The #1 Webinar: The first 3 Steps to Decolonise Your Life is presented by Dr Anita Venanzi (she/her or they/them), a part-time researcher, university lecturer and consultant, and a full time artivist obsessed with all things solidarity galore (https://noprofitideas.org/). With a foot in Hong Kong and one in Rome, this social media absentee has a randomly curated website, and a pro-active participant attitude, for example in CCIVS’ Decolonise project (https://ccivs.org/Decolonise/).

In this first webinar, Dr Anita Venanzi invites us to take a closer look at privileges, disadvantages, resources and constraints that shape our experiences and from there create a common language, new alliances and a shared vision of justice and peace.

The #2 Webinar: Discover your Peacebuilding Superpower is presented by Taylor O’Connor. Taylor is the founder of Everyday Peacebuilding and a certified ‘peace nerd’ obsessed about exploring creative ways to build peace. On the professional side, Taylor worked for years as a peacebuilding consultant with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN agencies. He spent his free time researching and documenting thousands of ways people around the world build peace. He’s building a global community of peacebuilders from all over the world and he supports them to launch collaborative projects for peace. He created Everyday Peacebuilding to support idealists from all walks of life to find creative ways to build peace. He develops peacebuilding training and learning resources, and creates spaces for peacebuilders to connect with one another.

In this second webinar, you will discover how to use your unique talents and abilities to make change on any social issue you care about, for a more peaceful and just world. Get ready to use our framework, mapping 100+ different types of peacebuilders, to identify your unique talents for building peace – your peacebuilding superpower!

In this #3 Webinar, Timo and Laura will be talking about Non-violent communication as a tool for systemic change. Laura (she/they) is a Barcelona-based facilitator and political organiser. Laura organises the queer ecology and degrowth festival “metamorfosis”. She also uses practices such as non-violent communication in their daily activism and processes of transformative justice. Timo (he/him) is a Barcelona-based political organiser and facilitator with “Degrowth in Action”. His non-formal education centres on systems of oppression, global justice, degrowth, ecological-social transformation and non-violent communication. Timo is also involved in organising transformative justice processes. With their collective “Degrowth in Action” they work on topics such as capitalism, oppression, queer liberation and international solidarity.

Feelings, needs and empathy are deeply political. In this webinar, we will learn how the framework of non-violent communication (NVC) can be used as a powerful tool for transforming conflict, to generate more empathy and for more resilient activism. We will go through the basics and also touch upon the role of power and privilege in NVC.

In this #4 Webinar, we meet again with with Timo and Laura to explore Transformative Justice. You can learn a bit more about them just above and even watch their first webinar on nonviolent communication.  

Transformative Justice (TJ) has its roots in Indigenous and Black feminist communities. Rather than punishing harmful behavior, TJ recognizes that individuals shaped by a violent system are likely to perpetuate it. By centering empathy and accountability, TJ aims to transform both individual harm and systemic injustice. The webinar will teach the basics and focus on practice.

In this webinar we explore effective strategies for youth workers and professionals in peace-building. Learn the essential 7 steps to de-escalate conflicts, foster understanding, and mitigate mental health impacts in affected communities, promoting harmony and resilience.

Adrian Claudiu Frandeș has a degree in Clinical Psychology and expertise in Ericksonian Hypnosis, NLP, and Systemic Psychotherapy. Throughout his career Adrian was deeply involved in coaching vulnerable youths by providing psychological counseling to asylum seekers, refugees, migrants, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community across Spain, Romania and the UK. Over the years he has designed and facilitated many workshops from a systemic psychotherapeutic perspective.

Iolanda Vasile is an experienced researcher and instructional designer in social sciences, with a focus on gender mainstreaming and south-south relations. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Postcolonial studies, she focuses on women´s representations in the Angolan war for independence. With extensive experience in project management and education, Iolanda has worked internationally, initiating and implementing curriculum programs on critical topics, including education, human rights, women’s rights, racial discrimination, and the marginalization of social groups.

In this last webinar, Loretta will introduce us to “Shinrin Yoku.” First, in a theoretical way and as an effective method to slow down, relax and practice mindfulness in nature, together we will look at its history and the theory behind it. In a second part, we will discover simple exercises to practice mindfulness and to slow down in daily life (even if you don’t have time to go to nature).
Shinrin-yoku (Japanese term: 森林浴, 森林 (shinrin, “forest”) + 浴 (yoku, “bath or bathing “), also known as forest bathing, is a practice or process of relaxation where you spend time in a forest or natural space, focusing on all senses in order to connect with nature.

Loretta Scherler is living in Bern with her two small children, partner and cat. Loretta has been working in communication and project coordination for SCI Switzerland for 10 years. Her specialty is holding non-formal workshops about interculturality, prejudices, stereotypes, discrimination, privileges, gender and intersectionality. Loretta has discovered Shinrin Yoku during the pandemic and signed up for a training course to become a Shinrin Yoku Health trainer in 2021. Since June 2022, Loretta has been working as a freelance trainer with her colleague Sandra and together they founded “Shinrin Yoku Bern” where they offer regular Shinrin Yoku courses: https://www.shinrinyoku-bern.ch/

Our project is co-funded by the European Union. We are very grateful for making our idea possible to realise thanks to this support!
Project number 2023-2-BE05-KA153-YOU-000168468