BACKGROUND There are more than 87 million young people aged 15 to 29 in the countries of the European Union, and more than the 27% of them are at risk of poverty or social exclusion (Eurostat, 2019). Their personal circumstances and the environment in which they live may make them vulnerable to various violent radical influences. It is essential to increase awareness and skills among youth workers and other professionals working with children and young people involved in non-formal learning activities. Youth radicalisation has become a growing issue in Europe and its neighbouring regions. According to EUROPOL, in 2018, 13 victims died as a result of terrorist attacks and 53 people were injured. Even though these cases were mainly related to religious forms of extremism, there has been as well a notable increase in hate speech, incidence of hate crimes and attacks on migrants and refugees, propaganda and violent xenophobia, that underline the importance of being aware of all the form that radicalization can take. All of these concerns have highlighted the need to work with youth workers, to help them find an efficient and effective way to engage with young people at risk of radicalization. OBJECTIVES - To develop accessible and innovative methodologies and promote collaboration among complementary organisations in order to improve competences of youth workers through capacity-building activities, - To raise awareness of the impact of art on young people at risk of radicalisation through action research, artistic methodologies, and local and international events, - To improve critical thinking skills of young people by involving them in a research and by using art, - To raise awareness of the risks of extremism and radicalisation among family members and communities through accessible guidelines. PARTICIPANTS Direct Target Groups: DTG1- 10 youth workers per partner working with vulnerable young people in disadvantaged situations at risk of violent radicalization (50 youth workers). They will be involved in the development of the IO2. They will be trained by staff about innovative methodologies and they will train young people after. DTG2: 10 young people in disadvantaged situations at risk of violent radicalization per partner. They will be involved during the development of the whole project and the IO1. After a local training about video-making, each young person will interview 3 peers. In total 200 young people will be involved. DTG3: Family and community members and policy makers in the field of education and will be reached through IO3 and IO4. METHODOLOGY- Our aim is to develop creative and artistic tools for youth workers, and using art as a vehicle to improve their competences. A special place will be given to digital instrument and video-making. For the whole duration of the project we will use non-formal education methods, both in local and international events. We will ensure an effective learning process through a cooperative and clear communication and regular evaluation of the activities. RESULTS, IMPACTS and long term BENEFITS: RadArt project goal is to prevent the risk of violent radicalization, such as racism, xenophobia, political extremism that can affect especially young people marginalised and with disadvantaged background. We aim to reach this goal by providing new artistic and innovative methodologies for youth workers in order to approach young people in a more efficient way. Youth workers will be also more motivated to fight against radicalization thanks to the dynamism of the methodologies and the awareness they will gain regarding the issue. Young people at the same time will benefit from the artistic and innovative approaches that will help them to develop critical thinking. By cooperating with peers and through the action research they will also gain awareness on the topic, especially during the C1 where they will have the possibility to share ideas with people from different countries. They will be trained and they will acquire knowledge about video-making techniques. Family and community members will be given tangible tools to prevent the risk of radicalization in order to be able to recognize the factors and act according to them. They will give their contribution for the positive societal change that we aim to. Policy makers will be more aware about the issue at a local and international level, especially during the final EU conference that will take place in Brussels with stakeholders of European panorama. RadArt IOs will be available for communities, schools, youth workers and teachers who want to implement it during and after the end of the project and this will contribute to a wider positive change in the society and more effective educational methods both at national and international level. Policy makers will make a sustainable and effective promotion of the project and they will develop new educational patterns according to the societal needs.
By implementing this project we aimed to: develop accessible and innovative methodologies and promote collaboration among complementary organisations in order to improve competences of youth workers through capacity-building activities, raise awareness of the impact of art on young people at risk of radicalisation through action research, artistic methodologies, and local and international events, improve critical thinking skills of young people by involving them in a research and by using art, raise awareness of the risks of extremism and radicalisation among family members and communities through accessible guidelines.
We initially applied for this project in order to answer the needs of young people who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This target group represents 25,3% of the youth population in the European Union (Eurostat 2021), a percentage that has decreased since we applied for the project as it was 27% in 2019. We thus wanted to address this specific target group as part of a project dealing with the fight against radicalisation as their personal circumstances and the environment in which they live may make them vulnerable to various violent radical influences. Youth radicalisation has become a growing issue in Europe and its neighbouring regions. Even though the media generally highlight cases mainly related to religious forms of extremism, there has always also been a notable increase in hate speech, incidence of hate crimes and attacks on migrants and refugees, propaganda and violent xenophobia, that underlines the importance of being aware of all the forms that radicalisation can take. As a result, we deemed it essential to increase awareness and skills among youth workers and other professionals working with marginalised young people to help them find an efficient and effective way to engage with young people at risk of radicalisation.