With the Aware and Active project, more than 400 young people (47 % with a refugee/migrant background) engaged in local awareness raising activities on democratic values and human rights. What we have witnessed with this project is high number of young people who, regardless of their background, acted together for better communities and stood for human rights and democratic values on which Europe was built.
These stories deserved and needed to be shared and spread. With campaign “Young Together”, we wanted to contribute to the change of narrative about refugee situation in Europe which has been mostly influenced by populist voices. We wanted to show the stories of young people who embraced diversity and acted together on the local level to build welcoming and open communities. Because to bring people together based on the values they share and give them a voice is how the inclusion can work.
The campaign narrative:
Europe was built on the values of human rights and solidarity, young locals and
young refugees are standing for these values, against hate and extremism, acting together
to build inclusive and diverse communities, and proving that inclusion works.
The campaign narrative aimed to:
young people to embrace diversity
for inclusion in youth and civil society organizations
and youth organizations in building inclusive comunities
hate, extremism and populism in Europe
targeting people who are not interested in topic of migration or might connect it with negative connotations
ran by young people in their local communities
on 10 December,
International Human rights day
to target decision makers
Twitter storm took place on 10 December 2018 on the International Human Rights day. Using the hashtag #YoungTogether, young people involved in the AAA project, partner organizations and Erasmus+ national agencies tweeted to raise awareness of the youth actions.
Young people together with the local AAA project partners have organised several awareness raising activities promoting intercultural dialogue and delegitimisation of hate, extremism and populism in Europe. The activities varied from workshops, football tournament, bike tour, excursions, school presentations to intercultural evenings and street campaigns.
Photo exhibition and intercultural evening
Skopje, Macedonia
The hugging guides of Europe day, City quest,
Kajaani, Finland
Intercultural exchange between young female migrants
Cerknica, Slovenia
Screening of the movie about LGBT refugee and discussion with a refugee in Estonia who is part of LGBT community
Rakvere, Estonia
Screening the movie about social experiment from NGO Mondo that opened up discussion about racism, short games and informal evening
Tartu, Estonia
Intercultural evening with short theater sketches performed by migrants and common dinner
Online survey between Sardinian youth about European values, results commented by Sardinian MEPs
Workshop about understanding and importance of European values
Cagliari, Italy
A cycling tour that brought together young people living in Salento region, Salento by birth, second
generation, migrants, asylum seekers. The motto of the event was: "everyone has the right to know, enjoy and share the city where they live regardless of where they were born"
Lecce, Italy
A weekend camp organised by youngsters for youngsters with various background. The message of the camp was: "we all live in a beautiful multicultural environment and the
key is the tolerance of the differences between us. We all got stereotypes from our cultural background but it’s possible to go beyond them."
Luserna San Giovanni, Italy
Intercultural evening. Money collected during the evening were donated for an Iranian family of refugees for their better integration to society. The message of the event was: "No matter what country you are from, there should be no poverty."
Innsbruck, Austria
Sharing food in a stand at National volunteering fair. The message of the activity was: "Racism is not an option but a smile with love is the best option to live in peace for a better life for ‘US’ instead of ‘ME’” + "The fact that makes our food special is that we all are different and each one of us has a special ability that other don’t have. We have the *power of union*."
Helsinki, Finland
Street activity run by young people from the Youth centre, Perg, Austria