Lately, there are many calls for reinforcing intercultural skills and cultural awareness to EU citizens. Such skills are also considered to be very important by the ERF Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, as one of the 8 skills every EU citizen should possess (Cultural Awareness and Expression). The Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning identify and define the 8 key competences necessary for personal fulfilment, active citizenship, social cohesion and employability in a knowledge society (Official Journal of the European Union L394). ‘CULTURAL AWARENESS & EXPRESSION” has been defined as the Key Competence No 8 as one out of the eight Key Competences identified for further action at Community level. Moreover, the rise of political parties which oppose migration, along with the rise of neo-populism in many EU countries, represents a growing threat to the most fundamental principles upon which the EU itself was established as a supra-national organization. Additionally, since it is common sense lately that Intercultural Skills and Competences have become more important in the past recent decades as the EU itself becomes more and more diverse and EU citizens more mobile, while at the same time, the political pressure from the far - radical right poses an increasing threat to the European ideals. According to the Council of Europe’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue: Living Together as Equals in Dignity, intercultural education is one of the key areas where action is required, in order to enhance intercultural dialogue, and to safeguard human rights and democracy (2008). Intercultural competence is considered to be a crucial capability, which needs to be developed by every individual: "Intercultural competence is not acquired automatically, but instead needs to be learned, practiced and maintained throughout life.” And even though many projects have responded to this call successfully, more innovative approaches seem to be needed. The approach of the current project is holistic and innovative, in the sense that it focuses not merely on diversity and cultural difference, while at the same time utilizes experiences from previous projects. While most –if not all- previous projects aiming at cultural awareness and intercultural skills, focused on difference or diversity, this focuses also on similarities, on the common humanity of all human beings which is to be discovered and experienced by participants in certain innovative, experiential activities. The main objective of the project is: - To develop a holistic, innovative methodology for the acquisition of intercultural competences and social networking between youngsters of a local and a migrant background. The project aims at promoting cultural awareness through interventions to students of Tertiary Level Educational Institutions and young migrants (including asylum beneficiaries/seekers). This will be achieved through an innovative methodology, combining learning, experiential activities and networking/getting to know each other activities. Other objectives include: - To assist young migrants acquire social capital, in the form of social networks, relationships and personal connections. - To recognise and battle forms of hate speech off and on-line (including disguised forms) - To assist young migrants and locals to launch low-budget and effective awareness raising campaigns battling discrimination, hate speech and promoting respect and diversity The target groups to be engaged and to benefit by the project, include: - Students of a local background, who will benefit directly by acquiring intercultural skills and competences - Students of a migrant background/young migrants, who will be trained in media literacy, campaigning and will enhance their social capital, by establishing social networks and interpersonal relationships - Trainers/training providers The project should be carried out transnationally, because: - As stated earlier, the rise of anti-immigration political parties and discourses, affects all EU, thus European actions are required, preferably with the capacity of transferability - The latter can only be achieved through projects with a comparative view, such as the MATE project. The consortium is diverse, facilitating the development of transversal activities and materials, which will be publicly available long after the completion of the project
Lately, there are many calls within the EU for reinforcing the intercultural skills and cultural awareness of EU citizens. Such skills are also considered very important in the ERF Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, as one of the 8 skills that every EU citizen should possess ("Cultural Awareness and Expression"). The Recommendation of the European Parliament and Council of 18 December 2006 on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning identify and define the 8 key competences necessary for personal fulfilment, active citizenship, social cohesion and employability in a knowledge society (Official Journal of the European Union L394). Moreover, the rise of political parties which oppose migration, along with the rise of neo-populism in many EU countries represents a growing threat to the most fundamental principles on which the EU was established as a supra-national organisation. Additionally, it is common sense lately that Intercultural Skills and Competences are becoming more important as the EU itself becomes more and more diverse and the EU citizens more mobile. According to the Council of Europe’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue: Living Together as Equals in Dignity, intercultural education is one of the key areas in which action is required, in order to enhance intercultural dialogue and safeguard human rights and democracy (2008). Intercultural competence is considered a crucial capability, which needs to be learned, practiced and maintained by every individual. Even though many projects have responded to this call successfully, more innovative approaches seemed to be required. The approach of the current project is holistic and innovative, in the sense that it focuses not merely on diversity and cultural difference, utilising experiences from previous projects, but also on human commonalities, which have been discovered and experienced by the participants in innovative, experiential activities of project, the MATEvents. At the same time, MATE provided the participants with traditional training on reporting racism and intercultural communication. The aim of MATE was: - To develop a holistic, innovative methodology for the acquisition of intercultural competences by students and young migrants or the increase of their existing intercultural skills offline and online; and - To produce specific outputs supporting the afore-mentioned methodology, such as a tool for the assessment of intercultural skills and curricula, training material and methodological guides on reporting racism and human commonalities. Also, the following objectives were set: - To identify and battle forms of hate speech online (on social media) and offline (in face-to-face communication) (including disguised forms); - To assist young migrants in acquiring/increasing their Social Capital through the development of social networks, relationships and personal connections; and - To assist both young migrants and locals to launch effective low-budget awareness raising campaigns on social media, battling discrimination and hate speech and promoting respect for diversity. In total, 2516 individuals participated in MATE, who were: - Students of a local background that benefited directly from the project by acquiring intercultural skills or increasing their existing skills; - Students of a foreign/migrant background and young migrants that benefited directly from the project by acquiring intercultural skills or increasing their existing skills, and enhanced their Social Capital by establishing social networks and relationships with the local students; - The staff of the HEIs and VET centres of the consortium that were benefited from the project by acquiring intercultural skills or increasing their existing skills, and gained valuable experience through their involvement in the different project activities, which they may use in other projects and their work in general. The main project activities and results are: 1. Desk and Field Research on Common Forms of Hate Speech Online and Offline, which led to the composition of a European Report, including conclusions and recommendations; 2. Development of a needs and impact analysis Intercultural Competence Online Assessment Tool, which was used by 386 students in two phases; 2. Development of a Curriculum, Training Material and a Methodological Guide on Reporting Racism, and implementation of 35 Report Racism Workshops on five topics, with 491 participants; 4. Development of experiential activities on Human Universals and a Methodological Guide for the MATE Facilitators, and implementation of 24 MATEvents faciliated by students, with 404 participants; 5. Development of Training Material and a Guidebook on Effective Campaigning, and implementation of Workshops on the Development of Audio-Visual Material with 99 participants and awareness raising campaigns; 6. Development of a platform presenting the MATE approach and including all project results.