From the 8^th to the 14^th of February, participants from all over got together to participate in the Placement Officer Training “Navigating Peace”. Due to the obvious reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the training had to take place online. However, the online format was not an obstacle for the training to be a very helpful tool for participants approaching the topic of Peace and becoming active within the SCI network. It brought together more than two dozen participants from many countries, which is an important advantage of the online format. Organising the training online makes it accessible for people from all over the world and from different backgrounds to participate.

In this training, participants with different levels of experience came together to discuss peace and to get the know-how of SCI’s exchange system. Some were long-term peace activists, while some others are only now approaching SCI’s perspective on peace. I, who will be placing volunteers in volunteering camps had the opportunity to get to know all the practical procedures, tips, possible challenges, and good practices around that. The training had a special focus on how to deal with volunteer exchanges during Corona and what strategies can we apply after the pandemic. We discussed how the movement dealt with the pandemic until now and the ethics of promoting international exchange during the current situation. We also covered many fundamental topics during the training such as Global Justice and its connection to volunteering, the shapes of violence and how to avoid it, Communication and Peace, as well the volunteer movement history in general.

The participants created a close network and the training helped them to understand that placement officers can change SCI and the world.

The trainers carefully maintain a lively level of group dynamics during the sessions through the many collaborative tasks that the participants needed to complete in small subgroups which motivated them for a more open discussion. All this made “Navigating Peace” a great platform where participants were able to exchange views on what contribution they as activists can make to the development of the peace movement now and in the future.