Developing an innovative platform to impact millions of refugees with social circus!

Circus Effect is an Innovative platform developed to impact millions of refugees by its social circus pedagogy. Circus Effect utilizes its social circus pedagogy and years of experiences with the children & youth of war to facilitate and provide activities for and with children & youth. The Syrian civil war has created an education crisis for the Middle East. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that less than 40 percent of Syrian refugee children are enrolled in formal education. Not only is education of individual Syrian children under threat, but also the future of Syrian and host-country societies—the stability and prosperity of the region will depend on ensuring that school-age children receive the education they need to be resilient to the circumstances they face and have the capability to provide for themselves and their families. While Syria’s future depends upon its children, a lost generation is being created. Given the numbers of Syrian refugee children currently not receiving formal education, the strained capacities of host countries, the political considerations, and the risks posed to children and society at large, there is an urgent need to alleviate this situation with innovative educational strategies to coordinate efforts, share knowledge, make evidence-based decisions, improve efficiency or effectiveness, and solicit resources. The risk is that a generation of displaced youth will be growing up without an education.In this context, Our project with its new branding name Circus Effect is offering alternative sources of non formal education to refugee and displaced youth in and around Europe with social circus. There is a general misconception and “misdiagnosis” about the children & youth of war, their social needs and circumstances. Very often the focus is on the nearly unsolvable problems and efforts on using the classical and conventional pedagogies and solutions which would definitely work if there was no war. Circus Effect’s primary focus is in discovering the personal resources and talents in children & youth of war and strengthening them by different trainings. The participants gain personal skills in different physical arts and together in their groups, develop their social skills and contribute to their communities by conducting workshops and performances. Joy and hope are the keywords of all the activities, the motivation, the drive, the path and the results for the participants as well as their parents and the audience. The most fundamental element of Circus Effect pedagogy is focusing on the positive and strengthening, utilizing, and expanding it. This approach transforms the children & youth of war from victims and problems to young leaders and solutions of their communities. We are developing a cross-sectoral international network and platform to engage a large number of people and organisms in social circus activities with refugee and displaced youth all over Europe. During our work in different countries we have observed and experienced many amazing events and progresses both in smaller scales in individuals as bigger scales in communities. During our work in different countries we have observed and experienced many amazing events and progresses both in smaller scales in individuals as bigger scales in communities. Our project so far involved over 400 participants from 7 NGO and social circus schools staff and other partner organisations to young social circus trainers and students from refugee or displaced communities..Since 2016 March we implement 9 international mobility about management and planning ; social circus training methods ; social media, identity building and public relations ; team identity building ; engaging volunteers ; products development & marketing for social circus ; big scale social circus events organisation and management by young volunteers. In Mardin Turkey Her Yerde Sanat Sirkhane implemented 100 circus workshops and 10 youth circus shows already. In Afghanistan another 100 circus workshops and school performances every month implemented during 2 years long.In 2017 2 youth circus festivals in Mardin and Kabul..2018 mobile photo exhibition and 2 concerts in Munich and İstanbul .The results of our project involve training material and practical info to implement social circus activities, methods, processes and network to multiply social circus activities and impact ; a web portal to engage stakeholders into social circus projects ; a social network and communication platform circuseffect instagram, facebook, youtube channel for refugee and displaced youth practicing social circus and a mobile application to connect social circus actors in Europe and the world.The project web site is www.circuseffect.com now, we are developing on this platform that would initiate young joy-makers to spread joy with social circus by establishing their own initiatives and thus, multiplying the positive effect of it.