Building Bridges Toolkit
The Toolkit was designed to collect and share the know-how on voluntary projects involving people seeking or who have recently found refuge, as well as raising awareness on forced migration in general. The collection of guidelines, methods and case studies is non-exhaustive and should simply foster your own inspiration and support you in implementing projects on the topic. The creation of the Toolkit has been driven by the ever bigger need of the international SCI network to exchange best practices on projects in the field. It was coordinated by SCI Switzerland with the support of Útilapu Hungary. Its existence wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Mercator Foundation Switzerland and the active contribution of the Building Bridges working group and a number of SCI branches.
METHODS AND TOOLS serve to support your work on the topic of refugees and migration with different target groups.
CONFLICTOLOGY COURSE
About the origins and causes of refugees
Time needed: Preparation: 1 month, Activity: 5 sessions of 4 hours each one, Final evaluation: 2 hours
Objectives / aim: Raise awareness about non-media refugees and the causes and consequences of conflicts
Level of Difficulty: medium; searching for experts is difficult, as the interdisciplinary approach is key for the course
Resources needed:
Venue: Room for 30-90 people;
People: 12 speakers, 2 facilitators, 1 coordinator.
Number of participants: 30-90 participants
Contact / Source: SCI Catalunya voluntariat@sci-cat.org
Description
SCI Catalunya organizes one Conflictology course every year divided into 5-6 sessions of 4 hours as well as one open round table discussion with different specialists. It is one of the most important educational events and well recognized in Barcelona.
The courses of conflictology analyze a problem of international conflict from a vision of the promotion of the culture of peace and nonviolence, feminism, the promotion of human rights, as well as the impulse to governance and the social fabric as foundations of a social and economic development, equitable and sustainable that affects the redistribution of wealth and social justice.
The courses focus on giving both theoretical and practical tools to understand and analyze current affairs, and are especially aimed at young people involved in associations, activism and volunteering, who want to study in depth an analysis of international conflicts in a critical and active way.
Aims:
The aim of the courses is to give specialized education about the causes, journeys and arrival of refugees. The course always starts with a part about conflictology, positive peace and nonviolent conflict resolutions. The second part of the course is focused on a specific conflict which is selected by SCI activists every year. Each year they deal with the specific causes that create the refugee issue and they focus on specific areas. SCI Catalunya underlines also especially the invisible refugees like the ones fleeing Eritrea’s conflict, LGBT+, conscientious refugees.
Resources needed:
You will need a budget for the venue, facilitators and speakers, material (projector, PCs, tables, chairs, etc.) as well as food and drinks. SCI Catalunya’s budget is usually between 750-1000 Euros.
Steps:
1.Think about the topic. Which theme do you want to work with?
2. Search for experts and speakers.
3. Coordinate the agendas between the speakers
4. Launch the course, make publicity, inscriptions.
5. Fix the room and the other facilities.
6. Start the course!
Tips:
- Make sure that the themes are well chosen.
Be careful that the sessions are neither too intensive, nor too long. - Make sure to give time for discussion.
- It’s good to have feedback from the participants (survey of satisfaction, things to change, things to improve, etc.).
- It’s important to have speakers and facilitators from different educational and professional background in order to reach an interdisciplinary perspective on the issue.
Links:
CONTRIBUTE!
You can share your experience, observations, tips and tricks, pictures etc. by uploading for instance a method or a case study to the Building Bridges Toolkit. As this Toolkit is a work in progress to which all involved parties are invited to contribute, we would also be very grateful for your support and contribution in order to inspire others to continue the work towards peace and intercultural understanding.