Cooperation and Development Network Eastern Europe is announcing a call for members of the international preparatory team for the seminar “Sharing is Caring! Collective Action and Common Solutions”. It will take place in Armenia 25th of April – 2nd of May. The event is organized within the cooperation of European Youth Foundation and the call is open for active, young people, who share the Green values.

The DEADLINE for submitting applications to office@cdnee.org is 23rd of January 2015 at midnight (CET).

The call is open for applicants coming from Council of Europe member states.

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Summary of topics, aims of the project

“Sharing is Caring! Collective Action and Common Solutions” is a 6-day seminar for 40 young Europeans about commons and youth activism that will take place in Armenia from 25th April to 2nd of May 2015.

Commons refers to resources and knowledge that is inherited or produced by a community and is not in the ownership of private actors or the state. It can be a natural resource (water), a good created by a community (a health care system), a network (the Internet) or knowledge (a language, a computer software, human genome). We would focus on natural resources and public spaces – including some reflections on the Internet and open knowledge where relevant. We want to raise awareness about commons as something that does not need to be disposed of and sold by private or state actors – but can be commonly managed and accessed in order to secure its future.

  

Moreover, we want to empower youth organizations to take action for preserving commons in their societies and internationally. We believe that this is crucial for our common resources to be more justly and sustainability managed and social tensions to be alleviated.

 

Details

• Time and location: 25th April to 2nd of May 2015, Armenia
• Duration: 6 working days
• Working language: English
• Number of participants: 40

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Activities:

• preparatory meeting in March
• the seminar in April
• help with reporting of the event
• follow-up work

The main responsibilities of the prep-team will be:

• Organize the basic preparation (food plan, finances, etc.) and join both on-line and physical preparatory meetings;
• Prepare a call for participants, select the most fitting ones, prepare participants for the event and provide them with all necessary information;
• Prepare the program and cooperate with speakers, experts, trainer and partners;
• Help with the promotion of the event;
• Take care of practicalities and for well-being of the participants;
• Help with documentation of the event.

Being a prep-team member at CDN event would offer you:

• An unforgettable experience;
• Working in a dynamic and international environment;
• Experience in managing youth projects – preparation, implementation and reporting;
• Getting familiar with Green values and CDN work;
• A chance to improve your skills and enhance them with a lot of experience;
• A possibility to develop your leadership skills and group work;
• A lot of work and a lot of fun!

Prep-team members should:

• Speak English (you should be able to express yourself, write e-mails and understand English);
• Be willing to take on a challenge;
• Be responsible towards the taken tasks and the rest of the group;
• Have good organizational skills;
• Be a good team player;
• Be committed to agreed aims of the project;
• Be available to travel to the meeting and the seminar;
• Be available on-line and timely follow e-mail communication from February to July 2015.

Practicalities:
Travel: CDN will cover 100% of prep-team members’ costs. For selection of travel the condition is to combine the most efficient and environmentally friendly way (lowest price+ travel time +CO2 emissions). Accommodation and food will be provided.

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Project details

Main themes: 

 

1. To consolidate commons as vital resources for social, cultural and economical life of our societies 

• To learn about specificities of commons, such as natural resources, cultural phenomena, knowledge and networks and why they matter so much today

• To establish the relationship between commons and human rights in Europe, in particular the right against depossession and prevention of unjustified restrictions on commons (such as questionable Internet restrictions)

• To strengthen Green youth organizations as defenders of commons in their societies as well as internationally by raising levels of expertise on the topic as well as conducting a common campaign

 

2. To raise the level of political participation among young citizens in Europe – in particular in societies where this level is very low

• To identify causes behind low levels of youth participation in Europe as well as measures that have successfully raised those levels 

• To develop new ways of political participation that address the aspiration of young people and youth organizations, taking into account  opportunities offered by digitalization, open access to information, and alternative decision-making methods (such as plenum )

• To raise awareness about the importance of strategical planning in youth organizations and practice such planning techniques on the spot

 

 3. To promote transparent and inclusive management of common resources as a prerequisite to social peace

• To identify in what ways successfully preserved and managed commons affects social cohesion in different parts of Europe

• To raise awareness about planned depossession (“enclosure”) projects in Europe and how these processes can be influenced before it is too late

• To practice transparent and inclusive decision-making on the spot by identifying issues to be commonly discussed upon and decided during the activity (with strong focus on the planification of follow-up process on the spot)

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  Methodology

Program will be based on principles of non-formal and intercultural  learning. We strive for active, inclusive and direct communication and  transfer of knowledge. Sessions will be balanced between theoretical  inputs, workshops, role-plays, debates, discussions, reflection and  other interactive methods of learning.

 

This project is supported by the European Youth Foundation of the  Council of Europe and Green Forum  Sweden.

 

Documents

Prep-team application form ODT /  DOC

 

(project page)