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Crossroads: intersectional encounter of youth workers working with marginalised youth

2024-1-BE05-KA153-YOU-0002296232024Mobility of youth workersfinalizedGood practice
Countries: BE|EL|IT · Grant: €31,276
Key competences developmentRoma and/or other minoritiesPreventing racism and discrimination

Objectives

At application stage, the need was identified among the participating organisations for youth workers to be trained about the overlapping, intersectional issues that affect youth they work with. We wanted the youth workers to be more able to tackle issues intersectionality rather than single-issues, having to refer their youth to another organisation for other identity-based issues. We want all the youth spaces of the participants to be inclusive and intersectional. We worked specifically with youth workers who work with Roma, Refugee and people on the move and LGBTQI youth; a big portion of our participants were themselves from these communities enriching the experience. Our objectives were to: 1. have a better understanding of the lived experiences of youth at the intersection of their multiple marginalised identities to be: a) able to identify the needs, barriers, and issues faced by youth facing multiple discriminations b) become better equipped to support youth who are facing multiple discrimination 2. Learn about the work, good practices, needs, and gaps in the work and service provision of the participating organisations (and specifically how they respond to ‘’intersectional invisibility’’) 3. Build a community of youth workers beyond borders trained in applying intersectional analysis in youth work, to respond to the fragmentation that exists within youth work among and between the social justice movements focusing on the single-identity issues, by learning together how to make organisational spaces and youth work activities more affirmative and inclusive for youth with multiple marginalised identities 4. Contribute to the professional development of youth workers working with socially marginalised youth through developing their knowledge, skills, and competencies in intersectional analysis of social injustices from the lenses of the systemic, socio-ecological and critical framework, to support the implementation of quality and inclusive youth work practices and address intersectional invisibility in youth work 5. Create an opportunity for a dialogue between youth workers working with marginalised youth and members of the European Parliament and international youth organisations (through a study and networking visit in Brussels), to increase the knowledge of youth workers on youth advocacy pathways to address youth issues and to better support young people’s active participation. 6. Raise awareness in the prospective local communities on the intersectional issues faced by young people of multiple marginalised backgrounds, by developing local actions: campaigns, educational activities to bring solidarity and intersectionality to practice.

Project partners (3)