PeaceAct – Training of Trainers: democracy and peace education on an international training mission

Democracy Fitness – Tone your democracy muscles!

The first two days of the trip focused on Democracy Fitness training, during which we practiced active listening and compromise, and discussed what democracy is and how it is reflected in our daily lives. Democracy Fitness is a tool that challenges us to become stronger democratic citizens, emphasising that democracy is not something distant or reserved for a particular group, but belongs to all of us. At the heart of the Democracy Fitness training were ten ”democracy muscles”, each of which can be trained through a 30-minute exercise. During the training, each of us also got to practice the role of being Demokratia Fitness trainer, and at the end of the two days of active discussion, practice and learning, 27 new Demokratia Fitness trainers were graduated! This part of the training provided professionals with many tools to promote dialogue in communities and to resolve conflicts in a constructive and respectful way. The training also generated valuable discussion and new ideas on how democracy affects us all and how each of us can contribute to it.

Peace- and future education in the context of youth work

On the third day of training, we moved on to peace education and future work. The theme of the morning was peace education, where we discussed what peace is, how its opposite violence appears and what different levels these include. Through group discussions, we considered on how we can promote peace through our own work. In the afternoon training, we were introduced to working with the future from a peace education perspective, where we practised methods to help communities, groups and indivituals to envision their desired futures and the steps to achieve them. During the future coaching workshop, we considered different future claims and their desirability, and worked in groups to discuss and reflect on what a future of full peace would look like. The future workshop ended with an imaginary exercise where each participant had to write a postcard to their present self from the previously imagined future. The third day of training provided new perspectives on how to promote peace education and offered lots of ideas on how to support young people’s faith in the future, their vision and their ability to take part of building their own future.

What can you take with you from the trip? – The perspective of a student of community educator

The Peace Act Training of Trainers provided a rich learning experience from the perspective of community educator student: combining self-challenge, internationality, learning new methods, networking, as well as broadening ideas and perspectives. The educational trip reinforced my understanding that democracy and peace are not self-evident, but require continuous learning, development, dialogue and new ways of participation. The lessons learned from the trip will certainly not remain for my own use only, but I will definitely use them in a variety of ways in my future work to support youth participation, peace education and understanding of democracy. The trip also opened the door to internationality and deepened my understanding of its importance in the context of youth work. During the training trip, there were many really important discussions and exchanges of ideas from different countries’ perspectives, which brought a special meaning to the discussions. From the point of view of a soon-to-be graduate community educator, the training sparked many ideas on these relevant themes and provided important approaches, new tools and reinforcement for professional confidence and the transition to working life. The training trip will certainly stay with me for a long time, both in terms of the experience and the content and lessons learned. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be part of such an eye-opening and wonderful journey during my internship, and I am proud and excited to take the knowledge and skills I have learned with me into the field of youth work!