towards sustainable positive peace. And we did it through using non formal education, participatory methods. If you are working with young people and want to learn our methods of peace education — check this highlight of stories.
It documents educational flow of the training, so that it can be used to multiply the training methods. And if you want to know training methods in details — they are also described in “Book of Peace Design” by YPAN.
So what did we do locally?
ACT was also a way to develop skills on active citizenship, leadership, raising awareness on existing conflicts and nonviolent conflict transformation. Our ambition was to ensure planning of at least 6 follow-up actions after the training. At the end of the project we can proudly report 10 activities which were not only planned, but also implemented by ACT participants.
Workshop on human rights education
Denia and Chris organised a capacity building workshop in Athens for their fellow youth workers. They multiplied the ACT knowledge and used one of the human rights education methods.
Nonviolent communication workshop
Nuné and Lambros implemented a workshop in Nicosia creating space to reflect over communication patterns and getting to know nonviolent communication as the alternative to violent language.
Training on visuals and demilitarisation
Polish and Cypriot partners organisations cooperate closely at the implementation of a Training V4Dem — Visuals for Demilitarisation. The training will equip 25 young youth workers from diverse backgrounds working with visuals or willing to incorporate visual tools in their work with tools of peacebuilding, conflict transformation, Non Violent Communication, emotional literacy, media and visual literacy and visual communication. Additionally the training aims to explore topics of identities, nationalism and demilitarisation to address European and regional tensions with non-violent means. Read more here.
Beyond Nicosia’s borders — a journey through perception
Article by Matilde describing narrative based her way of perceiving Nicosia during the training “ACT — Active citizenship and conflict transformation”. Read here.
Workshop on conflict resolution (insights from Cyprus experience)
Milos conducted a workshop at his university in Belgrade to share his knowledge on conflict resolution gained at ACT training in Cyprus. The workshop was designed to be interactive and engaging, adopting a non-formal but informative approach. It emphasized the importance of conflict resolution in personal and professional contexts and offered practical strategies to handle conflicts constructively.
More follow-ups of the ACT training were a workshop on collective art, submitted application for a project on critical thinking, training on transforming conflicts and training for teachers on communication skills.
Learning reflections
We leave you, Dear Reader, with a few reflections by the participants of our ACT training. In case you want to learn with us too — check where we go next and which topics we are planning to explore. Follow us on 👉🏿 INSTAGRAM👈🏾 and check our website: ypa.network
ACT was a project financed by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme.
The content of the page represents the views of the author only and is their sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.
