Educational training "Basic skills of a mediator of the service of understanding of educational institutions"
"... there was the magic of training. To see how different children find something in common, group rituals are born, joint jokes are created. When even the most shy express their thoughts. This is an atmosphere of security (and in the East it acquires a special meaning)", this is how a participant of the educational training "Basic skills of a mediator of the service of understanding of educational institutions" responds.
Last week, six 4-day educational trainings took place in Mariupol, Lysychansk, Severodonetsk and Bakhmut, because the NGO "La Strada-Ukraine" together with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine continues to teach mediation to students of educational institutions in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
"I would like to learn mediation for effective conflict resolution," a 16-year-old student shared his expectations before the training. .
His expectations turned out to be not in vain, because during the training, 120 male and female students, as well as 24 female teachers from 12 educational institutions, learned to resolve conflicts peacefully and improved their communication skills as mediators. The participants of the training considered the topics of peacebuilding and restorative practices, worked out the basic concepts of conflictology, learned effective, restorative communication and tried themselves in the role of mediators. They were also able to reveal their creative potential and became a team of like-minded shipbuilders.
"It is so wonderful to feel that these four days you have become a bright ray in someone's life. And hugs, smiles and kind words return to you. Participants say that these were perhaps the brightest days of their summer. And someone has a life! And here the ants once again run over the body. Whether it's from happiness. Either from communication, or from the sincerity of the moment. Or maybe from everything together. We need more safe space like this! Let's create it together!", coach Maryna Matviychuk shared her impressions.
From now on, these educational institutions have their own mediators - experts and specialists who will help all participants in the conflict to find a way to solve the problem, because after the completion of the educational program, 12 new reconciliation services will start their activities in educational institutions.
The trainings took place in the framework of the project "Creation and support of educational systems for the prevention and response to cases of violence and the implementation of peer-to-peer mediation in Eastern Ukraine", which is carried out by the NGO "La Strada-Ukraine" and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) with financial support support of the European Union and the Government of Japan. The content of the publications is solely the responsibility of the NGO "La Strada-Ukraine" and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the Government of Japan and UNICEF.
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