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Description
The target groups of the project are young people aged 15-24 from marginalized Roma communities. Their voices usually disappear in local politics in communication on tackling inclusion. The project offers non-formal educational activities (trainings, community meetings, consultations) for young people from four excluded marginalized communities with the intention of creating joint campaigns on diversity, discrimination and social inclusion. Campaigns addressed primarily to local actors will have a methodological basis for storytelling, building positive narratives and communication models that increase public support and depolarize society. Project will actively involve disadvantaged youth. Main phases of the project: 1) creating local partnerships, identifying the needs and barriers of the target group that they feel in relation to social inclusion; 2) analysis of findings and setting up effective tools in cooperation with local actors; 3) trainings in individual communities. It is a combination of active citizenship, community organization and campaigns using positive narratives, which gives a strong potential for the involvement of disadvantaged youth in polarized communities.
Summary of project results
The implementation of the project made it possible to create a space for young people to communicate the problems they face as a group and at the same time to name the obstacles that, according to them, hinder the development of the village where they live. It supported their efforts to contribute to positive change through a local public output - campaign. In the Look Up Stand Up project, during the year 2022 we cooperated with groups of local young people aged 15-22 in 4 locations. After establishing local partnerships, identifying the needs of young people and participatory mapping of locations, we prepared a series of trainings focused on the presentation of individual groups using positive narratives and the creation of campaign action plans as project outputs. Thanks to the project, the young people involved acquired skills that strengthen their ambition to enter decision-making processes at the village level and work on creating an inclusive environment in their municipalities. The campaigns and their preparation drew the attention of local actors (including political representation) and the public to the capacities, skills and untapped potential of Roma youth in the development of the community. Youth groups established cooperation with various actors at the local level and set the forms of future cooperation. 45 people from Roma youth were actively involved in the project activities.