Desert Bloom’s young staff and volunteers shared their experience in Spain about sustainable living.

Ten young people of Desert Bloom shared the experiences gained from their participation in the Youth Exchange that was hosted by Permacultura Cantabria in Cantabria, Spain from 18-25 Oct. 2022. The exchange was under “PEACE: Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate Change” project.

They young people highlighted the risks of climate change on our physical and mental survival on front of 40 people in a URI Faith for Earth workshop held in Dec. 2022. They tackled daily habits that accelerating climate change. The made it clear that our lifestyle choices matter. They impact the world around us, hence, it is everyone responsibility to stop hearting our one and one planet. We all need to make our lives more environmentally friendly by greening our lives toward “Zero Waste” lifestyle”, said Shaden Hayari. She also gave example on how to practice the 5 principles of Zero Waste (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot) on our daily life. Moreover, Mutaz, Rama and Ahmad shared some ecological farming and sustainability practices, including biobuilding, Rainwater harvesting, storage heating stoves and recycling the waste oil into a fuel. All these practices they had learn during their visit to an ecological farm in Cantabria.

“Unpop that Populism” Youth Exchange, 25 April to 3 May 2023, Marrakesh- Morocco 

The Youth Exchange offered a unique opportunity for 35 young people from Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, Romania, Spain, France, and Turkey to explore realities of populism from different perspectives tackling the commonalities and differences in each country. Also, they learn how to think critically to detect the effects of populism from human rights perspective, particularly the populism that develops a polarizing message dividing people into two groups; the ‘us’ and the ‘them’.

Throughout the exchange, participants were able to develop their competencies (skill, knowledge and attitudes) in the following fields:

• Populism and migration
• Critical thinking
• Shielding from populist discourse in the elections
• Populism awareness 
• Debunking fake information used in populism
• Youth engagement and advocacy

Participants were able to apply what they had learned through designing and executing a series of social media campaigns.

This project was hosted by Coconut work, a network of youth work organizations in Europe and co-funded by the European Union under Erasmus plus Programme.

Testimony of Desert Bloom participants:

Thank you, Desert Bloom, for giving us such a great chance to learn about Populism. We discussed many forms of populism, national realities, populist discourse, and got the chance to do our own campaigns. We enjoyed the Team building activities that built bonds as well as improved communication, collaboration, and cohesion among us. Now, we are able to distinguish different forms of populism and learn how populism haunts the democratic world today. We became aware of how populism can have a left-wing or right-wing agenda and it can range from persuasive politics to a dangerous agenda that creates internal and external conflict, negates climate change and rejects human rights. We also learned how to build our resilience, conduct Advocacy campaigns and to think critically. We had many fruitful discussions; we shared our realities and ideas. On the third day we continued our discussions tackling different national realities and cultures. The intercultural night was unforgettable, we presented different types of populism in our country. Also, we presented different aspects of Jordanian culture; we wore Jordanian traditional dresses, danced the Dabka, and gave out Jordanian Souvenirs. Participants enjoyed Jordanian thyme, spices, arabic gum and the famous Jameed (dried yogurt).

On the fifth day, we did a field visit to Essaouira city. We explored the Moroccan culture and interacted with local community.

The 6th day focuses on populist discourse, how to critically evaluate it and act when hearing fake information. Additionally, four participants delivered their own workshops. We enjoyed the Critical Thinking and “Wheel of life" workshops.

The last two days were dedicated to practicing what we had learned. We were divided into groups and each group was asked to design its own social media campaign. Groups created artistic e-posters with nice messages such as "Be a Global Citizen, Exchange Culture '', " Connect globally, Learn Locally", "So much of who we are is where we have been and who we have met", "Explore new Horizons, Expand your Mind".

Jordan team:

• Mutaz Albaz
• Sara Abdulraheem
• Abdullah Aldaja
• Jude Darwazeh
• Harbi Qarqash

Please check the Exchange video.

https://youtu.be/OC6zFPRt6Ms

Desert Bloom participated in the “Learn how to communicate visually skills” training course that took place in Las Rozas, Madrid, Spain. The five-day training was dedicated to equipping youth educators with the necessary skills and competences to apply visual and graphic tools in their daily work with young people. Through non-formal education methods, the participants were taught how visual and graphic literacy can help to improve communication and overcome language barriers in teamwork. The training promoted the notion that anyone can use visual and graphic facilitation techniques to convey knowledge and overcome creativity barriers.

The expected learning outcomes of the training included creating communication synergies, improving communication skills through literacy, increasing reflective capacity, self-confidence, transfer capacity, and implementing good practices. The participants were expected to use the tools and techniques learned during the training in their daily work with young people at both the local and Euro-Mediterranean levels.

The training consisted of several interesting tools such as working groups, individual groups, exercises using drawings, writings, and more. The participants found the training to be very beneficial in supporting their work in youth and community empowerment.

The training attended by 25 participants came from France, Morocco, Spain, Cyprus, Jordan, Algeria, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Italy. It was a great success, and we hope to continue offering similar training programs in the future.

"The Art of Mentoring" Training Course, April 2023, in Gyumri, Armenia

The two young ladies; Lorin Samawi and Tala Salman from Desert Bloom, attended the training course " the Art of mentoring", Armenia, from 8th - 15th of April 2023, hosted by YIC Gyumri Youth Initiative Centre NGO, Armenia, under Erasmus plus program (co-funded by European Union)

The project goal is to equip participants with the competencies needed to work as a mentor in international projects and support volunteers. The course focused on developing the core skills of mentoring, active listening, creative thinking. Also, we tackled conflict and crisis management and being able to understand and express emotions.

PEACE - Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate ChangE (ERASMUS-YOUTH-2021-CB-101051323)

Newsletter Nº 1.

What PEACE is about?

Climate change is usually taught only from the environmental point of view yet it involves a plethora of other issues that are usually overlooked.

The main theme of the project PEACE, Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate ChangE, as well as its main activities and deliverables, is organised around the following 4 climate-change related blocks according to the partners’ expertise:

1. From Climate Change to Climate Emergency: Environmental Side

2. From Eco-anxiety to Eco-involvement: Emotional Side

3. From Separation to Collaboration: Social and Community side

4. From Social networks to Social work-in-net: Digitalisation side

What is already done?

On the 2nd and 3rd February 2022, the first transnational meeting took place online (it was not possible to organise it in Kosovo due to COVID-19 pandemic) to officially start the project. Representatives from the 4 entities involved attended the meeting. They reviewed the 3 work packages together and stablish the work plan for the first months.

Between 12th and 20th May 2022, it was held the 8-days training course in Jordan that was attended by 24 youth workers. Thanks to the training, participants have become aware of the causes and consequences of climate change. They explored the possible actions and movements on all levels to face their main challenges. The course contributed to building the capacity of the project partners in the four sides related to Climate Change: Environmental Side, Emotional Side, Social and Community side and Digitalisation side. Participants were able to acknowledge and manage their feelings about climate change, while developed new tools and strategies to protect the

environment. They also agreed to raise their voices about climate challenges to create a sense of urgency and break the collective silence in order to create a mindset shift among people utilizing social media and other digital outlets.

From the 18th to the 25th of October, 2022 Permacultura Cantabria hosted the Youth Exchange in Cantabria (Spain), which brought together 44 young people from Spain, Italy, Jordan and Kosovo. The program included practical eco-actions for youth to follow in their own daily lives, regarding environment, climate change, sustainability and emotional management. The main objectives were:

• To share the best practices and techniques regarding the environmental actions and local initiatives projects with ecological approach
• To transfer the methodologies acquired during the project to youth people and youth leaders
• To run and live in a practical way the 7 Days Challenge

On December 15-16, 2022 the 2nd Project Meeting of the project was held online to evaluate the work done in the first year and prepare the upcoming Interim report.

What is next?

Publication of the Interactive Guide

The methods elaborated and used in our Training activities and the global problems raised by our project will be gathered in an interactive Guide for youth workers entitled “From Negativity to Activity: Psychological, Eco-Social and Digital Aspects of Youth Work related to Climate Change”.

In our Guide the climate paradigm is broadened and consider the social, emotional and digital side. We also put diversity in the spotlight, converting the ¨weaknesses¨ into advantages. It is containing alternative teaching methods based on non-formal and informal education.

The Interactive Guide will be available in 2 versions: as a Guide and an Audiobook, both in 5 different languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Albanian and Arabic.

The English version will be available soon on the project site: https://www.permaculturacantabria.com/peace/

“We Say No for Exclusion” training course, Sharm El-Sheikh and Cairo, Egypt Feb. 2023.

Desert Bloom participated in “We Say No for Exclusion”, training course in Egypt from 20 to 27 Feb 2023.The training tackled all types of exclusion, whether it is based on gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, disability, and religion. Additionally, the training addressed violent radicalization root causes and the youth radicalization process. Participants shared local context. Moreover, it tackled the process of gaining intercultural competence and the importance of an individual’s identity in this process. Participants reflected on their cultural identity and were able to develop their intercultural competencies practicing “Story Circles” methodology of UNESCO.

 The training. which was facilitated by Mamoun Khreisat of Desert Bloom, achieved the following objectives:

• Promoting inclusion, diversity, and equity as core principles of youth work.
• Understanding the following concepts and their impact on our lives: (1) Violent radicalization (radicalization that leads to violence); (2) Violent extremism; (3) Terrorism; (4) Community Resilience; (5) Racism; (6) Interculturalism; (7) Supremacy – White Supremacy; (8) Populism/ populist; (9) Jihad- Jihadism; (10) Islamophobia; (11) Xenophobia and (12) Holy War.
• Raising awareness about the root causes of violent radicalization and how to tackle them. Participants became aware of violent extremism causes that stem from development challenges, inequality, unemployment, socio-economic marginalization, human rights violations and a lack of effective public service delivery or governance structures.
• Understanding the youth radicalization process. The trainer explained Moghaddam’s Staircase Model to Terrorism, highlighting early warning mechanisms.
• Promoting a whole-of- society approach to P/CVE to improve the impact of youth focused organizations in P/CVE.
• Developing youth workers competencies in P/CVE including Intercultural Competencies.

The project was co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus Plus Program.

Please check the below two videos:

https://youtu.be/ZMYspHjRDsE

https://youtu.be/EyPdmHx_7iE

Water Matters - a Youth Exchange held in Marrakesh, Morocco, 11-19 Feb. 2023

In recent decades, climate change, population growth and increasing consumption for agricultural and industrial purposes have led not only to uneven pollution, but also to a significant depletion of water resources on our planet. Consequences of our actions are that many parts of the earth will soon turn into deserts. Additionally, humankind will also be affected by climate change and water shortage.

Even though the earth looks blue and full of water from its surface, less than 1% of the water on earth is drinkable fresh water. A sizable parts of the African continent and the Middle East suffer from a direct causality between drought and extreme poverty. Even if Europe is not the first to be affected, there is still a responsibility to take action. The "Water matters" project intended to ensure that younger generations in particular are made aware of environmental issues by promoting sustainable development practices and raising awareness of the consequences of misusing the planet's resources.

The project was co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus plus program. It aimed to find global solutions to climate challenges creating global responsibilities toward the less fortunate parts of the world for the sake of future generations. The Youth Exchange brings together participants from 8 Euro-Mediterranean countries, who have shared and learned practices on sustainable development, ecology and reconnecting with nature. Participants learned how to calculate their ecological footprint and the importance of Overshoot Day. Also, they had the chance to present the environmental issues in their countries. Moreover, they visited the Water Museum in Marrakech, where participants learned how water gets from the main source to the cities, what the surface and groundwater resources are like in Morocco and what the Moroccan ecosystem is like in general. At the Intercultural Night, participants present their culture (preparing food, sweets, traditional costumes, music and traditional dances. The last day was dedicated to emphasizing the individual role in protecting the environment. Participants understand their own role in climate change and how everyone can do something.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8gZJfPwFiBc

Live an eco-friendly life, advices from Youth to Youth

Follow-up local MotiveAction Group- PEACE Project (101051323 ERASMUS-YOUTH-2021-CB)

The young people of Desert Bloom who participated in the Youth Exchange under the project “PEACE: Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate Change” in Penagos, Cantabria - Spain, from 18-25 Oct. 2022, run a Motive Action group in Amman.

Participants highlighted the fact that we as people are not only the victims of negative impacts of climate change; we are the drivers of climate change. We should change the way we are living to be more eco-friendly. We need to move fast as the impacts of climate change will increasingly affect our daily lives everywhere in terms of employment and livelihoods, health, housing, water, food security and nutrition, and the realization of human rights.

PEACE Project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Desert Bloom participated in the retreat of the two-year project; Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) – Resilience Building, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. Athens, Greece, 14-19 Nov. 2022.

The project, which was led by Feminenza International, was designed to support workers dealing with Secondary Trauma. Please check the below piece of news on the project by Feminenza International.

Day 1: Covering the first segment of Managing Mental Trauma. Collaborative sessions of small group passion plays and life stories illustrated the reality of "stop situations" and internal cages, our habitual pitfalls, and the connection to human values and qualities that cause the turning point of change. The second part of the day moved on to a process called the "Field of Fears" – a safe space for people to discover and consciously identify their fears – while not identifying with them. A very contemplative, intimate time for each one.

Day 2: Covering the 2nd segment of Managing Mental Trauma, we enter the “Domain Of Courage”. We had the space and time to go through a quiet introspective process to connect with the higher functioning parts of our brain, through what we cherish, value, and have actively developed as inner qualities. As we reflected upon these inner values and qualities, we were able to register the natural, inner fortification, the strength of our higher functioning nature, our own domain of courage.

Day 3: The first steps into the domain of Forgiveness began with reading the individual unique stories of forgiveness. We were reminded of the complexity of Forgiveness in our lives, the struggle between fear as a stopper versus our higher functioning humanity. What moves it from the personal to the universal and what place it has as an effective influence on the community we live in.

We visited Acrocorinth, an ancient Greek castle with an amazing view if you do the 25-minute steep climb up.

Day 4: We touched on the first and second pillars of Forgiveness – Understanding and Freedom. With the poignant takeaway from the pillar of Understanding – It is impossible to resolve any conflict without each side fully understanding the other from the human aspect. What influences affect their thinking, behaviour and actions instead of being locked on the “labels and stigma” that were stuck on others by us or history? In Freedom – a very simple “ribbon exercise” demonstrated the steps of walking the path to freedom from that which holds us imprisoned in our past, unable to walk into our future.

Day 5: We covered Pillars 3 and 4 of Forgiveness; Remedy and Warmth. The remedial effects of forgiveness were illustrated with very lively, fun small theatre plays, and stories. Demonstrating that carrying unwanted baggage of the past, grudges, resentments, hurts, self-blame, and so on always weigh us down into low functioning and keep us stuck in the circle of fear, anger, violence, and revenge. But we always have the option to put the bag down and let go of it, which is very remedial and freeing. Warmth is at the pivotal turning point as we decide to let go and see ourselves as worthy and deserving of a life free and unburdened of the past.

Please check the photos

https://youtu.be/IQ_7kbHHWhM

Desert Bloom participated in Participatory Photography for Youth; a Youth Exchange hosted in Austria from 18-26 Oct. 2022

Seven organizations a long with Desert Bloom participated in this Youth Exchange which was co-funded by European Union under Erasmus Plus Program. The project provided a space for values-based intercultural and social learning, exchanging perspectives, skills and practical ideas and explore creative methodologies to foster youth active citizenship. It raised the awareness about the European 11 Youth Goals including connecting, gender equality, inclusive society, constructive dialogue, mental health & wellbeing, moving rural youth forward…etc.
During this project all the participants upskilled their digital competencies through examination of modern digital tools and platforms. Also, there were such goals as to empower young people to collaborate and co-create approaches and solutions to personal, economic, environmental and social issues.
@cerclelibre
#erasmusplus #participatoryphotograhy

The Youth Exchange – Project PEACE: Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate Change, Spain, from 18-25 Oct. 2022

10 young people and their leader represented Desert Bloom in a Youth Exchange under the project “PEACE: Psychological and Eco-social Aspects of Climate Change”, hosted by Permacultura Cantabria in Penagos, Cantabria - Spain, from 18-25 Oct. 2022.

The youth Exchange tackled many good practices and techniques regarding the environmental actions and local initiatives. Participants have become aware of key concepts relevant to Climate Change and its implications. They acquired many adaptation and mitigation practices to fight against climate change on individual and community levels. Additionally, we visited ecological farm and learned about ecological farming and sustainability practices including biobuilding.

The Desert Bloom’s Day focused on the social and community side of Climate Change. Participants learned about the importance of Biodiversity for our survival. On individual level, they gained useful insights on how to make their lives more environmentally friendly by greening their Lives toward “Zero Waste” lifestyle. Each participant did an Ecological Footprint test to learn how many Planets it takes to sustain their lifestyle. Some participants were shocked to know that they need more than 5 plants to sustain their lifestyle. Participants learn how to practice the 5 principles of Zero Waste (The 5 Rs; Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot). Moreover, they were able to share their most successful stories on their greener adaptations’ activities.

On community level, Desert Bloom shared many good practices to reduce the environmental harm together. To share local context, each national team was asked to present the most community environmentally harmful practice in their country in acting applying Theatre of the Oppressed technique. Afterward, participants were divided into groups and asked to generate innovative ideas for an environment-friendly society applying SCAMPER technique. Then present their ideas on Climate change Advocacy posters.

The project “PEACE: Psychological and Ecosocial Aspects of Climate Change” (project No. 101051323 ERASMUS-YOUTH-2021-CB), is co-funded by the European Union

Enjoy the video summary of the Youth Exchange

https://youtu.be/OE8BWdfj22I

Leadership for Young Entrepreneurs, London - UK, August 2022

Desert Bloom participated in the “Leadership for Young Entrepreneurs” training course organized by Momentum World, UK under Erasmus Plus Programme. Desert Bloom was represented by Mr. Feras Naser, a distinguished contributor to Desert ‘s Capacity Building Program. He developed the Entrepreneurship Ended Education and FerasNaser.com. 

The course included innovative icebreakers, STEM and Team Building exercises. We enjoyed the famous “London Challenge”;  touring around the city of London and exploring famous landmarks. A fun engaging experience that ends with dinner at a boat restaurant on the Thames River.

The course included ideation and pitching sessions, where each team presented an innovative idea for a potential social enterprise. The team of Feras  came up with the idea of creating a mobile app that connects sports team players across the world, the app provides social benefits such as support for mental health and youth integration.

 Testimony of Feras Naser

“I am so grateful to Desert Bloom for this opportunity which was engaging and enlightening. It would contribute to my aspiration to push global youth integration and innovation agenda”.