Expressions in Dialogue: Innovative youth work practices on refugee inclusion through Living Libraries Erasmus Project

Project Title

Expressions in Dialogue: Innovative youth work practices on refugee inclusion through Living Libraries

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Integration of refugees; Migrants’ issues; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

The Strategic Partnership “Expressions in Dialogue: Innovative youth work practices on refugee inclusion through Living Libraries” has been implemented in cooperation with seven organisations directly addressing the refugee cause from diverse realities in Europe.

The main aim of the project was to create innovative youth work tools for supporting the inclusion of young migrants and refugees strengthening the sense of belonging to the hosting communities, and to encourage intercultural dialogue within the communities through the implementation of Living Library events.

The specific objectives of the project were

.- To analyse the current challenges that inclusion of young migrants and refugee face in diverse European contexts and explore the role of youth work in generating inclusive practices;

.- To empower young migrants and refugees to increase the sense of belonging to the community value their origin and at the same time contribute to a better and more inclusive society;

.- To develop innovative youth work methodologies and practices, including guidelines, methodological approaches and activity proposals, thus supporting the inclusion of young migrants and refugees in the social net of the hosting communities;

.- To design tools for inclusion and to develop competences and support materials to prepare, implement and evaluate local actions based on Living Library methodologies in the public sphere to generate inclusive youth work in diverse European contexts;

.- To increase the quality and develop strategies of cooperation within the Erasmus + Youth in Action programme creating synergies and establish networks of cooperation between youth organisations and local stakeholders to support inclusion and intercultural dialogue.

The project was implemented for, with and by youth migrants and refugees together with youth workers from the diverse communities to develop innovative practices on refugee inclusion through human rights education and Living Library methodologies.

As direct results of the project, a team of local coordinators from each partner organisation were trained along a year through two training activities and the mentoring for the coordinators team.

At the first Capacity Building the national teams of partner-organisations developed competences on inclusion and in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of Living Library actions.

With the support of each partner organisations, these local teams trained other youth migrants and refugees together with local youth workers, to prepare and implement eight multiplier events (living libaries) in the public sphere.

On the 2nd and 3rd of May – We Organisation (in Rotterdam, the Netherlands);
On the 11th of May – House of Europe (Rhodes, Greece);
On the 1st June – AHEAD (Barcelona, Catalonia);
On the 8th of June – Young Effect Association (In Magenta, Italy);
On the 15th of June – AHEAD (Barcelona, Catalonia);
On the 20th of June – by Trajectory@ (Tallinn, Estonia);
On the 12th of July – House of Europe (In Athens, Greece).

In parallel to the event in Italy, the Expressions in Dialogue Intermediate Coordinators’s meeting took place in Magenta (Italy) on 7th to 10th June 2019. This time each national coordinator attended together with one representative of the local Living Library team. The agenda included evaluation and sharing the results of local Living Libraries, that had already taken place and the progress of preparations of the ones, that were still to come.

In total, over five hundred people took part on the living library events, enhancing the cooperation between youth organisations, CSOs, educational institutions and local authorities.

After the implementation of the local Living Libraries events, the representatives of each of the teams got together in the second training activity to share from the perspective of the inclusion of refugees and migrants their experience, challenges and outcomes of preparation, implementation and evaluation of their local events.
These intellectual outputs are available and freely accessible through the project website: https://livinglibrary.trajectorya.ee/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 91902 Eur

Project Coordinator

Noorteorganisatsioon Trajectorya & Country: EE

Project Partners

• Association of Human Rights Educators – AHEAD
• VOIX DES JEUNES REFUGIES EN EUROPE
• ASSOCIAZIONE DI PROMOZIONE SOCIALE YOUNG EFFECT
• To Spiti tis Evropis sti Rodo
• Stowarzyszenie Dzialan Kreatywnych ArteWeda
• WE organization