NVC for Post Pandemic Youth Work is an international project developing competencies of youth workers to practice and embrace communication in a nonviolent way – observing and acknowledging own and others’ needs, recognising and expressing emotions, building peaceful relations with other coworkers and young people. The aim of the project is to prepare youth workers and leaders, project coordinators, to deal with post-pandemic situations of conflict, tension or misunderstanding in their work environment, where meaningful communication ways and reaching a compromise are needed for the common good, growth and harmonic co-being. As much as conflicts are natural for human relations, our concern is for them not to be perceived primarily “bad” and in this way not to let them threaten the basic sense of safety. That type of attitude towards conflict, very often, leads us to violent defensive reactions. At these moments we lose the resource that conflict situations contain and carry in itself.
Competencies to be in contact with your own needs, and communicate them out to others, are especially valuable in this context, working with multinational and cross-cultural groups, youth at risk, migrants, where backgrounds and culturally defined understandings are shaping the strategies how people meet the needs. They are very often qualitatively different from one another and leading to the inappropriate, irrelevant interpretations of each others’ behaviours and words, accordingly – to frustration, disharmony and destruction in the communication process and coexistence.
NVC in Post Pandemic Youth Work training program involves 24 youth workers coming from 8 different countries, who notice an increased level of violence, radicalisation, aggression in digital or physical context and lack of tolerance of youth in their communities and working environment and practice NVC and mindfulness approaches in order to deal with mentioned realities in a meaningful way. These factors make youngsters feel more and more vulnerable, and Nonviolent Communication is a more and more needed as way to understand self and others.
Project activities consist of an online module and a residential training course aiming to have impact in two main areas:
- Develop the competence empathy of youth workers by building a training group, where participants will share their challenges, get connected with their emotions and needs and practice to understand others as well
- Provide a learning experience for participants to improve/ acquire knowledge and skills in Nonviolent Communication and mindfulness methods and tools to deal with stressful and conflict situations in the future
The project is based on two main conceptual approaches – NVC and Mindfulness – upon which has been constructed the program for the training activities.
Profile of participants: the project contains an online module and a residential training course directed to youth workers, trainers, facilitators, mentors, and project coordinators who feel the need to improve their meaningful communication competencies when facing a conflict situation in their work environment and on the other hand – how to incorporate training topics in the non-formal educational activities with young people. This training will gather 24 participants who are employed (or volunteering) directly at the partnering organizations, or who are working with their local partners and will contribute to the activities organized in the future in collaboration with the sending organisation. Each partner will send to the mobility activity 3 participants. To allow the project to achieve its goals, the youth workers chosen for the activity will have to show:
- Knowledge of the situation of young people in their own country and of the specific conflict context for young people
- At least basic knowledge and understanding of approaches to peace-building, specifically in the field of youth work
- At least basic knowledge and understanding of peace education as an educational instrument in youth work
- Work experience in an NGO working with young people by educational means
- Have led at least 1 local or international educational programme (youth exchange, workshop, etc.) for young people on peace education, civic education or human rights education * Motivation to take part in a mutual learning process in a highly intercultural setting
- Good level of English to follow the course and to contribute to it
- Wish and ability to participate fully in the event We receive participants from 21 years old, and there is no upper age limit.
Date and venue: 5-13 February 2022 | Fonyód (Hungary)
Partner countries: Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey
Number of participants: 24 participants + 5 staff
Info pack: Information about the project’s aims, objectives, training methods, profile of participants, venue, transportation, travel reimbursement conditions and other general info: download pdf