Boot Camps
Within the framework of the PEACEMAKERS Project, three boot camps were designed and carried out in Rotterdam, Istanbul, and Bologna on topics crucial to peacebuilding e.g. intergroup contact, intercultural learning, stereotypes and prejudices, social inclusion, inequality and social justice, empathy, critical and creative/innovative thinking, European citizenship, problem solving and leadership skills, language and migration, project cycle management and so on.
The project utilized non-formal education / blended education tools while training the participants as. During all three of the boot camps, field visits to NGO’s working with/for migrants/refugees were organized. During these experiential learning visits, the students had a chance to get intergroup contact (interaction between people from different social groups) with refugees and Q&A sessions with the representatives of those NGO’s.
Pre and post-camp surveys were conducted with the students in order to measure the impact of the boot camps and project in general. These surveys provided an insight on the changes in the students’ perceptions and ideas about peace and social inclusion as a result of their training and involvement in the project, which served as an important indicator of the quality and effectiveness of the camps. Every morning during the boot camps, the Project Coordinator had a reflection hour with the students before the lectures started. In this reflection hour, the students had a chance to talk about their thoughts and feelings about the boot camps, their experiences in the project, and changes in their perceptions, and discuss their ideas about their social inclusion projects. Also during each boot camp, short video documentaries were done. In these three short videos, 19 of the 29 Peace Envoys gave interviews, which also provide great insight from them about their journey in the project. The videos are available on Youtube and on this project website.
The slides of all the steering committee members and the guest lecturers who delivered lectures inthree boot camps are available under the links listed below.
Date: 18-24 November, 2018
Date: 13-17 May 2019
Date: 23-27 September 2019