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Programme 2011

Making human rights education real for every person in the Council of Europe

The Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe has been running a Youth Programme on Human Rights Education since the year 2000, aiming to bring human rights issues in the mainstream of youth work practice. Currently, the programme is run with the work priority Human Rights and Democracy: Youth Policy and Youth Work Promoting Council of Europe’s Core Values, which places special emphasis on:

• Human rights education for and with children and young people;
• Youth participation, democratic citizenship and the development of youth work and youth organisations;
• Promoting gender equality through youth policy and youth work;
• Increasing the role of youth organisations in environment and sustainable development issues.

In 2009, the participants of the Forum on Human Rights Education with and by young people “Living, Learning, Acting for Human Rights” formulated recommendations for the follow-up of the programme. The recommendations stress the importance of developing national activities and plan for human rights education and of recognising the irreplaceable role of youth organisations in promoting and implementing human rights education.

Human rights education, as re-affirmed by the forum participants, also “needs to be embraced, supported and sustained by them (state and public authorities) in ways that foresee a role for the formal and non-formal education sectors. Human rights education must systematically mainstream gender awareness and gender equality perspectives. It must also include an intercultural learning dimension.”[1]

In 2010, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education reflecting the growing awareness in member states fof the essential role played by education in the promotion of the Council of Europe’s core values: human rights, democracy and rule of law, as well as in the prevention of human rights violations. The Charter provides the basis for furthering the right to human rights education and support to human rights education at local and national level by defining objectives and principles applying to policies, legislation and practice, which include:

a. The aim of providing every person within their territory with the opportunity of education for democratic citizenship and human rights education.

b. Learning in education for democratic citizenship and human rights education is a lifelong process. Effective learning in this area involves a wide range of stakeholders including policy makers, educational professionals, learners, parents, educational institutions, educational authorities, civil servants, non-governmental organisations, youth organisations, media and the general public.

c. All means of education and training, whether formal, non-formal or informal, have a part to play in this learning process and are valuable in promoting its principles and achieving its objectives.

d. Non-governmental organisations and youth organisations have a valuable contribution to make to education for democratic citizenship and human rights education, particularly through non-formal and informal education, and accordingly need opportunities and support in order to make this contribution. [2]

In 2002, the Council of Europe published “COMPASS – a manual on human rights education for young people.” Presently, the manual is available in thirty-one languages[3], while Belarusian, Montenegrin, Ukrainian and Urdu language versions are expected in 2011. A revised version of Compass will also be published in 2011[4].

A manual for human rights education with children was also developed by the youth sector of the Council of Europe. “Compasito” was developed having in mind the age group of 8 to 13 years old and builds on the same approaches and methodologies of Compass: learning about, learning through and learning for human rights.

In order to support the development and sustainability of human rights education at national level, and in particular the role of youth work and youth organisations therein, the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe supports the organisation of national and regional training courses in 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 2010, nearly two thousand trainers have taken part in 71such courses organised in 35 of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.

The 2011 programme of national training courses in human rights education

The Directorate of Youth and Sport has resources to give financial support to two or three such courses in 2011. Voluntary contributions from member states may make it possible to support more activities. But not all relevant support is financial: institutional and educational support can be equally important to mobilise efforts and support for human rights education.

The organisation and running of the courses is possible only with the active support of national and regio­­­­­­nal institutions, organisations and public services interested in introducing and developing human rights education in non-formal and formal educational settings.

The Council of Europe welcomes expres­­sions of interest for further training courses in 2011 following the criteria and procedures outlined below.

1. Eligible applicants and priority criteria

Applications are welcome from non-governmental youth organisations and/or other non-governmental 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^[5]
• Foster co-operation between the non-formal and formal educational sectors.

2. 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
• All courses should be based on the methodologies and approaches present in Compass and seek to develop participants competences in HRE
• The courses should seek to bring together “key multipliers” of the country or region concerned[6], committed to carry out further activities and projects in human rights education with young people
• Participants must come from a diversity of organisations and institutions concerned with human rights education and youth work
• 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 group of participants should represent a good geographical balance of the country or region addressed
• 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.

3. 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 Directorate of Youth and Sports;

e) consult and coordinate with the publishers of Compass translations where appropriate.

NB: Applying organisations should be in the position to fulfil ALL criteria, objectives and expectations listed above. Organisations wishing to organise human rights education activities with a different profile, are requested to examine (before applying) on whether a grant through the European Youth Foundations (category D, pilot projects) would fit the proposed project better For more information, please refer to the website: http://www.eyf.coe.int/fej/

4. Support by the Council of Europe

The Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe may support the courses with:

a) Educational support and advice

• Recommend or nominate trainer(s) with specialised experience in the field to support the national preparatory group in the programme development
• Assist in designing the training course to the specific situation of the country.

and/or

b) Financial assistance[7] to:

• Contribute to costs for board and lodging
• Cover the travel costs of possible international participants
• Cover local travel costs
• Cover fees and expenses of trainers that it nominates
• Cover interpretation costs, if necessary and justified.

and/or

c) Institutional /educational support

• Recommendation letters to potential funding organisations
• Official Council of Europe representation at parts of the training course programme
• Establishing links with the field office of the Council of Europe and its governmental partners in the youth and education sectors
• Publicity of the training course at the Council of Europe website by including the course as an activity in the Youth Programme on Human Rights Education and Intercultural Dialogue with Young People
• Authorisation for the organisers to use the logos of the Council of Europe and its Human Rights Education Youth Programme for the activity.

Applicants are advised to specify their needs and expectations for assistance from the Council of Europe in the application form.

5. Selection procedure and deadlines

All expressions of interest must be sent to the Directorate of Youth and Sport using the appended Form for expressions of interest by email before 28 February 2011 to eyc.studysessions@coe.int.

Partners will be informed about the decisions regarding their projects by 15 March 2011.

Other activities in the Human Rights Education Youth Programme

The 2011 Human Rights Education Youth Programme comprises various other activities, such as study sessions at the European Youth Centres, training courses and seminars.

In addition to these, the European Youth Foundation also supports local projects on human rights education.

More information about these activities and projects can be found at www.coe.int/act4hre

[1]Message to Council of Europe by participants in the Forum on Human Rights Education with and by Young People “ Living, Learning and Acting for Human Rights”, available here:www.act4hre.coe.int

[2] Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education, available here: www.act4hre.coe.int.

[3] Compass is available in: Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Turkish.

[4] Compass is also available on-line at www.coe.int/compass

[5] For information on previous National and Regional Training Courses in Human Rights Education, please consult our website: www.coe.int/act4hre

[6] Regional courses are courses organised involving neighbouring countries.

[7] Financial support for courses is given only at the specific request of the organisers. The budget will allow contributions to courses with particular financial difficulties. Full financing of courses is not possible.