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Interkultúra v praxi

2023-1-SK02-KA152-YOU-0001155892023Mobility of young peoplefinalized
Countries: SK|CZ|RO · Grant: €38,600
Digital skills and competencesCultural heritageBridging intercultural, intergenerational and social divide

Objectives

The project "Interculture in practice" was based on the needs of understanding one's own identity and its acceptance by participants from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania. The youth exchange was attended by young people grouping together under the Slovak civic association Silnejší slačním and informal groups grouping together under the Czech children's home Strážnica and the Romanian informal group Liceul Teoretic"Jozef Kozacek". The implementation of the project took place in the city of Trenčín and accommodation was also provided directly in the city of Trenčín. The environment was chosen in such a way that the young participants felt comfortable, could relax, and there were suitable conditions and environment for outdoor activities as well. The identification of needs, topics and goals were the outcome of conversations between the Slovak, Czech and Romanian groups during joint communication. As we found out that they lacked the feeling of "belonging somewhere" and the understanding of "where I belong and why", as part of the implementation of the project, we found out about their common environment, from which the customs, traditions, and daily life of selected Slavic peoples are based. A big topic was also the mutual influence of the cultures themselves. During 12 days, the participants processed all these topics and exchanged experiences and opinions through various activities, methods and techniques of informal education. 18 young people and 2 leaders took part in the youth exchange from the Slovak side, 18 young people and 2 leaders each came to the youth exchange from the Czech and Romanian groups, who worked with them for a long time and led informal groups. The main need that we addressed during the implementation of the youth exchange was the orientation towards more independent decision-making, healthier self-confidence and standing up for one's origins. It was important that they were not afraid to assert themselves in an era in which they encounter prejudices and opinions that "they won't take you or they won't accept you" because of your nationality. Each group had its own experiences and knowledge, and they were more confident in certain things, because they learned better, they knew how to assert themselves and defend their difference. The Slovak, Czech and Romanian groups regularly organized various workshops also on the topics of other cultures. They were very active and had rich experience from various cultural performances. They were strong motivators for each other during the implementation of the youth exchange. They created something together and experienced a feeling of success, joy, self-presentation. The youth exchange "Interculture in practice" was attended by young people from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania between the ages of 13 and 25 who had similar problems, interests and needs to obtain new information about cultures. The methods we used in the project as part of informal education were workshops, role-playing games, energizers, brainstorming, WorldCafé, team building activities, live books, quizzes, round tables, outdoor activities, group coaching. These methods served for the participants to discover and expand information about intercultural learning in practice, culture, customs, traditions, labor migration, history, education, leisure and much more. Using these methods, we increased participants' competencies such as: knowledge of intercultural learning in practice, communication in native and foreign languages, digital competence, work competence, social and civic competence, initiative and entrepreneurship, personal and social competence. The specificity of the Slovak, Czech and Romanian groups was that they had a very strongly developed emotional perception of their surroundings and community, as they were active in their environment in which they lived, but also in their vicinity there were people, acquaintances and relatives who found themselves to be foreigners in another country and had a problem with integration into society, community. The target groups participated in various activities in their communities, where they cooperated with each other in various workshops while actively spending their free time.

Project partners (3)