Youth Steps
PROJECT: “YOUTH STEPS AGAINST POWER ABUSE”
2019-1-PL01-KA205-062772
Project details
The problem of violence and various types of abuse of power is more and more visible and present in the European society, in particular in the context of the citizens most exposed to it and often least protected from it: young people. Since the scale of the problem seems to be growing nowadays in the era of migration and economic stagnation, we decided to compare and analyse it in depth, developing a joint action plan that will take into account various European countries’ experiences on the subject. For this reason, our Strategic Partnership was created by the Estonian nongovernmental organisation working with youth and youth workers Seiklejate Vennaskond, a Portuguese initiative for innovation and integration in education Associação Nacional Educativa de Inclusão e Inovação us Escolas (AENIE),
a Romanian organisation that unites, trains and continuously evaluates social workers Centrul de Formare şi Evaluare în Asistenţă Socială (CFCECAS) and Spanish non-governmental organisation for sustainable social and personal development Permacultura Cantabria: all this under the leadership of our Stowarzyszenie Aktywne Kobiety specialised in working with women and girls.
The main objectives of our cooperation are therefore to share best practices in order to counteraddress the abuse of power experienced by young people which means the exchange of tools and knowledge relevant in this field. Socially, this should also serve as a form of raising of awareness about the situation experienced by young victims of various types of abuse and as a strategy of strengthening and broadening the partnership at the regional, national and European level between entities that are interested in the subject matter and involved in work with young people.
In order to achieve the intended results within the Partnership, we will officially start our cooperation during the first transnational meeting in Spain. The first learning visit will take place in Romania where CFCECAS will share its tool for early diagnosis of violence and its best practices. In addition, we will also visit a variety of institutions operating to analyse the problem of abuse of power and violence among young people. Then, during the visit in Poland, Stowarzyszenie Aktywne Kobiety will share its best practices aimed at counteracting the abuse of power towards young women, we will visit local entities involved in the fight against violence and we will participate in the training in Non-Violent Communication. Next visit to Portugal will bring a presentation on cyberbullying among young people on behalf of AENIE organisation, as well as their best practices at work for young people. In addition, the organisation will share its experience in working on the dissemination tool, an innovative television channel awarded in 2017 by the Portuguese National Agency. The eight days long course in Spain carried out by the Permacultura Cantabria will allow us to explore the subject of various forms of abuse among socially vulnerable groups such as women, people with
disabilities or minorities and both, partner organisations’ staff and youth workers and young people themselves will be trained in the emotional management necessary to adequately deal with violence and its effects and work with young victims. At the end of the course an additional meeting will be held regarding the partial evaluation of the project and its dissemination campaign and the final evaluation transnational meeting will take place in Estonia with Seiklejate Vennaskond as the hosting organisation.
Youth workers participating in the project will acquire new methods of intervention in situations of abuse of power and violence against young people, gain knowledge about the state of this situation in other European countries and strengthen their interpersonal, cultural and language competences.
Young people involved in the project will learn about the realities of their peers from other countries and will be equipped with the strategies to ensure a better response and resilience to abuse and repression and different ways to prevent it. Activities held abroad will also help them to appreciate the value of teamwork and intercultural context, a factor that is particularly important nowadays because of the growing wave of racist attitudes all around Europe.
Organisations and institutions that participate directly or indirectly in the project will strengthen their international networks, increase the scope of social competences and expertise and gain insight in new methods of work, strengthening their position as leaders in the field of youth activities at a regional and national level.
Within the societies of Poland, Spain, Portugal, Estonia and Romania, and in the European Union community in general, we strongly expect to increase the civic awareness on abuse of power and violence among young people, both through dissemination campaigns and by the direct activity of each institution involved in the project.
✓Collection and exchange of best practices aimed at counteracting power abuse against youth
✓ Acquiring new tools and inventing new methodologies of counteracting power abuse against young people
✓ Awareness raising campaign: how to make young people aware of power relations in the society (including the situation of minorities)
✓ Strengthening the partnership between our organizations and NGO sector in our countries
Main target groups:
✓ youth workers from different organizations
✓ young people
✓ youth associations and organizations
✓ local communities and society as a whole
✓ organizations working with vulnerable groups
- Before the project:
– reaching out organizations linked to the topic of power abuse against young people
– round tables and meetings with these organizations
Indicators:
✓ leaflet and bulletin about the project (one per organization)
✓ article about the project (one per organization)
✓ two round tables with external stakeholders (per org)
✓ one meeting with external stakeholder (per org)
2. During the project:
– video materials: participants of participatory visits will be encouraged to use video tools to promote the aim of the project
– Facebook pages: each organization will be responsible for informational campaign on its Facebook page and other social media
Indicators:
✓ one video
✓ 2 FB posts/month per organization
✓ 20 short publication
3. After the project:
– personal stories of participants: after the course in Spain each participant will share his/her opinion and reflections (posted on social media)
– further meetings with stakeholders: promoting awareness about power abuse in local NGOs and institutions
– internal workshops after training in Spain (local NGOs should take part in them as well)
– Permacultura Cantabria will create the video made out of photos after course in Spain
Indicators:
✓ 3 personal stories published per organization
✓ meetings and round tables with external stakeholders
✓ internal workshops after course in Spain
Development of activities
Poster
Poster
More info soon…
Infopack
Summary video of the Course in Spain
EN > National reports on Coronavirus and Youth
ES > National reports on Coronavirus and Youth
Video of the Participatory Visit in Poland