P.E.A.C.E. – Peace, eACTIVISM & Campaigning Education

Everyone has a story to tell, and those digital stories are always very powerful, since in many cases they highlight very important issues, such as violence, discrimination or a struggle to find one’s place in the society. They also break down barriers as in our experience a unifying cause or message can often overcome ethnic or society divisions. There are many ways to be a peacebuilder, and we find that many of our YMCAs and participants come from marginalized communities or from countries with frozen or ongoing political and ethnic conflicts. We believe that starting to work at a grassroots level with young people, that in most cases were born after the conflict, will be of benefit for future generations too. This does not necessarily mean tackling big issues right away. The culture of peace can be translated into numerous forms of action and within this study session we would like to cover the following topics: eActivism for change; Online Campaigning & Fundraising; Communication and Social Media; Positive messages and unbiased opinion. This will also offer us an opportunity to introduce Digital tools and methods to greatly improve the messages we are putting out in the world. Quite often much of the informal peace work within countries is undertaken by NGOs and they often struggle with capacity and funds. Therefore, communication work is frequently left to good volunteers and at good will. However, we know that social media platforms reach more people than our projects at times and have the potential to go viral and offer a digital space for comments and dialogue. The study session will focus on improving the visual and verbal communication skills of youth workers & leaders. The competences they will develop during this session will help them to better engage with different audiences and hold the attention in order to promote peace and understanding as widely as possible. Full info and application form: http://rfr.ymcaeurope.com/peace-2018/