From October 16th to 23rd, 2024, DRONI members participated in the first half of the “Voices for Justice” Erasmus+ youth worker training course on Human Rights Education. This project brought together participants from Turkey, Ukraine, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Georgia. The aim of the project is to train youth workers in Human Rights Education, enabling effective planning and implementation of Human Rights Education at local, national, and international levels.
Day 1: After we all arrived, we had an introduction round with the challenging goal of remembering everybody’s names. After we mastered that, we got to know each other while enjoying some drinks and snacks.
Day 2: We started the day with a nice team-building exercise. Next, we all contributed to designing a set of rules—or, better said, guidelines. Afterward, we played a little energizer game called “Wind Blows To,” which was followed by an introduction to the project: the main aims, the schedule, and our amazing facilitators. Following that, it was time for us to be active again. We divided into three groups and expressed our expectations for the week, possible learning blockers, and our contributions to this project on a sheet of paper. The next exercise was my personal favorite of the day; it’s called “Strongly Agree/Strongly Disagree.” It was a great way to start discussions: we shared our opinions on freedom of speech, healthcare, education, and the extent of human rights in the face of crime. After this, we created a timeline of all the important historical events related to human rights. It was quite fun and interesting to see what others deemed important. We ended the session with a group reflection. Well, “ended” wasn’t quite right because, afterward, we enjoyed a nice movie and board game evening together.
Day 3: This day, we mainly focused on Human Rights Protection Frameworks. We got to know different Human Rights Institutions, informed ourselves about their work, and debated their effectiveness. Of course, non-formal education methods and energizers were always included.
Day 4: Today started with a challenge—a long power outage left us in the dark, but we didn’t let that stop our learning! Despite the lack of electricity, we jumped into discussing the core competencies of a human rights educator, focusing on knowledge, skills, and attitude. After a group discussion to clarify each of these aspects, we transitioned into a role-play simulation. The exercise allowed us to explore the role of a human rights educator in conflict resolution among participants. Following lunch, we shifted focus to planning our own project activities. Davit walked us through the “Compass” and “Compasito” manuals, explaining how to effectively use these resources. We then reviewed how to structure a session, discussing elements like objectives, themes, introductions, activities, and the critical role of debriefing. Armed with this knowledge, we divided into six smaller groups, each focusing on a specific human rights theme. The remainder of the day was spent preparing sessions that we would deliver to a group of teenagers the next day. The evening wrapped up with a Ukrainian and European Union cultural night, which was a lot of fun!
Day 5: We spent the morning finalizing our sessions and practicing. Afterward, we got to host them. The kids were amazing; it was a lot of fun. The language barrier was a little challenging, but with the help of our Georgian participants and some of the teenagers who translated for their peers, we managed to overcome it. We took turns hosting the lessons and observing the other teams. After dinner, we got to take part in the most amazing Georgian culture night. The teenagers prepared it for us—they sang, danced, and played quizzes and games with us.
Day 6: We started our day with a feedback round reviewing the sessions from the day before. Afterward, we learned about the Youthpass and had our final round of reflection.
Day 7: On the last day, we spent time exploring Batumi and enjoying the sunshine that we missed during the rainy days before. The goodbye was sad, but we had a wonderful week and are now looking forward to the second part in Germany.
