This year’s « SCI Placement Officer Training (POT) 2023: Volunteering as Peacebuilding in 2023 » will take place from 13-19 February in Bern, Switzerland.
BACKGROUND OF THE TRAINING
Placement officers of the world, unite! In this annual training – Placement Officer Training (POT) -, volunteers or staff in SCI who place (other) volunteers in volunteering camps have the opportunity to get to know all the practical procedures, the OPS online database, tips, tricks, possible challenges and good practices around that – as well as to get a better understanding of SCI as a movement and the possibilities of getting active in it and making it more inclusive.
SCI is about connections. With this training, we want to make sure that the placement of volunteers goes smoothly in 2023 and that all placement officers feel well prepared for the many situations coming ahead. At the same time, the training is a way to get to know each other better – the people participating here will be people you will stay in contact with via e-mail all year and it is a great opportunity to get to know the faces and the personalities behind the names.
Online course to prepare you in advance. As part of this training, we are expecting you to go through the online course for placement officers on the SCI learning platform before. It will revolve around placement rules and the Online Placement System of SCI. You can do this course at your own pace before February 2023.
This year, the Placement Officer Training (POT) will take place from 13th to 19th February 2023 in Bern (Switzerland). We will have a special focus on peace education and anti-militarism to reflect on how SCI can position itself as a peace organisation in the context of the war in Ukraine and the increased militarisation of Europe.
If it is not possible for you to participate in this training on site in Switzerland, you could still do the online course. Please also let us know that you are interested in the online sessions around placement that we might do throughout the year by writing to trainings@scich.org
PARTICIPANT’S PROFILE
The participants will be staff, activists and volunteers from volunteering organisations that are part of the SCI network (no matter if they are branches, groups or partner organisations of SCI). The training is open both for newcomers and people with placement experience who want to refresh their knowledge.
All participants selected for this project must meet the following criteria
- be 18 years old or older
- work with placement of volunteers in their sending organisation (which is either a branch, group or partner of SCI)
- be able to work in English
- commit to implement the learned knowledge and skills in practice back home
- commit to actively participate from the beginning to the end of the training
We explicitly encourage participants of all genders, sexual orientations, abilities, learning styles and ethnic backgrounds to apply.
Please note that there will be opportunities to visit Bern, but that this is not a “getting to know Switzerland” project. On some days, the training also foresees evening sessions.
LOGISTICS, FINANCIAL CONDITIONS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Simple life: The training will take place in a scouts centre with simple living conditions. You will share a room with quite a big group of people.
Money, money, money: For most participants coming from Europe, SCI Switzerland can cover all essential costs of the program (including food, most travel costs, visa costs, accommodation and training) through a European project grant by Movetia. For participants not covered through this grant, we would come up with a participation fee (or other sponsorship possibilities) as soon as we know who would be interested.
Sustainable food: The food we provide will be vegan. This is not just a practical decision, but also an ideological one: SCI believes in the values of sustainability and climate justice – and if we want to contribute to a more peaceful planet, we need to give up on animal agriculture and its destructive effects on our planet.
Sustainable travels?: This is also why we ask you to come to this training through more sustainable means of transport rather than flying (e.g. by train or bus), if somehow possible. We will give you more guidance on how you can reach the venue, once you are accepted to the training.
HOW TO APPLY?
Please fill out the application form.
Applications should be sent to your sending organisation, which will each select their own participant(s) and then forward the application(s) to SCI Switzerland. All those accepted will later receive a detailed infosheet (incl. info on how to get to the venue, how to book your travels, more info about the agenda of the project). Deadline for applying is 23rd December 2022 (We will get back to you probably after Christmas). Please also let us know if you can’t send the application on time by this date.
CONTACT
If you have any questions regarding the project and your application, don’t hesitate to contact us at trainings@scich.org
We are looking forward to your application 🙂
The coordinating team
Sara, Thomas and the SCI Switzerland team
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.
