Understanding diversity

Summary of the project: This 7 days training course will bring 27 youth workers from 9 European countries – UK, Greece, France, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Turkey and Latvia – to Loughborough and Leicester, UK, from 22 – 30 October 2017. The project aims to educate a new generation of youth workers that would have range of competencies to respond to the challenges Europe is facing nowadays, especially in regard to the integration process of the refugee/migrant/ minority groups in their community and promotion of cultural diversity.

Objectives:

• Explore participants understanding of cultural diversity, intercultural and interfaith education in the context of nowadays reality.
• Increase participants  knowledge of  the international legal framework  linked with cultural diversity ( the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Treaties, Conventions and Covenants, Declarations and Recommendations).
• Explore the understanding of migrants, immigrants, refugee and national minorities. Mapping migration routes across the Globe and Europe.
• Develop skills, knowledge and attitudes required to be culturally competent when working with affected youth.
• Develop participants’ competencies in fighting against racism and discrimination through education.
• Inform participants about Erasmus + Programme, Inclusion and Diversity strategy for youth as a mean to empower collaboration with different

Training methods and foreseen activities: We will be using different methods of non-formal education such as  individual and group work, team work as a method and as a source of learning, power point and video presentations, group and plenary discussions, simulation activities, role play and case studies.
Theoretical input aiming to increase participants’ knowledge in areas of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity and make their learning experience more efficient will also actively involve a participatory approach.
Hence, all stages of the project require participants’ active involvement with the programme.

Expected outcomes: We expect that by the end of this training course the participants will

• acquire a sound knowledge of the international system of human rights protection in the context of cultural diversity and integration;
• understand the components which comprise “culture” and “identity” and how these may be used to promote more effective interventions;
• identify how issues, problems and concerns which may arise when working
  across cultures might be addressed;
• how to fight against racism and discrimination through education;
• recognise their role in acknowledging personal beliefs, cultural differences, boundaries, and the impact of racism;
• define their own culture and the impact of self on practice situations;
• increase their cultural competencies;
• increase the ability to design and run activities with young people form different cultural backgrounds;
• increase the ability to analyse dates and statistics of European challenges and their impact on local communities.

Who should attend: A youth or community worker (who is involved in project with youth) from a partner/ sending organisation who:

• is interested and motivated to work in areas of cultural diversity and inclusion
• is aware of diversity matters in Europe
• is able to share information about Human Rights situation in their countries based on facts and dates
• is committed to run follow up activities in their local communities and cooperate with other organisations at European level
• has a good level of spoken English (to be able to actively participate in discussions and training activities)
• is 18+ years old
• is a resident of UK, Greece, France, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Turkey and Latvia.