Building Intercultural Competences: Sharing Good Practices Erasmus Project

Project Title

Building Intercultural Competences: Sharing Good Practices

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Social dialogue; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

Compared to the past, the world has become globally open and young people need to leave their usual comfort zone and explore different lands through studying, working and travelling. This creates new multicultural environments on places, which are traditionally mono cultural. However, Europe is facing major challenges in promoting social inclusion and cultural diversity as core values that unite the Member States. By exploring and sharing good practices and innovative methods and strategies of dealing with the challenges in multicultural environments for youth organisations and overcoming cultural shock, stereotyping, prejudices, discrimination and stigmatisation through intercultural communication and dialogue among young people, the project “Building Intercultural Competences” will raise awareness among young people about the importance of intercultural communication and mutual understanding.
The general objective of BIC is to help young people understand the importance of social inclusion and cultural diversity and build intercultural competences.
The specific objectives are:
– to provide young people with methods and strategies to overcome stereotyping and cultural shock by engaging them in debates, workshops and experiments and producing an interactive online guide for intercultural communication.
– to contribute to capacity building and the organisational environment of youth organisations by exploring good practices in building and managing multicultural environments and producing an interactive online guide for NGOs, working with young people.
To achieve the general and specific objectives, the following activities will be implemented:
– Exploring good practices in building and managing multicultural and integrative environment in youth organisations
– Collecting good examples and creating strategies for overcoming stereotypes, prejudices, stigmatisation, discrimination and cultural shock in young people when moving to another country or when living, working or studying with foreign nationals at home
– Engaging young people in debates about social inclusion, stereotypes and their consequences
– Producing interactive online guides: ‘Guide on Intercultural Communication for Young People’, which offers methods and strategies for dealing with the challenges in multicultural environment, and ‘Guide on Building Multicultural Environments for Youth Organisations’, contributing to capacity building of the NGOs, working with young people
The main target groups of BIC are young people aged 18-30 regardless their origins, social status, experience, and youth organisations working with people who are interested in or exposed to intercultural situations.
The project foresees the direct involvement of at least 200 young people in the events, in which non-formal and informal methods of training will be used, and more than 3000 users of produced guides.
BIC unites one higher school and five NGOs, working with young people. By conducting the project’s activities in six European countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Malta and Portugal), the results will have international relevance and will be multiplied in countries, outside the partnership. The European dimension of BIC will allow the transfer of good practices between youth organisations in different counties and will promote social inclusion, cultural diversity, tolerance and mutual understanding among young people with different cultural and social background.
The expected tangible results include the production of two interactive online guides, the implementation of six local debates, two piloting sessions, one blended mobility of young people and one international forum.
In long run, the project will produce the following intangible results:
– increase the motivation of young people to explore other cultures and make them more confident to be what they are and not be afraid to show their differences
– make young people aware of cultural diversity and the opportunities it opens to them
– improve young people’s communication skills and expression competences
– encourage young people to exchange their experience and ideas and to accept differences
– improve the organisational management of youth organisations, especially when working with young people from different cultures (migrants, refugees)
The expected results will have impact on several beneficiaries. As the main beneficiaries are young Europeans, the project dissemination activities will aim to impact on them by stimulating their attention towards social inclusion and cultural diversity. Partners aim to empower young people to travel and explore new cultures. The second group of beneficiaries are the youth organisations in Europe, which can implement new methods and strategies in building inclusive organisational environment in their structures. The project will also engage indirect beneficiaries, among all, local communities and civil society, schools and universities, public authorities.

Project Website

https://project-bic.vum.bg/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 58022,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

VISSHE UCHILISHTE PO MENIDZHMANT & Country: BG

Project Partners

• ASSOCIACAO CHECK-IN – COOPERACAO E DESENVOLVIMENTO
• ASSOCIATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SFERA INTERNATIONAL BITOLA
• INTER ALIA
• DEMOSTENE CENTRO STUDI PER LA PROMOZIONE DELLO SVILUPPO UMANO – APS-ETS
• CROSS CULTURE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION CCIF