Description
The “Encounters with the Different Other? - OK!" project will be implemented by the “Cry" Child Support Foundation and Stefan Batory Middle School No. 2 in Biłgoraj. The project seeks to strengthen active citizenship of 105 young people in small towns and villages in County Biłgoraj to foster tolerance and fight against discrimination and hate speech. Through activities such as workshops (encountering the different others), the Land of Initiative, study visits and the Tolerance Day, young people will become more informed and responsible citizens with enhanced sensitivity to and appreciation for diversity around them; they will be able to recognise the symptoms of discrimination and hate speech and to pro-actively oppose them. The project will equip young people with knowledge and skills and then it will give them the opportunities to practice.
Summary of project results
"The local people in County Biłgoraj have lived in the area for generations and only few outsiders have settled here. Those who do come to live here often feel alienated. Also, disturbing behaviours have been recorded that suggest a widespread hatred towards Jews; Singer's portraits and commemorative plinths have been painted over a number of times on new council-funded sports facilities and monuments have been splashed with paint. The goal of the project was to increase youth engagement in small communities in County Biłgoraj in terms of tolerance, fighting discrimination and hate speech. The project developed 300 young people, who delivered a total 15 campaigns responding to locally diagnosed issues with discrimination. They organised picnics for abled-bodied and disabled individuals, culture festivals, olympic and paraolympic games, meetings with foreign nationals, e.g. from Kenya and Ukraine, a Tolerance Week, and cultural diversity trips for children with disabilities; they held arts and culture activities to create a common space for diverse groups; volunteers took part in the County Dignity Day for People with Intellectual Disability. By attending workshops such as Encounters with Diversity, the Initiative Land, Tolerance Study Trips or Tolerance Day, 300 individuals have become more informed and responsible citizens who are responsive to the needs and issues of those who have a different skill colour, religion, culture, ability, economic status or traumatic life experience. They are capable of identifying and actively countering manifestations of discrimination and hate speech while using adequate techniques. The project offered three-day workshops and then helped young people put the new learning into practice while working on their own projects. The study trips help compare notes with other non-governmental organisations. The project targeted youth in middle schools in Biłgoraj, Księżpol, Majdan, Stara Dąbrowica, Hedwiżyn and Gromada, and local non-governmental organisations."
Summary of bilateral results