Peace for Change, Change for Peace
The project « Peace for Change, Change for Peace » was implemented in SCI Switzerland in 2022.
What was the project about?
The project connected the idea of peace to the daily actions of young people across Europe and the Middle East and empowered them to act for peace in everyday life.
The goal was to build the capacity of youth workers and volunteers to gain competences essential for building a peaceful and nonviolent world.
The project’s main capacity-building activities were 4 training courses.
The training courses gathered many participants from more than 14 countries who were volunteers, activists of NGOs working for peace, and youth workers. Each event meant 6 full days of intensive, all-day-long learning.
Past Training Courses
Peace with Others
19-25 May 2022
“Peace with Others” explored the concept of peace and peace with others and supported the participants in gaining competences essential for building a peaceful and nonviolent world. The training comprised of sessions on a range of topics, including the role of a peacebuilder, emotional and social intelligence, nonviolent communication, and conflict resolution.
Inner Peace and Peace with Nature
13-19 October 2022
“Inner Peace and Peace with Nature” focused on the aforementioned two pillars of peace, supporting the participants to become changemakers and activists. The event comprised of sessions that tackled themes such as levels of peace, volunteering for peace, happiness, gratitude, mindfulness, how to deal with stress, sustainability, and shinrin-yoku.
Training of Trainers for Peace
16-23 November 2023
This training course trained multipliers who – upon their return home – whre able to organise high-quality educational events for peace (workshops, webinars, meetings, games etc.). The main focus was on how to plan, design, and deliver high-quality educational activities in offline and online settings.
Peace Education Market
18-25 April 2024
The event brought together educators from 13 countries to learn, discuss and share, empowering them to enhance the quality and quantity of their peace education activities. Participants were able to learn more about specific peace-related topics, such as Nonviolent Communication, mindfulness and conflict resolution.
Voices of volunteers
« No matter if you are into your looks due to the shameless disregard of an unfulfilled soul, your language barrier fights your innate cheer, your name originates within an academic triumph, you have a cutting-edge style for visual alternatives, you are a victim of morality or you simply try not to burst into laughter aiming to hide the desperation for humankind, I can positively tell you one thing: you are not alone. »
« We had sessions on gratitude, inner peace techniques, happiness, stress… Gośka and Natalie enabled us to truly reflect on our lives and realize how many good things we already have. What I personally got from this training is the appreciation of my life and the realization that the key to happiness is not wanting to have more than what I really need. Thank you for this beautiful, heartwarming experience! »
EVALUATION REPORT
This report includes a summary and analysis of the answers received from the participants. We were very interested in learning about the level of satisfaction, and we wanted to read opinions and proposals for improvement for future courses.
IMPACT REPORT
This report summarises the change that the project brought to its participants. We were very interested in learning what the training would change in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of our participants.
Follow-up actions
In this overview, you will examples of activities organised by the participants of the two training courses in 2022.
The participants were inspired and challenged to put their new knowledge and skills into practice in their home country. They organised various workshops, presentations, discussions, a calendar of poems, the calendar “Inner Peace Adventure”, they wrote articles, etc.
Want to read more on peace? The SCI Switzerland ‘Political Positions’ working group has published a new position paper “How to understand our pacifism” that gets to the heart of this question – ethically sound, historically thoughtful and politically committed.
« My Peace Journal », a guide to encourage reflection and action for peace
One of the tangible outcomes of the project was “My Peace Journal”, a personal diary providing space for reflection, encouraging thinking about peace and acting for peace, available both printed and in electronic form.
This project is financially supported by Movetia. Movetia promotes exchange, mobility and cooperation within the fields of education, training and youth work – in Switzerland, Europe and worldwide.
Still have questions?
If you are interested in the project activities and would like to get in touch, write to us at peace.practice@scich.org
