The youth exchange "Empathy" was organised on 18-26th April 2022 in Norway with 58 participants from 7 countries.
The idea of the project is linked to the issue of migrant waves we are facing in Europe. With the increase in the number of migrants, more and more people get radicalized with their opinion and behavior toward others, especially toward migrants. This happens because people have no idea why they go away from their home countries and the background from which they escape.
Diversity is a fact, inclusion is an act!
By implementing our exchange, we aimed to achieve these goals:
• developing tolerance and mutual solidarity by spreading reliable information about immigrants and the real experiences of refugees in project partner countries,
• raising the level of knowledge of youth to enhance their quality youth work with young people and among organizations dealing with migrant youth,
• shaping a new attitude among the youth of partner organizations to be conscious of the consequences of radicalization,
• empower to fight radicalization by giving examples of non-formal activities.
Implementation
We used non-formal education methods such as presentations, workshops, theater, video making, human library, debates, ice breakers, role-play and simulations, and balancing theory and practice. Moreover, we implemented some other activities through the aims of the exchange, such as world café, team building games, simulation game “world of immigrants,” and video shooting. 58 participants from 7 countries received Youthpass and learned about the Erasmus+ programs and other NGO activities.
Impact
The participants got more aware of what causes "the migrants wave," what the migrants are escaping from, and which difficulties they are trying to overcome. Also, they got skills, knowledge and a positive, tolerant and welcoming attitude toward migrants, which became possible through the sharing of real-life examples and the direct experience during the project. Moreover, they got more aware of the different policies towards migrants followed by the participating countries and of the measures adopted by the EU to support migrants and prevent radicalization.
Regarding the topic of the activity, participants acquired and improved the following attitudes:
tolerance
the spirit of solidarity
open-mindedness
critical thinking
teamwork skills
self-esteem
respect for diversity
willingness to be more active, taking part in NGO initiatives
awareness of the hard work of NGO in the field of inclusion
European feeling
Results
As a result of this youth exchange, the participants developed their communication skills. Cultural awareness and expression are other competencies that the participants developed. They improved their knowledge and awareness of other cultures by sharing other details of their culture and their knowledge of their country during cultural evenings and daily interactions. Last but not least is digital competence, which was improved. During the project, the participants shot several videos, which pushed them to use different media and video editing programs that would allow participants to develop their digital skills. The links to the videos we created are as follows:
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