International Training Course „BE THE KEY – Empowering European Youth Workers through Conflict Management Skills“, 05.05.-13.05.2014, Sajan, Serbia

 

He drew a circle that shut me out. Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win. We drew a circle that took him in (Edwin Markham, American poet).

Today‘s world is challenging for young people: different ways of living, loving, believing – as such – being often trigger misunderstanding and exclusion. Feelings of frustration and disillusion often effect young people’s relationship to others contributing to conflicts not just within the young person themselves but also to friends, relatives and co-workers. Youth workers play an important role in supporting young people in coping with personal, social and intercultural conflicts.

Therefore, CGE Erfurt e.V. invited 22 participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia and Spain to the training course „BE THE KEY: Empowering European Youth Workers through Conflict Management Skills“. The TC took place from May 5th to 13th 2014 at the Youth Meeting and Education Centrein Sajan, Serbia. During the project participants were given the possibility to develop their conflict management competences. These developed competences will support them in facilitating constructive learning outcomes and in stimulating reflective perspectives among their target group.

The learning process of the participants was facilitated by two experienced and supportive trainers, Marija Farmer (Serbia) and Sylvia Schmidt (Kosovo/Germany). They introduced participants to different concepts of conflict as framed by established academics (John Burton, Johan Galtung and Friedrich Glasl) as well as to concepts of parallel truths, conflict escalation and anti-bias. Participants recognized the importance to differentiate between needs and positions when in conflict and to reflect on conflicts from the perspective of needs. By means of different non-formal methods such as role plays, song writing and pantomime it became more and more apparent that conflict is a not only a time of danger but also a time of opportunity and as such fun.

During the TC participants obtained the chance to develop their own skills and knowledge on tools, strategies and methods in conflict management. Important competences of „Europe’s next top conflict manager“ were introduced and directly put into practice. Especially the session on assertiveness had a great impact on participants’ learning process during the week and they kept on practicing „to stand up for their personal rights and expressing their thoughts, feelings and beliefs in a direct and honest way which does not violate another’s persons rights“.

Many of the participants als felt deeply connected to „the journey through the dark forest“ or to put it into other words „I have no idea what is going on and that is o.k.“ As such, tolerance to ambiguity emerged as another crucial competence during the TC. Participants started to appreciate this journey as adventurous, creative and as teaching themselves another way of personal power and security.

During the TC the participants had the possibility to exchange their experiences and good practices on conflict management, being it during different workshops or during the NGO Cocktail Evening that gave each participant the platform to present their organization. Another evening participants were invited to the European Art Night giving each of us a taste of our European culture – by listening (Macedonian drum’n’bass, Anomalia Nativa ft. Kacar „Premnogu Drsko“), tasting (Italian chocolate), seeing (German artists, Herkut and
Peter Lenk), feeling (Portugese poem, Natália Correia „Queixa das lamas jovens censuradas“) or smelling (Bosnian Rakia).

In the end participants were given the chance to experience the power of creativity and put their developed competences into practice by means of image theater and forum theater to be used eventually within their own group. We watched scenes of conflicts in youth organisation, personal conflicts of going through the dark forest as well as social and structural conflicts. In the end all of us realized that we should consider conflict as positively challenging and changing … or to put it in the words of impro wisdom:

1. say „yes“ – take every offer
2. don’t prepare
3. just show up
4. start anywhere
5. be average
6. pay attention
7. face the facts
8. stay on the course
9. wake up to the gifts
10. make mistakes, please
11. act now
12. take care of each other
13. enjoy the ride

 

 

In the following weeks an e-booklet on the TC will be published.

We would like to thank the following organizations for being part of this project:

• Bosnia and Hercegovina: Asocijacija „Mostovi prijateljstva BiH“ Zenice
• Croatia: Raplection
• Czech Republik: Tmelnik o.s.
• Germany: CULTURE GOES EUROPE (CGE) – Soziokulturelle Initiative Erfurt e.V.
• Greece: Hellenic Youth Organisation
• Italy: Connect
• Macedonia: European Cultural Epicenter (ECE)
• Montenegro: Juventas
• Portugal: Associação Máquina do Mundo
• Serbia: IUVENTA
• Spain: Libertas International

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The project was implemented in the frame of the Youth in Action program of the European Commission.