Tell me who your friend is, and I will tell you who you are. A friend in Roots is someone who shares the idea of peace and justice for all; someone that walks the walk to live by these values, someone that finds new friends and builds up a team of those who love their neighbors, break stereotypes and build bridges of understanding across borders.
YMCA Europe is extending the circle of its friends and partners by spreading the methodology of Do No Harm (DNH) via Roots for Peace.
On June 23-26 Yerevan, Armenia hosted a planning meeting of Roots experts and representatives of a German NGO Dialogue for Understanding (D4U) which works for intercultural cooperation and exchange.
Three working days of the session were filled with theoretical presentations and practical activities that helped to understand and apply the DNH approach in personal life and professional projects.
Vardan Hambardzumyan (YMCA Europe Roots for Peace), Lika Zakaryan (YMCA Europe Roots for Peace) and Haykuhi Karapetyan from Armenia, Alexei Kostyakov and Anastasia Tsygankova from YMCA Russia presented the basics of the Roots methodology through learning-by-doing approach, SWOT analysis, project planning matrix and other elements of the Roots Peacework Guidebook. The session also featured such traditional YMCA program blocks as energizers, team building games, devotions and work in small groups.
The Yerevan session became the first face-to-face event of a wider joint project, which aims towards transferring the DNH methodology from the Roots to D4U. Preceded by several online Zoom consultations, it is to be followed by training for multipliers – activists of D4U and its partners. The Roots team will also continue consulting the D4U partners on various aspects of using the Do No Harm methodology and serve as mentors at the stage of holding a regional training session and projects by D4U.
“We really became a team”, – the Rooters and representatives of D4U unanimously agreed that the meeting was very useful. They also highlighted other positive outcomes of the planning meeting:
– a very clear concept, which is easy to adapt in different contexts and situations.
– DNH is a great tool for the promotion of peace and intercultural dialogue.
– The Roots methodology provides opportunities for evaluation and solution of complex situations.
Sharing the DNH methodology with D4U became one more step in widening the space of practical use of Do No Harm and of the network that unites people of different cultures and history and makes our world a better place.
