Move for Peace
Call
The call for participants for an international training course about peace building and connections between peace building and embodied work – Move for Peace – is now open. This training course is for you if you:
– care about peace and justice and want to become more active in building and strengthening peace at local and international level;
– are interested to discover embodied approach and methods to peace building and also to learning and peace education;
– work with young people as facilitator, youth worker, social worker, peer educator, teacher or activist;
– want to develop your conflict management and resolution skills;
– want to learn and create new methods and exchange experience;
– are at least 22 years old and legal resident of one of these countries: Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, North Macedonia, Poland or Italy.
In order to apply for the course, please, complete this application form before March 20th 2019. Participation is free of charge. You can download the planned program here.
About
Move for Peace is an international training course designed in collaboration of seven organisations with aim to explore and develop peace building methods that are based on work with body and movement, to enhance participants’ skills of emphatic and honest communication and conflict resolution and to foster efficient and creative leadership in peace building practices.
The training course will take place from April 27th to May 6th 2019 in Methoni, Greece, and involve 35 participants from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Italy and Macedonia – youth workers and group leaders, community facilitators and trainers who want to build the culture based on principles of solidarity, shared power, inclusion and peaceful existence. This course is unique as it combines verbal and nonverbal peace building approaches, as well as gives tools for personal development, so that peace building would become embedded in all actions of participants and their organisations.
The activities will include elements from improvisation, dance, authentic movement, yoga, acrobatics, hands-on bodywork, voice work, drama and meditation. Short theoretic inputs and exercises for reflection and evaluation, which are based on creative writing, storytelling and drawing will be also offered.
Through practices, activities and approaches used during this training course, participants will develop a cantered presence – grounded way of being in their bodies and practicing leadership with the ability to act and respond to their own needs, as well as to the needs of others, the community and organisations.
The project “Move for Peace” is financed with the support of European Commission’s “Erasmus+: Youth in Action”. This publication reflects only the author’s views, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained there in.
Practicalities
Venue
The training course will happen Methoni, Messinia, Peloponnese, Greece, in hotel Finikas which is located here. Participants will be accommodated in apartments. Each apartment has two twin bedrooms and a bathroom. Bed linen and towels will be provided. Internet will be available in the hotel and working space.
Transportation
Participants should arrive on 27th of April and depart on 6th of May. It is not allowed to arrive or depart earlier or later. You should book flight to Athens and from there the hosts will organise the transportation to Methoni. Price of the organised transportation from Athens to Methoni will be 60-70 EUR per person for both ways and this sum will be reduced from your total travel reimbursement. There are also two public buses from Athens to Methoni: at 9:30 via Kalamata and at 15:00 there is a direct bus to Methoni. More information about transportation will be provided after completion of the group.
Financial conditions
This project is possible thanks to financial support from the Erasmus+: Youth Programme. Costs for accommodation, food and activities during the training course will be covered from the project budget. There is no participation fee.
Travel costs will be reimbursed immediately after the end of the training course via bank transfer on condition that participant has used cheapest means of transportation and submitted original invoices, tickets and boarding passes, has completed the participants’ report and final evaluation of form of the course.
Travel costs will be covered in amount up to 180 EUR for participants from Greece, 275 EUR for participants from Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Poland and Italy, and 360 EUR for participants from Latvia. Taxi and first class tickets will not be reimbursed.
Preparation
We invite you to be fully present during all the course dates: engaging in activities, being on time for sessions and committing fully to learning, sharing and exploring the topic of peace building.
This course also involves deep personal work and we will also be discovering the causes and effects of conflict and peace in your own lives. Thus we suggest you to come well rested, mentally fit and ready to explore yourself and see how you can transform your ways of being, foster compassionate communication and positive attitude towards yourself and others. As this course is about bringing your body into peace building, meditation, movement, restorative and playful movement practices will be part of our daily program, thus be ready to explore yourself physically in movement and stillness.
Learning materials and other project related materials and information will be published on Facebook group. You can join it already now.
Packing list
– Travel insurance, EHIC and passport. Please, obtain your travel insurance for the period of the training course.
– Comfortable clothes and shoes for physical activities indoors and outdoors, including hiking up to 18 km long distances. Swimming suite. Sunscreen.
– Exercise mat and water bottle.
– Some snacks and drinks for intercultural night. There will not be presentations of countries – just an evening of tasting and sharing favorite national specialties.
– If you’d like to share some talents or creative expression time – music instruments, games and art tools.
Spreading the message
We hope that you will enjoy this training course, and we will do our best to make it great. To give a chance to even more people to learn and benefit from the project, we invite also you to spread a word about this event and its outcomes. Use hashtags #moveforpeace, #EVECAthens and #erasmusplus and share on social media how do you prepare for the training course, your insights, learning points, questions and feedback before, during and after the course.
And what after?
The project doesn’t start and end in Greece. One of the best ways to learn is to put your new competences in immediate practice and contribute to the peace building efforts around the Europe. Thus within two months after the training course each national delegation is expected to organise a follow-up event – a peace building initiative that can be implemented in format of a workshop, seminar, discussion or debate, exhibition, art performance, social media campaign, personal blog, or other creative framework depending on your interests and skills. During the course time and support will be provided for planning this action, and you will have a chance to start to organise it even before departure home.
Trainers
Ilze Jece is social change facilitator and holistic body therapist with years of experience in social and environmental activism. In the training courses she integrates yoga, bodywork, acrobatics and various pedagogical tools to create a playful and inspiring learning process.
Inese Priedite is working as non-formal learning facilitator since 2007. She focuses on training programs about creative learning methods and innovation. Visual expression, embodied learning and creative writing methods are some of her favourite tools to design training that breaks mind and behaviour patterns which might limit our success.
