The HERO – Human Rights Education Opportunities training took place in Karlovac, Croatia, from August 3rd to 10th. This training gathered youth from 15 different countries across the European Union and the Western Balkans. The partner organization from Kosovo was NGO THY, represented by Ylber Reçica and Endrit Elezkurtaj. During this training, they addressed various topics related to human rights.
Raising youth awareness about human rights is a fundamental principle that we all must champion and promote. This is achieved by advocating for and protecting these rights. The training reflected these values, aiming to highlight human rights across 15 different countries from the perspective of young people.
Our objectives as participants were to gather as much information and learnings as possible on this topic and to share these lessons among the youth.
Throughout the activities, we reflected on various situations where participants shared instances of their rights being violated or not respected. This highlighted that violations of human rights still occur today, even in democratic countries. Advocating for our rights must be an integral part of creating a healthy living environment. This was the core mission of the training.
As a result, the training successfully united the voices of young people in promoting and respecting human rights, leading to the development of a code of conduct. This code will serve all partner organizations working with youth to promote and ensure the protection of human rights.
The training was based on non-formal education methodologies. Participants had the opportunity to work individually and in small groups using creative and interactive methods, such as role-playing, forum theater, debates, team presentations, research, and discussions. The practices followed during the training were very useful and fruitful, as they introduced us to new methods of non-formal education that we plan to implement with our organization’s youth.
The HERO training was an exceptional opportunity that allowed us to be part of a group from many countries sharing different practices and creating a network among us and various organizations. This valuable and enriching experience was made possible by NGO THY and supported by the ERASMUS+ Program.
A special thanks goes to the host organization Carpe Diem and their trainers, who never hesitated to share their experiences and be with us. We also extend our gratitude to NGO THY for providing this opportunity.
