Primarily, we wanted to empower young people to become active, engaged and critical participants in society by giving them the skills to challenge disinformation and promote interfaith understanding through citizen journalism. We sought to strengthen youth workers’ capacity to support intercultural and interfaith dialogue and to provide innovative educational tools, such as the Citizen Journalism Curriculum, 8 WebQuests challenges, 4 Media Moderation modules, and the Digital Newsroom, that could be used sustainably beyond the project’s lifecycle. We created the Digital Newsroom, which ultimately hosted more than 300 pieces of multi-media content generated by young people, to give visibility and the opportunity for these youth voices to be heard; to amplify their stories that counter harmful narratives and reflect diverse perspectives. Our overall aim was to create inclusive and safe spaces where young people could explore identity, build empathy, and produce media content that offered alternative narratives to online hate and misinformation. We also aimed to create a replicable model of youth-led media engagement that could be transferred to other contexts encouraging broader social cohesion and tolerance in our communities.
We applied for the CO-EXIST project in response to the growing polarisation, misinformation and intolerance affecting young people across Europe particularly around religion and cultural identity. As a project team of six organisations, we identified a clear need to support and empower young people with the skills and tools to critically engage with media, challenge harmful narratives and promote inclusive intercultural and interfaith dialogue. Many young people lacked safe spaces for interfaith exchange and youth workers were often ill-equipped to guide these discussions effectively and competently. Through CO-EXIST, we aimed to address these gaps by developing high-quality training for youth workers in the form of a 42hr In-service Training Programme, a Citizen Journalism Curriculum for Youth alongside WebQuests challenges and Media Moderation modules and a Digital Newsroom to amplify youth voices. The project supported young people to become citizen journalists, build critical thinking skills, and create counter-narratives grounded in empathy, respect and tolerance. We fostered a sense of agency and connection among learners helping them to actively contribute to more inclusive and resilient communities from the grassroots.