REGIONAL YOUTH PEACE CAMP KOSOVO 2013 13 20 September 2013 (TRAVEL DAYS INCLUDED) CALL FOR APPLICATIONS PRELIMINARY PROJECT INFORMATION Supported by: Government of Kosovo - Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports European Union Special Representative/European Union Office in Kosovo A Youth Peace Ambassadors project:
Background The Youth Peace Camps were initiated by the Council of Europe in 2004, in cooperation with Europa Park in Rust, Germany, to bring together young people from conflict regions and to support them in initiating dialogue and cooperation. The first regional Youth Peace Camp was held in Albania in 2012. Young people from the Balkan region, taking part in the Council of Europe 3 year long project Youth Peace Ambassadors, have initiated a new regional Youth Peace Camp for 2013, to be hosted in Kosovo 1. The Youth Peace Ambassadors is a Council of Europe youth sector project being carried out between 2011 and 2013 2. The project promotes and supports the role of young people in peacebuilding activities that contribute to living together in dignity and dialogue. The Youth Peace Ambassadors are young people from across Europe, active in youth led civil society organizations and projects. During the project, they learn about peace and human rights, they develop local projects for peace, and they advocate for human rights and dignity. They thus act as ambassadors for the values of human rights, peace, and intercultural dialogue, and they will also bring these values to youth work and to youth initiatives in their communities. During the YPA project phases each participant has to prepare some project in their countries. Regional Youth Peace Camp 2013 Kosovo is an initiative of a group of Youth Peace Ambassador participants from the Balkan region. Their idea with organizing Regional Youth Peace Camp in Kosovo is to promote human rights, intercultural dialogue, youth participation and democratic citizenship processes in Europe. Young people are active citizens and protagonists of social change in conflict-affected communities and Kosovo as post conflict country is one of the countries which need to promote this values. Rationale for the Regional Youth Peace Camp Kosovo 2013 Young people, growing up in regions affected by armed conflicts and exposed to and/or enduring the consequences of extreme forms of physical and structural violence, are often confronted with dramatic life-changing experiences, emotions and challenges. Such experiences may strongly influence their views and behaviour towards their own and other communities and their relation to conflict and peace and their identity. Many young people, despite often adverse circumstances, choose to engage in constructive initiatives and dialogue instead of becoming themselves the multipliers of hatred and rejection which fuel prejudice. When their role is supported and recognized, these young people may become peer leaders and educators and, in turn, sensitize and involve other young people in dialogue, mediation, intercultural communication, conflict transformation and peace work projects. In their role as peer leaders and in learning about conflict and peace, it is important for young leaders to be able to relate to, and to be confronted with, life stories, experiences and aspirations of other young people from other conflict regions. The Regional Youth Peace Camp Kosovo 2013 offers the possibility for young people to better understand conflicts and their transformation by listening to and living with young people also affected by conflicts. The Youth Department of the Council of Europe has, in the past decades, initiated and developed quality criteria, training manuals, training courses and seminars in the fields of intercultural learning, human rights education, youth participation and conflict transformation through youth work. More recently, in the framework of their partnership with the European Commission in the field of youth, the Youth Department of the Council of Europe published a Training Kit on Conflict Transformation 3. The Youth Department also launched the Youth Campaign for Human Rights Online No Hate Speech Movement on 22 March 2013 4. The project aims to address online hate speech and 1 All reference to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo. 2 For more information see: www.coe.int/youthpeace 3 http://youth-partnership-eu.coe.int/youth-partnership/publications/t-kits/t_kits 4 For more information see: www.nohatespeechmovement.org
combat the online expression of racism and discrimination by equipping young people and youth organizations with the competences necessary to recognize and act against such human rights violations. Intercultural learning and human rights education play a central role in all these projects. Intercultural learning in youth work practice has been especially developed through long-term training courses in European youth work; wherein intercultural learning formed both an objective and a quality criteria for projects. It soon became understood as representing the essence of the Youth Department s educational approach: recognizing and addressing prejudice, combating aggressive and exclusive forms of nationalism, identifying the competences necessary for youth workers active in inter/multi-cultural environments. Intercultural learning is understood to constitute a natural part of the educational approach towards intercultural dialogue and, together with human rights education, may provide answers to some of the dilemmas resulting from violent, structural and cultural conflicts. The adoption by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue confirmed the political relevance of these approaches and reinforced their educational suitability. The Regional Youth Peace Camp Kosovo 2013 builds on these experiences and applies such learning to its participants. It provides a safe space for young people from different conflictstricken regions to learn together about conflict, to share their experiences with other young people, and to build their capacity to engage and/or develop future conflict transformation projects and initiatives. The Regional Youth Peace Camp Kosovo 2013, together with the Youth Peace Ambassadors project, also enables the youth sector of the Council of Europe to identify and document challenges faced by young people in conflict regions and to improve its ability to support youth projects in those regions. Both projects promote and support the role of young people in peace-building activities that contribute to living together in dignity and dialogue and bring in the perspective that youth work and youth policy can bring to peace-building processes in Europe, especially through its preventive and educational nature. Aim The aim of the Regional Youth Peace Camp Kosovo 2013 is to engage young people and youth organizations from different communities / countries in the Balkan region in / around Kosovo in dialogue and conflict transformation activities based on human rights education and intercultural learning and to provide them with a positive experience in living and learning together. Objectives: The main objectives (personal, organizational and institutional) of the Regional Youth Peace Camp Kosovo 2013 are: 1. To develop the conceptual and practical meanings of conflict, peace, and conflict transformation; 2. To share among participants their personal experiences of conflict and violence and their coping strategies, identifying commonalities and specificities between them; 3. To develop the competences of participants in conflict transformation and intercultural learning, including a critical understanding of the personal and collective identities and their role in armed conflicts; 4. To learn about human rights and human rights education as frameworks for conflict transformation and dialogue; 5. To learn from existing practices and experiences of people within the youth field working on dialogue and conflict transformation; 6. To motivate and support participants in their role as multipliers and peer leaders in peace-building activities with young people from their organizations and communities. As the Youth Campaign for Human Rights Online was launched in 2013, the Regional Youth Peace Camp Kosovo 2013 programme will place a specific emphasis on the role of Hate Speech in conflict and post-conflict situations. See also: www.coe.int/act4hre
Methodology The programme of the Regional Youth Peace Camp will give young people, coming from countries / communities within the southern Balkan region recently affected by armed conflicts, the opportunity to share, explore, and reflect upon their work in the field of dialogue, conflict transformation and peace work. The programme will be based on mutual learning situations among participants, making use of a variety of working methods. The participants will be able to share personal experiences with conflict and violence and share the coping strategies they developed. The programme will also allow time for participants to explore the relation between identity and the conflict in their region for young people and themselves. Personal reflections and sharing within national/ethnical groups will be alternated with sharing, learning and reflecting between youth from the different conflict regions. Contributions on intercultural learning, conflict transformation and human rights education will establish a theoretical framework and common reference points for the participants when reflecting on their experiences and youth work. Towards the end of the Camp, participants are expected to develop initiatives as peer leaders and multipliers with other young people in the field of dialogue and conflict transformation. Central to the concept of the Regional Youth Peace Camp Kosovo 2013 is the motivation and the possibility for living, learning and discussing together with other young people with whom otherwise it may be very difficult to have contacts or cooperation. A team of experienced trainers and facilitators (one per each community or region from where the Camp participants come will develop and facilitate the programme of the Camp. Some these facilitators will be members of the Youth Peace Ambassadors network. Working language The working language of the programme will be English. Participants must have sufficient understanding of English in order to comprehend and complete the application form without assistance from another person. During the Regional Youth Peace Camp Kosovo 2013 there will be a few occasions for participants to work in "mother tongue language groups. Educational team The Educational team consists of five facilitators and one trainer. Altogether, trainer and facilitators are experienced in running similar activities, have direct experience of the regions from where participants come and will be able to communicate and support all the participants in their mother tongue. Participants' Profile The 2013 Kosovo Regional Youth Peace Camp will bring together young people from: - Kosovo ( from Albanians speaking and Serb speaking community and the Roma, Ashkali Egyptian and other communities in Kosovo) - Serbia (Serb, Bosniak and from other communities of Serbia) - The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Macedonian speaking and Albanian speaking communities and other communities) - Albania (from different communities) - Bosnia Herzegovina (from the Serb, Bosniak and Croat communities) Each group should be balanced in relation to sex and reflect the diversity of their communities, ensuring a representation of all on equal level. The programme for participant will be facilitated by facilitators able to work in the different languages spoken, coming for the mentioned communities and an experience trainer of the Council of Europe trainers pool.
All participants must: be aged between 18 and 26 years; be able to work in English; be available and fully committed to take part in the Regional Youth Peace Camp project; be motivated to learn and to apply the values and approaches of the Youth Peace Camp, notably human rights, democracy and intercultural dialogue; be involved in youth or community projects in their community and be motivated to implement youth initiatives for peace-building following the residential meeting; preferably be involved in an organization or network, institution, formal and/or informal group that is ready to support them throughout the project duration and afterwards when implementing youth initiatives for peace building; possess a sense of responsibility for one s own actions and a commitment to personal and community development; be curious, open-minded and appreciate diversity; Application procedure and selection of participants The recruitment of applicants will be made through an open call in the communities or regions concerned. All candidates must apply on-line, completing the application form under this link: http://youthapplications.coe.int/ Applications must be submitted by Wednesday 28 August 2013 10:00 am Financial and practical conditions of participation Travel expenses Travel expenses for participants not living in Kosovo are reimbursed upon presentation of the relevant receipts, according to the rules of the Council of Europe, using the cheapest means of transport possible. Only the participants who attend the entire Regional Youth Peace Camp 2013 Kosovo may be reimbursed. The payment will be made at the end by bank transfer. Accommodation Board and lodging of the seminar will be provided in venue outside the city of Pristina with the support of the EU Special Representative/EU office in Kosovo.