Route 2020 - Highway to Inclusion

Background The concept of the project was developed from the idea of vulnerability of migrants and refugees who often become victims of hate crimes as a result of lacking diversity and tolerance, inclusion and respect in the societies. The EU is not an exception, where migrants and refugees are often perceived as potential criminals, and unreliable elements of the community which result in a lack of opportunities, restrictions of access to the labour market or discriminatory practices leading to partial or full marginalisation of the group.Young people are, indeed, one of the most vulnerable targets to racist and discriminatory propaganda and messages against ethnic minorities. That is why they were selected as a primary target group for the project with the objectives of promoting intercultural dialogue, knowledge about acceptance, diversity and tolerance in society, and effective anti-discrimination activities against ethnic minorities through awareness among young people and education in order to foster respectful and inclusive behaviours. Objectives The project aimed to equip selected candidates from Lithuania, Germany and Italy with the knowledge on inclusion and diversity, develop their skills and competencies by employing different methodologies of non-formal education in a joint learning process. Among selected methodologies, the project used Forum Theatre, Education Through Sport and Digital Storytelling, which became a core to the personal and group campaigns of the participants. These campaigns became crucial in exploring the high potential of the methodologies and estimating learning outcomes. Moreover, all the selected tools proved to be very efficient in terms of creating a safe and friendly environment, creativity and self-exploration for group participants. Through the activities embedded with these methodologies and tools the project aimed at empowering and provoking participants in order to push them to create social values such as mutual respect, intercultural dialogue, acceptance, cooperation and trust. Implementation The project carried out three transnational meetings: one online and two in hybrid form both with offline and online presence. Each of the partner organisations hosted a blended mobility offline involving youngsters from Italy, Germany and Lithuania and those representing ethnic minorities in the selected countries. Blended mobility in Italy focused on the use of education through sport as a tool to contrast discrimination and racism towards ethnic minorities. Blended mobility in Germany focused on the use of digital storytelling as a tool to build effective awareness campaigns against discrimination and stereotyping practices. While blended mobility in Lithuania focused on the use of forum theatre as a tool to engage a wider audience in the discussion and further actions related to the just and tolerant societies as well as influencing policymaking and decision-making processes on local and national levels. After the mobilities implementation partners carried out one online dissemination event with invited speaker where a broader dialogue was set and the results achieved through the project were shared. Achievements The project team has developed a Toolkit “Ethnic Unity” which contains all the results of the research phase as well as the workshops and activities employed and tested during the three mobilities carried out in Italy, Germany and Lithuania. As a result of the implemented programs during the mobilities native and ethnic minority youths from each partner country had the opportunity to build a truly international dialogue and establish strong ties based on the principles of intercultural communication. All the participants were empowered to foster communities, social inclusion, build safe communication with ethnic minorities, effective awareness campaigns related to minority issues and raising empathy, tolerance and inclusion behaviours towards the latter. Each mobility produced social awareness campaigns created and performed by the participants based on methodologies studied in each of the activities such as Forum Theatre, Education Through Sport and Digital Storytelling. All the campaigns were recorded and used as promotional materials for the dissemination event targeting local activists, NGO members and policymakers. Moreover, the implementation of the project increased the expertise of each partner organisation.