Objective 1: Empowering people in their identity (micro). The participants in Poland, Hungary and Belgium will feel stronger in their own identity. They will empower themselves and eachother. To achieve this, we will organise (digital) events with a focus on confidence and resilience. With peer-teaching and the sharing of good practices, we will involve the key volunteers to prepare these events. Objective 2: Communitybuilding (meso). The participants will learn about and invest in community-building, not only locally but internationally. Participants will learn about the different contexts that shape LGBTQ+ activism. The social, geographical and historical context of the three different countries influence the practices, needs and goals of (local) activists. These will be shared with the participants through a panel, workshop or group discussion. Objective 3: Inspiring and Promoting Social Cohesion (macro). The participants will combine the knowledge accumulated through the previous objectives to inspire forms of activism that go beyond personal identity, local activism and local context. Participants will brainstorm and discuss possible plans for feature collaborations between Poland, Hungary, Belgium and other countries.
The rights of LGBTQ+ people in Poland and Hungary - and other European countries - have been attacked, and it is our responsibility to fight for those rights, in order to prevent worse. All LGBTQ+ people in Europe deserve a life worth living, a life without fear, shame or violence. Through this project, we wanted the participants to learn to stand stronger in their own identity, to combat hate and ignorance and to invest in local communities. Next to that, we also wanted to start building an intercultural, social network between young LGBTQ+ people across Europe, and make them feel the true sense of community: that we, as a (European, global) community, want to and can take action in bettering the lives of not only ourselves but those who need it most within our community. We also wanted to connect the young people involved with other initiatives and organizations that might help them to overcome the societal obstacles and thresholds they experience in their daily lives. By working towards the goal of the Youth Congress event in 2022, during which the participants shared their knowledge, experiences and findings, we wanted to motivate them to use their voice and stand together in this fight.