Sweden
The SOFIA Traineeship
The SOFIA Traineeship in Sweden is a collaboration between Föreningen SOFIA, the International Youth Initiative Program (YIP), Aramitan, Brazil and the Novalis Institute, South Africa. It aims to empower individual Trainees working with Organizations in the South by giving them new skills and knowledge to work with and support the development of innovative initiatives and projects strengthening civil society within their home communities.
The program features practical work in Sweden where Trainees will gain experience and new capacities in the three SOFIA program areas of pedagogy, healthcare and/or agriculture/ecology. Trainees will also participate in YIP, a program under Vårdinge By Folkhögskola, and make contact with other international youth working with local/global sustainable development. In this way, they will support positive intercultural exchange and the development of an active international network, sharing experiences and skills, gaining new training and methods to be later implemented in the South, and further strengthen North/South relationships and possibilities of future cooperation.
The aim of the SOFIA Traineeship is to empower individuals by offering a relevant and intensive training in Sweden, after which they can positively impact their local communities and contribute to the long-term goal of finding local solutions to local problems.