Empathy opens the doors

The activity

The overall objective of the youth exchange project “Empathy Opens the doors” is to reduce bullying in our social surroundings through finding working solutions for that problem. For this reason, this project aims at empowering youth from Curacao, Georgia, Portugal and Hungary with skills and knowledge which are important for realizing how they can help to stop bullying in their social surroundings.

The project is not meant to judge if students’ opinions are right or wrong, or instruct them how they should think. Instead, the classes aim to encourage reflection and listening to others’ viewpoints to promote critical thinking and empathy — the ability to understand other people’s feelings and the basis for living together in peace. For this, following objectives has been set:

• To share participants’ own experiences and learn from each-other on the topic of bullying;
• To learn how to notice and prevent bullying in an early stage;
• To develop empathic abilities through a few simple self-care practices;
• To learn how to spread all they learned during the exchange to reduce bullying in their social surroundings.

The youth exchange activities will be led by participating youth using various methods of nonformal education such as presentations, working groups, creative workshops, outdoor event planning and group discussions.

It is worth mentioning that youth exchange will include both, project topic related workshops and cultural activities, that will help participants explore different cultures and traditions.

Profile of participants

In this Youth Exchange, we will include 7 participants and 1 team leader from each country (2 leaders from Curacao). 7 participants will be selected from each country and they will be accompanied by experienced team leaders. During the selection process, please pay attention to

• Applicant’s motivation
• Applicant’s Age (between 16-24)
• Knowledge of the English language (We DON’T request proficient level of English, but group should be able to interact in English)

Team leaders will be responsible for their group and their needs, and help facilitate the whole project by giving advice, coordinating communication between us, project organizers, and participants. Before departure to the venue team leader will be responsible to ensure proper logistical, thematic, cultural, etc. preparation of participants.

The activities themselves will be implemented by participants, as we strongly believe in the “Learning by Doing” principle.

Participants

• APV: 1 participant + 1 group leader
• Youth exchange: 7 participants + 1 group leader (2 group leaders from Curaçao)
• participants aged between 16-24
• gender balance