International seminar “Be your country”, December 3-10th 2021, Austria

Deconstructing culture in youth work and non-formal education

Be your country seminar from December 3rd until December 10th provides space for youth workers and staff from volunteering organisations around Europe to critically reflect about their own practices of culturalization in non-formal education programs, energizers, support and training structures and free time activities. We will guide the seminar using techniques and approaches from antidiscrimination, antiracism and critical whiteness.

Topics

Some of the questions and topics to be explored:

• What do we personally and our organisations mean when we say „culture“? What effect does this understanding of culture have on our participants?
• What is the role of national cultures in international youth projects – and how does this relate to nationalism, nationbuilding, pan-Europeanism and internationalism?
• How can we deconstruct and play with the definition of „culture“ that our participants bring with them to our youth projects?
• What non-formal education methods can we share or create that have critical or constructive approaches to culture? What can be progressive alternatives to an „international evening“ and to talking about “cultural shocks” solely from a national perspective?
• How does the setup of Erasmus+ programs reinforce certain notions of culture in our projects?
• How can we challenge existing cultures within our projects and our societies (e.g. patriarchy, heteronormativity, white supremacy, militarism) in order to create a culture of peace?

Participant’s profile

The project aims to gather 30 participants  (up to 2 per partner organisation). The participants will be youth workers, trainers as well as staff, activists, camp coordinators and active volunteers from volunteerig organisations. All participants selected for this project should meet the following criteria

• be 18 years old or older
• be able to work in English
• be interested in the seminar topics and have a strong motivation to act as a multiplier
• Able to attend for the full duration of the seminar
• If somehow possible and feasible, be committed to come to the seminar without flying, and to travel instead by overland route.

Deatiled call for participants

How to apply?

Applications should be sent to trainings@cvs-bg.org with a subject Application_Be your country_YOUR NAME. Final selection will be done by SCI Austria. Here is the application form:

All those accepted will later receive a detailed infosheet (incl. info on how to get to the venue, how to book your travels, more info about the agenda of the project).

First deadline for applying is November 1st 2021.

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