Individual applicants: Participate in the first Young Fair Trade Advocates Academy!

The Academy will be running from September 2021 to April 2022. It aims to let young people gain valuable knowledge and provide them with the adequate tools to become advocates for sustainable and fair EU trade policies as well as for sustainable production and consumption at EU, regional and local level.

What young individual participants will gain from joining the Young Fair Trade Advocates Academy?

Through a series of online training courses and ¨learning by doing¨, with a total approximate length of 50 hours, participants will get: 

  • Knowledge and tools to understand sustainable consumption and production, Fair Trade, supply chains (food, textile, electronics), trade and climate justice, and socially responsible ecological transition 
  • Knowledge on how the EU Institutions work in practice, insights on ongoing policy discussions at EU level, good practices in doing advocacy 
  • Coaching to learn how to set up meetings and interact with EU policymakers (e.g. Members of the European Parliament, Permanent Representations of EU Member States…), engage in current sustainability debates, and shape public policies 
  • Opportunity to meet NGOs, think-tanks, media, influencers active at the EU level 
  • Opportunity to meet like-minded young people from other EU countries, exchange ideas, experiences & good practices, strengthen their network 
  • Ideas about how young people can be part of civil society campaigns on sustainable consumption and production at EU, national and local level 
  • Participate and bring their voice to on-line high-level events 
  • Upon completion of the programme (approximately 50 hours), participants will receive a certificate of training and skills gained. 

What we expect from selected participants?

The programme will take place between September 2021 and April 2022. For this reason, selected applicants must guarantee their availability to participate in activities and engage in concrete actions over this period. More precisely, it is expected that participants :  

  • Attend a number of online training modules and capacity-building sessions from September onward (split between training sessions and practical workshops). These modules will be thematic (EU trade policies, COP26…) or methodology-oriented (how to use social media on policy debates and engage with media, how to engage with EU officials…). The definitive list of sessions will be provided to selected applicants in late August. 
  • Suggest and develop their own steps and strategy, engage in concrete actions on the above-mentioned issues (advocacy work, awareness-raising activities, social media campaigns, and media relations…) in their region, country and/or at EU level. 

Selection process and criteria

Conditions to apply :

  • age between 18 and 30 (at the date of application)
  • be comfortable with English, as most training sessions will be held in English
  • no requirement in terms of activity: we encourage people with various status (young professionals and -interns, students, volunteers, recently graduated, job seekers, young people facing social disadvantages, and others…) to apply

YOU MEET THESE CRITERIA AND WANT TO TAKE PART IN THIS UNIQUE AND FREE PROGRAMME, PLEASE APPLY HERE. 

We can only accept a limited number of applicants, and selection will be made using the following criteria: proof of motivation, commitment to play an active role over the period, academic, professional or personal background that proves interest in the topics covered by the program for individual applicants. 

We aim to reach a representative panel of participants, and FTAO will pay close attention to gender parity and balance of country of residence.

Applications will remain open through the following registration form until 15th August 2021, 23:00 CEST 

 

Overview of the phases of the programme 

15th August 23h CEST: deadline to apply (individuals and organisations) 

Week of August 22-29: selection and notifications of results  

September 2021 – February 2022: online training and sessions 

October – November: public mobilisation activities, most notably around COP 26 

January–April 2022: Meetings with EU policymakers from your country 

May 2022: Graduation ceremony on World Fair Trade Day (2nd Saturday of May) 

 

Do you still have questions that remain unaddressed? Please contact Sami Asali, at asali@fairtrade-advocacy.org