Permaculture as a Path to Peace – 3PEAS – was 23 month long capacity building project run by GAIA (Kosovo) and in partnership with 15 partner organization from Europe, from 14 countries (Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Greece). The project directly involved 74 youth workers and young participants which took part in different international activities. In addition, the project included 5 local actions, production of the online toolkit, manual, documentary and permaculture first aid kit. The project activities included (1) Permaculture Design Certificate Training Course in Croatia, (2) 11-month long European Voluntary Service in Kosovo, (3) Workshop for SAVA pool of trainers on social permaculture, Novo Brdo, Kosovo (4) Youth Exchange on urban permaculture in Mitrovica, Kosovo (5) permaculture4peace local actions in Kosovo, Bulgaria, Turkey and Albania (6) project documentary, (7) online toolkit 3peas.design and (8) evaluation and follow-up meeting in Kosovo.The 3PEAS project built capacity of partner organizations to use permaculture ethics, principles, tools and strategies in youth work and peace work. It opened another perspective of youth work in challenging circumstances and explored potentials of permaculture approach in specific contexts, such as post-conflict societies of Western Balkans, rural areas and divided communities. The project provided space for establishing new partnerships, but also enhancing the existing once. Several new project ideas were created during the project life span, including the follow-up project idea 3PEAS 2.0.Permaculture Design Certificate Training Course gathered 25 youth workers from partner organization, 25 youngsters took part in Mitrovica Urban Garden youth exchange which was organized together with Down Syndrom Kosova. One young person from France was involved as EVS volunteer in creation of GAIA’s permaculture program in Kosovo and almost 30 other youth workers took part in capacity building activities. The project involved 74 youth workers and participants in mobility and capacity building activities directly. Among them 43 participants were dealing with different economic, social, geographical and healt. In addition to that, through dissemination activities in Albania, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Turkey and other countries, the project reached out to more than 200 youth workers and young people from partner organizations, and more dozens of thousands people through social media, articles, screening and sharing of the documentary and presentations. An online toolkit and platform – 3peas.design - has been created by the participants and project team and updated with new information, tools and reports on permaculture education in different social contexts, within SCI, GAIA Kosovo and partners. 3PEAS manual for understanding permaculture ethics and principles in peace education, youth work, community based project and social permaculture in general has been created and translated into several languages languages. 3PEAS documentary has been created and used for promotion of permaculture, but also as a tool for sharing inspiration about the unique program and the place in Kosovo which was initiated by the project. Several follow up ideas were created throughout the project and especially on the final event, and among them 6 project were approved include Permaculture as a Path to Peace 2.0.

Permaculture as a Path to Peace 2.0 is follow up project of the 3PEAS 1.0 which started exploring and promoting permaculture in peace building and in the same time building capacity of youth workers to use permaculture tools and methods in teaching and working. The second edition will last 22 months and will include 17 partners from Western Balkans (Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Erasmus+ program countries (Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia). Participating organizations are engaged in peace work, volunteering program, non-formal education and permaculture. This project will built upon the previous experiences, and deepen the understandings of social permaculture and its possibilities to contribute to social inclusion and peace work through non-formal education and youth work. This project will consist of three transnational meetings of project team, one international workshop on social permaculture, two international training courses and five local/regional workshops for youngsters. At least 45 youth workers will complete Permaculture Design Certificate Course and/or Permaculture Teachers Training. At least 100 youngsters will take part in introduction course and get introduced to permaculture worldview. During trainings will use carefully planned and adjusted methodologies of non-formal and experiential learning, in order to build up participants’ competences, confidence and motivation. Programs and approaches will be appropriate for Balkan context, but also wider European perspective. Partnership among organizations will be strengthened through and capacity of participants and partners will be enhanced. The project will also promote European cooperation through Erasmus+ or other programs, as well as European values and vision of peaceful, just and resilient future.

In 1920 the first international Workcamp was organized. On the former battle field of Verdun. The first act of peace through volunteering. After one hundred years, European nations live in co-existence. It’s time to remember the basic principles on which the Workcamps were established. Peace, solidarity, intercultural understanding, cooperation between nations. Year 2020 brings unique chance to promote the values on which modern Europe stands on.European leading experts in international volunteering join their forces for using the 100th anniversary of international Workcamps to promote the values of international volunteering, as well as empowering its impact. Objective of The 100th Preparation project is to share good practices, know-how and experiences, in order to create Action Plan for implementing new innovative tools and methods for mobilization of young people to get involved in voluntary activities.Six organizations from different countries of Europe (France, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Serbia) teamed-up for this project. The project consists of one transnational meeting which will create the space for setting up the cooperation between the partners. All participating organizations will then work together, to assemble the Action Plan.The Action plan, as the main outcome of the project will be put into practice of participating organizations after completion of this project. All shared ideas, tools, practices and methods will be presented to entire movement of international Workcamps, so we can all use the power of 100th anniversary to promote the values of modern Europe, whose foundation was made in 1920 in Verdun.

“Peers to Peace: Peer learning and Peer support for Capacity Building in international volunteer work” was a worldwide project that involved 25 different partners in 24 countries from Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe. The key focus of the project was the peer approach. Through peer-learning and peer-supporting in the following areas of expertise: knowledge management, volunteer management, project management and fundraising the capacity of project partners was improved. This applied on small scale in the single events and on a large scale with upgrading the online tool for peer-support. This tool facilitates an easier access to resources and (exchange of) information and further stimulates possibilities for innovation and capacity building of project partners and International Voluntary Service movement as a whole. The project spanned over 21 months and included 3 main mobility events: a Peer university on volunteer and knowledge management in May 2017 in Poland, a Learning seminar on knowledge management and fundraising in July 2017 in Malaysia, and Training on project management in March 2018 in Greece. Besides these mobility activities, 3 capacity building events were organized as part of the project: 1) a steering team meeting in January 2017 in Germany, 2) a crucial Technical Meeting in November 2017 in the UK, as well as 3) an Evaluation meeting combined with a final event in June 2018 in Belgium. Moreover, exchange of EVS volunteers took place between Europe and Asia (3 volunteers from Asia hosted in Belgium and Greece; and 1 European volunteer hosted in Malaysia), promoting transnational non-formal learning mobility and supporting an exchange of experiences between Program and Partner Countries. The main target group of the project were youth leaders, youth workers, volunteers and activists, for a total of more than 100 people directly involved, who acted as multipliers within their sending organizations and contributed to the setting up and implementation of the peer learning system thanks to their experience. Participants came from a great variety of countries and this increased the intercultural dimension of the project and its impact, guaranteeing a real exchange and strengthening the networking capacities of the organizations. Projects results were shared among partners and within the networks they belong to. These included: 1) SCI-Moving Forward - a handbook for volunteers and staff members in SCI and partner organizations focusing on increasing the understanding of how SCI works internationally intended to support greater participation and knowledge transfer among International Volunteering Service organizations, including important chapters on finances, knowledge management and volunteering within SCI; and 2) innovative online peer- learning platform that has been newly integrated in SCI’s Members Area allowing for direct exchange of knowledge and experience among SCI members. The participation of other major IVSO networks, such as Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS), Network for Voluntary Development in Asia (NVDA), and Voluntary Workcamps Association in Nigeria (VWAN, central NGO in Africa) enriched the project with diverse inputs on volunteering and youth work in their context.

We Are All Made Out Of Mud (WaAMOoM) is 2 year long Capacity building project which involves 10 organization from WB region (Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro) and program countries (Croatia, France, Slovenia, Turkey, Serbia). The main topic of the project is natural building (eco building) as innovative approach to social cohesion and inclusion, gender equity, development and youth empowerment. The approach is based on natural building tecniques and different ways for engagement and learning through this practise. It also combines youth work, volunteering aspects and alraedy exisiting tools and methods for inclusion and development of skills, knowledge and attitudes. The project is consisted of 12 activities: preparation meeting in Slovenia, Training on organizing youth exchanges, volunteering teams and workcamps on natural building in Croatia, Youth exchange on gender eqitiy in Kosovo, Youth exchange on social inclusion in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2 volunteering activities in Kosovo for 4 volunteers from France, Study visit for Croatian youth workers in Kosovo, midterm evaluation meeting in Albania, Training course on volunteering in natural building in Kosovo, Local dissemination actions and Final conference in Serbia and Evaluation and follow up event in Montenegro. In international activities in total 196 participants wil be involved, out of which 102 persons with fewer opportunities. At least 150 participants will be invovled involved in local dissemination actions. Results and outcomes of the project will include creation of standards for working with youth in the field of natural building, two training curricula, one handbook and documentary video about the project. The aims of the project is to build capacity of organizations and youth workers for implementation of international and local activities on natural, through ESC, Erasmus+ and other programs, which will be inclusive, empowering, open for all, and especially encouradging for those with fewer opportunties. The project will include initial research and mapping of organizations and initiatives as well as systematic evaluation of the impact and success. Finally, the project will explore potential of natural building for different ways and methods for working with youth, local communities, international exchange, building of resilience and key competences of individuals, valorisation and recognition of nonformal education and acknoledgment of rural lifestyle and initiatives.