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You Are WELLcomed

2020-1-SE02-KA105-0027392020Youth mobilityfinalized
Countries: SE|EE|HR|NL|LT|RO|TR|SK|ES · Grant: €35,987.5
Migrants' issuesCivic engagement / responsible citizenshipIntercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Objectives

Young people played an important role in building intercultural dialogue, breaking down stereotypes & prejudices towards migrants and bringing more tolerance to our societies. There were examples when active citizens have gone beyond their capacities in order to fill the gap left by national and regional authorities and have proven they have the will and the need to be heard. We have often seen that when migrants come to our countries, the ones that are the most open to getting in touch and offering support in the integration processes are young people. But, if young people lack knowledge and understanding about the importance of practicing intercultural dialogue, they might be easier attracted and dragged into radical groups who see migration as a threat to their nationalistic ideas. In addition to that, if youth face hate speech or discrimination, it negatively impacts their physical and mental wellbeing. Therefore, it was important to bring young people from different backgrounds, cultural and religious views to establish an intercultural dialogue and to show them that no matter from what culture we come, we are all the same at the core of our existence, we are all humans who deserve the same human rights as everyone else. This may result in more youth joining civil society organizations working with refugees and migrants and contributing to the overall well-being of the youth itself and the whole society. Therefore, we came up with an idea of a youth exchange in Floda, Sweden, bringing youth from different cultural backgrounds to make the group very diverse (Sweden, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Slovakia, Turkey, Estonia, Croatia, and the Netherlands). We decided to host the youth exchange in Sweden, because it is a very multicultural society, which makes the topics of intercultural dialogue and integration of migrants very relevant for the country. This Youth Exchange had the following objectives: A. To inform youth on the topics of intercultural dialogue & no hate speech; B. To engage in emphatic dialogue, especially with people who have different perspectives and viewpoints; C. To connect with others by first of all understanding their contexts and our privileges; D. To foster tolerance, respect and open-mindedness towards diversity of thinking, cultures, & religions; E. To discuss and reflect upon how intercultural dialogue can contribute to the physical and mental wellbeing of youth, and especially migrant youth; F. To empower youth to get engaged in fostering intercultural dialogue and the culture of no hate speech; G. To understand better the integration of migrants situation in participating countries and to find out the causes of hate speech and discrimination towards migrants; I. To understand our thoughts clearer, what beliefs serve and limit us.

Project partners (9)