International Youth Exchange
“Media(te) Diversity”
Summary:
The international youth exchange “Media(te) Diversity” which was planned to take place in Bratislava, Slovakia from 20 August 2017 – 26 August 2017 aimed to train and equip 42 young people, students, youth activists, youth workers and youth leaders from 7 European countries (Slovakia, FYROM, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Czech Republic). Using peer to peer method they were sharing the knowledge, experience and skills which might help to boost the youth perception of diversity and boost the knowledge of critical thinking and media literacy.
Fast-paced world today is facing many challenges. That’s why we gathered young people from 7 different countries from all over Europe and gave them the opportunity to see from the perspective of the foreigner and to question their own believes or stereotypes and the values of our society. Moreover the youth exchange aimed to inspire the further involvement and participation of young people in civic life and also preventing violent radicalization of young people.
On one side social media is a powerful tool for forming the public opinion and for making the people to want to contribute. It has made communication with young people easier and more immediate, while exchanging contemporary, accessible information. Use of social media can be highly effective also in terms of supporting citizenship, life skills, thinking skills and participation and advocacy. Media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn play significant role in everyday life and have become one of the most important communication tools in both personal use but also in professional life, at jobs, projects and events created as because they have become the a key in reaching out a wide range of people. However on the other side the information is not always trustworthy, reliable and source-based. The practice shows that young people nowadays lack the literacy of information verification, which leads to hate speech, xenophobia and other negative phenomena.
The most relevant topics addressed by the youth exchange were:
- Promoting diversity and intercultural dialogue;
- Media literacy;
- Critical thinking;
- Sense of initiative of young people;
- Peer to peer learning.
AIMS:
- To raise the media literacy, critical thinking, power of storytelling, communication and manipulation in communication as well as the argumentation techniques;
- The participants should become aware of socially relevant topics as well as discover new ones;
- They will make a progress mainly through peer -learning and sharing know – how;
- To strengthen values like solidarity, sharing, friendship and diversity;
- To encourage the participants to discover their individual’s ability to turn ideas into actions. Which includes creativity, risk-taking actions as well as the ability to plan and manage projects in order to achieve their objectives;
- To improve the competences in sharing information via internet, especially on social media.
Planned activities in achieving the overall goals of the project were:
- Thinking-Tools TOOLKIT: the participants had the chance to talk to different local NGOs and initiatives that are investigating and verifying the credibility of media content. They were also introduced to the methods to be used in order to ensure the objectivity and critical thinking of the readers, they had time to combine their experiences with social media (youth) involvement and afterwards they presented their finding on the youth participation, involvement and the impact of social media in the context of diversity/ immigrants/ multicultural societies;
- Mediation of Acceptance: a chance to work in a team with members from different environments and to learn more about each other in a way that they can make a silent theater, followed by playing role plays;
- Show of Diverse Beauty: a task to make a media content reflecting on diversity, using digital tools. They can make a video, photos, record an audio and make a graphic design to it, the choice is left to the participants and their creativity;
Participant`s profile required:
- Age 18-26;
- English level ( at least Medium level speaking and writing);
- Committed to contribute to the follow up of the project;
- Be interested in developing competences and implement follow-up initiatives;
- Some priority will be given to youth belonging from minority groups or facing economic difficulties, coming from rural areas or with other disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as participants from Tryavna or the region.
Venue:
It was provided in the the centre of Bratislava. In HOSTEL BLUES.
In the dorms of 4, 6 or 8 people.
More about the hostel at: http://www.hostelblues.sk/
Working methods:
All the training was done through the methods of non-formal education. The activities were for example brain storming’s, plenary discussions, simulations, role plays, team building, energizers, ice breakers and many others.
Travel Costs:
100% of the participants‘ travel costs were reimbursed within the valid budget sums calculated according to the official rules of Erasmus+ programme. If a sum exceeded the limit, the excess was paid by the participants themselves. The reimbursement limit was 275€ per participant from Bulgaria.
Reimbursement of the travel costs was done after submitting all original tickets, receipt/invoices, boarding passes and later sending of the return documents and boarding passes.
Important: It was send only one bank transfert per Country . The recipient of the reimbursement was the partner association , not the participants according to the Slovakian National Agency rules. To receive reimbursement participants had to attend all the planned progamme elements (before, during and after the project activities).
Financial support:
Project was supported by “Erasmus+” program. Accommodation, meals, program and travel cost (based on distance) are covered from grant. There was NO participation fee. However, 15 BGN were deductuted from the travel costs or paid to the sending organisation from each participant, in order to be covered the different taxes, related to the participation of each representative from Bulgaria (bank transfer fees, post expenses, difference in the exchange rates, etc.).
Insurance:
The travel insurance was not mandatory but it was highly reccommended. It costed 1 BGN/day and covered all the common injuries during projects up to 5000 Euro.
YouthPass:
Every participant was individually entitled to receive a Youthpass Certificate, which confirms participation and validates the non-formal learning (NFL) experience of Training course project. Validating the learning experiences of participants is important in itself and the document can be of benefit in terms of the educational or employment future of the participant. Through Youthpass the European Commission ensures the Training course activity is recognized as a non-formal learning experience.
(*For more information on Youthpass you may click on this page to check it online)
Additional materials:
THINKING TOOLKIT Media(te) Diversity
Български