Structured Participation of Young Women in Democratic Processes (SPYWDP) ddl. 06.08

The training will be organised in the framework of the 16th edition of the University on Youth and Development (UYD) and in parallel with other activities organised by the others partners.

This first edition of the training of trainers on SPYWDP is considered as a pilot activity of the Empowerment of Women programme of North-South Center (NSC) and will be further improved taking into consideration the evaluation of participants and pedagogical team, as well as the learning needs and motivations expressed by selected participants in the application forms.

On the basis of 2014/2015 programme of activities of NSC, the overall objective of the activity is to support empowerment of civil society and more particularly of the youth and women organisations involved on empowerment of young women with the purpose of making them fully fledged actors of governance.

The specific objectives are:

– To reflect about our individual and organisational practice of global democratic citizenship (participation and representation in decision/ policymaking);

-To map good practices of Structured Participation of young women in Europe and Southern Mediterranean region;

-To get acquainted with different principles, tools and opportunities to further develop the organisation of the young women movement mainly in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region and of Structured Participation initiatives and mechanisms;

-To exchange views and share challenges and achievements and identify proposals for improvement with representatives of the quadrilogue;

-To engage youth and women organisations in the intra and inter-regional co-operation

Profile of Participants

This training course will focus on the development of competencies of youth workers/activists involved in civil society organisations in Europe and Southern and Eastern Mediterranean.

The course is addressed to young people from Europe (CoE member States) and Southern and Eastern Mediterranean.

Participants should fulfill the following criteria :

-Being actively involved in a youth or women organisation (local, national, regional, international) as volunteers, trainers and/or youth workers;

-Aged between 18-30 years old;

-Being involved in an organisation, project or initiative that aims at the participation of young people in democratic governance/decision and policy making.

Objectives and Expected Results

The North-South Centre, together with its partners, has developed and tested training methods and tools for this type of activities; it has also benefited from the knowledge of some of the best trainers and youth workers in the fields of Euro-Arab and Mediterranean Youth Co-operation and global democratic citizenship.

The team of experienced trainers from Europe and Southern and Eastern Mediterranean will be responsible to further design and implement the methodology of the course.

In addition, invited guests and experts will provide proposals for reflection and share good practices.

The course will be also a mutual learning experience, where participants can compare their approaches and concerns in a process based on global education methodology.

The course is a week-long programme using a variety of educational methods such as: thematic, methodological and political inputs and discussions, new technologies, guidelines and reference documents, simulation exercises, group dynamics, interactive role plays, examples of good practices, etc. The use of experiential methods and workshops will strengthen the practical and pedagogical side of the course.

The programme will tackle issues such as the concepts and practices of global democratic citizenship, the role of youth and women organisations in decision-making and policy design, implementation and evaluation, the quadrilogue, tools and mechanisms for an effective participation of youth in democratic life and sharing of good practices.

Selection Process

All applicants fulfilling the criteria and interested to participate should send the application form to [email protected] by the 6th of August 2015 (23:59, Lisbon time).

The application form should be sent together with a letter of recommendation from the sending organisation, clearly mentioning the possibility of follow-up regarding the main aims of the training course.

You should receive a confirmation of reception of your application within 5 working days. If you don’t receive it, please inform us.

The selection will be carried out by the North-South Centre and the pedagogical team, in consultation with partners active in the Euro-Arab and Mediterranean Youth Co-operation.

The selection will seek regional, organisational and gender balance. The final results will be announced until 14th of August 2015.

Read the full call here!