Tallinn, December 2003
Training
Co u r s e
For Educators and
Multipliers in Human Rights
Education
with young people in the
Baltic Area.
11-18 December 2003
Tallinn, Estonia
Presentation
Application form
www.coe.int/youth
www.coe.int/hre
Training for Human Rights Education
Human rights education (HRE) – understood as educational programmes and activities that focus
on promoting equality in human dignity – is of incalculable value in the shaping of a European
dimension of citizenship meaningful to all Europeans. Those involved in non-formal education in
youth work should also consider the evolution, practice and challenges of human rights, with
regard to their universality, indivisibility and inalienability, and what they mean to the young
people of today.
The Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe has acquired an undisputed
reputation for and expertise in developing educational approaches and materials suitable to both
formal and non-formal contexts as well as to different cultural environments. Its work with
multipliers, the impact of projects such as the “all different – all equal” youth campaign, and its
long-term training programme have all contributed to the development of projects that make their
impact first and foremost at grass-roots level while being pre-eminently European.
For many of the “traditional” partners of the Directorate of Youth and Sport, human rights
education has provided the background and values for their projects and activities while being a
constant, though not explicit, element in what they do. Among the new groups reached by the
activities of the Directorate of Youth and Sport are many which work specifically or more
generally in the field of human rights and which now have further possibilities of consolidating
their relationship with the Council of Europe. Today, in view of recent events that threaten the
foundations of a culture of peace and human rights, a more visible, explicit and conscious
approach to human rights education is required and needed.
The experiences acquired during the past two years with the Human Rights Education Youth
Programme confirm that the success of European educational projects of this kind depends on:
The provision of appropriate and accessible educational methodologies and tools (such as the
Education Pack “all different-all equal”, Domino and Compass);
The availability of such materials in the national languages of the users;
The existence of trainers and multipliers who, at national and regional level, can act as resource
persons and train local multipliers (youth leaders and youth workers, teachers and other
educators).
With this in mind, the Directorate of Youth and Sport has produced Compass - a manual on
human rights education with young people. Compass presents background concepts essential to
human rights education as well as practical activities and methods for use in both formal and nonformal education contexts. Building on accumulated experience of non-formal education and
youth work, the manual is based on learner-centred approaches and provides a framework for
developing young people’s skills, competencies and attitudes related to human rights education.
Youth Programme
Besides the assistance of the Youth Directorate of Council of Europe, the Youth Programme of
the European Commission supports this Training Course.
The YOUTH programme is the European Union’s mobility and non-formal education programme
targeting young people aged between 15 and 25 years. It gives young people the chance to
broaden their horizons and develop their sense of initiative through projects at home or abroad.
The YOUTH programme provides structured European cooperation between youth organizations,
youth workers, project organisers and all other actors involved in the youth field. And, above all,
the Programme provides opportunities for mobility and non-formal education for young people
themselves.
The Programme is open to youth in 32 European countries. There are National Agencies for the
YOUTH programme established in all 32 Programme Countries. The Agencies assist with the
promotion and implementation of the Programme at national level.
The so-called Support Measures assists this Training Course. Support Measures are instruments
aimed at helping all those involved in youth activities or interested in youth matters to prepare
and develop projects and initiatives within the context of the YOUTH programme.
The Support Measures have two basic aims:
To assist the development of the three major Actions of the YOUTH programme (Youth for
Europe, European Voluntary Service and Youth Initiatives) through the support of training,
cooperation and information projects.
To contribute to achieving the objectives of the YOUTH programme as well as fostering and
strengthening European youth policy.
Aims of the course
This Training Course aims to develop competence of trainers, youth leaders and educators,
dealing with youth work and/or Human Rights Education in the Baltic Area.
The course is specially designed to enable participants to act as multiplier agents of HRE in
providing the skills, attitudes and knowledge to youth leaders working with minorities and to
highlight the importance of active citizenship in order to develop democratic societies.
Objectives
 To raise awareness on the importance of HRE among youth leaders and young people,
 To exchange experiences and to develop the trainers’ knowledge and competence in key
concepts of human rights education with young people;
 To review and address the essential competencies, skills and attitudes for trainers working
with human rights education;
 To introduce the HRE methodology and to familiarize the participants with the approaches
and activities of COMPASS and adapt these to the Baltic reality.
 To promote Intercultural learning and active citizenship in youth activities
 To explore channels of co-operation between the formal and non formal education sectors
at regional level
 To analyse the current situation of minority populations in the region, and to address the
rights of minorities
 To create a space for future co-operation at local, national and transborder level
 To develop a regional network of trainers and educators.
Methodology and Programme
The course is designed to give participants the opportunity to experience and reflect upon
activities and concepts central to human rights education based on experiential learning
approaches.
The course is also designed as a mutual learning situation, where participants can compare their
approaches to training and to human rights education across the Baltic Area in a dialogical
intercultural approach and environment.
A diversity of working methods will be used for learning about human rights and the approaches
proposed in Compass. The previous experience of participants, in the formal and non-formal
sectors, will be the starting point of the programme and of the learning process.
Profile of the participants
This course is designed for participants who are or act as:
Trainers and Youth leaders dealing with youth organisations, Educators on human rights, and/or
human rights activist.
They should be ready to act as multipliers and are requested to be able to fully participate in
English language.
In the selection procedure, future projects development and motivation will be specially taken
into account.
Participants coming from minorities and/or from organisation working with minorities are
welcome to apply.
The age should be ranging from 20 to 35 years old, exceptions could be done in specific cases
Participants should come from Latvia, Finland, Estonia and neighbouring regions of Russia. The
geographical and gender balance will be specially taken into consideration.
All participants should:
 Already have experience and in working as youth leaders, trainers and educators (in
formal or non formal sectors) with young people;
 Be able and committed to act as multipliers or trainers for human rights education;
 Be motivated to develop their knowledge and competence in human rights education and
to share their experiences with other participants;
 Be able to work in English
 Be committed to attend for the full duration of the course and be supported by an
organisation, institution or service.
Team of trainers
The programme of the course is designed and conducted by a multicultural team of experienced
trainers. They will be supplemented by resource experts for specific parts of the course.
Hosting Organisations
The organizers of the Training Course are associations with broad experience in the youth sector
in Estonia. Their field of work covers a big spectrum of Youth Work from local to international
level.
International Youth Association EstYES is non-profit, non-political, non-governmental
organization. It was established in 1991 with the purpose to promote youth and cultural
exchanges for better understanding and just world. In 1995 EstYES got an official legal status of
NGO. It is a pioneer organization in the field of youth voluntary service in Estonia.
Main objectives are: to increase international understanding and solidarity between countries and
people; to promote continuous dialogue between young people all over the world; to enable
young people by living and working together to learn from each other, discover the variety of
cultures, broaden horizons thus building bridges over cultural differences; o help solution of
actual problems in Estonia through voluntary service activities.
Main activities: to organize work camps in Estonia and send Estonian volunteers abroad; send
Estonian volunteers to long term voluntary services abroad; host volunteers from abroad at long
term projects in Estonia; to organize youth exchanges for foreign groups in Estonia and for
Estonians abroad; to organize and take part in the international conferences, seminars, training
activities.
Our partners are: SCI (Service Civil International), members of Alliance of European Voluntary
Service Organizations, YAP (Youth Action for Peace) and their partner organizations, ICYE
(International Christian Youth Exchange), EASTLINKS and others.
Currently EstYES is a President of the Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations.
Youth Union SiiN was created as a public non-profit organization, on the initiative of a group of
private individuals, at the Foundation Meeting on October 3, 2001, on the base of Youth Creative
Union Varia Art.
The Union has founded to promote constructive dialog and develop the youth self-consciousness
and creativeness including development of their powers, involvement into public life and
protection of their rights and interests both in the Republic of Estonia and on the international
level.
The basic activities of the SiiN are: carrying out research, seminars, conferences, sport events,
youth camps, group works and trainings in the field of children rights; creation of public opinion
through mass-media; cooperation with international and national public agencies and
organizations, for exchange of information in the area of youth movement; collection and
dissemination of information on rights of youth as well as human rights education; support and
cooperation with various NGOs in the field of preparation and realization of projects aimed to
youth work; publication of information via Internet, mass-media, books and brochures.
The Union operates in close contact and tight cooperation with the Tallinn city government, the
political parties, independent public organizations, educational and research institutions and the
international public. Among them are Estonian Ministry of Education, Tallinn Department of
Youth and Sport, Lasnamäe Open Youth Centre, the Estonian Union of Pupil’s Selfgovernments, Children Business School, Estonian Fund «Anti Liew & Hingehooldus», NGO
“Fun without drugs”, pupil’s web-site (portal) “School life”, Lithuanian Youth Umbrella
organization (LiJOT).
Application procedure and selection of participants
All candidates must apply using the enclosed application form. Applications should be sent to the
specified address (post, fax or E-mail) together with a letter of support from their sending
organisation or institution stating the added value for the organisation resulting from the
applicant’s participation in the course.
The preparatory team will select 30 participants on the basis of the profile outlined above and
ensuring a balanced group (gender, geographical regions, different types of experiences, cultural
backgrounds and organisations). A waiting list may be established. Candidates will be informed
about whether their application has been accepted or rejected, and if they have put on the waiting
list, by the beginning of November. The accepted candidates will receive the course
documentation and further information directly from the organisers.
Deadline for applications
The application form must be sent by post fax of e-mail to International Youth association
EstYES by 30 October 2003 (see details in the application form).
Financial and practical conditions of participation
Travel expenses
The 70 % of travel expenses and visa fees are reimbursed (on presentation of the relevant
receipts). Only the participants who attend the entire training course can be reimbursed. The
payment will be made at the end of the course in cash (in Euros).
Accommodation
Board and lodging will be provided and paid for by the Organisation of the Training Course
Enrolment fee
An enrolment fee of 30 Euros for participants coming from Latvia, Russia and Estonia, and 64
Euros for participants coming from Finland is payable by each participant. This amount will be
deducted from the amount to be reimbursed for travel expenses or paid at the beginning of the
TC.
Please notice that a solidarity found is established in order to allow all the participants to attend
the course. The organisers will cover the participation fee of the applicants with difficulties to
cover it (please specify it in your application form).