The International Secretariat (IS) of SCI wanted to take advantage of lock down times due COVID-19 and organized SCI Peace Chats. When more people were at home and the SCI team had to stop some projects, we found the ideal moment to share information about SCI daily peacework through Facebook LIVE and the IS launched a series of video conversations focused on SCI vision of peace and volunteering, as a way to adapt its activity to the special situation of isolation and quarantine in many countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The goal was to co-create quality content with our Facebook community in a way of informal chats, no longer than one hour, as a space for sharing and bidirectional communication, opened to questions from volunteers and peace activists.

During three months, we achieved to raise awareness about peace activism and to move more people into action through nine interesting and enriching chats about SCI mission and work worldwide.

Keeping in mind that SCI movement is formed by 134 different organizations in 95 countries, the people who led the talks were experts in topics related with SCI values (volunteering, non-violence, human rights, solidarity, environmental respect, inclusion, empowerment and cooperation), SCI family members, people with relevant  experience in volunteering and deep SCI connoisseurs.

You can find all of them at the button below: 

• “My 5 decade, 5 Phase of Volunteering with SCI” by Stephen Nah, from SCI Malaysia. (live on 9th July 2020)
• “Women empowerment: Academy Ekaterina Karavelova” by Marina Kisyova de Geus, Executive Director of Academy Ekaterina Karavelova and Shirin Hodzheva from CVS Bulgaria. (live on 4th July 2020)
• “Volunteering with asylum seekers and refugees” by Katerina Stoyanova, Steering Board Chairperson at CVS-Bulgaria (live on 21st May 2020)
• “Why you should volunteer abroad with your child” by Gośka Tur, SCI International President. (live on 14ht May 2020)
• “Empowerment and cooperation projects for sustainable actions in the voluntary sector” by Julius Khamati Kuya, Team Leader, Microfinance & Entrepreneurship Facilitator at Kipepeo Community Empowerment Program, partner organisation of SCI in Kenya. (live on 7th May 2020)
• “Let’s make SCI a gender utopia!” by Thomas Schallhart, a trainer and activist in SCI, based in Berlin. (live on 30th April 2020)
• “Working for peace by bringing people together” by Jeremy Flauraud, ESC volunteer in GAIA Kosovo. (live on 23rd April 2020)
• “Projects to nourish a culture of peace” by Alena Čápová, current SCI Project Officer at the International Secretariat in Antwerp, Belgium. (live on 16ht April 2020)
• “International or local volunteering?” by Genti Behramaj, ESC at SCI International Secretariat and former GAIA Kosovo volunteer. (live on 9th April 2020)