YTA’s Code of Conduct

Preamble

This code of conduct has been created for all parties directly involved in YTA program. It aims to formulate the parameters of behaviour:

• to be in accordance with the principles and values of the program;
• to create a comfortable and safe learning environment, and atmosphere for all participants of every cultural background;
• to achieve the best outcomes for the learning experience.

Each participant to the YTA program is expected to take responsibility for themselves, and to act in accordance with principles and values presented bellow.

Values of Youth Trainers Academy

At YTA we value:

• Mastery: whether one becomes a learning expert today or in three years, one should never stop learning and improve their practices;
• Respect: one should value oneself and other persons and their ideas, appreciate their uniqueness, and their right to be different from self;
• Open-mindedness: it’s an invitation to be receptive to a wide variety of ideas, arguments, and information;
• Tinkering: the program develops open-ended exploration with different materials, to develop the capacity for problem solving skills, as group or individual;
• Playfulness: one is invited to engage with the program, and other actors, in a spirit of lightheartedness and freedom. Even though we agree the outcome from learning are important, one is invited to get involved on activities with a positive mental attitude;
• Community: We develop learning designers interested in creating experiences for people to grow and develop. Taking part in the program, one will have the opportunity to create and join various active and engaged communities of practices in the learning and training field, starting from YTA graduates.

In order to ensure productive and inclusive meetings, all parties should foster cooperation and show appreciation of each other’s contributions.

Educational Principles

According to Bruce Weinstein, there are five basic principles of ethics, common to all faiths and disciples;

• Do not harm: try not to hurt others with your actions;
• Make things better: helping people and knowing the difference between helping and hurting, acting as a community wherever you stand;
• Respect others: always speak the truth and keep your promises, if someone trusts you with information keep it to yourself but report the wrongdoings;
• Be fair: keep a balance on your emotions and do not punish people unnecessarily;
• Be loving: compassion for others, show that you care.

Encouraged attitude and behaviours

The list below should be seen as a starting point for quality interactions. 😊

Positive Mental Attitude – Taking part in YTA should be a meaningful, fun, and safe learning experience for everyone directly involved with the programme. We encourage everyone to have an optimistic disposition in every situation in one’s life, which can attract positive changes and increase achievement. We want to make sure everyone feels respected and empowered during YTA, both in our physical and our virtual spaces. Our behaviour ought to reflect PMA!

Take care of your needs – In order to gain the most from the sessions and rich intercultural environment, it is important that each participant has sufficient energy. Be mindful of your needs (food, sleep,…) so you can benefit and contribute the most from and to the whole event. 

Be social at your pace – Social program attendance should not affect the participant’s involvement in the event. All participants must remember and respect that there are participants who do not drink alcohol, particularly at social events.

Speak up – We’re all invited to notice, clearly communicate, and respect whenever we’re not operating in our optimal state or that a personally important line is or is about to be crossed without consent. If you seem to notice another person in such situation, gently enquire and take their response into consideration.

Harassment-free – YTA live meeting, Discord server, and Youth Trainers’ Communities are intended to be 100% harassment-free spaces and there will be no toleration of harassment in any form.

Substance abuse

Every participant should promote safe behaviour for the sake of health and wellbeing of themselves and others.

All kinds of smoking (e.g. cigarettes, vapes, e-shisha) shall be prohibited indoors within all public areas of the facilities hosting YTA regardless of the facilities’ smoking policy. Smoking is only allowed in the designated areas.

Consumption of alcohol should be done in moderation and upon free will.

The use of illicit substances (subject to domestic laws) are prohibited.

Laws and other restrictions

Every participant must respect and comply with all applicable International, National, Federal, State, and local laws. Any illegal activity will be reported to the proper authorities and subject to the applicable jurisdictional actions.

The following actions or behaviours are forbidden at all during the event:

• Use of illegal drugs;
• Damage of property;
• Underaged drinking (defined by local legislation);
• Violence or threat of violence, intimidation or harassment to any party;
• Discrimination towards any other person, sexual harassment, SOGI based discrimination or racist slur;
• Smoking inside any formal or informal meeting room (including during all social programs).

Financial Liability

Everyone directly involved with YTA will be individually financially liable for any damage to equipment, facilities, constructions and environment at the event’s venues that should result from their actions.

Raising concerns

Please approach, at any time, the event coordinators if you do not feel safe, welcome, or enabled to fully participate in the event. We will help you regain your sense of safety, balance and optimal performance (including by helping contact local law enforcement or support services). YTA Coordinators will address all violations and enforce this agreement according to their best judgement and discretion in proportion to harm caused as outlined below.

Code violation

We would like to preemptively point out some situations and forms of behaviour that can be a source of – sometimes unintentional – violations such as, but not limited to:

• Violence: Expressions of unprovoked and/or disproportional violence will not be tolerated in any form, be it physical (e.g. limitation of movement, groping, assault, stealing of possessions), verbal (e.g. inconsiderate or unjustified insults, threats, shaming or humiliation), or relational (e.g. false or derogatory gossiping, incitement of violence or exclusion, mobbing);
• Harassment: imposing one’s will on someone against their consent or despite their requests to stop (e.g. unsolicited physical contact, taking photos or videos without permission, intimidation, disrespectful disruption of speech, violation of agreements, unwanted sexual advances or imagery);
• Discrimination: persisting in behaviour that disparages any individual based on unjustified prejudicial intolerance for an inherent or chosen trait (e.g.: sex, gender, sexual orientation, body shape or size, visible or invisible disability, skin colour, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, personality, religion, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, personal appearance, fashion style);
• Allergies: placing people at risk due to imposing substances that may trigger allergic conditions (e.g. towards animals, food, excessive amounts of perfume).

If a violation does occur, you are strongly encouraged to take good care of yourself immediately and approach the organisers and/or other trusted people for support. In addition to approaching YTA Coordinators or trainers in person (physical or virtual), you can also do so anonymously, through a means provided to those officially involved with the event and request a specific response from the organisers.

Severity	Behaviour and impact	Organiser response
1) Correction	A single instance of a violation, resulting in minimal harm.	Highlighting the violation and suggesting a better response.
2) Private warning	Multiple instances of violation, resulting in minimal harm.	Personal warning and inquiry into motivations behind violation.
3) Cease and desist notice	Repeated instances of violation, or causing significant harm.	Request to stop specific behaviour (and possibly a public apology to the harmed party).
4) Distancing request	Sustained instances of violation, or causing significant harm.	Request to leave parts of the program or venue and support with restoring harm caused.
5) Expulsion from event	Sustained violation, disregard for organisers’ warnings, or causing severe harm.	Escort from the event and removal from virtual spaces, revoking the right to a refund.

We wish everyone at YTA the best possible experience. We kindly ask you to bear the content of this Code of Conduct in mind at all times to help achieve this goal.