20 youth workers and leaders from the Republic of Moldova took part in an intensive training on human rights education, based on the Council of Europe's COMPASS Manual for Human Rights Education with Young People

The Council of Europe, in cooperation with the National Youth Agency, organised in Chisinau the COMPASS Training Course on Human Rights Education. The event brought together 20 youth workers, leaders, volunteers and trainers from formal and non-formal education contexts, within the framework of the project “Youth for Democracy and Human Rights in the Republic of Moldova”, part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Moldova 2025 - 2028.

Over four days, participants explored key topics including democratic citizenship, inclusion, participation and human rights, through non-formal education methodologies.

“COMPASS is not a textbook - it is an invitation to experience, reflect and act. Human rights education is not about filling young people with knowledge, it is about treating them as agents of change. Young people have the power to shape the world they live in, and COMPASS, together with the educators and youth workers who stand alongside them, gives them the tools to think critically, engage, and turn that power into concrete action. That is exactly the spirit that drives the Council of Europe, and exactly why this training matters.” said Falk Lange, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau

The event was opened by Sergiu Gurin, State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Research, who highlighted the value of the partnership with the Council of Europe in supporting youth initiatives. The Director of the National Youth Agency, Alexandr Petrov, stressed the importance of COMPASS as a tool for promoting active participation and dialogue in communities across the country.

The course is structured in two phases: an intensive residential phase and a follow-up stage, during which participants commit to implementing concrete human rights education activities in their own community or organisation - realising the multiplier effect of the training.

As the training concludes, each participant leaves with a commitment: to implement a concrete human rights education activity in their own community within the coming months. This multiplier effect - young people carrying the values of democratic citizenship and human rights into schools, youth centres and civil society organisations across the Republic of Moldova is what makes this training meaningful beyond these four days. The Council of Europe and the National Youth Agency will continue to support participants in taking those next steps. Moldova's Presidency may be drawing to a close, but the work it has set in motion continues.

The course marks the last youth focused activities under Moldova’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe - reaffirming Moldova’s commitment to placing young people and human rights education at the centre of the European agenda.

The event was organised by the project "Youth for Democracy and Human Rights in the Republic of Moldova," part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova 2025-2028, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Research and the National Youth Agency.