Making a difference through volunteering

1. Making a differencethroughvolunteering By Andrej Sagaidak, RJ4All intern/ young volunteer March 28-31, 2019 Greifswald, Germany

2. First of all who are we? • Restorative Justice for All (RJ4All) is UK-based, international Institute with a mission to advance community cohesion and redistribute power within society at the local, national and international levels. • We do this by using the values and practices of restorative justice, including: • power sharing, fairness, equality, dignity and respect • RJ4All is the leading Europe-wide restorative justice network with members from over 40 countries.

3. What do we do? • We achieve our charitable aims by: • Carrying out educational projects and information campaigns in the interest of communities, victims and marginalised groups at the local, national and international levels. • Providing internships and high quality volunteering to young people and marginalised groups involving social action. • Bringing harmed parties together through restorative justice to negotiate solutions and restore. • Increasing public awareness of restorative justice, human rights and inter-cultural dialogue. • Carrying out evaluations and research on restorative justice, criminal justice, human rights and equality programmes, building a stronger evidence base for further development.

4. We achieve our charitable aims by (continued): • Building bridges between communities and the powerful as well as victims, offenders, practitioners, policy makers and researchers. • Increasing knowledge and pushing the boundaries of restorative justice especially in contested areas of practice (e.g. domestic violence, sexual abuse and hate crimes). • Making restorative justice more accessible to victims, offenders, junior researchers, students, practitioners, policy makers, the public and the media. • Influence and inform policy, legislation and practice at the local, national and international levels. • Providing expert, tailored and independent advice on restorative justice, human rights, equality and criminal justice.

5. RJ4All has the ESC (previously EVS) Quality Label

6. Our offer to volunteers & interns • RJ4All was set up and is largely run by volunteers from all corners of the world. That is why we feel passionate about providing our peers with high quality volunteering that is structured through national programmes. • We offer to our interns and volunteers: • Increase individual skills and confidence levels • Work within equalities, human rights, restorative justice, race and gender equality, youth policy and youth crime, radicalization • Allocated experts to act as mentors/ supervisors • Task related support from day 1 • Accreditation and certification • Fully funded bursaries to travel across the UK and abroad

7. Volunteers & interns recruitment process • There are different ways in which you can get involved with us: • One of RJ4ALL's activities is research related to restorative justice and human rights • Unpaid internship and volunteering positions can be carried out remotely due to the high costs of living in London • Volunteers are daily supported with an ongoing dialogue about tasks and opportunities • By subscribing to our Newsletter volunteers can be informed about these opportunities or you can just fill the general application form, specifically asking for research volunteering • Supporting interesting ideas about projects that can be linked to our aims

8. Key aims • Since 2010, one of our key aims has been to: • Increase cultural awareness especially amongst children and young people • Breaking in this way the barriers that lead to division and community tensions • Sharing power through educational activities and increasing community cohesion • RJ4All also holds community-led projects focusing on integration throughout London and internationally. • Through our user-led programmes, every year we engage with hundreds of marginalised and vulnerable individuals including; young BAME people, migrants, refugee and asylum seeking women, and victims of crime.

9. Volunteers & interns recruitment process • There are different ways to get involved with us: • One of RJ4ALL's activities is research related to restorative justice and human rights • Unpaid internship and volunteering positions can be carried out remotely due to the high costs of living in London. • We have developed an array ofe-coursesand face to face programmes which are bespoke and accredited. • RJ4All has a Public Liability, Volunteers/ Employer and Trustees Indemnity Insurance that covers all our interns and volunteers. • When travel from the UK is involved we engage our Safeguarding and Travelling Policy ensuring that anyone who represents us is protected and covered by insurance.

10. Working on social justice EXAMPLES OF LIVE PROJECTS RUN BY VOLUNTEERS AT RJ4ALL

11. Culture & Art for Unity Project (CA4U) • CA4U is: • a children-led, community cohesion project in London • funded by the London Mayor’s Culture Seeds programme • aims to provide educational and recreational activities to marginalised children to create original, digital art that will bring local culture to life. • The project’s objective is to increase children’s integration into a developing London area, while bringing cultures and all ages together to debate the results of their art and what matters to them

12. Violent Radicalisation, Restorative Justice, and Human Rights • A multi-year research and educational programme, aiming to: • Explore the role, potential and limitations of restorative justice and community-led initiatives for preventing individuals at risk of violent radicalisation • Increase awareness around alternative, positive approaches to violent radicalisation and extremism • Deepen and strengthen the relationship between human rights and violent radicalisation by creating bridges and negotiating solutions • Network and connect researchers, policy makers, practitioners, educationalists and users in the area of violent radicalisation, human rights and restorative justice.

13. Power, Race, and Restorative Justice: The dialogue we never had • The key objective is: • To have the dialogue “we never had” with notions of power, and how these impact on the quality of our justice experience and perceptions.  • The project and its concluding book attempts to broaden theoretical horizons to enrich our understanding of the distribution of power in the criminal and restorative justice processes. • Findings will contribute to the discovery and analysis of new political spaces leading to a better justice experience by oppressed and marginalised groups.

14. Child Sexual Abuse and Restorative justice  • Through qualitative research, policy development and campaigning, the project’s objective is: • Explore alternative ways that can genuinely help address the harm that these cases have caused to the abused, communities and the involved faith institutions • Through evidence-based arguments, research and networking, the goal is to: • Increase public awareness of restorative justice • Influence national and international policy • Publish its findings • Inform and influence practices and encourage faith institutions • It is unfunded and we are interested in hearing from potential partners, sponsors and donors. 

15. Restorative Justice in Educational Settings • RJ4All is carrying out this project focusing on the implementation of restorative justice in educational settings, bringing together scholars from the East and West. • For at the heart of Restorative Justice lies empowerment and as Nelson Mandela once said: • "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world" • Restorative Justice for All, as an international movement aiming to: • Rebalance power through education and restorative justice, has brought together the leading names in the field to lead on a joint project bridging the West and East.  • Original papers will address our current knowledge gap by focusing on East and Western civilisations including: Iran, Pakistan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

16. Restorative Justice Research Network (RJRN) • The Restorative Justice Research Network (RJRN) sits within RJ4All and is one of the largest international, non-profit, research communities in the world. It was set up to: • disseminate cutting edge research on restorative justice • connect researchers, post-graduate and graduate students policy-makers and practitioners in restorative justice worldwide • create networking and collaboration opportunities within the international restorative justice movement • identify best practices internationally, evaluate, promote and publish them • push the barriers of restorative justice and create new knowledge

17. Youth Voice Journal • YVJ is an international multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal that publishes theoretical contributions and empirical studies on international issuesaffecting young people. • YVJ aims include: • Create knowledge and contribute to the literature by publishing high quality research on issues affecting young people • Establish and further develop the youth-led method for research and social policy • Provide a platform for the intellectual exchange of ideas around the globe with the aim of influencing policies and practices • Actively encourage and aide those young people whose voice is rarely heard by policy makers and academia to be published.

18. Volunteers & interns’ case studies • Sara Natividade, Portugal  • “I have a bachelors in Criminology and I am currently taking my masters in Sociology. I have been working with RJ4All since Jully (2018) and it has been an amazing expererience. I would recomend everyone looking to pursue a career in this field to give the institute a try, I am sure it will be a rewarding experience.” • Marianna Iosif, Cyprus • “I am currently studying biosciences at the University of Sussex. I have always been interested in volunteering since I am passionate in giving my time for others who are less fortunate. I joined RJ4All two years ago and the experience has been great as I was able to work from Cyprus while also continuing with school.” • SumeetJalgaonkar, India • “Since 2015, I'm working as a doctoral researcher in Law at the University of Dundee analysing the legislative treatment of Hate Speech crimes in Scotland. Here, for the first time, I met and interacted with Dr Theo Gavrielides. Since then I have been an ardent follower of his work and organisations working in the field of Restorative Justice and Hate crimes.”

19. How can we build cooperation? • Combining our goals in the spheres of: • Education • Training • Creativity • Culture • Health • Well-being • Create opportunities for young people across Europe to: • Build a more inclusive society • Supporting vulnerable people • Responding to societal challenges • Joint funding applications to Erasmus and ESC

20. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! RJ4All www.rj4all.info