Today, there is a migration crisis that affects the whole world, and millions of people are directly affected by this crisis and leave their country. The reason of this crisis is the Syrian war and other disasters. According to the data of the United Nations Refugee Agency, more than 65 million people moved to EU countries in 2015. According to the results of field work and research conducted by our team, youth and youth workers do not have sufficient knowledge and awareness about the needs of refugees and migrants. They have difficulty in meeting the current needs. Another result we obtained from the surveys and research is that there are xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance caused by ignorance in the local population and young people, and also their level of knowledge about universal values such as EU citizenship and human rights is below the basic level. Because of these reasons we wanted to prepare and implement such a project. The main objective of the project was to develop the basic competencies and skills of young people, including young people and youth workers with fewer opportunities to understanding refugees and migrants better, thus to contribute to the fight against discrimination of refugees and migrants. Specific objectives were as follows: - To increase the level of knowledge of the young people and youth workers on the needs of refugees and migrants and to increase their ability to distinguish the types of immigrants. - To reduce prejudices and xenophobia of young people and youth leaders against foreigners. - To raise awareness in young people and youth workers on the EU citizenship and the fundamental aspects of EU citizenship.
Today, there is a migration crisis that affects the whole world, and millions of people are directly affected by this crisis and leave their country. The reason of this crisis is the Syrian war and other disasters. According to the data of the United Nations Refugee Agency, more than 65 million people moved to EU countries in 2015. According to the results of field work and research conducted by our team, youth and youth workers do not have sufficient knowledge and awareness about the needs of refugees and migrants. They have difficulty in meeting the current needs. Another result we obtained from the surveys and research is that there are xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance caused by ignorance in the local population and young people, and also their level of knowledge about universal values such as EU citizenship and human rights is below the basic level. Because of these reasons we wanted to prepare and implement such a project. The main objective of the project was to develop the basic competencies and skills of young people, including young people and youth workers with fewer opportunities to understanding refugees and migrants better, thus to contribute to the fight against discrimination of refugees and migrants. Specific objectives were as follows: - To increase the level of knowledge of the young people and youth workers on the needs of refugees and migrants and to increase their ability to distinguish the types of immigrants. - To reduce prejudices and xenophobia of young people and youth leaders against foreigners. - To raise awareness in young people and youth workers on the EU citizenship and the fundamental aspects of EU citizenship.