The Council of Europe Youth Department has sent out a Call for National and Regional Training Courses on Human Rights Education. The courses prepare trainers, facilitators, youth workers and youth leaders, as well as actors in formal education, to develop projects on human rights education at national level and to mainstream human rights education in youth work. The participant-trainers in the course act also as multipliers and advocates for human rights organisations across institutional and organisational borders. From 2002 to 2011, nearly two thousand trainers have taken part in 74 such courses organised in 38 of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.

The CoE Youth Department can provide institutional, educational and financial support to such courses in 2012. The organisation and running of the courses is possible only through the initiative of national and regional institutions, organisations and public services interested in introducing and developing human rights education in non-formal and formal educational settings. They are the effective course organisers.

Eligible applicants and priority criteria
Applications are welcome from non-governmental youth organisations and/or other nongovernmental and governmental organisations and institutions involved in human rights
education.

Priority will be given to applications that:

• Are organised in co-operation between two or more partner organisations;
• Are being held in countries where newly published translations of COMPASS can be introduced to key multipliers (e.g. trainers, youth leaders involved in programme implementation and/or policy development)
• Are being held in countries where no national training course in human rights education has been organised in the past five years;
• Foster co-operation between the non-formal and formal educational sectors
• Are being held in the Russian Federation and are involving a variety of national and regional partners
  

Objectives and format of the courses
All the training courses must aim at training key multipliers (youth leaders, trainers, youth workers, teachers, teachers’ trainers) in developing human rights education activities with and for young people. The programme should be based on the methodologies and approaches present in Compass and seek to develop participants competences in HRE.

Participants must come from a diversity of organisations and institutions concerned with human rights education and youth work; they should be committed to carry out further activities and projects in human rights education with young people. The organisers should pay particular attention at reaching and involving the social and cultural diversity in society, including various minorities and frequently discriminated groups in society. The organisers should strive to recruit a group with equal representation of both sexes.

The duration of the course, the number and profile of the participants should be consistent with the programme and the specific objectives of the course. The courses should be held for a minimum of 15 and maximum of 40 participants, and last for a minimum of 4 days.

The course organisers are expected to:
a) define objectives for the course in the specific context of the country/ies of the participants;
b) prepare, run and evaluate the course with a competent team of trainers and organisers;
c) provide the necessary infrastructure for a residential training course using participatory educational methodologies;
d) include, when appropriate, in the team of trainers one or more trainers who have participated in one of the “Training of Trainers in Human Rights Education” courses organised by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe;
e) consult and coordinate with the publishers of Compass translations where appropriate.

Further details and application form

All expressions of interest must be sent to the Youth Department using the Form for expressions of interest by email before 15 January 2012 to dys.nrtc@coe.int.