• Share:

Participants: 8 per country (7 participants + 1 group leader)
Countries: Austria, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, and Latvia

Project Description

We decided to carry out the project because young people expressed strong interest in the topic
of hate speech as one of the appealing issues that is strongly impacting them. In the process of
creating this application we discussed the topic and we agreed with our partners to use art as a
tool to fight online and offline hate speech. Why? Art can provide counter narratives against hate
speech; Art provides young people an opportunity to get involved and fully express themselves.
Art-based tools support the development of young people’s creativity and provide an
opportunity for different types of expressions e.g., through photos, theatre, or creative writing.
It means that young people can experience a variety of tools. Moreover, the tools can be based
even on using non-verbal communities e.g., theatre. It means that even for young people who
do not feel comfortable to fully use English there is an opportunity to express themselves and
with others their perceptions and opinions. And it aims to meet the following objectives:

● To encourage the participants to stand up against hate speech;

● To develop skills of the participants to recognize and address online and offline hate
speech;

● To raise participants intercultural competencies and make them aware of their own
stereotypes and prejudices;

● To increase competencies (knowledge, skills, attitude) of young people from participating
countries, directly involved participants, in the area of online and offline hate speech;

● To increase participant’s creative competencies by using art-based methods and tools
supporting young people direct involvement and developing their competencies;

● To raise knowledge of the participants on the Erasmus + Programme, non-formal learning,
YouthPass and to empower them to continue to be active in the field of international
youth work;

● To increase awareness of local communities of participating organizations on online and
offline hate speech through follow up activities in the form of interactive presentations
prepare and delivered by directly involved participants with the support of the group
leaders;

● To encourage young people who will be reached online through a series of 10 video
interviews with the participants of YE to fight online and offline hate speech and to get
involved in the Erasmus + Programme.

● To support creation of new project ideas, with a special focus on the KA 1, Erasmus +
Programme;

 

Participant profile

● Young people age 18 to 30;
● Strongly interested in the topic of online and offline hate speech;
● Looking for opportunities to increase their knowledge on the roots, consequences of
online and offline hate;
● To be able to increase their skills to recognize online and offline hate speech and to take
steps against it;
● Strong interest in art and arts-based tools and methods, be open to work on increasing
their creativity;
● Strong interest to explore the concept of non-formal education, to increase knowledge
and understanding of the YouthPass and the Erasmus + Programme;
● Motivation to work on new project ideas, visibility, and dissemination of products
including videos.

 

Group leaders profile

● Youth workers, leaders with experiences in international youth field, with non- formal
education based methodology;

● With previous experiences in the field of youth engagement, project management, Erasmus
+ Programme, KA 1 – youth exchanges;

● Being able to support the participants during project: to organize and implement preparatory
meetings, to communicate with other group leaders in the process of preparation of
programme, to assist participants with arranging practicalities for YE, to support participants
during YE, especially to support their learning process and active participation, to organize
and to implement evaluation meetings with participants, to support development follow-up
activities.

● There is no age limit set for group leaders.

 

Working method

● Learning by doing method.

● Ice-breakers and team building games to get to know each other.

● Workshops will leave room for discussions and debates

● Simulation games will allow us to identify current challenges of non-formal education and show possible measures that strengthen them.

● These sessions will provide the participants with concrete ideas that can be implemented in their local communities, thus ensuring an important multiplier effect.

Accomodation and food

Accommodation and food are 100% covered by the Erasmus+ programme. The participants will
be lodged in “Die Lams” Rettenegg, Austria (Maps Link). Retteneg is a small
town located one and a half hour from Vienna and Graz, surrounded by mountains and typical
Austrian architecture. The facility is rented out to schools, associations, organizations and private
individuals, primarily with a focus on children and youth.

Important information about the accommodation

● During the activity participants will be accommodated in a room with 3-5 other people
from different countries.

● Each participant will have a roommate from a different country and we can’t make
exceptions to accommodate people from the same country in the same room. The
rooms will be gender divided.

● We can’t arrange separate rooms for couples or make additional changes in the room
match.

● The rooms have bunk beds. Mattress, duvet and pillows are provided (bed linen
included). The participants must bring their own TOWELS and toiletries.

● Every room has its own bathroom.

Meals

Food: There will be 3 meals per day provided, prepared by a cook. Participants will have a
responsibility to help with food preparation, and learn more about international cuisine. Each
participant will be responsible to wash their dishes and silverware after eating.
During the official part of the event, and in the territory of the hotel alcohol and drugs are strictly
forbidden! Smoking is not recommended and in case of urgency only permitted outdoors in a
designated space.
Everyone is welcome with these restrictions. Violation of this entitles the caretaker to
immediately dismiss the person(s) concerned. No refund on travel costs will be guaranteed in
case of dismissal.
Please, inform us in the application form about your food needs (vegetarian, vegan, food
allergies).
The accommodation is covered at Rettenegg, only for the days of the activity (21.04 – 29.04.2023).
In case of a longer stay there is no chance of reimbursement of travel costs.
You are not allowed to arrive after 21st of April or leave earlier than 29th of April. Please keep
in mind when booking the tickets. For any other questions consult with the group leaders form
sending NGO.

HOW TO REACH THE VENUE

We are not able to reimburse missing tickets!!!

IMPORTANT: Travelling sometimes requires an additional day for catching a flight and
staying for an additional night at the city, where the airport is situated. We are aware of
such situations, but organizers can’t cover this cost, it is participants own cost. For that
reason, we recommend you to use hostels (http://www.hostelworld.com/) or friends
https://www.couchsurfing.org/).

An invitation to try to travel mindfully – with no excess luggage and extra effort to store it.
Welcome to use tips from EC: https://bit.ly/3r23I00
1.Fly to Vienna Airport
It is the closest airport to the venue. Flying to Bratislava is an alternative if you are arriving
earlier. If landing in these airports, you will have to take a Bus, Metro or a Train to Vienna City Centre
2. At 20:00 Jump on a Private Bus to Rettenegg.
There will be an organized, private bus waiting for you at HBF Wien – Vienna Train Station
(https://goo.gl/maps/woF5oCxZJ1dJ6EEo7). The hosting organisation will provide the bus and
share with you the exact location (all partners will get info for the location). The same bus will
drop you off there at 09 am on the departure day.

NOTE: The bus will leave at 20:00 sharp so make sure you are there on time. There is no other way
to reach the venue. Same bus will drop you off at 09am.

If you are arriving from another place and not using the arranged transport please use the most
economical way of transport.

SEE YOU IN AUSTRIA ☺