Hiring: Communications Manager at PATRIR
PATRIR is looking for an incredible candidate to join our team as a Communications Manager. You will be working with an amazing, highly dedicated team of colleagues from across Europe and internationally. The position requires someone with key skills as a communicator able to engage stakeholders and communities including through in-person and social media communication; a collaborator able to work well with stakeholders including civil society partners, local authorities, and institutions and to support and develop relations with stakeholders and partners; highly motivated and reliable individual.
Read more about this role here.
If you feel you are that person, if you would love to take up this work and bring the full breadth of your knowledge, passion, and ability to it, please see the full job description below and apply by sending a CV, Letter of Motivation, and 2 reference letters at [email protected] – with the subject “Application: Communications Manager – PATRIR” – by April 12, 2022
Join All for Ukraine as a Humanitarian Response Coordinator or Communications Officer to make a real difference as part of a major humanitarian response effort for Ukraine.
READ MORE ABOUT THE JOB OPENINGS HERE.
Apply by sending a CV, Letter of Motivation, and 2 reference letters at [email protected] – with the subject “Application: Humanitarian Response Coordinator – Ukraine” or “Application: Communications Officer – Ukraine”– by April 8, 2022
Civil Resistance in Ukraine and the Region – International Conference
Mar 22, 2022
How does civil resistance work and what can it achieve? This panel will share how civilians are using strategic civil resistance to diminish the power and impact of the Russian military.
In Ukraine, civilians replace road signs to confuse Russian military vehicles, they block roads with cement blocks and iron pins, and they have set up a complex humanitarian aid system with neighboring countries. Within Russia, protests and resignations by universities, media outlets, and professionals denounce the military invasion. Join us to learn more about the strategy of civil resistance in Ukraine and the region.
Panelists include leading experts in civil resistance, some joining us from the frontlines in Kyiv.
Panelists (listed in the order in which they will speak):
- Maria Stephan is Chief Organizer of the Horizons Project where she convenes strategic partnerships for collective action to build a just, inclusive, and peaceful democracy in the US. Before joining the Horizons team, Stephan founded and directed the Program on Nonviolent Action at the U.S. Institute of Peace. She is the co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, which was awarded the 2012 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Prize by the American Political Science Association.
- Andre Kamenshikov is the regional representative of Nonviolence International (USA) and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) in the post-Soviet states. He has been an activist developing local capacities for peace in conflict areas of the ex-USSR since 1992 in areas of potential and acute violent conflict, primarily in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation, where he works closely with a group of local NGOs and civil activists as well as representatives of different key professional groups such as educators, journalists, police, official authorities from different levels of government, and international organizations including UN agencies.
- Kai Brand Jacobsen is the President of the Romanian Peace Institute (PATRIR) which supports global peace support operations, professional development, and pioneering research to improve the evidence-base to inform policy and practice. PATRIR is leading an effort to help coordinate an international peace response with its partners across Romania and internationally to offer efficient support for Ukrainians in humanitarian aid, civil resistance, and peace efforts.
- Felip Daza is Research coordinator at Observatory on Human Rights and Business in Barcelona, Spain, professor at Sciences Po University and National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” and member of International Institute for Nonviolent Action which is supporting local civil resistance in Ukraine and Belarus to confront the Putin government’s brutal military aggression with organized mass noncooperation to deny Russia local consent and material resources.
- Katerina Korpalo, a university student from the National University Kyiv-Mohila Academy, will join Daza from Kyiv to discuss the research project on civil resistance. She is a member of International Relations Club and European Youth Parliament Ukraine.
Rev. Karen Dickman is the Executive Director of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy (IMTD). The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy has been building cooperative trade associations for economic development in Ukraine based on transparency and accountability. When the war started this month, IMTD shifted to running humanitarian aid for the Ukrainian government. IMTD is now in conversation with the government of Ukraine to facilitate services to their refugees and IDPs, and to rebuild the country’s economy after the war.
- David Cortright is professor emeritus of the practice at the Kroc Institute, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. Cortright is the author or co-editor of 19 books, including Civil Society, Peace and Power and Uniting Against Terror: Cooperative Nonmilitary Responses to the Global Terrorist Threat (MIT, 2007). Cortright has a long history of public advocacy for disarmament and the prevention of war. As an active-duty soldier during the Vietnam War, he spoke against that conflict. Now, he is coordinating a group of U.S. veterans to urge defections within the Russian military.
Moderator: Lisa Schirch, Richard G. Starmann, Sr. Professorship Chair in Peace Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
Payment is accepted with any VISA card – Mastercard and their subsidiaries – Visa Electron, Maestro, Cirrus, regardless of the country of origin and the currency of the card issued. American Express is not accepted for payment.
Se accepta plata cu orice card din sfera VISA – Mastercard si subsidiarele acestora – Visa Electron, Maestro, Cirrus, indiferent de tara de origine si moneda cardului emis. American Express nu este acceptat in procesul de plata.
Humanitarian Support for Ukraine
What can I donate? Where Can I donate?
For financial donations you can use the buttons in the left side (Netopia or Stripe) or directly in the accounts below:
Emergency Statement of the Romanian Peace Institute on War in Europe and Immediate Call to Peace
The Current Humanitarian and Security Situation in Europe and Ukraine – Russia – EU – US – NATO Context
“War has broken out in Europe. This is the biggest crisis in regional peace and security in Europe in over 50 years. This is an issue affecting all the people of Europe and should be an issue of global concern. We must understand the gravity and urgency of this moment, and its implications for the people of Ukraine, the people of Russia, and for peace and stability in our world. Governments, citizens, all of us must recognize the danger of what can happen if we do not stop it now – and do not prevent it from getting worse. We cannot allow violence to continue or to escalate. The human, psychological, economic, and environmental devastation and costs of war are severe. The possibility that the war can intensify and spread is real. We have been brought to this situation because of the serious failures of our current approach to peace and security in Europe. We cannot allow the further escalation of war. What we need now is not more bellicose and combative statements but real, effective and concerted efforts by all actors involved, including governments and citizens across Europe and internationally, the United Nations General Assembly, and the international peace community, to end the war, address the immediate humanitarian situation, and work for real, lasting stability and peace for all the people of Europe.”
READ THE FULL STATEMENT HERE.
DECLARAȚIA ÎN LIMBA ROMÂNĂ AICI.
УКРАЇНСЬКА ВЕРСІЯ ТУТ
РУССКАЯ ВЕРСИЯ ТУТ
LIRE LA DECLARATION COMPLETE ICI
Leia a declaração completa aqui.
We invite young people to have a say in this and to find together ways to address the phenomenon of hate speech. On top of that, you will be prepared to play an active role in tackling this challenging national and European issue, develop your critical thinking, creativity and feel civically engaged. And as a challenge, you will be empowered along with other participants to create your own campaign against hate speech The event is free and you can apply by filling in the following form: this form for Cluj and this form for Bucharest until 15 March 2022.
If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at: [email protected]—
The event is part of the Active European Citizens Against Hate Speech project.
Cluj Integration Forum
Who is the Cluj Integration Forum for?What are the topics covered during the event?
The event will be live-streamed on the PATRIR Facebook page. If you wish to attend actively, in the zoom platform, please fill in this registration form.
The event will be in English.
Between November 25 and December 10, the Cluj Alliance focused on combating gender-based violence through 16 days of activism for raising awareness and informing about the causes, effects and current situation in Romania and globally, regarding GBV. Our message in this year’s campaign was that it is everyone’s responsibility to stop gender-based violence.
The Cluj Alliance organized in Romania the 16 Days Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence inspired from a global campaign with a history longer than 30 years. The global campaign is organized yearly all over the world. In Romania we hosted online events, webinars and conferences, as well as in person events, movie screenings, exhibitions, discussions, workshops and many other activities where people were informed or had the opportunity to discuss about the problem of domestic violence, femicide and harassments.
With this brochure we want to thank the partners of Cluj Alliance for their support, and to inspire everyone to be part of the campaign in the future. Our aim is also to make visible the events during the campaign, as well as resources such as discussions with experts which are available on our pages. Further in the brochure you will find pictures and descriptions of our events and activities during the campaign. We would like to emphasize that this campaign would not have been possible without the help of amazing, motivated and engaged people from various civil society organizations, companies, public institutions and authorities, as well as a great team of volunteers. We want to thank everyone for all the hard work, commitment and great ideas that made possible for the 16 Days of Unity, Inspiration and Action against Gender-Based Violence campaign to reach this many people.
Before 2021 will come to an end we would like to invite everyone to take a moment to reflect. The pandemic affected all of us but it affected even more people living in violent households. The number of domestic violence cases reported to authorities rose drastically during the pandemic (the number of unreported ones is even higher). We believe that the 16 days of activism are essential and they are contributing to the ongoing work of combating gender-based violence, but at the same time we are convinced that a movement is needed. As many of the partners involved are already doing a lot of work to stop gender-based violence, we are fully aware that this work must be done throughout the year and we must not forget the most vulnerable groups.
With this, we invite you to browse our brochure, check out the available resources produced during the campaign, and become a partner in the Cluj Aliance for combating gender based violence, so that we can continue this activity in 2022 and grow from 16 days to 365 days of activism against gender-based violence.
The brochure is available in English here and in Romanian here.
Intersectional Perspectives on the Shadow Pandemic
Between November 25 and December 10, 2021, Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR) together with the Cluj Alliance | Alianța Clujeană | Kolozsvári Szövetség (a group of NGOs, institutions, authorities, private companies and individuals) organizes “Together for Cluj | Cluj Unites | Együtt Kolozsvárért – 16-Days of Unity, Inspiration and Action Against Gender-Based Violence” Campaign. The series of events will be organized in Cluj-Napoca, some activities also take place in Bucharest or online. The organizers aim to contribute to raising awareness about gender violence, but also to raise funds to support shelters for survivors of gender violence in Cluj together with Direcția Generală de Asistență Socială și Protecția Copilului Cluj (DGASPC).
The campaign is organised worldwide every year between November 25th, the International Day against Violence against Women and December 10th the International Day of Human Rights. These two dates were chosen in order to highlight that violence against women is a violation of human rights. This year the initiative marks 30 years. Since 1991, the global campaign has been organised in more than 185 countries, by 6000+ organisations, including the United Nations (UN), governments, civil society organisations, grassroots organisations and other entities.
During the 16 days (November 25 – December 10) the campaign will carry out a wide range of events and activities in Cluj-Napoca, but also internationally, from informative and educational events, public exhibitions and film evenings, to workshops and seminars. The inhabitants of Cluj will be able to attend film evenings, slam poetry, street photography exhibition, sustainable fashion show and art exhibitions. Other events such as a series of community discussions on issues related to gender violence; meetings between women in various fields such as politics, technology, business; legal education workshops on victim protection, harassment in the workplace, and more will be available online for participants from across the country and beyond.
Cluj Alliance | Alianța Clujeană | Kolozsvári Szövetség is a group of companies, local authorities, NGOs, schools and many other organizations working together to promote inclusion and achieve practical and impactful results to ensure that every citizen of Cluj – especially every woman and girl – is safe, respected and supported for equal rights and opportunities. It is about creating together the future we want for Cluj.
Thank you so much to the amazing partners from the Cluj Alliance | Alianța Clujeană | Kolozsvári Szövetség without which this campaign would not be possible: Institut français de Cluj, Centrul de Acţiune pentru Egalitate şi Drepturile Omului – ACTEDO, Cluj International Women’s Club, VeDem Just – Voci pentru Democraţie şi Justiţie, Campeador Inn, Asociatia Art Mirror, Centrul Cultural German Cluj-Napoca, Ambasada Suediei din Bucureşti / Sveriges ambassad i Bukarest, UN Youth Romania – Cluj Branch, Ambasada României în Spania / Embajada de Rumanía en España, Embassy of Canada to Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova, CoachCompanion, TEDxZorilor, CreativeMornings Cluj, TIFF, Bookstory, Agentia Nationala pentru Egalitatea de Sanse intre Femei si Barbati – ANES, Doamna T, Insomnia Café, Daisler Print House, Cluj.info, Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR), Cluj International Committee, SEXUL vs BARZA, Cinema Dacia Cluj, Municipiul Cluj-Napoca, JET Solution, The Flavour Pot, Apuseni Rainforest Reflections by Bita, Scripor Alphabet. The Tactile Alphabet of Colors, Asociația Iele-Sânziene, SAIL – Students’ Academy of International Law, Poethree, Cinema Florin Piersic, Centrul de psihologie Mental-Training Cluj, Institutul Român Pentru Drepturile Omului, Zona Metropolitană Cluj, Inspectoratul de Politie Judetean Cluj .
Here you can find more information about the campaign, as well as the program.
PATRIR, Institutul Român pentru Pace, vă solicită sprijinul pentru elaborarea unei cercetări legate de atitudini ce poti fi interpretate ca extremiste, radicale sau violente, modalități de prevenție și propunerea de alternative prin proiectele educaționale din școlile din România.
Cercetarea se desfășoară în cadrul proiectului ‘PARTICIPATION’, proiect HORIZON 2020 de cercetare și implicare socială al Comisiei Europene axat pe dezvoltarea mecanismelor de examinare și abordare a dinamicii, a factorilor determinanți, a stării actuale și a orizonturilor viitoare ale fenomenului radicalizării și extremismului în Europa.
În prezent, PATRIR este implicat în analiza fenomenului radicalizării și al extremismului violent din România în oferta educațională. Ne uităm, la acest moment, la proiecte din educație pentru prevenire, dorim să aflăm ce există și cum sunt prezentate. Ca urmare, culegem date despre toate programele și strategiile educaționale din școli și universități ce încurajează incluziunea, toleranța, diversitatea, înțelegerea fenomenului radicalizării și al polarizării, abordarea echilibrată a istoriei țării și a minorităților naționale, înțelegerea fenomenului migrației etc.
De asemenea,sunt urmărite orice proiecte educaționale ce abordează discursul instigator la ură, bullying-ul, violența împotriva femeilor, înțelegerea diferențelor de orientare sexuală și teme similare. Dorim să aflăm cum se desfășoară, ce perspective oferă elevilor/studenților, cum sunt prezentate sau introduse in clasă, ce abordări au, cum sunt primite de elevi, ce efect au.
Considerând cele de mai sus, experiența dumneavoastră este extrem de importantă în evidențierea programelor existente în România, derulate începând cu anul 2015 până în prezent. Puteți completa chestionarul online în funcție de tipul de implicare: pentru organizații sau pentru profesori/profesoare și școli.
Mulțumim!
The World Needs a Comprehensive Approach to Women, Peace and Security
Canadian Embassy Event – Bucharest 26.10.2021
The global Women, Peace and Security agenda is about more – much more – than increasing the number of women in armed forces and peace keeping missions. This was a key message of the President of PATRIR, Kai Brand-Jacobsen, at a special event organized by the Canadian Embassy Bucharest in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense of Romania on October 26 this year.
The Women, Peace and Security agenda calls for the inclusion and engagement of women at all levels of leadership addressing local, national and global peace and security issues. Governments and international organisations need to proactively support advancing women and inclusion of women – particularly at senior and middle leadership levels; and ensuring the voices and authentic participation of women in all governance and peace and security discussions and policy and agenda setting. Critically, greater focus needs to be placed on the prevention of war and armed violence – and on investing in strengthening peacebuilding and prevention capacities. Too much focus is given to inclusion of women in armed forces and peacekeeping missions. While this is important, the point is to prevent the impact of war and violence in the first place – by preventing war and violence. Governments should develop – and fund – robust an proactive measures to develop effective capacities to engage to address conflicts and prevent them from becoming violent. Strengthening support for women’s peace teams, women mediation networks, violence prevention education, local and national early warning systems linked to effective peacebuilding programming and planning are all essential. Ensuring gender-inclusion across budgeting, policy development and programming is also key.
Importantly: gender also need to address men. Much more needs to be done to address violent and toxic masculinity and “machismo”, to educate men to know how to better handle emotions and anger without violence, and to engage men to champion and support – rather than block – gender inclusion and equality.
The event was opened by Ambassador Annick Goulet (Canada) and included superb presentations by Mrs. Simona Cojocaru, Romania’s first female State Secretary, Head of the Department for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations at the Ministry of National Defence, a video contribution by Jacqueline O’Neill, Canada’s Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security (WPS), examples of National efforts on WPS, with interventions from two Ambassadorial colleagues, H.E. Mrs. Therese Hyden, Ambassador of Sweden and H.E. Mrs. María Eugenia Echeverría, Ambassador of Peru and remarks on Diversity in the Canadian Armed Forces by Lieutenant General Jocelyn (Joe) Paul, Deputy Commander of NATO Joint Forces Command Naples, Italy.
The Romanian Peace Institute (PATRIR) and Department of Peace Operations (DPO) wish to express their appreciation and thanks to the Canadian Embassy Romania and the Ministry of Defense of Romania and all participants for this important event and for creating the space for dialogue, exchange, and advancing key policies and recommendations on gender, peace and security. This event will be the first of a series of events to foster engagement and practical measures to advance the gender, peace and security agenda in Romania and more broadly.
Cluj Collaborates No. 6 | Colaborarea Clujeană Nr. 6
Cluj Collaborates or Colaborarea Clujeană is a magazine by, about and for Cluj. It was created to make visible the amazing work that is being done by organisations, institutions and individuals across the community, and to celebrate and inspire creativity, collaboration, and practical engagements to make a difference in the lives of Clujeni.
Cluj Collaborates is a magazine for all the people of Cluj. We hope to make us all: aware of the exciting, very often inspiring, and great work being done by so many different people and sectors in Cluj; identify issues and challenges which are important to us to address to improve quality of life and wellbeing of the people of Cluj; create connections and inspire collaboration, solutions-oriented approaches, and future initiatives, doing more together than can be done apart.
Collaboration is in the name in and everything that Cluj Collaborates is about. Collaboration within and across sectors, institutions, and our community as a whole.
Cluj Collaborates was born from the Cluj Roundtables organized by the Romanian Peace Institute – PATRIR in cooperation with the Cluj City Hall and bringing together public institutions, local government authorities, NGOs, civic and cultural institutions, universities, schools, companies and more.
Today, Cluj Collaborates is published in Romanian and English. We hope with our next edition to be in Hungarian as well. The publication is free and distributed online.
We want to thank all partners who have contributed to this edition! If you wish for your initiatives, events, projects or publications to be featured in the next edition send us an email at [email protected]
Call for teachers and school principals
In September, PATRIR started GLOBE, an ERASMUS+ project running between 2021 and 2023. The project aims to provide support and training to teachers and schools in Finland, Romania and Portugal for introducing, improving or operationalizing principles of global education in the schools where they are active. “Global education” is a broad and often contradictory term, but some of the elements of this approach are multiperspectives in the educational process, the participation of students, the deconstruction of stereotypes and an approach centered on the needs and the context of those learning, to cultivate critical thinking and knowledge on global issues and instill social responsibility (CoE). In short, it encourages a sense of global belonging for each of us, an interest in social and economic development, human rights, sustainability, fairness, equity, peace and conflict prevention.
The six partners in the project (both academia and the NGOs) will be involved in 1. Research on principles of global development 2. Training sessions for teachers and principals for global education 3. Operationalizing a European network of teachers interested in global education. The ambition of consortium is to support teachers and schools in the teaching process already in place or in innovating teaching process.
PATRIR is one of the implementing partners locally. Consequently, we are looking for teachers and principals interested in the training sessions, scheduled between February and June 2021. The training starts with one week of training in Lisbon, and continues with another week in June in Cluj. All other sessions will be held online. The training helps participants start an educational process with a global outlook, with the close support and consultation with our experienced mentors. Another training cohort will follow in June 2022.
For more information and registration, please contact Dana Dolghin, [email protected]. For those interested in participating, please send us a short concept for a project of global education you would initiate in your school (max 3 pages) and your resume (max. 3 pages) Deadline: November 24th, 2021.
GLOBE is part of our broader agenda on the grass-root prevention of polarization and extremism among youth initiated through CHAMPIONS, BRAVE, CEAR and presently continued through PARTICIPATION and INDEED. We are working on a program of workshops and community meetings for schools. SOCIOlab invites students to find out about and discuss, in an informal setting, global problems, to understand local community concerns, consolidate their critical thinking and choose their own causes. For more information, please contact us at the address listed above.
CEAR project launches a platform of consultancy services to NGOs in the field of P/CVE
The general objective of the CEAR – Community Engagement Against Radicalisation project is, primarily, to systematize a practical model of community and civic engagement that can enhance civil society’s skills and capacity to prevent and counter-radicalisation (PVE/CVE) by developing digital toolkits to disseminate in the local communities. Secondly, to develop support structures offering to all relevant local actors tailored trainings and consultancy services to help them to implement specific initiatives on PVE/CVE.
For that purpose, the project created a platform of consultancy services, in order to provide technical assistance to NGOs in the field of P/CVE.
👉 Find out more and explore the platform here.
A success story
We share with you a living source of inspiration that is dedicated to the community with a lot of passion and devotion. She likes to say about herself that she is the good policeman who is present to actively listen to the needs, the problems and to offer guidance to the citizens.
Felicia Hrihorisan is a Police Commissioner, Head of the School Safety Bureau at the Satu Mare County Police Inspectorate and an active volunteer within the GRAB – Support group for women who have experienced abuse – Satu Mare. She has been and currently is involved in the implementation of many projects to prevent and counter violence, and directly focuses on projects aimed at countering violence against women and sexual violence. She organized the Campaign “Invisible Violence – Causes, Consequences and Solutions to Violence Against Women” – where she won the first prize at the Romanian Youth Gala 2019 – non-formal section.
What she wants is for the collective mindset on how women are perceived to be changed, namely equal rights and for them to be treated with respect. And stereotypes about female victims of violence, such as “she deserves it” “has a big mouth” and “it’s her fault” to be eliminated.
Here you can read more about Felicia’s story.
* Action implemented within the CEAR project.
INDEED: A Major Step Forward for the PVE/CVE Field
On the 21st and 22nd of September, the 19 partners of the INDEED project met in Warsaw, Poland for the “Kick-Off” meeting launching the project. INDEED will be a 36 month project supported by the European Commission to improve evaluation and learning in preventing and countering violent extremism. Funded through the Commission’s ‘Horizon 2020’ funding line, the INDEED project represents one of the most important initiatives to date to improve how evaluation and learning are done in the PVE/CVE field.
The project consortium includes leading think tanks, institutes, universities and law enforcement agencies across Europe.
PATRIR is proud to be one of the members of the INDEED project. The Institute will be active across all aspects of the project, including in the organization of policy and practitioners forums bringing together policy makers, practitioners, academics and experts from across Europe; creating a new ‘podcast’ channel where we will hold exciting discussions with leading practitioners and experts in the field; creation of ‘Smarthubs’ and Communities of Practice linking front-line practitioners and improving collaboration in the field; and much more.
The Project Director at PATRIR will be Kai Brand-Jacobsen, President of the Institute. He’s joined by PATRIR Researchers Dana Dolghin and Isabella Pirlogea.
Partners in the INDEED Project include: Polish Platform for Homeland Security (CSO2); The Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR); VUB Institute for European Studies; Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organised Crime Research Sheffield Hallam University (CENTRIC); the University of Helsinki; the European Forum for Urban Security (EFUS); the Vienna Centre for Societal Security; DEEP BLUE; TRANSFORM; ITTI; Local Police Rupel; Police Police Regional Police Headquarters – Gdansk; Hellenic Police; Riga Municipal Police; Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs – Federal State of Bremen; Centre for Security Studies – Ministry of Citizen Protection; General Directorate Execution of Sentences (Prison and Probation Service); Madrid Municipal Police; Qualify Just – IT Solutions and Consulting
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“The INDEED project is an incredibly important step forward for the field. There is very little proper evaluation and learning done on preventing and countering violent extremism projects and policies in Europe – little effort to really understand what’s working, what isn’t working and why, and what we need to do better. INDEED will seek to address this challenge, working directly with practitioners and experts across Europe, building communities of practice, consolidating and driving forward practical knowledge and understanding of how to do evaluation – and just as importantly how to translate the learning from evaluations into improved policy and practice in the field.” Kai Brand-Jacobsen, President, PATRIR
Polarisation, radicalisation and discrimination with focus on Central and Eastern Europe – Publication
The polarisation of society has now become a buzzword that is hardly missing from any political analysis. Trump, the Brexit, migration and the flight movement from the South to Europe, which has almost been pushed into the background again, also globalisation and climate change, and the Corona pandemic, which has been going on for a year now … In all these topic areas, a very fundamental polarisation of positionings is indeed emerging, which overshadows intermediate tones.
The focus of the issue on “Polarisation, Radicalisation and Discrimination in Europe” focuses in particular on the situation in Central and Eastern Europe in the practice of prevention and intervention in the field of democracy education, group-focused enmity and right-wing extremism. Contributors to this issue include those who have been working on-the-ground in the countries, as members of civil society organisations with a sharp and trained eye; those who work in municipalities, schools and extracurricular education as “fighters on the front line” (first-line practitioners, FLPs for short, e.g. teachers, social workers, NGOs, police) on a daily basis in regular structures, in training courses, and workshops as well as in counselling; and have in-depth insights and experience of the challenges, barriers and attempts at solutions.
The publication can be read and downloaded here
This special issue has been produced within the Champions Project.
PATRIR, the Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania, stands in solidarity with and supports local peacebuilders active in Afghanistan, at this difficult time. PATRIR staff has actively participated in work on democratization, inclusion and pluralism in Afghanistan and knows, first hand, the lengths that these actors had to go to achieve dialogue, mediation, cover basic education and health needs, sometimes against all odds and operating outside the protection of the international community. As an organization working on mediation and postconflict recovery, we know their work is irreplaceable.
We stand with the international community when urging the new regime to respect basic human and civic rights and to support the advancements of women in girls in science, education, administration and the private sector. We are aware that most local NGO workers, peacebuilders, mediators would like to continue their work. But for those opting to leave the country, we urge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Romanian Government to expedite the visa process and any humanitarian assistance needed. The Romanian state, as the international community, has the “responsibility to protect” those whose lives are threatened by their own governments. Learn more information here.
PATRIR, Institutul Român pentru Pace, își exprimă solidaritatea și sprijinul pentru colegii noștri și cetățenii din Afganistan care au activat timp de două decenii la nivelul comunității locale pentru a construi un spațiu democrat și incluziv, pentru a garanta drepturile femeilor, tinerilor și dialogul interetnic și pentru a redresa efectele deceniilor de violență (cu cauze deseori independente de voința lor)., De-a lungul anilor, ca instituție care lucrează în mediere și facilitarea procesului de pace, prevenirea violenței și radicalizării, pentru drepturile femeilor și pace și stabilizare postconflict am lucrat împreună pentru reclădirea Afganistanului. În acest moment, suntem alături de acești actori uneori puțin cunoscuți și vizibili, care reușesc să intervină acolo unde alte organizații nu au acces și sprijină comunitățile să găsească soluții împreună.
PATRIR și comunitatea națională și internațională de lucrători în domeniul păcii nu poate să-și abandoneze colegii. Știm că mulți dintre cei menționați mai sus nu doresc să părăsească țara și continuă să activeze la nivel comunitar. Însă, facem apel la organizațiile naționale competente să pună în practică forme de asistență umanitară pentru cei care doresc să plece pentru că se simt amenințați. Dorim ca Ministerul Afacerilor Externe și Guvernul României să accelereze în regim de urgență procesul de acordare de vize tuturor celor implicați în operațiuni de cultivare și menținere a păcii din cadrul societății afgane care doresc să părăsească țara. De asemenea, invităm instituțiile responsabile din cadrul administrației să fie transparente în privința măsurilor propuse, să se consulte cu parteneri din societatea civilă, presă și organizații internaționale umanitare și să participe activ la eforturile internaționale de mediere a crizei umanitare. Pentru mai multe informații puteți accesa acest link.
Tackling radicalization and extremism through online tools – Launching ALERT, ARENA and Training Yard
CHAMPIONs is launching new online tools to support practitioners who work in the field of preventing and countering violent extremism. The online tools are embedded in the FirstLinePractitioners.com website which functions as a knowledge hub and networking platform for teachers, social workers, NGOs, researchers and local governments. Learn more information here.
How to design and carry out Social Labs in the context of analyzing and preventing extremism?
We are thrilled to introduce Social Labs, an innovative holistic approach to co-create findings, tools and solutions toward the analysis and intervention in the field of extremism, polarization and radicalization. Within the framework of the PARTICIPATION project, Social Labs are central spaces for the analysis of existing experiences and the formulation of future actions and activities to promote the uptake of social inclusion as a key factor to address radicalization. Learn more about it here.
Public Exhibition “Parteneriate Clujene”, June 1-15, Central Park of Cluj-Napoca
Join the 16 days campaign of activism against gender-based violence
PATRIR would like to invite organizations, institutions and companies from Cluj to join the “16 days campaign of activism against gender-based violence“. The campaign is a strong global commitment inspired by women, men, girls, boys, companies, civic organizations, public institutions, media partners, human rights activists, academia, and more – working together to increase awareness-raising in society and globally, in order to make practical changes to overcome and end all forms of gender-based violence. The campaign also encourages the participation of women and girls in all categories of society. This is an initiative based on inclusion and collaboration, co-developed by key actors in Cluj-Napoca, but also nationally.
You can learn more about how to get involved here: English | Romanian.
Cluj Collaboration Magazine: April – May Edition
Each month, “Cluj Collaboration” brings you information about events in Cluj, Europe and around the world, as well as updates on future events, their reports and news about current projects, courses and conferences that may be of interest. This edition also contains two interviews with our partners! The magazine can be widely distributed – including to colleagues and partners – and is intended to help improve the exchange of information. We hope that this newsletter will be of interest and that you will enjoy reading it! You can read the 5th edition by accessing this link.
#EUPrevent – European Conference on Preventing Polarization & Violent Radicalization: Strengthening Resilience, Fostering Innovation, Consolidating Lessons & Pioneering New Frontiers
Between 26-29 April 2021, specialists from across Europe on issues such as social polarisation, extremism and radicalisation, met at the European Conference on Preventing Polarization & Violent Radicalization: Strengthening Resilience, Fostering Innovation, Consolidating Lessons & Pioneering New Frontiers. The event was co-organized by six European Commission-funded projects ending in 2021: Rhizome against Polarization, CHAMPIONs, YoungRes, WayOut, ARMOUR and BRIDGE.
PATRIR and the CHAMPIONs project were represented in several sessions, especially focusing on initiatives in Cluj on youth well-being, inclusive education and equal opportunities as pilot projects to prevent social polarization and extremism. The ALERT / ARENA platform was also presented as a sustainable option for locating and reacting to cases of urban extremism in Romania, Hungary, Poland and Germany. You can learn more about the outcomes of the event here.
Cluj Forum 2021 | 18 – 19 May 2021
Between May 18-19, 2021, PATRIR, in partnership with over 15 non-governmental institutions and organizations, organises “Cluj Forum 2021”, a platform for debate on experiences and perspectives, successful initiatives and good practices for issues community of young people in Cluj. The event will take place online for two days, and aims to create a context that brings together the most relevant social actors in the field of inclusive education and youth well-being, through workshops for beneficiaries, discussions with the public and presentations. The main language of the event is Romanian, but there are also sessions in English.
You can register and learn more about the event on this page. You can also visit the Facebook Event.
Shaping the Future of Europe: Youth Summit Event | 13th of May 2021
PATRIR would like to invite you to the “Shaping the Future of Europe: Youth Summit” event that will take place on the 13th of May 2021. Shaping the Future of Europe is an online Youth Summit bringing together youth, youth organisations and organisations working with youth from across Europe and around the world. The Youth Summit will provide a platform for youth organisations and youth engaging across the continent to shape the future of Europe and bring forward their voices and their solutions on the most significant challenges facing us in Europe and in the world today. The Summit will be highly interactive, dynamic and engaging – with presentations, interactive sessions, and hearing from some of the most dedicated and inspiring youth working in their communities, nationally and internationally. The event is organised as part of the Shaping the Future of Europe Initiative of the Do One Brave Thing project.
You can register and learn more about the event on its official website.
“The Other Side of the Story: Perpetrators in Change” Project
One of our main partners in Cluj, The Social and Medical Services Directorate (DASM), is currently implementing a European project together with the Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family – APHVF, Cyprus, as Coordinator, and its partners, Bournemouth University (BU)- United Kingdom, Centro di Ascolto Uomini Maltrattanti Onlus- CAM, Italy, The Union of Women Associations of Heraklion Prefecture (UWAH), Greece, and European Knowledge Spot, Greece. The project is co-funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020).
The aim of the OSSPC project is to prevent further domestic violence and change violent behavioral patterns by increasing the capacity of frontline workers that will further teach perpetrators of domestic violence to adopt non-violent behavior in interpersonal relationships and understand the impact of domestic violence on them, family and community.
You can learn more about it by reading these documents: Press Release 1 | Press Release 2 | Newsletter 1 | Newsletter 2
Redirect 3.5% of income tax and contribute to our work!
Every year, PATRIR, through its projects, strives to promote and strengthen democracy, to increase the well-being of communities, to promote gender equality, opportunities, security and innovation, but also initiate initiatives against radicalization, extremism and hatred, both at the level of locally as well as internationally. Contribute to this change, helping to fulfil our mission, by redirecting the 3.5% of income tax! You can find out more about the steps to follow here.
STIRE – Supporting the Integration of the Resettled
Activity Report
The overall objective of STIRE is to foster the resettlement process by contributing to the social and cultural support (prior to departure and after the arrival) of the resettled, by facilitating capacity building activities in the receiving communities and by enhancing cooperation and partnership between resettled and host communities in Austria, Croatia, Italy, Ireland, Romania and Slovenia. The report of the project is now available online. This report is summarising the activities and events hosted in the second year of STIRE implementation, mainly between January 2020 – January 2021. This report is summarising the activities and events hosted in the second year of STIRE implementation, mainly between January 2020 – January 2021.
You can find the report here.
Dearest Friends and Colleagues Around the World,
2021 is upon us. We begin it with energy, inspiration and dedication.
Our world today is facing many challenges – armed conflicts, demagoguery, challenges to good governance, the global environmental crisis, attacks on the rights of women, rising extremism, fake news and hate and much more. Read here our commitment for 2021!
#16Stories Initiative – 16 Days Women Empower Cluj Campaign
This year, PATRIR, in collaboration with more than 40 institutions, organisations and companies, organised several activities as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence International campaign, that took place from the 25th of November until 10th of December. One of the initiatives as part of the campaign is the #16stories by Women Empower Forum 2020. The initiative brings together stories of determined women across Romania that are empowering all of us to contribute to the elimination of violence against women and the promotion of women’s rights. You can find all the stories here!
We joined the Cluj Education Cluster!
We are very proud to be a member of the Cluj Education Cluster, together with the City Hall of Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania College, the Cluj School Inspectorate and more. Cluj has always been about collaboration, inclusion, and coming together to do better together. For this reason, a superb initiative bringing together educational actors in Cluj was created in order to work to improve education for all children and youth – and hopefully through to adult education as well. Find out more information about it here.
PeaceTraining.eu
Looking for the most interesting training providers, courses or trainers on Conflict Prevention and Peace Building?
PATRIR was a partner in this project. Have a look at the website peacetraining.eu.
Peacebuilding Interview: Kai Brand-Jacobsen
Peace Magazine Editor Metta Spencer interviews PATRIR Director of the Department of Peace Operations Kai Brand-Jacobsen on ‘peacebuilding‘. Over the course of an hour this wide-ranging interview covers the critical need for peacebuilding in the world today, ways in which peacebuilding can be done on the ground, experiences in north East Nigeria and the work of organisations like Search for Common Ground, the situation in Venezuela and much more. It is a tour de force from one of the leading trainers, practitioners and scholars in the field – an introduction to peacebuilding and overview of critical issues that should be shared and seen widely. As the interview continues it becomes more and more powerful and inspiring.
Click here to watch the interview
Departments
DPO
The Department of Peace Operations works upon request from conflict parties and local, national and international organisations and agencies to support violence prevention, peacebuilding, mediation, and post-war recovery. DPO experts include practitioners, analysts, diplomats, and others.
IPDTC
The International Peace & Development Training Center is one of the world’s leading providers of training, capacity building and professional development support for practitioners, governments, UN and local, national and international organisations working in peacebuilding, prevention, and post-war peace consolidation.
NPD
The National Peace Department works for a world in which young people share their belief that their attitudes and behaviors are decisive in resolving conflicts and waging peace, a world in which they can and do act upon that belief with the beauty, creativity and enthusiasm specific to their age.
Testimonials
– Solomon Woldemichael
Civil
Affairs Officer, Unites Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
– Dr. Oana Cristina Popa
Former ambassador of Romania to Croatia
– Paul Ebikwo
Civil Affairs Officer, UNAMID, Sudan
Projects
Sponsors & Partners
Pentru informații oficiale despre granturile SEE și norvegiene accesați www.eeagrants.org
