TC for Young Bloggers and Online Activists

Deadline: 19 April 2012
Open to:  Young bloggers or young human rights activists, social media activists, young people involved in community benefit online projects, aged between 18 and 30 years
Costs: An enrolment fee of 60 Euros. Board and lodging for the training seminar are provided and paid for. Travel expenses and visa costs are reimbursed upon presentation of the relevant receipts
Venue:  Residential seminar: 20-27 May 2012 European Youth Centre Budapest; E-learning, campaign and network activities: May 2012 – December 2013

Description

The Council of Europe Youth Department invites all young bloggers and online activists concerned by human rights violations, hate speech online, discrimination and racism to apply for the training course taking place between May and December 2012, comprising a residential seminar between 20-27 May 2012 in the European Youth Centre Budpaest as a first stage in their involvement in a long term campaign against racism, xenophobia and discrimination.
Young People Combating Hate Speech On-line is a project of the Council of Europe’s youth sector to be run between 2012 and 2014. The project aims to combat racism and discrimination in their online expression of hate speech by equipping young people and youth organisations with the competences necessary to recognise and act against such human rights violations. The project stands for equality in dignity, human rights and diversity. It is a project against hate speech, racism and discrimination in their online expression. Centred around a training course and online campaigning, the project stands for action and intervention.
Project objectives:

• To mobilise young people, youth organisations and other stakeholders to promote human rights and take action against racism and
• discrimination in online space, with a particular focus on hate speech online;
• To provide young online activists and youth organisations with competences and tools, to take action for human rights in online space;
• To contribute to the democratic governance of Internet, by developing guidelines for policy and practice in respect to young people and youth organisations’ role in making the online space a human rights space and ensuring youth’s participation and contribution to the development of Internet governance initiatives that the Council of Europe takes part in;
• To map different forms of hate speech on-line, their impact on young people and ways to address them;
• To promote research about the forms and consequences of on-line hate speech on young people;
• To create and train a network of 60 young European online activists in human rights, online campaigning against racism and discrimination and to support them in running a mini-campaign online;
• To develop and run a European youth media campaign against racism and discrimination having both an international and national dimension and provide online human rights activists with campaign tools and materials;
• To support the development of regional campaigns in the Balkans, Caucasus and Mediterranean area focusing on antisemitism, antigypsyism, aggressive nationalism and religious extremism.

The training course for young bloggers and online activists: 
The training course will bring together young bloggers and online activists motivated and willing to further take action and play a central role in the campaign development.

The course objectives are:

• to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes of participants in respect to human rights and human rights protection particularly in online environments;
• to enable participants to recognise human rights violations online, particularly acts of racism and discrimination, hate speech online and supporting them in taking action against these violations;
• to associate the participants with the preparation of the media campaign and other activities in the project;
• to provide participants space and time to share different experiences of working in online environment and on topics of the project;
• to discuss and reflect on the types and forms that hate speech takes online and the effects it has on young people;
• to familiarise participants with the work of the Council of Europe in the field of antiracism and anti-discrimination, as well as in respect to Internet governance;
• to discuss and plan the next steps to be taken together in the framework of the campaign, supporting participants in initiating their online minicampaigns;
• to set up a network of young activists and youth organisations aiming to be the core of the campaign.

Eligibility

The training course is designed for participants who are:

• aged between 18 and 30 years, exceptions can be made if justified;
• already young bloggers or young human rights activists, social media activists, young people involved in community benefit online projects with a proven capacity to mobilise and multiply information and opinion among other young people;
• committed to values of human rights and be interested to further take action against racism and discrimination In online environments;
• motivated to take active part in all phases of the project;
• have at least a medium level of digital competence, and are advanced users on social media;
• able to work autonomously in the English language;
• are either supported by a youth organisation and/or an informal group of activists or community online;
• have proven capacity to mobilise young people online around issues of their concern, but particularly related with freedom of expression, human rights, ant-racism and anti-discrimination, online campaigning and activism.

Costs

Travel expenses
Travel expenses and visa costs for all residential training seminars of the project are reimbursed upon presentation of the relevant receipts, according to the rules of the Council of Europe. Only the participants who attend the entire training course can be reimbursed. The payment will be made either by bank transfer after each course, or at the end of each course in cash (in Euros).

Accommodation
Board and lodging for the training seminar are provided and paid for by the Council of Europe at the European Youth Centre in Budapest.

Enrolment fee
An enrolment fee of 60 Euros is to be paid by each participant for each training seminar. This amount will be deducted from the amount to be reimbursed for travel expenses or paid at the EYC during the course.

Application

All candidates must apply on-line, completing the application form under this link.
Applications must be submitted by 19 April 2012. If the participant is affiliated with an organisation, a letter of support from their sending organisation can be uploaded on the platform or sent separately by e-mail, fax or post to express support offered throughout the project to the participant and his/her initiatives.
The team will select 30 participants on the basis of the the profile outlined above. The selection will also take into account balance between sexes, geographical regions, different types of experiences, cultural backgrounds and organisations, institutions and projects. A waiting list may be established.
Candidates will be informed about whether their application has been accepted or rejected, and if they have been put on the waiting list, by 25 April 2012.
Deadline for applications
The application form must be submitted on-line, with the support letters if applicable, until 19 April 2012.
The Official Call