Eu+Tolerant

In the past 2 and 5 of November two of the three open discussions inserted in the project EU+Tolerant happened. The project financed by Erasmus+ has the goal of bringing awareness to the topics of tolerance and diversity through non-formal education. That’s how the first conversation comes up, an action of dissemination of the work developed during 11 days in Poiana Negrii, Romania.

The first conversation counted with six participants and was focused in the topics of gender equality and feminism.

The second counted with six different participants that discussed the connection of diversity and equality with young people, everyday life, the media and the education system.

Some of the participants wrote some brief conclusions and reflexions, those can be read below:

Here’s a first reflection, where a college student shares some ideas about the necessity of politically active members in society:

Maria Cruz, 21 – Turism Degree, 3rd grade student (Faculdade de Letras de Coimbra)

I still have a lot to learn when it comes to the topic. In this open discussion we talked about the need of having more political and social active young people. We tried to reflect on the several aspects that might be causing this phenomenon and I feel like we came up with two very relevant ideas. The first one has to do with the general vision of the term politics. Their thought as something exterior from us, only belonging to a small group or simply a hobby. The way I see it, politics is the way of organizing and working in society and either we want it or not, we will always be connected with it in a way. And then, we have the fact of critical thought not being actually valued. If something is socially accepted, we don’t question it, we don’t get involved.

In conclusion, I feel the need to fight against these habits of passivity and conformity and I desire to take on a more conscious and active role on my community.

Mariana Silva, 22 – Graduated in Theater in ESAD

I feel that it’s important that this type of conversations happens more often, it was very useful for me to think in collective, it allowed me not only to have access to more perspectives but also allowed us to go deeper in to our thought about the topic. Of course, that I discuss this type of subjects, but it was nice to have a space where we were challenged to dissect the topic and take our previous opinions and take it further.

I would like to repeat something like that and start doing this type of activities in my group of friends or family and I recommend that everyone does the same.

Here´s the text where a teacher reflects about the importance of a complex and diverse media representation.

Natércia Rodrigues, 53 anos – Middle School Teacher 

As a middle school teacher, I can observe how young teens connect and create small societies in the school context. In a spontaneous way they build their own rules, norms and principles that get normalized and the established. There are several times when I see in them a behaviour of intolerance towards the other, the other who’s different and stands out. There are many factors that may cause this, the family environment is obviously a strong one, just like past experiences in school and friendships. Kids are always going to question what is different, so will the adults I suppose. I believe that something that could help fight this phenomenon would be a more diverse representation in the media. Television it’s still a big part of people’s life but the options presented are very limited. Diversity exists and that it’s not out of the norm, but if this same diversity it’s not presented, we start to see it as something uncommon. It’s important that young people understand from a young age that it’s not out of the norm to have a different religion, race, sexual orientation, etc…

Here’s another reflection of one of the participants of the first conversation, where the participant shares some of the questions raised about feminism and some of her conclusions.

Catarina Antunes, 22 – Graduated in Theater in ESAD

Since our group was only formed by women our conversation inevitably headed to the topic of feminism. At a certain point we decided to explore sides of the subject that we didn’t knew that well and end up discussing the term white feminism, as an attempt to gain more knowledge and enlightenment about it. We end up doing some research and tried to understand ways of developing our perception and conscience, since we believe that that’s the only way of fighting the problem and not becoming part of it.

I confess that I didn’t had a strong knowledge about the subject and I still don’t, however I think it’s important to take some measures in my daily life, like for example, to make sure that when I talk about my experience with inequality of gender and feminism I am aware and make sure to clarify that that’s only my personal experience and that I understand my privilege compared to the experiences of other women.

I also consider important the creation of more diverse feminist platforms, that allow a voice to minorities and I intend to search some of the platforms that already exist, gaining through that a bigger and more complete circle of knowledge and a more complex and less superficial vision of the subject.

In conclusion, I fell that the solution to a lot of problems of inequality and intolerance involve the majority being able to admit their privilege and the creation of spaces and platforms so the voices of those oppressed till now can be heard.

Here’s the last reflection of the first open discussion:

Pedro Rodrigues, 20 –  Classic Studies Degree, 2nd grade student (Faculdade de Letras de Coimbra)

One of the main moments of the open discussion was a long conversation about the lack of relevance given to the topics of equality or diversity.

I consider the nonexistence of a major place in the education system for these topics not only alarming but also a reflect of the huge delay of society in the connection with them. It’s like the system decides to ignore reality, by not discussing the fact that the human rights of minorities are constantly violated, by not trying to give students a contact with different cultures or backgrounds that they might not know yet and by not discussing the current state of society. It’s a duty of the education system to promote equality of opportunity and rights, to promote critical thinking and the desire to think about those subjects. But if even schools don’t have the will to talk about it, how do we expect that regular citizens have it in their day to day life?

United Kingdom
United Youth for Educational Development (UYED) is a new non-formal group wishing to be actively involved in the development of non-formal education among young people in the UK by involving them in mobility and projects across the European space. Our group wants to develop civic relationships with local and international partners and take action to promote the good image of the UK in Europe.
United Youth for Educational Development was set up by young people who developed skills during volunteering in other larger associations and wanted to create the opportunity to be able to provide their local communities. UYED is concentrating its forces to give young people with fewer opportunities the opportunity to develop their skills through intercultural projects on various topics. An important point we are also pursuing is the integration of young people with fewer opportunities, young people with special needs, immigrants and refugees into society.
We believe that through collaboration and cooperation, communities can solve most of their problems with their own forces, so UYED wants to be a partnership for action to support and facilitate the continued development of youth through and for the community. We want to expand this partnership both locally and internationally, with a view to harmoniously developing young people and their communities.
The UYED objectives are:
-developing civic relationships and relations between authorities and citizens;
-promotion of civic, social, cultural, etc. projects;
-supporting individual initiatives that promote the UK image;
-Promotion of youth mobility by planning and carrying out the following types of activities: intercultural exchanges, conferences, training courses, roundtables, seminars, local actions on various themes;

• promoting volunteering through local, national and international events;
• organizing events at local, national and international level to inform citizens about the possibilities and funding programs of the European Commission (Erasmus +, Europe for Citizens etc);
• establishing partnerships with state authorities (local, regional, central), legal and physical persons in order to carry out projects involving young people at local, national and international level;
• promoting entrepreneurship, culture, democracy, tolerance, ecological principles;
• developing a process of youth information, counseling and training in a European context;
• carrying out support, information and social assistance activities for disadvantaged and / or marginalized social categories;
• Developing the NGO sector through activities that help to increase its involvement in the decisionmaking process, in promoting democratic values. In order to achieve the general purpose and objectives, the association proposes the following concrete objectives, through its structures and members:
  
• organizing activities, festivals, gala, symposiums, various exhibitions related to the purpose and objectives of the association;
• attracting citizens, especially youth, into organizing cultural, scientific and civic information activities;
  
• The establishment, organization and administration of permanent cultural, scientific and civic
  information activities that will take place within organized circles;
• knowledge and promotion of cultural values in the area in the context of national, European and universal culture;

Romania

Do Great Things (D.G.T.) Association is a non-governmental non-profit organization that was born from the passion of a few youngsters who wanted to take action and make a change in the society they were living into. D.G.T.’s founding members have had the desire to give back all the things they have learned and experienced during previous years of volunteering. D.G.T.’s mission focuses on national and international networking among young people, students, trainers and teachers of
different nationalities, cultures and backgrounds. It tackles topics such as inter-cultural exchange, non-formal education, ecology, climate change, sustainable development, European citizenship and international politics (geopolitics). All these are added to facilitate the accumulation of experience by young people, through voluntary activities and non-formal education methods, allowing them to put into practice the theory learned in school. As of 2011 we are organizing our own events in Romania:
youth exchanges, youth democracy projects, training courses, seminars for contact-making and conferences. As of June 2013, we are accredited for EVS (European Voluntary Service) hosting/sending/coordinating organization. Themes of our projects relate to social problems
(migration, integration, fighting poverty, active citizenship), cultural aspects (respect for diversity, peaceful co-existence), political issues (democracy, freedom of speech), ecology, sports and arts(painting, photography, singing, dancing). Therefore, we have quite enough experience in a high variety of topics. Information about some of our passed projects, from which we had a great impact and feedback, you can find on the following links: – http://ngocommunicationcamp.weebly.com/
(training course for PR, communication and social media tricks for NGOs) –
iceplatform.wordpress.com/ (contact-making event between Programme and Partner Countries, especially Arabic and Eastern Partnership countries; project writing under Erasmus+) – https://nonformalplus.wordpress.com/ (training course for youth workers that need to become more familiar with non-formal education methods, which gives them space to conceive and test their own ideas for workshops) – https://hflproject.wordpress.com/ (youth exchange about healthy lifestyle through sports and outdoor activities, such as river rafting, hiking, zip-line, etc) – https://blogprosana.wordpress.com/ (youth exchange about healthy lifestyle through healthy diet and regular exercises for the body) – https://workforyourselfexchange.wordpress.com/ (youth exchange
about entrepreneurship and the creation of business plans) ourfuturetogetherblog.wordpress.com/ (youth exchange about migration and the integration of minorities of migrants into local society)
Regarding partnerships in international activities like youth exchanges, trainings, conferences and other events of this sort, our members have very good experience, as we have worked with many foreign NGOs in elaborating and implementing such projects (Youth in Action, Europe for Citizens, EuroMed Youth, Ana Lindh Foundation and Council of Europe financing schemes). Activities have been performed in both programme (Germany, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Greece, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Latvia,Turkey, etc) and partner (Serbia,
Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia,Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, etc) countries. We are working with young people with fewer opportunities and have good practical experience integrating them in our projects. Many of our international events take place in rural areas
where we include marginalized youth like unemployed young people, young people from geopgrahically isolated areas and young people with a hard social background (orphans, from broken families, with immigrant background, etc). Furthermore, when we are sending organization for
projects taking place abroad, we are trying to have in the team consisting of young people with fewer opportunities because we understand the importance of the positive impact these projects have on them. D.G.T. has youth workers with solid practical experience concerning all the aspects of the project cycle in a youth exchange: need assessment, proposal writing, implementation, evaluation, follow-up activities, reporting. Such key-staff can help the applicant organization in whatever aspects they see fit. D.G.T. is making a thorough selection process when forming a team to send in a youth exchange, making the role of group leader most important.

Italy

Associazione Attiva-Mente is based in Modica (province of Ragusa), Sicily, from 2013. Attiva-Mente (that means “Actively” or “Active Minds”) was issued by a common agree between four original members, that forsees to give opportunities of International Mobility to the Provinces of Ragusa and
Siracusa, the most southern provinces of Italy with one of the most highest young unemployment rate and with total abscence – at time – of Youth in Action projects (both in sending and in hosting people). This part of Italy is massively interested by refugees landings, that brought our society in
front of a big challenge between locals and asylum seeker. That brought the founders to think about an organisation that foster intercultural dialogue, dealing in the meanwhile opportunities of volunteering and non – formal education abroad. Because of that, Associazione Attiva-Mente:

• promote the idea to create an European Citizenship through the participation of youngsters;
• promote initiatives against racism or xenophobia;
• promote culture as mean for fighting any form of prejudice and social exclusion;
• promote volunteering as mean for change and get better society, providing active solidarity by the participation of youngsters, without any discrimination based on sex, race, religion and economic conditions;
• promote the ideas of environment’s respect and sustainable development.
  
• promote the theme of legality and Anti-Mafia issue
  Associazione Attiva-Mente provides these activities for implement its mission:
• A web radio channel when youngster can set up any cultural or social activities broadcasting on the net in the way they prefer called “Radio-Attiva” (Radio-Active in English);
• Several workshop and artistic and cultural event on interculturality, tolerance, anti-xenophobia and european active citizenship;
• Non formal group of discussion in foreigners language, for let improve linguistical skills to our young people;
• Ecological initiative and workshop on suistainable economy.
• Supporting Young people creativity, endorsing Music Metal festivals in Modica
• Participating to international and communitarian program Along the years, Attiva-Mente grow up at the point that local institution as City Halls and Schools issued protocol for the creation, respectively, of a Youth InfoPoint and path for international mobility addressed to scholar and pupils. The organisation is close to fund a consortium active in the field of VET project, called ForModica. Associazione Attiva-Mente was coordinator organization of a Youth Exchange project “TV is ME?” in January 2014 in its hometown. We ran “Seven Notes One Europe” youth Exchange” project in august 2015 and USE – United Europe in august/september 2016, in the city of Modica. Mainly, the themes of our project were European Integration and counteraction of racism and xenophobia.
  Associazione Attiva-Mente was partner in several project as Sending Organisation in Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Norway, Estonia, Germany, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland,
  Slovenia and many other Countries. The main theme of the projects in which we were part was the Youth Participation. Since 2013, where Associazione Attiva-Mente was funded, the organisation gave birth to several initiatives based on Youth in Action/ Erasmus Plus programme in Modica (three youth exchange) but since 2014 is accreditated as EVS sending organisation.

Portugal

Novo Mundo (New World), was created in August 2013 has a Youth Group, and since April 2017 is legal established has an association.
The mission of Novo Mundo is to promote European and active citizenship values among the young’s from the city of Almada that is situated in the south part of the river Tagus in front of Lisbon.
We also have active groups in other cities of Portugal like, Coimbra, Lisbon, Cascais, Óbidos, Leiria, Porto and Algarve.
Our name was inspired in the courage and ambition of the Portuguese navigators to reach and discover “new worlds to the World” during the 15th and 16th centuries.
The main objective is the empowerment of young’s in order to facilitate the acquisition of new skills and competences based on non-formal education and experiential learning, creating opportunities for young’s discover a new dimensions of interaction where it’s possible every person have the same opportunities to succeed in life being different and making the difference.
Having in mind the needs and preoccupations of the young’s from our local communities, our group is actively involved in the creation and promotions of activities in several areas like: Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Development and Healthy Life Styles, Art’s, Culture and Technology, Intergenerational Dialogue, Sports and Outdoor Education, social exclusion and involvement of young’s with fewer opportunities, promotion of local networks and valorisation of local
patrimony and natural ecosystems.
We also provide information about national and international mobility opportunities, EVS, entrepreneurship, training and education, self-development, vocational orientation and career opportunities in order to share with other young’s European values and also new development
opportunities like the ones we already have experienced.
Our international experience came from the participation in youth exchanges, trainings, strategic partnerships and workshops under the Youth in Action, Grundtvig, Comenius students exchanges and Europe for Citizens programs which helped us developing our capacities and skills in many subjects like: Facilitation and group dynamics, healthy lifestyles, sustainable development, environment and heritage protection, entrepreneurship education, European project management and international mobility opportunities for young’s.
In July 2015 we implemented our 1st Youth Exchange: Living la Vida Healthy, and since 2015 we were also partners in more than 50 European projects connected with different European topics.
At a National level, New World team also promotes and participate in local activities in order to be in be in full contact with the communities where we came from:
Some of our Activities:
• Outdoor educations and Healthy Life Styles workshops and activities like: Surf, Yoga, Hiking, Meditation, permaculture and zumba.
• Awareness Campaigns in local Schools about EU;
• Photo workshops;
• Sustainable Economy workshops;
• Project Management workshops;
• Financial Education and Entrepreneurship workshops;
• Design and Art workshops;
• Internegarational Sports activities;
• Study visits;

Poland

4YOUth is a non-profit NGO (with the status of foundation) created by social activists, social workers and volunteers collaborating with local public institutions like cultural centres, schools and refugee centres. Through running various cultural activities and public events (educational workshops, integrating intercultural meetings, public debates, cinemaforums etc.), we promote interhuman dialogue and active participation of youth in local social life. By bringing international atmosphere in our hometown, we want to change our local environment to a more friendly, interesting and tolerant one – full of youth initiatives and devoid of prejudices. Thanks to our international cooperation networks we regularly send Polish youth abroad in order to give them a chance to gain experience in the world of volunteering, participate in youth exchanges and verify their stereotypes.
4YOUth Fundation for Supporting Youth Initiatives has carried out many local and international projects and participated as a sending organization in dozens of youth exchanges across all Europe.
Members of 4YOUth Fundation have wide experience in the field of young people and youth workers’ learning mobility as well as in conducting educational workshops (conducted with the use of nonformal education methods) regarding human rights, intercultural communication, social
entrepreneurship, volunteering, sustainable development, ecology, healthy life-style, youth policies and participatory decision-making. The target groups of our activities is also disadvantaged youth in difficult situations – with economical problems, socially excluded, unemployed or refugees. Our
Foundation is involved in a wide international as well as local network of cooperation. By involving the representatives of various cultures and age-groups in our projects we support intercultural and intergenerational dialogue as well as active involvement of citizens in the public life of their local communities.
Key staff/persons in our organization that will be involved in this project have wide experience in the field of learning mobility. They have already participated in and organized many youth exchanges on various subjects (environment, art, theater, sport, interpersonal communication etc.). We also have experience in running integrational and educational workshops in the fields of intercultural communication, peaceful conflict resolution, human rights, sustainable development and global education. Members of our organization have participated in a number of international projects and programmes on the subject of human rights, intercultural and interfaith dialogue. We are alumni of both International School of Human Rights (The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights) and Humanity in Action Programme. We have been trained on the method of Human Library and we have organized several Human Libraries events, inviting to collaboration the representatives of various faiths, immigrants and refugees from our neighbourhood. We are also authors and trainers of several antidiscrimination workshops for the students of local schools. Our teammember have also been involved as journalists in academic radio station, they have also collaborated with local and national media, as well as wrote many articles on cultural, social and political subjects published in online and printed magazines. Our organization has developed an operational recruitment process which helps us to select the best motivated and suitable participants to each of the project. The person responsible for recruiting and supporting participants is well-organized, helpful and well-qualified (she graduated from Management Faculty and she is a member of Project Management Association). Our team works cooperatively and has good communication skills. We have severalyears of experience in organizing and managing international projects (both receiving and sending over 200 youth participants).

Slovakia

Youth for Equality (YE) is an organization, founded in Slovakia as a local youth initiative with the aim to realise positive changes and develop activities on local but also international level in the field of education, labour market, protection of human rights and environment for personal and proffesional development of youth and their integration into society. Our organization arranges educational activities, events and workshops. We support social inclusion through labour integration of youth and
disadvantaged people.
Organising of local events for youth in order to provide them information and get them know fundamental rights and different opportunities during their life, studies and career in national and international measure to raise employability. Raising awareness campaigns include presentations about Erasmus+ projects, internships, EVS, entrepreneurs programme and so on.
International activities and projects are based on contribution to the engagement of citizens at the democratic life of the European Union, promotion Slovak culture and traditions in multicultural environment. With collaborations of the European associations we organise voluntary events about human rights refugee issues. We have organised international project with the cooperation of Italian and Turkish organisation for support of refugee children. Crossing through 13 european countries, visits of refugee camps, organised public raising awareness meetings increased the interest and our partnerships in the current topic of help to refugees.
Organised youth exchanges promote entrepreneurship issues, the entrepreneurial competences innovation, environmental issues for youth who is facing different economic, social or cultural obstacles and challenged by negative life situation. The actions of organization empower young people to take positive action and effectively develop themselves. They focus on improving of required skills and knowledge to become successful in the field of entrepreneurship. The aim is to fight against unemployment issues, support and prepare youngsters for the Labour market.
Regarding our experiences we are able to implement any stage of the successful project. YE is composed of skillful and experienced young people who have various experiences and knowledge. Key people are educated in fields which are important for our projects. Our legal representative Diana Jašeková has a doctor degree of Law and knowledge of International
and European Law, her researches are focused on Criminal Law, criminology and Youth delinquency. She has gained international certificates of project management PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner.
Our members have work experiences in international companies in the field of marketing, international relations, project management. We have also active skilful volunteers experienced in shooting videos, social media tools, technical field. We have volunteers especially from our high
schools and universities and also rural areas and created necessary network of contacts. Some of our youth workers are members of student organisations. Key persons have participated in different
mobility projects where they gained necessary competencies to organise successful projects.
Regarding mentioned informations our responsible members are able to organise a good- quality mobility projects on high level with the cooperation of partners involved in the application.