YARIM is an innovative project coordinated by IRTS Hauts de France and bringing together 6 partners from 6 European countries with the ambition to develop innovative solutions for the benefit of youth organistions acting in generic prevention toward the phenomena of violent radicalization and above all to provide capacities in religious phenomenon among young people The processes of radicalization leading to violent extremism have been growing steadily throughout the European continent for several years and are particularly affecting young people aged between 13 and 30 years. Radicalization is a dynamic and non-linear process, based on a combination of global, sociological and political factors, and ideological and psychological aspects. Violent radicalization compromises, above all, the future and the well-being of the young person concerned. Youth work has a role to play in enabling young people to be active citizens and condoms of extremist ideologies that can lead to violence. The YARIM project targets all young adults aged 18-25 without distinction of origin but starts from the difficulties faced by certain young people in building up their identity, which can constitute the context of the emergence of radicalization processes in particular of religious inspiration (Islamist). YARIM partners all state a growing process of distancing between young people and institutions, as well as uncapacity among youth workers to consider religious dimension of individuals. This situation can justify in some extent a process of cross-stigmatisation, a process that leads to fragmentation and violence. From then on, the main thread of the YARIM project is to move from "the double victimisation to double recognition". YARIM aims concretely at 1. Upskilling youth workers in considering and managing religious dimension in their mediation approaches toward youth 2. Designing and testing tools / devices / programs that can help youth organisations (r) establishing a positive and constructive dialogue with young people 3. Providing youth organisations with methodological framework for the production of counter-narratives to extremist propaganda YARIM innovates in several ways in the field of generic prevention to the risks of violent radicalization among young people by moving from a logic of targeted intervention towards young people to a logic of active listening and co-production ; by moving from a Targeted intervention on the prevention of radicalization, potentially stigmatizing for young people and Muslims, to the promotion of a positive process in supporting youth identity construction. YARIM builds upon the projects already carried out and the expertise of the 6 partners, that araise from grass root youth sector, training organizations and research organizations. YARIM is based on the development, testing and evaluation of three innovative intellectual productions: • Transnational training module on the management of religious dimension in the mediation approaches of youth workers • Toolkit for youth organisations to enhance active and positive dialogue with youngsters, in particular in the field of religion • Methodological guidelines for youth organisations to set up a process of co-production of counter-narratives to extremist ideologies Each production will integrate a transnational training activity enabling practitioners to share their practices and approaches and build together a content with a stronger transnational added value. YARIM mainly targets youth organisations and institutions in charge of training and support to these actors but also young people as such. The latter will have a role of producer in particular for the Toolkit for youth organisations to enhance active and positive dialogue with youngsters, in particular in the field of religion. These productions will be available through dynamic, flexible and adaptable formats, accessible from a digital OER platform managed by one of the partners expert in the field. These productions must enable: • To the training organizations for youth organisations to increase the capacities of their local clients in managing religious process among youngsters and improve their generic prevention strategy. • Youth actors to enrich their modalities of intervention with young people, with a view to recreating the conditions for a positive dialogue (especially on religious issues), to elicit discourse on bottling companies and ideologies Totalizing YARIM can count on partners with strong local, regional, national or European networks to disseminate and exploit the results of the project. Several local restitution conferences will be held mid-term and a major European restitution conference will be held in Brussels in October
YARIM partners shared a common observation : A need for comprehensive training for European youth workers comprehensive: • Religion is very little touched upon in social workers courses. These themes do not appear in the training curricula and can generate discomfort and tension among students/ mature students. • Religion is too often considered to be part of the private or intimate sphere, which leads to a certain reluctance to discussing this theme in the framework of formal curriculum or professional life. • The rise of religious radicalism and political movements of far left and far right cause an increase in suspicion and mistrust, which can induce withdrawal • In France, secularism is often misunderstood and interpreted as a limitation, even a ban on the expression of the religions. A need for adequate tools that can be mobilized by youth workers in response to a change in the profile of the Youth. They observe: • An increasing distrust of young people vis-à-vis institutions and state representatives • A religious extremism, and the use of violence • Increasing invisibility of youth who take refuge behind their screens or in groups where they undergo embroilment • A strong sensitivity of youth to conspiracy theories and messages of propaganda or recruitment, often linked to a high level of frustration, mixed with stigmatization and suspicion • Identity uncertainties, even a deep identity malaise in some young individuals • Barriers to civic participation linked with difficulties in verbalisation and argumentation. A need to promote experiences in order for youth workers to dare interconvictional dialogue with youth. To support professional in their guidance towards a democratic process, open to acceptance of others and diversity. YARIM led the design of three innovative intellectual productions. 1- A training module promoting the development of youth workers' skills in the management of religious facts and in the development of preventive actions for young people facing the risks of religious radicalization 2- A toolbox to promote protective factors against the risks of violent radicalisation among young people 3- A guide to promote inter-convinctional meetings. The tools proposed by YARIM are modular and scalable. The training module can be completed by other units, other activities can be added to the toolbox and other good practice can complete the guide. These productions enable: • Young people aged from 13 to 30 to develop protective factors against the risks of violent radicalisation • Schools of social work, facilitators and stakeholders in general to support the capacity building of youth workers in religious phenomena and generic prevention of violent radicalization. • Youth actors, professionals to enrich their methods of intervention with youth, in order to recreate the conditions for a positive dialogue (especially on religious issues), to develop protective factors to the risks of radicalization • Public authorities, politicians, association leaders to better understand these issues to lead strategies to increase the competence of youth workers, support to the public policies to promote Youth civic participation in an inclusive society. Communication throughout the project and dissemination during national and transnational conferences was intended to spread the three intellectual activities to a large number of organisations, authorities and professionals, while advocating for youth. We want to show that the radical propensity of youth is inherent to this age and that we have a common responsibility to foster the "grip" of these young people on civic commitments, in line with democratic values. Each partner organizes activities in its respective networks to promote YARIM's productions (conferences, tools, workshops, integration of tools into training programs and professional training). The productions are freely accessible on the open educational resource: http://yarimproject.eu/oer/ and Portal Erasmus + Annexe n°2 : rapport final et plaidoyer en anglais