International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement is arranging the Youth as Agents of Behavioral Change (YABC) training for peer educators in Sofia, Bulgaria on May 20-27. Finnish Red Cross is seeking two (2) youth volunteers to partake the training.

YABC is the IFRC’s flagship initiative on the promotion of a culture of non-violence and peace (CNV+P). It was created in 2008 for youth and with youth from Red Cross and Red Crescent worldwide. YABC empowers them to take up an ethical leadership role in inspiring a positive transformation of mindsets, attitudes and behaviors within themselves and their community. It is built on three pillars: youth empowerment, operating from inner peace and reaching out to the community.

Objectives of the course

• Increase participants’ awareness on and understanding of the issues of discrimination, exclusion and violence (their root causes, manifestations, consequences, etc.), as well as of the Fundamental Principles and humanitarian values of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
• Equip participants with skills such as empathy, critical thinking, non-judgement, non-violent communication and mediation to enable them to disseminate and act upon them on a daily basis, and especially, in the face of (potential) discrimination, exclusion and/or violence, to:
  
  • (re-)act positively and constructively to prevent or mitigate it
  • enhance their personal resilience, manage their stress and emotions, and be attentive/re-active to those of others
  • role-model a positive transformation of mindset, attitude and behaviour in favour of respect for diversity, social inclusion and peace, and thereby inspire others to follow
• Familiarise participants with the affective and experiential learning approach and materials of the YABC toolkit to enable them to use it with diverse target audiences (e.g., local authorities, community leaders, youth, minority groups, etc.).
• Explore with participants the power of using creative platforms (e.g. music, theatre, dance, sports and visual arts) to reach out, sensitize and mobilise their peers and community members to engage in the promotion and building of a culture of peace

Participants are selected from following groups:

• local RC/RC youth or community leaders
• local RC/RC volunteers and staff actively involved in programmes’ implementation in the field
• volunteers’ coordinators actively involved in programmes’ development or management, and preferably in a position and committed to integrating the YABC initiative into their respective area(s) of work afterwards (e.g. first aid, disaster management, health and care, social services, youth and volunteering development, etc.)
• representatives of minority groups

Requirements for the participants are following:

• 18 to 30 years of age
• knowledgeable of and dedicated to humanitarian Principles and Values
• able to understand and communicate in English
• presentation skills (including facilitation, communication, etc.)
• good physical and mental health

All travel expenses of the participants will be covered by the Finnish Red Cross.

To apply, please send your motivation letter to recruitment@redcross.fi(linkki lähettää sähköpostin) by Sunday 6th of May 2018. A letter of reference from your Finnish Red Cross district or branch in English, Finnish or Swedish is optional.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Training Coordinator Kaisa Kannuksela, kaisa.kannuksela@redcross.fi(linkki lähettää sähköpostin) , Training Assistant Mikael Lehtinen, mikael.lehtinen@redcross.fi(linkki lähettää sähköpostin) or Training Assistant Marika Naumanen