Newsletter August 2014 - Global Platform Jordan

WHAT IS HAPPENING AT GLOBAL PLATFORM JORDAN? August 2014

Global Citizens Course The Global Citizens summer course was conducted in cooperation with Global Contact in Denmark and ran from the 21st July to 13th August. The course targets young Danes who want to gain an insight and acquire new knowledge and understanding of the cultural, religious and political aspects of Jordan and the region. The course consists of different sessions in e.g. history, Arabic language, understanding the religion and culture of the Middle East and finally to create a direct dialogue between the Danes and young people from the region. Especially the balance between traditional teaching, using own experiences and the society as a classroom is an important element of the Global Citizens Course. This creates the best environment for acquiring new knowledge about Jordan and the region.

The participants, age 18-24, travelled with Global Contact, the volunteer program of ActionAidDK and came from very different educational backgrounds. Besides the sessions in Arabic, history, and religion, the participants also received training in activism, campaigning, and blogging that are some of the platforms key areas of expertise and aims at creating global and social change makers. Included in the program was also field trips such as visits to the Wadi Rum desert, Mt. Nebo, and a five-day trip to Palestine. Especially the trip to Palestine made a huge impact on the

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participants. In Palestine they went to places such as Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Ramallah where they visited Yasser Arafat's tomb, Al- 'Amari refugee camp, and visited the human rights organization Al-Haq. It was one of the activists from this organization who took them for a guided tour in Hebron - a tour that had an enormous effect on the participants - which came to show in their final projects where the emotions awoken by the visit played a crucial role in most of the presentations.

As a final project the participants were asked to use the tools they had gained during their stay in order to convey their experiences into either group or individual presentations. The presentations were very diverse in format and most of them were subjective stories developing from emotions. These different emotions were conveyed into among others poems and blogs. Some of the participants had also applied humour in form of cartoons in order to communicate their experiences. Others were more objective in their form, for example one of the participants made a presentation about the historical development in the region.

During their stay in Jordan the participants were in general inspired by the positive attitude to life and the hospitality and kindness of the Jordanians. They were also surprised to learn about the complexity of the cultural and political life in the region, as well as the greenness of Jordan and especially the beauty of Wadi Rum. Simone, 23, studying Psychology at the University of Copenhagen told us, that she chose to take part in the Global Citizens Course because she had earlier travelled to Kenya with ActionAid DK and found the organisation to be respectful towards the local population in its interaction with them. She believes that the global youth forms a cohesion and therefore went to Jordan with a wish to gain a wider insight into the region and its culture. She also wanted to get to interact with the Jordanian youth and learn how they use social media as a campaigning tool, but also to invalidate some of the prejudices towards the region that are often seen in Denmark. During her stay she

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felt that she gained an understanding of the political situation, the extent of it and how it affects the region.

Hana, age 22, just finished her bachelor in Business Communication. Her reason for joining the course was the possibility to gain a basic understanding of the Arabic language and she was also curious about the political situation in the region. She also expected to get the chance to practise the Arabic language and to get an understanding of the culture and society in Jordan. She learned a lot from the other participants as beliefs and political stands differed a lot among them. It was this diversity in the group that helped her gain new knowledge. She told us that she got an earth-shattering experience as she realised how the Danish media convey the politics and culture of the Middle East. In the future she will be more critical towards the media's presentation of the region. She finished by saying the all the emotional aspects of her stay in the region have caused her to grow on a personal level.

Training and introducing the young participants to the different aspects of the region was also an experience for the platform trainer Lana. It was an experience for her to train the participants especially because of their critical approach towards the situation in the region and their ability to reflect on their experiences. Critical thinking towards society is something that is encouraged throughout the Danish educational system and it is also something that our trainers are implementing and promoting throughout the trainings.

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Global Contact is a volunteer program of Action Aid DK

In general all the participants felt that they had gained a better knowledge of the social, political and cultural situation in the region.

They have gathered appetite for more hands-



It started in 1946, with work camps around in Europe.

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Offers different programs where Global Citizens is one of them.

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Global Contact works to promote dialogue and intercultural understanding among people from

on experiences in Jordan and the rest of the

all over the world. In 2008, 800 Danes travelled

region.

with the Global citizens program.

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Auf Wiedersehen Hannah!

Hannah, our training intern from Germany, finished her internship on the 28th of August. She has been working at the Platform since May 2014.

She sees her time here at the platform as a valuable experience that has provided her with an insight into how a NGO works, especially in Jordan. Her knowledge about the work of the Global Platform Jordan and ActionAid has been widened. She especially enjoyed working with the Campaigning for Change training in June 2014 about which she says: "Working with the

participants and learning from more experienced trainers was a lot of fun and I wish we would have had more time". Hannah continues "I am going to miss meeting inspiring and motivated activists from the MENA region, who believe that change is possible and who are willing to put a lot of effort into reaching that goal." She also points to all the new experiences and knowledge she will take with her back home including improved communication and organization skills that she has gained through her responsibilities as a training intern. She also feels that her knowledge about campaigning and how to convey political issues to people has been improved knowledge she will be able to use in her future work as a volunteer for Amnesty international back in Germany.

It has been a pleasure working with Hannah and we wish her the best of luck in the future.

Ahlan Wa Sahlan to the three C’s During this summer we said goodbye to Clara and Diba in July and this week it is also farewell to Hannah. However, we are happy to welcome three new girls from Denmark

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– Cathrine, Christine and Christina who will be working at the platform as interns until the end of January 2015.

Cathrine is mainly going to work with events and activities at the platform. She will be responsible for creating an event calendar for the next half year. Cathrine holds a bachelor degree in Arabic & Business Communication and is currently doing her master studies in International Migration and Ethnic Relations. She is very motivated to get started: "Working in and with the Middle East

region is my great passion and I take a heartfelt interest in seeing the youth being empowered to take action and ownership on issues that affect the world around them." She will be coordinating and planning all social and educational activities and workshops.

Therefore, if you have any good ideas for activities or workshops or wants to be part of the joint event group, you are more than welcome to email Cathrine at: events@training4change.org The trainers are very busy at the moment with the upcoming trainings in September but now they will get support from Christine who will help them in preparing for trainings and she will also be conducting trainings herself. Christine is very motivated to interact and cooperate with the youth in the Arab Region.

She looks forward to create inspiring learning sessions, together with the trainers at the Global Platform. Christine has a lot of experience organizing and planning courses:

"I have been volunteering for the Red Cross Youth organisation, planning leadership courses and CISV (Children's International Summer Villages) and been engaging with youth around the world in creating global awareness." Christine holds a bachelor degree in Communication and Cultural encounters from Roskilde University and is finishing her master studies in Learning and Innovative change processes at Aalborg University.

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Finally Christina will be joining Nanna in the Communication and Marketing team.

Christina will mainly be working with conveying all activities and trainings at the Global Platform through social media and newsletters. She will also be supporting the Regional Office in preparing stories from the region and creating new communication and marketing tools for the platform. She has a great interest in the Middle East:

"My interest in the Middle East is mainly focused on the interaction between the divers cultures and religions in a region that for some people can seem quit uniform." Christina holds a bachelor degree in Studies of Religion and Middle Eastern Society and Religion. Her internship is a part of her master studies in Middle Eastern Studies.

If you have any question about our work at the platform you are more than welcome to email Christina at: communication@training4change.org or write her on our Facebook page.

The three new interns have "hit the ground running" as the planning and preparations for Septembers trainings are on its highest. We are very happy to have the new interns at the platform and hope that they will enjoy working here, as well as finding inspiration and tools to further apply into their studies.

Training of Trainers – its Advanced!

The quiet days at the Global Platform are over as the trainers are back from Denmark. Five trainers from the GP participated in a three weeks Training of Trainers Advance (ToTA) course

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conducted in Copenhagen in August 2014. ToTA differs from the regular Training of Trainers course (ToT) in different ways. The course is based on individual experiences in order to develop and renew teaching practices. It focuses more on the trainers using themselves as tools rather than learning about the concepts and style of the different trainings we conduct. According to Sarah, trainer at the platform, this is very useful:

"It's unique because it really works on building up our special skills and traits as a trainer. We work a lot on the self as a training tool rather than random tools that have to be forced into sessions."

The ToTA also works as a more intense sparring process between trainers, fellow students, and educators. Learning from each other is a big part of the course and getting to know how other trainers apply the different training tools in their trainings. The ToTA in Copenhagen provided this great opportunity to share experiences as trainers from all the Global Platforms worldwide was gathered. Abood, global platform trainer, really enjoyed this aspect and states: "The best thing about ToTA was the fact that you can

hear and share from excellent trainers from all over the world, we had the chance to talk about Salvador Activista, and Myanmar fellowship program!"

The aim of the course was for the trainers to advance their skills in organizing and conducting political trainings and to help empower people living in poverty to claim and protect their rights. The trainers received training in subjects like HRBA and political vision, HRBA as a training principal and creative methods of collective empowerment and conflict solving about which Talha, trainer at the platform, tells:

"The most significant knowledge I brought back with me are the new methods, techniques and exercises in conflict solving. Also the session about developing learning curriculum." They have all return just in time to test their newly acquired skills at the Governance Course and the upcoming Training of Trainers in Egypt.

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UPCOMING TRAININGS AND EVENTS

28. Aug-19. Sep:

Governance Course

1. – 12. Sep:

Fellowship Lebanon

3. – 7. Sep:

Hosting ActionAid Palestine

6. – 9. Sep:

Facilitation and Action Planning with DJUCO

7. – 10. Sep:

ToT in Mesaha, Egypt

24. Sep:

Grand opening night at the Platform

September:

Training with CDC

LET’S COOPERATE! Global Platform Jordan is one of ActionAid’s training hubs for empowerment and activism. We provide innovative and empowering trainings for young individuals, organisations and youth groups who wish to take positive actions in their societies.

You are always welcome to contact us; email: globalplatformjordan@ms.dk

www.globalplatforms.org/jordan www.facebook.com/globalplatformmyanmar www.youtube.com/globalplatforms

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