Enabling educators to address conflict through peace education

The Council of Europe was founded in the wake of the Second World War, born out of the conviction that “the pursuit of peace based upon justice and international co-operation is vital for the preservation of human society and civilisation”. It is a peace project, built on the promise of “never again” (…), as reiterated in the Reykjavik Declaration adopted by the Heads of State and Government at the 4th Council of Europe Summit in May 2023.

The lives of too many young people are still shaped by violence conflicts and their consequences. Millions of young people across Europe and its neighbouring regions live in war zones, have fled war, live in areas of frozen conflict or experience violence resulting from social polarisation, and are thus deprived of their fundamental human rights.

Youth organisations and educators, activists, youth workers and other multipliers active in youth work and non-formal education contexts play an important role in supporting young people in these situations, including through the promotion of peace education, confidence building and intercultural dialogue, in line with the Council of Europe’s values and standards (for example, the Council of Europe White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education) or those of international institutions (for example, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security).

Since the early 2000s, the Youth Department has developed a strong track record in programming on peace education, peacebuilding and conflict transformation, notably through its strategic priority on ‘Living together in peaceful and inclusive societies’ within its Strategy 2030. Activities such as the Youth Peace Camp, currently in its 20th edition, the Youth Peace Ambassadors project which preceded it, and educational resources such as the T-kit Conflict Transformation are all products of the Youth Department’s ongoing commitment to this agenda, and its importance for the promotion of a culture of human rights. A Consultative Meeting on Peace Education, organised in December 2022, recommended that the Youth Department pay more attention to the development of Peace Education going forward. In follow-up, the feasibility of preparing a Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation on Peace Education in non-formal learning and youth work is being assessed.

Against this backdrop, the Youth Department is organising a training course for educators, activists, youth workers and other multipliers working who want to develop their competence for facilitating peace education and conflict transformation using non-formal education approaches in the context of the work they do with young people.

About the training course

The training course addressed educators, activists, youth workers and multipliers who wished to improve their competence in non-formal educational approaches to peace education and conflict transformation with young people in line with Council of Europe youth sector values and standards.

The aim of the training course was to support young people, their organisations and communities, and those working with them, to facilitate non-formal peace education and conflict transformation, thereby contributing to the development of a culture of peace and human rights, in line with the values and standards of the Council of Europe.

The objectives of the training course were:

• To support educators, activists, multipliers and youth workers active in a variety of non-formal education contexts to design and facilitate peace education and conflict transformation activities in their direct work with young people.
• To improve the confidence and competence of educators, activists, multipliers and other youth workers to address the situations of conflict they met when working with young people, whether these were the consequence of social or geo-political conflict.
• To share and learn from participants’ experiences of and approaches to peace education and conflict transformation, with a view to enriching and further developing the Council of Europe Youth Department’s programming on peace education and conflict transformation.

Programme and approach

This course was designed to support participants to conceptualise, implement and evaluate educational work focusing on peace education and / or conflict transformation using non-formal educational approaches with, by and for young people within the peace and conflict transformation strategies of their youth organisations or the youth work context in which they were active.

The approach was built on the quality standards of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, including experiential learning, individual reflection, peer exchange and participatory methods of learning.

During this course participants could expect to:

• Develop their knowledge of international standards for peace education and conflict transformation, including but not limited to those specific to young people, and those of the Council of Europe.
• Exchange and reflect on experiences of peace education and conflict transformation with young people in the context of non-formal educational work.
• Develop their understanding of different approaches to peace education and conflict transformation, in theory and practice, notably those that focused on the development of a culture of peace and human rights.
• Develop competence for facilitating peace education through and conflict transformation with and for young people through non-formal education on different kinds of conflict, whether geo-political or domestic socio-political conflict.
• Exchange on strategies for supporting young people to be active participants of peace education, peace building and / or conflict transformation related efforts in their communities, countries or at the international level.
• Engage in critical thinking and multi-perspective reflections on peace education and conflict transformation issues and dilemmas, especially those related to working in a non-formal education context with young people.
• Learn about how to work with an intercultural approach, emphasising empathy, tolerance of ambiguity, and distance to social roles, when practising peace education and conflict transformation.