Project Number: 022-2-IE01-KA220-YOU-000096690
Project timeline: 01/01/2023 – 01/08/2025 (31 Months)
Consortium:
🇮🇪 Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (Ireland) – Peacebuilding Institute – www.glencree.ie
ðŸ‡ðŸ‡º Tegyünk Együtt az Ifjúságért AlapÃtvány (Hungary) – Human Rights Education NGO- www.teisalapitvany.hu
🇩🇪 CGE Erfurt e.V. (Germany) – Migrant-Led Project Management NGO – www.cge-erfurt.org
🇨🇾 CitizensACT (Cyprus) – Community NGO with links to cross-border initiatives – https://citizens-act.org
🇱🇹 VarÄ—nos kultÅ«ros centras (Lithuania) – Regional Public Body on the LT/BL border – www.varenoskultura.lt
🇲🇰 EKE Bitola (North Macedonia) – Youth Network engaging in the Balkans – www.eke.org.mk
Context:
Many young people are living in regions of Europe that are either post-conflict or cold-conflict settings. Young people and the youth workers that engage them are key to support these regions through reconciliation & preventing radicalisation, but the knowledge of methods to meaningfully engage young people in these complex processes is often lacking. By connecting a peace and reconciliation centre and youth-focused NGOs working within post-conflict settings, this project attempts to fill the skills gap of youth educators regarding reconciliation work with youth and local communities. With interrelated research, educational and piloting work packages, this project will act in and learn from the post-conflict and youth engagement settings of Ireland (P1), Cyprus (P4), the Balkans (MK) (P6), post-conflict migrant integration (P3), the PL/LT/BL border (P5) HU-SR Border (P2) with expert pedagogues in both the fields of peace and reconciliation, as well as youth work and human rights education (P1-P6).
The background of the project is characterised by the recent trends that have been changing attitudes towards youth participation in both reconciliation and peacebuilding on the international level and have been creating a new context that focuses on the importance of youth mainstreaming in P&R processes. However, concrete action is needed to enable the P&R and Youth sectors to facilitate the role of youth in sustaining peace, approaching reconciliation, as well as preventing and resolving conflicts.
As such, this project finds itself at the intersection of many programme priorities, as well as broader EU & international commitments, through engaging directly with YP & YWs with capacity-building actions, as well as developing new methods for quality youth work. CoEU Conclusions 8629/20 places young people as essential partners in the implementation of the European Consensus on Development, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Youth, Peace & Security significantly recognises the role of youth work, however this can only be achieved if the P&R & YW sectors interconnect meaningfully.
To address this, this project attempts to meaningfully connect, for mutual learning, methods development and sectoral reform:
1/ Peace & reconciliation organisations,
2/ Non-formal education/Human Rights Education NGOs,
3/ Migrant-led NGOs
4/ Youth organisations
5/ NGOs engaged in service provision for young people emerging from conflict.
During 31months of structured cooperation, the consortium will:
1/ Develop a Methodological Framework and e-Mapping regarding the role of youth organisations and within reconciliation.
2/ Engage in a long-term capacity-building programme of YP and YWs (incl. a YE, TC, and study visits)
3/ Establish a transferable Youth Peace and Reconciliation Programme for YP, YW and YOrgs
4/ Connect with diverse stakeholders to disseminate project results, supported by digital tools and a Toolkit
Next Steps:
CGE Erfurt e.V. will lead a research package across the six countries in this project, using desk research, focus groups, and action research methods to develop the methodology for this project. A call for the capacity-building programme for youth workers and peacebuilding actors will open in March, to register your interest in the research or training phases of this project, please email Robert Nesirky (nesirky@cge-erfurt.org) or Maryna Bykova (bykova@cge-erfurt.org).
The project is co-funded by the European Union as a Cooperation Partnership in Youth (250,000).
