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Call for the participant: ‘Digitalisation & the future of work & social relations’

What is the conference about?
The conference will bring together delegates from Churches and Church organisations across Europe who work on or are concerned with social questions relating to labour, employment policies and economy, and who expect new insights and reflections from a European discussion. Digitalisation has become one of the most discussed topics in Europe and beyond. The Digital Single Market is a key priority for the European Commission. The states in Europe have set up plans to strengthen their digital potential and the fear of governments is to be left behind concerning expected economic growth and the creation of new jobs if one is not part of this very dynamic development.One main question is how digitalisation will affect the labour market more and more and shape social relations. This question relates not only to the concern that many jobs might be lost and unemployment will rise again as a result of automation and the use of robots, but incorporates also the discussion about how the profile and conditions of labour will evolve – through more automation and new forms of work (online platforms, sharing economy etc.). There is no doubt that this technological process will have implications for social relations. That is why we would like to invite you to a European discussion for the churches in Europe. Quality of work, working conditions and the development of social relations are essential topics for churches, grounded in the wisdom of the dignity of every person created in the image of God and appointed to work for the protection but also flourishing of creation and for the common good. The conference will raise awareness, exchange theological and social-ethical perspectives, and develop tools to use at home but also in European discussions. Furthermore, the conference will contribute to the CEC-Assembly 2018 (31 May – 6 June 2018) in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Location: Germany, Berlin 23-25 April

Organizer: CEC CALL-network. CALL stands for “Church Action on Labour and Life”. The CALL-network has gone through a process of revision in the last years, supported and requested by the CEC Governing Board. The CALL-conference will bring together delegates from Churches and Church organisations across Europe who work on or are concerned with social questions relating to labour, employment policies and economy, and who expect new insights and reflections from a European discussion.

Finances: travel costs & conference fee 280 euro (WSCF-E and the organizer CEC can subsidize your costs if necessary)

How to apply?
Please send the motivation letter to Zuzana Babicova at chair@wscf-europe by 1st March 2018 outlining your interest in the conference. This is a call for nomination open to members of WSCF-Europe network.
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on February 7th, 2018 9:29 pm / Continue Reading »
Call for a Campaign Volunteer
About the campaign “One for All. All for One”

In 2018 WSCF-Europe will be leading a campaign titled “One for All. All for One.” We are forming a virtual network of young activists to widely disseminate positive narrative to hate speech, violent extremism and all forms of discrimination. Our work will start in May with the training in Sicily where we will form a group of committed people who will become goodwill ambassador and will represent media literacy generation locally working across Europe. Online platform for collaboration and sharing and regular webinars will be aiding competencies of the group throughout the campaign period. A documentary movie will be produced to capture legacy after the campaign.

We are looking for a young person who will join us from March until November 2018 working with us in the core campaign team.

Your role in the 6 members’ core team shall involve assistance in :
- Motivating and supporting young people to plan and implement local activities
- Ensuring that there are materials and resources
- Facilitating and supporting cooperation between local groups and European level
- Organising webinars
- Campaign dissemination
How to apply:

Send your motivation letter outlining how you would like to contribute to the campaign to Pavlina Manavska at campaigns@wscf-europe.org by 1 March. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Campaign team members

Pavlina Manavska (Campaign Coordinator)

Natia Tsintsadze (core team member, WSCF-Europe staff)

Zuzana Babicova (core team member, WSCF-Europe Chair)

An expert trainer from the Council of Europe’s Youth Sector Trainers Pool
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on February 7th, 2018 6:47 pm / Continue Reading »
Call for Mozaik Editor-in-Chief
Mozaik is the ecumenical journal of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) Europe Region. It was established in 1992 and is published twice a year (mostly) in English, in connection with the thematic conferences of the four interest groups (theology, culture and higher education, solidarity and gender) of WSCF Europe. The editorial board of Mozaik consists of four people: the editor-in-chief, the Chairperson of WSCF-E or other board member, Journal Illustrator, Communications Officer, and the Art editor.

The responsibilities
- Solicit, receive and process new contributions to the journal issue
- communicating with the contributors and editors; finding and communicating with an art editor and an illustrator; editing the texts and the journal; carrying final responsibility for the publication, thematic coherence and political correctness of the journal, in accordance with the editorial policy of Mozaik.
- supervise/coordinate the illustrator and Art Editor
- maintain and enhance the journal’s quality and reputation
- maintaining contact with and reporting to the WSCF European Regional Committee (ERC)
- to serve as ambassador for the journal- representing the Mozaik at WSCF-E events as able;
  - Chair and Communications Officer: drafting the call for articles; recruitment of other team member support. Art editor: shaping the design and the visual profile of the journal; art editing the journal; and maintaining contact with the printing house which is currently in Budapest, Hungary.
Essential requirements
- Applicants must be between 18 and 35 years of age
- Excellent English
- Breadth of knowledge in the various topics
- A well-organised with an ability to prioritise and meet deadlines
- Editorial work experience
Desirable requirements
- Experience with WSCF or other Church/ecumenical work
Remuneration:

500 EUR per issue. 4 Issues (2018-2021 approx)

How to apply:

Interested applicants should send a CV (including, if relevant, past and present WSCF involvement and highlighting personal skills in regard to the job description), a one to two-page mission and vision statement for their work with Mozaik (including editorial philosophy), and two samples of publications which they have previously edited to the WSCF Europe chairperson, Zuzana Babicova, at the following address: chair@wscf-europe.org by 15th August 2018 (extended).

Responsibilities for the new editor will begin upon selection, where she or he will start by working in partnership with the current editor-in-chief, James Jackson.

If you have further questions about this process, please contact Zuzana Babicova(chair@wscf-europe.org) or James Jackson at james-jackson@email.com. Past issues of Mozaik are available for review at http://wscf-europe.org/resources/mozaik/pass-issues/, and more recent issues are available at https://issuu.com/wscfeurope , as well as upon request from the WSCF Europe Office.
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on February 5th, 2018 2:42 pm / Continue Reading »
Call fo the Religions for Peace International Youth Committee (IYC)
Call for the Europe youth representative for the Religions for Peace International Youth Committee (IYC)

What is IYC?

WSCF-Europe is a member of Religions for Peace- European Interfaith Youth Network. IYC is representing the world’s faith traditions from six continents, leads Religions for Peace Global Interfaith Youth Network. European network – EIYN- is one of 6 regional networks of the Global Interfaith Youth Network.

Europe has 3 representatives on this global committee. As one of the representatives stepped down from the IYC this year, there is one vacant position for Europe. Two of the other European members of IYC are: Rupal Maru and Thomas Gilet.

Since Religions for Peace strive for a religious balance among the members and two members of IYC from Europe are Muslim and Hindu leaders, IYC is looking forward to receive nominations from young Christian leaders.

Are you
- A youth leader who would enthusiastically contribute to the Global Interfaith Youth Network?
- Do you have knowledge and experience in inter-religious cooperation for peace at the national, regional and/or global level?
How to apply?

See the nomination form attached and please email it to Zuzana Babicova at chair@wscf-europe by 9 February.

Being a member of IYC can give you a great opportunity of getting involved in interfaith work on global level and participating in different events all around of world.

More about the European Interfaith Youth Network

http://eiyn.eu/

https://www.facebook.com/rfp.eiyn

https://twitter.com/rfpeiyn
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on January 27th, 2018 3:06 pm / Continue Reading »
Sanja Siročić

Sanja Siročić

Mozaik Illustrator

Sanja is a 28 year old girl from Zagreb, Croatia. Born and raised there where she finished college in the field of landscape architecture and gained a masters degree. But her love was always in the arts, mostly drawing, painting and clay modeling in which she also has some education and is making it a part of her professional life more each day. Nowadays she is living on Tenerife, traveling, exploring, doing yoga and getting inspired for future creations.

She uses illustration as her ‘go to’ tool to express herself and tell stories about her experiences, travels and strong impressions she gets from all of them. She feels most comfortable working traditionally with paper and pen, puts a lot of attention to fine detail in her graphics and work in general, and is also exploring digital painting. The main purpose of her work is in expression and creation itself with which she wishes to inspire others and make changes in and around themselves.
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on January 18th, 2018 3:46 pm / Continue Reading »
2018 Staff & Officers Meeting
Description of S&O

Once a year WSCF-Europe organizes a meeting for Student Christian Movements to gather in one place, to meet with the WSCF Europe staff members, volunteer board members, and SCM representatives from other countries. This meeting is for all of you the opportunity to share the work you’ve been up to over the past year, as well as to learn new skills, make new contacts and to take lots of useful information home with you.

What are the topics of the Meeting this year?

This year’s meeting is entitled “Spot it, Stop it: Media Literacy to Combat Negative Narrative on Diversity and Inclusion”. More details coming soon!

The Meeting will be held between 6-11th May 2018 in Palermo, Sicily.

What are the benefits of this year’s edition of Staff and Officers meeting?

The preparatory group of the meeting and the invited experts will ensure you will:

… Learn to run a successful campaign in your local community and at European level.

… Learn about the role of the media in promoting Inclusion, diversity and human rights.

… Get ideas how to expose and combat negative narrative on diversity an inclusion.

… Increase your knowledge on Human Rights Education.

… Learn to run a successful campaign in your local community and at European level.

… Meet young people working for and with Christian students across Europe, as well

as the Regional Office staff.

… Have fun and enjoy interactive activities.

Who can attend?

The meeting is open to the staff and volunteers from the WSCF-Europe member movements (SCMs) in Europe and to young people coming from Council of Europe member states who has interest in the topics of the meeting and is highly motivated to contribute to the training course and implementation of it results.

If you want to know more about Staff and Officers meeting from last year you can find it here.

Application details:

Fill in the application form by 25th February (extended) to make sure you do not miss out on this opportunity. The deadline has now passed, however, apply ASAP if you wish to participate.

Financial contribution:
- the full participation fee is 200 € (covering 5 nights full boarding and other associated costs). The minimum participation fee is 70 €.
- Travel expenses can be covered by up to 80 % of total costs.
Financial/reimbursement guide based on solidarity is outlined in the application form. If you cannot pay the outlined minimum contribution, apply anyway and we will agree on financial terms.

Organizers:

Zuzana Babicova, Chaiperson

Luise Klein, Links Coordinator

Christiane Gebauer, Program Coordinator

Pavlina Manavska, Co-opted Member

The S&O 2018 Agenda is now available here.

We are open to your suggestions and ideas regarding the programme of the meeting. Let us know what would you like to discuss with representatives of other SCMs; which specific skills and activities that you would like to learn more about; which topics of spirituality that you are interested in. Your contribution is very important for us. Our Links Coordinator Luise Klein (links@wscf-europe.org) is awaiting your suggestions.

The project is financially supported by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe and the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission.
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on January 12th, 2018 4:11 pm / Continue Reading »
Holiday blessings!

Dear friends and colleagues,

Another busy year is almost over. 2017 was a challenging time in Europe and in the World. We have seen growing radicalisation, rising populist leaders in many places and increased racism and hate rhetoric all over the World. In this difficult reality we have witnessed that young people remains at the core of the struggle for equality, human rights and inclusion. Youth strong voices and actions have marked positive changes in many countries.

For WSCF-Europe, 2017 has been full of activities and new initiatives. Young people with their energy and enthusiasm all across Europe have proved to be the drivers in building peaceful and sustainable future. We have made a significant progress to serve our mission of putting our Christian faith into action, serve the most vulnerable and stand for justice and dignity for all.

In 2018 we continue to empower and strengthen members in our network. With joint efforts we persist to challenge many issues at all levels: year we will begin with the annual capacity building training in Italy for the staff and officers from our movement, two international conferences will create space for young people to share, discuss and learn from each other, while our Lingua Franca programme will bring its joy and adventure to youth leaders in Eastern Europe. Next year we proudly continue to support our movements to deliver their activities and projects at local and national levels. We also call for your energy and inspirations to celebrate the anniversary of World Student Christian Federation Europe region.

Thank you for the amazing work and support.

Best wishes for a blessed Christmas time and a happy New Year!

On behalf of the World Student Christian Federation Europe Regional Committee, Natia Tsintsadze
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on December 28th, 2017 11:33 pm / Continue Reading »
Diversity & Integration Photo Competition Winners

The winners are here! Between October-November 2017, WSCF Europe welcomed photo submissions from young people around Europe, on the topics of diversity and integration. After a long and careful deliberation, the WSCF European Regional Committee, the WSCF Europe Staff and a professional photographer have finally reached a decision on what photos and photographers should take away our prizes and warmest congratulations. Here are the winners!

__________

1st Prize

‘Breaking the Bubble’ – David Enriquez (Germany)

“I am myself a child of the world, I learned from my parents how to be free and have no limits to follow my goals.

I landed at the age of 21 in Germany at which time I couldn’t have imagined that I would call it home after some years.
Being a young migrant who for the first time was living somewhere outside of his homeland, the world seemed to be one of gigantic proportions. It was thanks to my host family, neighbours and friends who from the very first beginning made me feel welcome and little by little part of a new home.

The city of Cologne is well known to be host of internationals from many different part of the world. Every one brings some piece of their culture here, it may take you only some minutes walking around the city to see its multicultural richness. Everyone is unique and they live altogether with their differences and similarities.

Yet in Europe the right parties are growing bigger and one of their strongest arguments are against immigrants, against social integration and cultural exchange.

I wouldn’t call myself an activist but I have the feeling that I need to defend the positive values of many people who accepted me as I am in this new country. Europe is, and I strongly wish it will always be, one of the best examples in the world for multiculturalism and integration, yet it needs to be dynamic and continuously progressive to fight against racism, xenophobia and despotism.

This picture represents for me the opposite of what adults and in particular right-wing believers view. In their world, children don’t know differences between us and everyone is treated as a pair, as an equal.

Breaking the Bubble, getting outside our space, share it with others. That’s a closer world image of the Europe I want to live in.

Comments:

As International as the city is, I was walking around the city center with some Portuguese friends who were visiting me for a few days. I am in love with Cologne and I enjoy doing walking tours around this place which I call my second home. While walking through the old town I saw the children from the photo playing with the bubbles.”

__________

2nd Prize

‘Heart of Hands’ – Mirjam Balovski (Serbia)

“Photo was taken in United Methodist Church in Jabuka, Serbia (19.10.2017.). Youth from church made heart of hands with cross in background. Photo represent love for each other.”

__________

3rd Prize

‘Inside we are all the same humans’ – Diana Yeghiazaryan (Armenia)

“This photo has been taken in Yerevan, Armenia, on 18 October 2017. In the photograph it is depicted 2 eggs with different colors black and white. It is symbolic and shows the diversity of people in everything like bad and good, far and near, etc. The idea is even if we seem different and very diverse on the cover, we all are human beings with the same psychology, emotions, feelings and viewpoints. So we are united in diversity. And this is awesome.”

__________

Apart from the winning photographs, a few other photographs have been chosen to be added to our 2018 WSCF Calendar, which will be made available to our friends, readers and followers in the upcoming weeks.

Thank you to all the participants for their involvement!

This competition was part of the campaign ‘A Year with No Hate’, ran by WSCF Europe in 2017, with the support of the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe.
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on December 22nd, 2017 1:41 am / Continue Reading »
Program Coordinator

Christiane Gebauer

Hello everyone!

My name is Christiane and I am a 21 year old student of theology from Germany. Besides my studies I enjoy music, drinking tea and going for walks with friends. And I enjoy being engaged with the students’ interest on both, university and church level. I got engaged with my SCM in Jena (which is located right in the middle of Germany) when I started my studies in 2015. They delegated me to the national movement where I found out about WSCF and got the German delegate with Luise in 2016.

Being with others, sharing stories, learning with and from each other and widening ones horizon are my motivation for my work as a program coordinator.

Best,

Christiane
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on November 28th, 2017 12:53 am / Continue Reading »
Call for WSCF-Europe Fundraising Coordinator
Would you find it interesting to work with donors and funds?

Are you interested in having professional contacts all around Europe?

This is a great chance to build your professional and inter-personal skills and experience!

The World Student Christian Federation – Europe (WSCF-E) is a part of a global fellowship of Christian students committed to dialogue, ecumenism, social justice and peace. Now we are seeking a Fundraising Coordinator for our leadership team, the European Regional Committee (ERC).

As many European youth organisations, especially Christian ones, we are facing major challenges to sustain our financial balance. But where there are challenges, there are also opportunities and so this position is full of exciting potential!

The main goal of this Coordinator will be:
- Supporting the Senior Friends work;
- Working with the Communications Officer on various activities;
- To be involved in all fundraising efforts for WSCF Europe activities in support function;
- To coordinate fundraising working group formed at the ERA and draw on their input and inspiration and support for their position.
The role also entails taking a share in the general leadership work of WSCF Europe. This includes the attendance of two in-person meetings of the European Regional Committee per year as well as regular Skype meetings.

The Coordinator will be supported by the WSCF-E staff in the Regional Office, as well as our Senior Friends network and the WSCF Centennial Fund.

Participation in WSCF-E events is encouraged and will be fully funded.

What we are looking for in an ideal candidate:
- passion for ecumenical dialogue and community-building among young Christians
- interest in both Christian social justice advocacy and theological reflection and exchange
- confidence to engage new challenges and find creative solutions
- reliability and commitment for the position over a term of two years
- very good English skills
- desired: personal link to and endorsement by one of our member movements
If you are interested, please send a presentation outlining your motivation and the skills that you bring to the task of Fundraising Coordinator to the ERC Chair Zuzana Babicová. The deadline for applying is 10th December 2017.
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Posted by: wscfe-editor on November 22nd, 2017 11:34 pm / Continue Reading »