Would you like to know who is behind this course? What people? Which organisations? Do you want to become part of it?

Youth Transforming Conflict

online training course is a pilot capacity building project in conflict transformation for youth leaders. This course empowers youth leaders with a deep understanding of the dynamics of conflict and community development and the positive role young people can play in transformation. It will facilitate an intensive, collaborative, online-learning experience focused on generating new insights and building the skills necessary for responsible change.

Partner Organisations:

The partners cooperate to make the project a success. They share responsibilities, each partner within its scope and possibilities. Some partners host meetings, others consult their networks and contribute to the follow-up.

This project has been developed as a joint effort by the following partners:

Supervision
Course Developers
Project Assistants


























The Network University.
The Network University (TNU) is foundation representing a dynamic mix between entrepreneurship and social responsibility. TNU provides an open platform for researchers, experts, students and professionals from diverse disciplinary, social and geographic backgrounds, to develop and participate in research, online education, debate and networking focusing on developing insights and/or alternatives to some of the key pressing issues facing todays' society. TNU believes in innovative approaches to education and communication in order to integrate research and teaching, to generate knowledge that makes a difference in peoples lives and to using the best features of information and communication technologies in order to do this. A major project of TNU, which served as the basis for Youth Transforming Conflict, is the 'Transforming Civil Conflict' course, aiming at broadening the understanding on transforming conflict among stakeholders. TNU will provide office space and serve as the hub for communication on the project by mail, telephone and fax.
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UNOY Peacebuilders
UNOY Peacebuilders is an international youth NGO established in 1989. It organises global, regional and local training seminars to enhance the knowledge and skills of youth working for peace, particularly focusing in (post-)conflict regions. In 2001, the UNOY Peacebuilders organised an All African training/conference in South Africa where the African Network of Young Peacebuilders (ANYP) was created. The UNOY Peacebuilders launched the Peace It Together Campaign 2003-2010, a youth campaign for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence.
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African Network of Young Peacebuilders
African Network of Young Peacebuilders (ANYP) was initiated by participants of the "African Youth for a Culture of Peace" training-conference, which took place in Cape Town in 2001, organised by UNOY Peacebuilders. The ANYP links up African youth leaders / youth organizations, active in the field of peace building, conflict transformation. It focuses on youth empowerment through local capacity building and bridging the digital divide. The Network members are active in various fields, supporting the .Peace It Together. UNOY youth campaign for a culture of peace: advocacy, women, conflict transformation, abuse of small arms and light weapons, child soldiers, HIV/Aids, peace education.
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All-Africa Student Union.
All-Africa Student Union is a continental representative organisation of democratic student unions founded in 1972 with 54 member unions from Francophone and Anglophone Africa, affiliated with the International Union of Students (IUS). AASU has a Consultative Status with UNESCO; ECOSOC accredited with UNCCD and enjoys a cordial working relationship with the UN system. The activities of AASU are carried out within the framework of its constitution, which among other things states: To develop working relation/co-operation with other sub-regional, regional and international youth and student organizations, governmental, inter and non-governmental organizations on issues of common concern and interest; such as access to education, democracy, peaceful development, ICT in higher education in Africa, gender issues and academic freedom.
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Dutch National Youth Council.
The Dutch National Youth Council (DNYC) has recently been formed to bundle the forces of several youth umbrella organisations in The Netherlands. DNYC focuses on many areas of concern to youth, including sustainable development, social affairs and culture. Internationally, DNYC represents the Dutch youth at multilateral forums such as the United Nations. It is also an active member of the European Youth Forum and organises trainings, school tours and discussion meetings by and for young people. DNYC, based in Utrecht, is run entirely by young people and is a member of more than 30 youth organisations.
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Students' Forum 2000 Initiative.
Students' Forum 2000 Initiative is a global network of young leaders dedicated to social development, engaged in innovative and critical thinking. It aims at bridging gaps between theory and practice both globally and locally. Students' Forum provides an open space for young people from different backgrounds to discuss global issues, develop human resources, and undertake concrete actions by implementing the knowledge and experiences gained through this exchange. Its main activities comprise an annual conference, local grass roots projects, a long term training course on educating youth how to develop, carry out and evaluate volunteer projects, an annual NGO Market linked with the conference and an interactive website.
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United Nations of Youth Sierra Leone
United Nations of Youth Sierra Leone Network, based in Freetown, Sierra Leone is an independent, voluntary non-governmental organization established in 1989 with 106 affiliate youth groups / community based organizations (CBOs) across Sierra Leone. UNOY SL Network is geared towards developing the potential skills of young men and women through community development programs and institutional capacity building, non-violent conflict transformation, reconciliation and building a culture of peace in rural communities in the sub-region of West Africa- Sierra Leone. The UNOY SL together with the African Network of Young Peacebuilders successfully organized a national training conference in Freetown (2002).
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West African Youth Network
WAYN, based in Monrovia, Liberia is a regional youth empowerment organization established in 2001. WAYN seeks to serve as an advocacy mechanism and Public Policy Voice for the cause of young people in West Africa as well as to empower young people to get involved in practical projects geared toward peace building, human rights, conflict resolution, good governance and HIV/AIDS Prevention.
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Supervision

Gerd Junne, The Network University, Project Supervisor.
Gerd Junne is Professor of International Relations at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, and one of the initiators of The Network University and of its course 'Transforming Civil Conflict'. Born in 1947 in Germany, he studied political science, law and economics at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Geneva (1966-1970), worked as a lecturer at different German universities (1970-1979), got a PhD in economics in 1975 (FU Berlin) and joined the Universiteit van Amsterdam in 1979. His present research focuses on the interaction between international political and economic relations, the roots of civil conflicts and post-conflict development and on the creation and dissemination of knowledge in on-line action learning.

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Course Developers

The content of the course has been developed by an international team of trainers, some of them will also accompany you throughout the online course.

Ditta Dolejsiova, The Network University.
Ditta is the project coordinator of Youth Transforming Conflict online training course. She has coordinated the team of trainers and is one of the facilitators of the Youth Transforming Conflict. She is an experienced youth worker and trainer working at local, national and international levels. Born in Slovakia in 1977, she grew up in Algeria, studied in Prague (BA in International Economic Relations) and Amsterdam (MA in International Relations). Her main interests lie with non-formal education, intercultural learning, inter-religious dialogue and conflict transformation. She is a member of the pool of trainers of the Council's of Europe Youth Directorate and works for The Network University since July 2002.

Lambrecht Wessels, The Network University.
A university lecturer and course developer of the 'Transforming Civil Conflict', 'Gender and Conflict Transformation' and "Youth and Conflict" programme of The Network University. He is a facilitatar of the Youth and Conflict course. Lambrecht was born in Leiden in 1970, grew up in Beirut, Lebanon and studied political science (international relations, international law) at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and peace and conflict studies at the University of Uppsala. He has interned at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy (IMTD) in Washington DC and the European Platform on Conflict Prevention in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He wrote his MA thesis on security concepts and the Palestinian-Israeli Oslo Agreements. His research focuses on security concepts.

Peter Merry, Engage! Interact.
Peter Merry, who has an MSc degree from the Centre for Human Ecology, is a trainer and educator, working on an international level much of his time. British, born in 1969, he lives in The Hague, Netherlands. The topics he works with include intercultural learning, leadership, citizenship, conflict transformation, group dynamics, work and employment, ecology. He specialises in the use of the interactive theatre methods of Theatre of the Oppressed. He is particularly interested in the development of self-empowering learning processes. Currently, he is a regular trainer for the Council of Europe's Youth Directorate, the European Youth Forum and European Voluntary Service projects. Peter co-ordinates the Learning Organisation strategy within Engage! InterAct.

Jetze van der Ham, Dutch National Youth Council.
Jetze van der Ham (1979) is chairperson of the programme committee for international youth participation of the newly founded Dutch National Youth Council. He was a Dutch youth representative to UNESCO, and as such active in several platforms dealing with the link between education, ICT and global issues. At the fourth World Youth Forum of the United Nations system, Jetze was convenor of the Working Group on Education and ICTs. Jetze is an MA student of social history at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, where he specialises in government intervention in society, and he is following courses to gain teacher accreditation to teach history in advanced secondary education.

Gavan Titley, Dublin City University.
Gavan Titley is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Intercultural Studies at the Dublin City University, currently conducting a research at the Renvall Institute at Helsinki University. He has an MA degree in Film and Television Studies from Dublin City University. He has worked as a lecturer at Dublin City University, Dublin Institute of Technology, Boston University and most currently at the University of Helsinki, where he teaches Cross-Cultural Communication and British Cultural Studies. Gavan is a senior trainer in non-formal education, working mostly at the international level and he is a member of the pool of trainers of the Council of Europe's Youth Directorate.

Karolina Vrethem, Free-lance Trainer.
Karolina Vrethem is a free-lance trainer based in Sweden. She has a background in the Swedish youth movement and European level youth work. Most of the time she works with international groups and is actively involved in the work of the Council of Europe and the European Union in the youth field. During three years she worked as a coordinator for a youth education project in Bosnia. Her focus is on youth and democracy issues, often in East and Central Europe, and main areas of work are training trainers, intercultural learning and conflict management. She has also worked as an advocate for youth rights and youth representation. Karolina's formal educational background is in political science and philosophy.

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Project Assistants



Rindert de Groot
Nina Maqami
Julius Batara Vuu
Maria Petrova

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