[1] Explore and develop/prototype digital microlearning tools that help raise awareness about the harms and effects of weight stigma among youth, employing the approach of microlearning across the project's activities. [2] Equip youth workers with awareness and digital tools that will help them tackle topics around body inclusion among youth. [3] Equip youth organizations with awareness about sensitivities and particular practices to make youth work in Europe more inclusive for people living in different bodies, especially for bodies of different sizes. [4] Develop a comprehensive, sustainable Open Educational Resource (OER) that allows informing and gathering youth organizations and other stakeholders about the most recent research, educational resources, organizations and other relevant aspects around topics of body inclusion, body liberation, weight stigma, body shaming, and other. [5] Develop and implement a comprehensive communications campaign across all Europe with the aim to generate broader awareness and initiate discussion about the topics of this project.
The project was created in response to an urgent need to address weight stigma, body shaming and weight discrimination in European youth work. Analyses with more than 20 NGOs showed very limited awareness among youth workers, a lack of tools and almost no structured practices for working inclusively with young people in different bodies. Preliminary research conducted in Latvia, Spain and Poland revealed extremely high rates of body shaming and discrimination among youth, often from family members, peers and schools, highlighting severe mental health impacts and a widespread lack of understanding about this form of discrimination. By applying for this project, we wanted to create a base of knowledge, primary resources and explore potential strategies for working on these topics through Body Liberation Network. We were very aware that youth workers should be informed about such harmful practices and provided tools for tackling them. Simultaneously, we knew youth should be educated about causes and principles of body liberation to empower them and reduce the effects of body shaming/weight stigma. We also wanted to ensure dedicated time for development of entity - European Body Liberation Network, that works specifically on this.