Not all books exist in a physical form, and the most thrilling, terrifying and hopeful of them can probably only be found in what we call life layouts, the horrible journey of young refugees that have abandoned their family, home and land because of war, hatred and hunger. Young people are like books that tell great stories, bestsellers that should be listened to instead of read. Each and every one of them will be a book that will constitute a library to offer segregated and/or stigmatized people hope to build supportive relationships that encourage their inclusion and contribute to end violence against newcomers. This project is based on the LIBRARY OF LIFE strategy carried out by FRACTALS in their OROGRAFÍAS project, in which an evolution to “Human Libraries” was proposed: a methodology to end hateful and violent ideologies through dialogue that was developed in Copenhagen by the youth association “Stop The Violence”. Fractals developed an innovative work method specifically adapted for the work with young people, especially migrants and refugees, to enhance their social inclusion through art, intercultural dialogue, participation and awareness. From this starting point, five European entities (2 from Spain, 2 from Greece and 1 from Italy) and multiple collaborating entities (neighbor, youth, and immigrant associations that will occasionally provide advice and work on the project) with experience in the field of non-formal education, art methodologies and working with migrants and refuges intend to develop a European-level-impact project during 22 months, to exchange good practices, establish a European network active on a middle term, and to create LIBRARY OF LIFE strategy with a European scope while also enhancing it thanks to the support of entities expert in the work with refugees, the field of youth, and art. By holding 4 transnational meetings, carrying out dozens of national activities for the creation of materials with young Europeans and refugees, virtual meetings, and networking, we will establish a EUROPEAN NETWORK that will actively work on a long term to boost the social inclusion of young refugees and migrants and to put an end to hate speech through the LIBRARY OF LIFE strategy. This innovative strategy intends to promote a personal dialogue between young migrants and Europeans in which each of the participants will take the role of a book containing his/her own life story, not only their greatest successes or their most terrifying experiences, but a story that speaks about the little things that can connect with the “reader” and allow him/her to see their similarities and create empathy bonds. Through these dialogue spaces, supported by the many preparation activities and artistic initiatives, we aim to: - Improve the inclusion of young migrants and refugees through an innovational learning and experience exchange methodology based on art and intercultural dialogue. - Enhance the social awareness of young local Europeans, thus promoting values such as solidarity, mutual respect, tolerance and diversity, to prevent xenophobic, racist and intolerant behaviors. In order to achieve the proposed goals, two tangible results: the first one being the METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE FOR THE INCLUSION OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES THROUGH ART: LIBRARY OF LIFE. This guide will show the innovative and participative methodology LIBRARY OF LIFE for the inclusion through art, and will include training materials and specific tools for youth workers or entities (both public and private ones) that want to carry out inclusive activities for young people, and to create their own library of life. The EUROPEAN LIBRARY OF LIVES will also be created, which will be a virtual space showing the experiences of the pilot tests carried out during the project applying this innovational methodology with young migrants and refugees. This space will compile the life layouts of dozens of young migrants and locals, thus showing the path to overcome their barriers and fighting for inclusion. This result will complement the methodological guide and will become a highly valuable tool for the diffusion and visibility of the project, the network, and the Erasmus Plus Programme. All of this is why we expect the impact of this project to be largely relevant, since its results provide innovational solutions to current issues that young people and Europe as a whole have. Moreover, Spain, Italy and Greece (the three participating countries) are nations with a high percentage of migrant and refugee population, and many of their social organizations have already show interest in implementing the results of this project.
Not all books exist physically, and probably the most exciting, terrifying, and hopeful ones can only be found in the paths of life, in the terrible journey of young refugees who have abandoned their family, home, and land because of war, hatred, or hunger. Young people are like books that tell great stories, bestsellers that should be listened to instead of being read. Each of them is a digital book that creates a library that offers people segregated and/or stigmatized by their host society the hope that they will build relationships of solidarity that foster their inclusion and contribute to end violence to newcomers. This project has been based on the LIBRARY OF LIFE STRATEGY, an innovative work method specifically adapted to work with young people, especially young migrants and refugees, to enhance their social inclusion through art, intercultural dialogue, participation, and awareness. This project wasn’t greatly impacted by COVID-19, since the pandemic began in its final stage; even so, this innovative methodology had to be adapted to the times of COVID-19. From this starting point, 5 European entities (2 from Spain, 2 from Greece, and 1 from Italy) and several collaborating entities (neighborhood, youth, and migrant associations) have collaborated disseminated, and advised, providing experience in the field of non-formal education, artistic methodologies, and working with young migrants and refugees. For 28 months we have developed a work of European impact that has allowed us to exchange good practices, establish an active European network in the middle term, and create the LIBRARY OF LIFE STRATEGY with a European scope and improve it thanks to the contributions of expert entities in the work with refugees, in the field of youth, and art. Thanks to the holding of 4 Transnational Meetings (M1: VALENCIA - FRACTALS June 1st 2019, M2: GREECE - EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION (EDV) November 2nd 2019, M3: ITALY - FONDAZIONE EMMANUEL February 28th 2020, and M4: VIRTUAL April 30th 2021 due to COVID19), dozens of national activities where materials were created with young Europeans and refugees, virtual meetings, and quality networking, we have built a stable EUROPEAN NETWORK that will actively work in the long term to promote the social inclusion of young refugees and migrants, and to put an end to hate speech through the LIBRARY OF LIFE STRATEGY. This innovative strategy proposes promoting a personal dialogue between young migrants and Europeans, in which each participant takes the role of a book telling their own life. Not just his/her greatest successes or scariest experiences, but a story of the little things that connect with the “reader” allowing him/her to see their similarities and establish bonds of empathy. Through these spaces for dialogue, supported by multiple preparatory activities and artistic initiatives, the project -despite the Pandemic- accomplished the following achievements: - The inclusion of young migrants and refugees was favored through an innovative methodology of learning and exchange of experiences based on art and intercultural dialogue. - The social awareness of young local Europeans was enhanced, promoting values of solidarity, mutual respect, tolerance, and diversity, thus preventing xenophobic, racist, and intolerant behaviors. These objectives and achievements were reached thanks to the various results produced in the project. One of the most relevant of them is the “METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE FOR THE INCLUSION OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES THROUGH ART: LIBRARY OF LIFE”, that details an innovative participatory methodology aimed at young migrants or refugees, “LIBRARY OF LIFE”, and also includes multiple activities with objectives, necessary resources, evaluation, etc. to facilitate the training, tools, and resources for youth workers and other organizations that want to replicate this experience. The EUROPEAN LIBRARY OF LIVES https://www.fractalseducart.org/books-with-life was also created, where you can see the experiences of the pilot tests carried out during the project applying this methodology with young migrants and refugees. This virtual space collects the life paths of dozens of young migrants and locals, and has also been complemented with various very appealing and graphical audiovisual resources aimed at young people, showing ways to overcome the imposed barriers and fight for inclusion. Lastly, it should be noted that the good dissemination of the project’s results has enabled it to have a relevant impact on partner organizations and also outside them, especially in Spain, Italy, and Greece, although its impact is expected to continue in the long term and spread to more EU countries.