ALLY Regional and National Trainers At Finn Church Aid

The ALLY project is hiring four national trainers (one each in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India) and one regional trainer with a South Asia focus.

The European Union-funded project Amplifying Leadership of Local Youth in Preventing Violent Extremism in South Asia (ALLY) organised a Fellowship Programme for 60 youth (15 from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan each). These youth were trained as a multiplier on conflict transformation, advocacy, training facilitation and online constructive campaigning through a ‘phased’ capacity development programme (includes a national online training and two in-person national workshops in each of the four countries).

Acting upon the positive roles of youth-led civic engagement related to peacebuilding, the fellows are expected to deepen their knowledge, skills and attitudes to contribute to transforming the conflicts and address factors of violence and preventing violent extremism in the four countries and regionally. Through the first online training in July-August 2021 and the national in-person workshops in the fourth quarter of 2021, the ALLY Fellows increased their understanding of the push and pull factors and enhanced their multidimensional leadership capacity to work with communities to prevent violent extremism in South Asia.

Additionally, the ALLY project drafted two action guides on Training Workshops and Advocacy to help guide fellows in the implementation of Social Action Plans, particularly in their campaigning, training, advocacy, and outreach initiatives. The fellowship also supported youth action as it does not only provide theoretical tools, resources and guidance but provides accompanying mentorship throughout as youth design and implement action at local, national, and regional levels.

The fellowship programme is a key component of the ALLY project, a youth-sensitive initiative, focused at amplifying the youth voices and actions in addressing diverse factors of violence and Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan. The project primarily targets youth as agency-holders and strategic allies to media and decision-makers, to increase outreach for youth-led initiatives and constructive narratives that value the religious, ethnic and cultural diversity of the region. The project contributes to filling the gap of context-specific resources and collaborative regional actions on PVE in South Asia, strengthening not only regional but also national level networks and youth movements.

The 2.5 year EU-funded ALLY project is implemented by the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers/ Finn Church Aid, UNOY Peacebuilders, Rural Development Society (India), Centre for Communication and Development of Bangladesh (Bangladesh), Youth Development Foundation (Pakistan), and Sri Lanka Unites (Sri Lanka).

1. Principal duties and deliverables

The primary objective for the national trainer of ALLY Fellowship Programme is to contribute to the design and co-facilitate a 4.5 day in-person trainings at the national level. The national trainer will work in one of the focus countries of the project (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan or India). The work is carried out in collaboration with the regional trainer and project staff in March and April 2022.

In this second phase of the fellowship, the ALLY fellows are expected to develop their competencies to engage diverse stakeholders including other youth, decision-makers, religious actors and the media to promote a culture of peace and constructive narratives on diversity in order to prevent violent extremism. Thus, this advance-level training will focus on components of a) Advocacy, b) Campaigning, c) Training and Facilitation skills and d) Social Action Project design.

The National Trainer will:

· Co-design the national training curriculum together with regional trainer, other national trainers and project staff.

· Co-facilitate 4.5 day national in-person training.

· Contribute to the overall monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the national training component.

The Regional Trainer will collaborate with all national trainers on the above tasks and also collaborate with ALLY staff to finalize the ALLY Action Guides on Advocacy and Training.

The methodological approach for the training programme will be non-formal education, characterized by a needs orientated, learner centered, flexible, adaptable, and inclusive as well as a planned process. The national trainer ensures that the fellows receive required capacity and guidance contributing to the overall project goal.

The trainer will be appointed by FCA/Network. The following expertise shall be required by the trainer for the successful conduct of the training sessions:

· Motivation and at least two practical examples of training on all the four thematic areas (a) Advocacy, b) Campaigning, c) Training and Facilitation skills and d) social action project design), specifically in the field of PVE/peacebuilding, based on the methodology of non-formal education.

· Citizen of and/or extensive working experience in the country applying for. Should be available nationally for the in-person meeting opportunities.

· Strong knowledge of peacebuilding and PVE dynamics in the country (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or Pakistan respectively).

· Strong communication and networking skills, including with diverse groups such as policymakers, media professionals and religious leaders.

· Feels comfortable using English as the main language for communicating with wider training team. Ability to speak local language essential.

· Availability to commit to the entire training period (March and early April 2022).

These are minimum requirements and evidence must be included in the application form and/or in CV. If no evidence of fulfilling the minimum requirements is found in the documentation, the applicant will be disqualified.

Full details can be found in the job announcement: https://www.peacemakersnetwork.org/ally-trainers-recruitment/