March 2014
Transforming Travelling Experiences to Everyday Life In the beginning of March, a group of voluntary workers left Global Platform Jordan to begin their stay in Palestine. ActionAid Denmark organizes voluntary stays for young people from Denmark in both Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. To prepare them the best way possible each voluntary stay starts at a regional Platform in order to provide the voluntary worker with the neccessary tools to get the best experience possible in working with a different culture in a different country. As told in our last newsletter, seven Danish volunteers stayed at the Platform for three weeks, and among other things their programme in Jordan included lessons in Arabic, Middle Eastern history and culture, and a Cultural Night. Since their departure, they have reported back a variety of experiences from their three new hometowns Bethlehem, Qalqilya, and Ramallah. Most work with children and youth, one works with media. Maja Nielsen, age 20, and Asta Rosalina Poulsen, age 21, work at an orphanage in the small townQalqilya, preparing food, looking after and playing with the children. To them the two biggest challenges are the language barrier and dealing with cultural differences in everyday life. In a traditional town in Palestine there are inevitably some limitations for two blond girls, and Maja says, that for instance not being allowed to walk around the city alone can be difficult to get used to, because this differs so much from what she is used to in Denmark. However, this and other experiences of cultural differences are one of the key factors why a voluntary stay is such an eye-opener, Maja says. This way she feels that she gets to know diverse parts of the Arab World first hand and not only from books, tv, and the news. She believes that the Platform helped prepare her for the stay in Palestine,
March 2014
especially when it comes to dealing with aspects of the Middle East that differ a lot from everyday life in Denmark. ”The most important thing that I learned and that I have been using as a volunteer is about observing the culture and respect it”, she says.
Three-track Plan to Promote Youth Leadership In March, Global Platform trainers with help from Activista volunteers completed two weekends of leadership training for ActionAid partner organizations in Russeifa, Zarqa and Irbid. The leadership training is first part of a three-track training plan which shall prepare the youth groups to carry out a local project, directed towards issues faced by the community. This should be launched in the late summer. Tania Ismail, age 22, is a voluntary trainer from Global Platform Jordan. She expresses hope that the trainings will succeed in making the participants aware of their responsibility and respect for all members of the society regardless of gender, age and background. The participants will also obtain practical tools to execute a campaign. “This project is a big step for social change and for a better future”, Tania says. The training methods in this first part of the three-track training plan proved to be a new experience to many of the participants. Tania says, that in order to make them think out of the box, she and the other trainers asked the participants lots of questions, challenging them to form their own conception of youth leadership. There were times when Tania was not sure if the communication between her as a trainer and the participants was clear, as she felt that she needed to explain things in various ways to get through with her point. However, she was really impressed by the participants' final presentation session. Here the youth groups showed great abilities to cooperate and to present their own ideas of leadership, based on their learnings and experiences from the training sessions. The topics of the second and third part of the training plan will be Mobilization in April and after that Campaigning. Tania is looking forward to seeing the end result of the training, “It will enable them to be the promising generation and leaders of tomorrow where people respect and protect each other.
March 2014
Two Minutes to Change A Thursday afternoon in March, Global Platform Jordan kick-started the weekend with a screening of five two-minute documentaries. The videos where created by eight new 'doctivists', who had just completed a two week training in storytelling, filming, and editing. The course called ”Doctivist – Visual Storytelling” was conducted by two Danish trainers. The eight participants came from both Egypt, Denmark, Jordan and Lebanon, and all had very different prior experience with video production. Regardless of their starting point, every group ended up achieving great results with their final assignment, and all films recieved great applause at the screening. One of the trainers, Ole Tornbjerg, describes the Doctivist vision as a wish to enable youth activists anywhere in the world to use visual communication and documentary storytelling in their fighting for social change. He and the rest of the Doctivist staff are highly qualified trainers within the field of documentary film production. Ole himself has worked as a director and a producer of documentaries in the past 20 years, he holds a bachelor's degree in Communication and International Development, and he has taken an European education in film production. This is the second time that Global Platform Jordan invites the Doctivist team to conduct a training, and previously, the trainings have been run at platforms in Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt and Myanmar as well. ”To me, one of the most rewarding experiences at the Doctivist trainings in general is seeing how much people progress throughout the two weeks' training”, Ole says. ”And of course especially when I hear, that the participants are able to use the learning outcomes after the course.” The videos dealt with diverse issues within the overall framework of social change. One highlighted the problems of child labour, another focused on sexual harassment, two videos portrayed young people working for social change through music or theater, and the last one formed a portrait of the Global Platform in Jordan.
Mohammad al Khalailah, age 22, had never tried making videos before. He signed up for the Doctivist course to learn how to produce videos in order to improve his possibility for getting through to people with his wish for changing society to the better. Together with his brother, he created a documentary about Laith, an underage employee working at a garage outside of Amman, to highlight the issue of using child labour. After the screening, Mohammad
March 2014
said that he was very happy with the training, not only the learning outcome but also to meet people from around the world. Following the screening, all participants recieved their diplomas, and the two trainers left the Platform; Ole went back to Denmark, but Trine went on to another Doctivist-course in Burma. At the Platform we hope to see them again for another rewarding training.
Did You Know… Lebanese Soha Shamas, age 22, and Egyptian Shady Hussein Eid Abuzaid, age 20, did a particularly good job at the Doctivist training: their short film ”What if I was....” reached more than 300 views just within the first couple of hours after the launch on Youtube, and now the video has even gained attention in the Egyptian press. The video turns the issue of sexual harassment upside down, putting a man in the leading role as the victim. This creatively executed production elegantly shows that it is possible to get through to people with a message in two minutes, even with limited sources. Congratulations to Soha and Shady!
Getting Closer to Saving the Cities Activista is ActionAid's global youth network working in more than 25 countries – including Jordan. Qais Saadeh, age 20, studies social work, works as a volunteer trainer at Global Platform Jordan and is moreover Activista Jordan's national coordinator. Activista is initiating the Safe City Campaign which will run this autumn, and in order to equip the members of partner organizations to carry out this campaign the best way possible, Qais and other core members of Activista Jordan organized a workshop for the purpose of refreshing the Activista member's own knowledge on gender rights and gaining new experience. This resulted in a weekend's workshop at the Platform with around 15 participants from Activista and Russeifa. Qais says that he is left with a good feeling after the workshop. He believes that the participants took in the information, engaged themselves in the project, and enjoyed a good atmosphere.
Rethinking the Role of the Emergency Response Team
March 2014
According to Global Platform Jordan's HRBA and Governance trainer, Sarah Sweilem, age 23, there is a common misconception that working in refugee camps just means handing out food. In fact both local, national, and international stakeholders have different roles in assuring a sustainable and dignified development for the refugees, and the refugees themselves also have a role to fulfill. During the recently held Emergency Response Training of Trainers this was one of many topics that was raised and discussed. The participants all work for the Arab Regional Initiative's (ARI) different areas of the Emergency Response Programme. The Platform's Leadership and Lifeskill trainer Talha Alali, age 27, says that the aim of the training was to provide the participants with tools to help them in the field when working with the Syrian refugees. These tools include more insight and knowledge about all aspects of trauma and psychological first aid, and learning how to differentiate between emergency, crisis and catastrophe. Furthermore the training was focused on how to implement this knowledge combined with Human Rights Based Approach in the field while working with psychosocial support, group dynamics, social protection, and empathy. Sarah says, that she enjoyed training her colleagues from ARI, especially getting a more in depth look into their work and their experiences. ”Sometimes we are all so intent on getting our jobs done and completing our own tasks”, she says. ”We forget that all of the different programmes actually work to support the overall objectives of the organization.” She emphazises the laid back atmosphere as a result of participants and trainers knowing each other already. This way the training sessions were relaxed, and everybody felt comfortable talking and discussing openly.
March 2014
UPCOMING TRAININGS AND EVENTS 3. – 12. April: Video Campaigning (two weekends) 3. – 12. April: Mobilization (two weekends) 9. April: DJUCO Student Forum Workshop 21. – 28. April: Global Nurses Cultural Night in April! Keep an eye on our facebook page for a specific date
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/globalplatformjordan www.youtube.com/globalplatforms