We go on… Together!

“Peace can not be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding”. Albert Einstein

It is not easy to talk about Peace nowadays… The devastating war in Ukraine and the resurgence of military operations along the Armenian-Azerbaijan borderline are by far not the only conflicts that affect the global community nowadays, but definitely are those that all participants of the Roots Peace Work Institute personally identified with in one way or another – some lot more than the others…

And yet, they all came together in balmy autumn Yerevan in early October to reaffirm the values and creed that Roots has always stood for – that Peace has no alternative and that it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to safeguard and sustain it!

There was a lot to learn and share during the one week that participants had spent together:

From interactive educational modules (theory & group work) such as:

Showcasing the Best Practices from Roots Local Capacities for Peace projects implemented over the current year in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Netherlands, and Russia;
Psycho-Social Support & Mental Health Program of YMCA Ukraine for those affected by the war;
Analysis of these activities, identification of challenges encountered along the way, and finding the best solutions to avoid them in the future;
Business in Conflict for Peace – what we know about corporate business engagement in (violent) conflict situations and what role the business sector can play in conflict resolution work; and how civil society organizations can cooperate with the business sector in this process;
Monitoring & Assessment of the Projects – learning from experiences and embracing mistakes via “most instructive mistake” practical group work to ensure active and appreciative listening that leads to better reflection and learning;
Project Cycle Management – employing Do No Harm and SMART Analysis tools for effective planning, implementation, and evaluation of peace-building initiatives and projects;
Theory of Change – the significance of change to happen at different levels (Individual, Institutional and structural) in order to achieve desired results.

To personal reflection and development activities that made sure that participants had healthy and constructive outlets for their feelings and emotions:

Blob Tree – Expression of the current state of feeling in pairs and subsequent representation of the counterpart;
Exercise on Stress Management – “Paint Person in the Rain” & Using our Body as methods to alleviate stress in challenging situations;
“Peace Maker” – interactive exercise focusing on personal emotions and the significance of sharing.

It was also the platform to get our messages across and wide: each of us recording a “How can I make the Peace happen” video note, hopefully, to inspire many others to follow our lead…

And there could be no better place to award the winners of Roots “Best Image of Peace” Photo Contest than at the house-museum of Sergo Parajanov – a free-thinker artist from Soviet times that, no matter the challenges and hardships, broke all barriers and kept creating what he believed in…

There was still time for exposure to the heritage and natural wonders of Armenia – and while the pre-Christian fortress of Erebuni, Hellenistic Temple of Garni, and medieval Geghard Monastery shed light on the rich history and the culture of the country.

An unforgettable visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial and the lecture there from Vardan Hambardzumyan about the YMCA Humanitarian Heroes sacrificing their lives to save thousands in need made us all think deeply about our role as peace-builders, as agents of hope and love.

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace”. Jimi Hendrix

For more pictures follow the Flickr link.

Rooting for Humanity: Rezi Shavladze

Behind the success of any project there stand people, who put their talent and energy, passion, and compassion into making it happen. These are people who wholeheartedly believe in the importance of their work and wake up in the morning with the thought that today they will do everything to make this world a better place.

Rezi Shavladze is one of such people in the YMCA. His dedication and commitment to the YMCAs of Georgia and Europe are exemplary. Rezi spent this summer in the YMCA Camp Orange, where a series of robust camp-shifts were held within the YMCA Europe Roots for Peace and Generation Next projects.

As the YMCA Georgia Program Secretary and the YMCA Europe Project Assistant, Rezi is the best example of service leadership.

“Working with Rezi is and had been one of the most comfortable and full of drive experiences I’ve ever had. We’ve seen him being supportive, motivating, and initiative for many years, not only this summer. The atmosphere he creates around himself is something mentionable! Meaning, that he is considering a lot of factors to ensure a positive working environment.

Regarding this summer and his contribution, all I could say is that he was physically involved in literally all of the events that we have held, he was around us on any occasion and this gave me a feeling that I can rely on him anytime.

As a leader, I would say that he is very good at recognizing everybody’s advantages and therefore encouraging them to do the job at their best. He has been a brilliant motivator everywhere, every time! One of the most significant values, that I would underline, is that he is always involved, he delegates the responsibilities, but does not just leave it to be done only by the others, he is always part of the process together with his team, which makes him a good leader! And besides this, we are having a very close relationship apart from the co-working, as a friend, and this informal attitude has helped me a lot to be open and sharing with him” says Nika Chichradze, YMCA Europe Peace Work Institute Alumnus, YMCA Georgia volunteer leader.

Rezi takes care of people, helping them grow and promoting those whom he believes in. An example of it is Irina Berdzenishvili, another YMCA Europe Peace Work Institute Alumna and YMCA Georgia volunteer leader, who now works as the Roots Media Consultant.

“I met Rezi about eight years ago during the Roots ProFest at the YMCA Camp Orange. We did not speak much during the event, but I can recall a small conversation while hiking in the Mtirala National Park. The conversation did not seem like most of the talks between the event organizer and a participant, it was more like a conversation between peers.

There are many things that I appreciate about Rezi, but his ability to see the potential in young people and support people to grow and become leaders have always inspired me. He has never been just a leader of our team, but part of it, working and learning alongside us” shares Irina.

“Rezi enjoys due respect and love among his colleagues at the YMCA Europe. That respect is based not only on his professional skills and job performance but also on the fundamental values he stands for. It’s been a privilege to work with Reziko in a Team and to share his fellowship. He is one of the stepping stones of the Roots for me and for many participants, I am sure he’ll be the same for the Generation Next” says Vardan Hambardzumyan, YMCA Europe Executive Secretary.

Rezi is always ready to learn and always strives for more. Thus, he is currently enrolled in the joint YMCA Europe and ISCTE Executive Education first batch on Management of Civil Society Organizations at the University of Lisbon.

Rooting for Humanity: Georgia Supports Ukraine

YMCA Georgia has been one of the key partners of YMCA Europe Roots for Peace since its inception. Indeed, Roots’ attempt to develop capacity showed great results as the campsite became a roof for various peacebuilding and youth empowerment activities. But no doubt, the building alone has no powers, but the team of young people and their dedication to YMCA and Roots has been the true force of magic.

In this article, we would like to introduce young leaders from YMCA Georgia: Mariam and Lika, and their contribution to peacebuilding.

Lika Kadagishvili is YMCA Europe Roots for Peace Peace Work Institute Second cohort alumni, while Mariam is currently a member of the 3rd cohort of the PWI. Together they have planned and implemented different peace work and youth empowerment projects, for instance, Roof for Roots and Blooming Branches: Multicultural Georgia. Those projects brought together young citizens of Georgia with different ethnic backgrounds, helping them build connections and understanding among each other.

Apart from normal activities at Camp Orange, summer 2022 was extra special for YMCA Georgia as the summer camp program included Georgia Support Ukraine – a summer camp for Ukrainian children currently living in Georgia.

Since the war started in Ukraine, Mariam and Lika and members of YMCA Georgia have been supporting the Ukrainian People with every resource at their disposal together as a team or as individuals by donating goods and spreading useful information for those in need and for those willing to help. It did not take long for them to come up with another idea to contribute to the cause – the summer camp Georgia Support Ukraine.

As the team says, the camp was a pure gesture of support and friendship between the people of the two countries. The idea of camps was born as the team realized that the number of Ukrainian refugees in the country was rising and their work at the YMCA could be relevant and helpful for Ukrainian children and young people.

The camp aimed to bring together Ukrainian refugee children to give them an unforgettable week at camp orange. The camp was designed to help children connect and help them create friendships, which would aid them to handle the hardship of being displaced more smoothly. Also, Mariam and Lika said the camp was an emotional roller-coaster from the first day of the planning, to the last day of the camp. They were afraid of how it would turn out, unsure if people would want to join, or how participants would react and act during different activities. However, as they started planning the project, the team was surprised and touched not only by the number of people registered but also by the warm messages they received together with the registration forms.

The sessions brought together over 50 young Ukrainians for week-long camp sessions that included sports activities, hiking, sightseeing, and art therapy. The camp helped young people take their minds off the current situation, make new friends, and help them heal from the trauma caused by the war in Ukraine. As the planning team members said, they had an amazing time with the children and, in fact, learned a lot from them.

We would like to thank Mariam and Lika and the hardworking team of YMCA Georgia for their dedication and contribution to peace work through their humble work.

European Youth Workers Camp and Peacework

European Youth Workers Camp took place In Storkow, Germany, at a beautiful campsite owned by YMCA Berlin. Thanks to the dedication of the planning team formed of leaders from CVJM Germany and leaders from international teams the camp was made possible after years of delay due to Covid. Another significant reason for which this camp was outstanding was bringing 64 young people from nine different countries together, including Ukraine and Russia, which was the first time for those participants to meet and talk since the war started in Ukraine.

It was an honor for YMCA Europe Roots for Peace to be part of this great camp. Alongside Tensing, photo and video skills workshop, canoeing, Best Camp Practices, Leadership Skills, and various other educational and sports activities, participants had a chance to join the Peacework project, offering various critical thinking, visual literacy, getting to know each other and deep connections activities- and cherry on the top- introductions to Do No Harm- the cornerstone of Roots for Peace.

The aim of the peacework workshop conducted in the camp was the following:

Equipping participants with peacework methodologies and tools.
Inspiring young people to believe in peace and understand the importance of peace work.
Creating a safe space for sharing and listening.
Helping participants cultivate deep connections through identifying connectors among each other. To accomplish this mission various activities were conducted during the plenary and the main sessions. The main components of the program were:
Critical thinking- involves different visual literacy activities, types of modern communication, and the importance of asking and answering the right questions.
Do No Harm – The Seven Steps of Do No Harm Programming with special emphasis on context analysis, connectors, and dividers and using them to construct DNH based projects.

After getting familiar with the approach and best practices from the Roots Peace Work Institute case studies and practices, participants proposed working on the case, analyzing the context behind one of the hottest topics of the 2020s, the Covid virus, and the discussion behind it, creating a list of connectors and dividers between conflict groups and how to use them to help them reconcile.

Importance of including Peacework in Youth projects.

Every day we encounter new challenges that require proper skills and strategies to handle them without doing any harm; therefore, equipping young people with peacework skills is foreseen to facilitate new levels of understanding and communication in Youth Projects. It is no surprise that participants who are inspired by great ideas have the potential to become young leaders and inspire generations after them.

Feedback

Based on the participants’ feedback, peacework workshops were a new experience. As they mentioned, “practicing Peace Work is a brave action” as people are passive about talking about peacebuilding. Another topic that came up was new perspectives and approaches that are a perfect combination of practical skills and theoretical knowledge. It was pointed out that exercises are even “useful for psychological practices” which makes us proud of our legacy.

We would like to thank CVJM Germany and evey partner who made this camp possible and gave us an opportunity to be a part of it.

Reference:

The program was created using Peacework Guidebook – Based on the YMCA Europe Roots for Peace Peace Work Institute case study and practices.

Supporting the Next Generation of Leaders

Volunteers have always been the cornerstone of YMCA Georgia activities since its foundation date. They perform a great deal of workload and are instrumental in sustaining the mission and progress trajectory of the organization for all these years.

So it is especially gratifying to be able to give back and appreciate their contribution. And YMCA Europe Generation Next project has been a perfect opportunity for YMCA Georgia to further develop the capacity and know-how of its volunteer base, at the same time granting some of them enrolled in academic institutions with annual scholarship funding for the investment of time and energy in organizational activities.

For the second year running, YMCA Georgia “Camp Orange” has been the venue where the recipients of Generation Next scholarships got their just reward for all the work and commitment they have given to the organization and the community in general – and in particular through year-round engagement in “Blooming Branches – Multinational Georgia” project that YMCA Georgia implemented in cooperation with YMCA of the USA and YMCA Europe “Roots for Peace” project. Truly a symbol of partnership and support by itself, the goal of the project was very relevant in the regional context too – bringing together 35 young people of ethnic Georgian, Azerbaijani and Armenian origin (major ethnic groups residing in the country) and promoting the values of tolerance, understanding and coexistence.

Having the Generation Next project coordinator, Vardan Hambardzumyan there personally to hand the certificates has certainly added to the occasion. Good luck to our Next Generation of leaders as they embark on a journey to build asociety based on principles we all believe in – and we are happy to be taking this journey together with them!

Re-Peace Peacekeeping Training

Re-Peace Peacekeeping Training Session organized by YMCA Belarus with 21 participants in May, served as a reaction to the needs of leaders and volunteers.

Straight after the first war day in Ukraine, YMCA Belarus faced a situation of full frustration – all planned activities for 2022 became irrelevant and some of them were definitely not conflict-sensitive.

Together with organizational issues and the need to reform plans and activities, each of the leaders and volunteers personally faced the situation of parallel discrimination – from friends, relatives from Ukraine and Europe as the inhabitants of a country-aggressor and from friends, relatives from Russia as a nation which is not ready to be engaged and to support war actively.

YMCA Belarus launched personal one-to-one talks with leaders and volunteers in order to reach a solution that allows them to save the mental health of members and together with it to go on with the activities as a public organization whose main focus is informal education and enlightenment.

The program had 3 parts (2,5 days):

✯ The methodological part: It was based on the manual. They worked with the Peacework Guidebook and CDA Collaborative Learning Projects manuals. The main topics for learning and discussion were peacekeeping, war and peace, conflicts, conflict sensitivity, escalation and violence.

✯ The discussion part: Here they analyzed the context using 3 levels – personal, interpersonal and community levels. As a result created a joint vision of the war context and their role in it.

✯ Social experiment: An extremely long quest with elements of hiking, cycling and orienteering: for more than 12 hours participants were engaged in a quest, the main idea of which was to cope with the task using teamwork in absolutely inconvenient conditions for peaceful communication. Participants in 2 teams were of opposite political views, some tasks made teams choose between food or person, etc. In fact, as a result, even the deep tiredness of participants and muscle pain did not affect the peaceful relations and vice versa making leaders and volunteers more united and tolerant.

Results

Made short research of relations to the PeaceBuilding topic on three levels:
What can I do personally?
What can I do in the community?
What can I do at the State level?
Reduced the level of anxiety of leaders and volunteers.
Obtained new knowledge and skills that are already being applied in practice during the implementation of social projects in the local Ys (Brest, Lida, Minsk).
Created a joint vision of YMCA Belarus.
Prepared and facilitated a joint event with YMCA Ukraine to share their vision and discuss the plans for 2022.
Re-planned activities of YMCA Belarus and change of the focus to peacekeeping and conflict sensitivity.
Created a secure platform for dialogue, communication and information exchange among leaders and volunteers of YMCA Belarus on Telegram.
Formulated a list of activities within the Conflict Sensitivity approach

“Sport for All”

YMCA Georgia completed another successful event within YMCA Europe Generation Next Project.

Continuing the cooperation established last year with the Sports University of Georgia, 23 students representing various faculties of the educational institution came together at YMCA Georgia Resource Centre “Camp Orange” on August 5 – 11, 2022 in pursuit to enhance their academic knowledge alongside various non-formal education tools and methods.

Promoting a healthy lifestyle is of critical importance nowadays, as the dependency on gadgets and online entertainment affects majority of young population in Georgia. Therefore, the availability of qualified young sports teachers that can reach out to their communities and lead by example is of great significance.

To do so, these young future sports teachers need to possess a variety of skills and know-how and just the knowledge acquired within the formal education system is no longer sufficient in the modern society – community mobilization and their sustained engagement require a wholistic approach and non-formal learning and teaching methods are key in this regard.

This was exactly the approach adopted during the “Sport for All” workshop – along with curricular subjects, such as: planning the training process; proper nutrition; basic anatomy and injury prevention; sports medicine; rehabilitation, etc – the considerable amount of workshop time focused on subjects related to coaching and leading by example; innovative methods of working with local communities, especially in underdeveloped and challenging areas; the values that promote equal opportunities for all and development of healthy lifestyle programs at grassroots level. Introduction of various funding opportunities that are available for those willing to work in regional and rural communities was another relevant topic that was highlighted by the participants.

Good luck to these young women and men in their quest to multiply the skills and knowledge acquired at Generation Next “Sport for All” – the motivation was certainly there and high, and now we look forward to seetheir next steps and first fruits!

Camp for Peace | YMCA Artsakh

July 25 – 31, YMCA Artsakh held the “Camp for Peace”, this time as the YMCA Europe Roots Peace Award prizewinner.

It brought together 90 young people from different regions of Artsakh (many displaced persons among them) and was the logical continuation of the previous 4 camps that were organized in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021. The working group comprised leaders from Artsakh.

The main components of the camp were:

● Trauma-healing support

Artsakh youngsters spent 44 days under the sounds of explosions, some of them became refugees, and some lost their loved ones – husbands, brothers, fathers. As the status and the future of Artsakh are not known yet, young people still feel unsafe. The post-war stress is also getting high, as there is always a tense situation in Artsakh, especially in bordering areas.

● Educational (training and workshops) part

YMCA is a place where you enter, and then exit with some soft skills and knowledge. During the week the participants learned a lot about conflict management and peace work tools, debates, critical thinking, etc.

● TenSing and Cultural component

YMCA TenSing component targeted developing the campers’ creative thinking. TenSing has always been a strong side for YMCA Artsakh and several Musical Festival events have been implemented, namely in the town of Shushi in 2007, 2008, and 2009. This year the Dance, Song and Theater group did its’ best to organize the camp’s entertainment part.

● Sport activities

As volleyball was invented in the frames of the YMCA, this year we had a championship of volleyball, as well as other sports games.

Participants had 7 days of happy and peaceful life in nature, learning, and sharing. Many of them found new talents in themselves, and many went back to the ones they already knew about but lost in a life full of war and trauma. At the end of the camp, all the participants thanked the organizers, underlining the importance of this kind of events, as not many organizations work in the area because of political issues.

Full photo album in HD available here

GENERATIONS GET-TOGETHER AS REAL LIFE AS POSSIBLE

On 6 August 2022, within the framework of YMCA Europe Generation Next project Support Measures facility the group of American University of Armenia (AUA) students met in person with the Syrian-Armenia vendors of the Rootsmade platform to learn more about their work and their way through war and peace.

These AUA Undergraduate Senior or Graduate students are in internship to support these vendors in developing and promoting their entrepreneurship initiatives, as well as to contribute to the Rootsmade online platforms’ social media marketing.

And to make this get-together as real-life as possible, in cooperation with Yerevan City Hall and Syrian-Armenia Union, a Rootsmade charity-fair was organised at the Cross-stones Park downtown Yerevan.

The event lasted the whole day, and the vendors had their handmade arts and crafts items for display not only for the YMCA Scholarship holders, but for the whole community. The fair created a unique atmosphere opening the Syrian-Armenians up to the locals, as well as to tourists massively visiting Armenia nowadays.

The displayed arts and crafts pieces eloquently present the Western Armenian cultural heritage helping to preserve it for the generations.

First Of All We Are People

YMCA Europe General Assembly 2022 was undoubtedly a great event for many reasons. One of them can be the amazing performance of the music team which made the days of the delegates more beautiful, filling them with emotion and warmth. In this article, we introduce an amazing young lady from Ukraine, with a very inspiring story.

Nadia Adamchuk is a 22 years old singer and vocal teacher from Ukraine. Before fleeing to Lithuania, she was a student at a music academy and even opened her own music space (school), where she taught vocals to children and adults.

After the war started, Nadia had to flee to Lithuania on the 28th of February, as she had relatives there.

From her first days in Lithuania, she was looking for a job, trying to be helpful to society. She decided to make herself occupied with what she loves and has always loved – music. Now she teaches children, leads a choir, gives private vocal lessons, and performs at various events, concerts, and festivals.

As Nadia says, the war has divided her life into two eras- before the war and after. She used to dream a lot and put everything away, as it seemed like there would be a lot of time to implement everything; however, her life was changed in one night. The night made her realize that later might never come, and if you want something, you should do it now.

’’I dream that I will open a school again and maybe it will be international. I will be able to give people my creativity from the big stage and not put it off until later.’’

When we asked Nadia what was giving her motivation to keep going and stay motivated during these days, she responded,

’’My relatives and friends who are in Ukraine, our brave warriors who defend our country and our people every day. These all motivate me to work and move forward, to be a reliable rear.’’

Nadia has been struggling with many questions, pain, and uncertainty, but in the end, she found the strength to keep going, strength to help others and herself.

Life has not stopped, we do not know how it will be, but we should not forget that first of all we are people. Soon we will be together again and celebrate the victory with friends from all over the world.