In a multicultural society it is inevitable to interact, work and relate with people from other cultures, races and nationalities. Faced with the cultural barrier,  many youth migrants and youth workers have little knowledge and preparation on how to deal with it, even though they play a major role in breaking down stereotypes and prejudices, and are the creators of the future of our society.

 

The objectives of our project were to support and guide youth migrants and youth workers to develop compassionate communication styles, to connect with the humanity in themselves and others no matter the race or nationality, to play an active part in violence prevention and mitigation of interracial conflicts or tensions, and together, through collaboration, cooperation and embracing the value of diversity, build a culture of peace. 

Through the approach used in the Youth Exchange, mostly based on nonviolent communication practices and theory, we wanted to inspire participants to remember how we are meant to relate to one another, and to find ways to manifest this insight into their everyday interactions.

 

Participants were guided in reframing the way they express themselves and listen to others. By putting more awareness in the way we act, react, interact, we can choose to change the habitual and automatic reactions and meet the other from a space of compassion and presence. Thus we are led to express ourselves with honesty and clarity, while simultaneously paying attention to the others needs and feelings.

The intention of our project was to open a dialogue about embracing diversity, creating a space for reflection on the topic “me, you and us”, what are the universal human needs, how we relate to one another. Beside this, we encouraged participants to be involved in work with migrants and refugees, social inclusion and reduce discrimination.

 

We developed special workshop to help them prepare themselves to deal with inter-racial conflicts, fight discrimination, and promote peace and social inclusion. We aimed at helping participants to learn conflict resolution strategies based on an exchange of words that exclude judgments, blames and violence and that inspire a compassionate response on the other part.

 

Participants had the opportunity to practice mediation approaches that have as focus fulfilling the needs of both parties, instead of compromise. They were encouraged to base their interactions on the idea “from one human being to another human being”. 

 

For more information: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/search/details/2020-3-SE02-KA105-003006