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Description
According to the Centrum Badań Opinii Społecznej study, nearly half of young people believe that they have no impact on matters concerning their immediate environment. At the same time, in our hometown Białystok we can observe high polarisation of the society, e.g., negative approach among youths to people with different outlooks. This is something that could be observed in the reaction to the Equality March in Białystok in 2019 or during nationalist marches in Hajnówka in 2020. Our experience shows that youths appreciate our educational activities and wish to engage in them to a larger extent. For Białystok youths we will organise classes on empowerment, self-determination, prevention of discrimination and violence. We will also discuss the value of social diversity and key issues related to civic education, e.g., leadership skills or communication despite differences. Each of two groups participating in the project will plan one civic action, engaging local community in it. We will also organise study trips to both nationwide and local NGOs active in such fields as human rights, ecology, or participation to let youths learn more about civic engagement. To summarise the initiatives and verify skills, youths will organise together with their tutors a ‘Civic Trip’ during holidays – an educational camp enriched with activities invented by the participants. It will aim at promoting integration, self-sufficiency and self-confidence among youths. Our partner is Furuset Idrettsforening of Oslo providing support for youths in danger of social exclusion. We will pay a study visit there to exchange experience and discover their methods of work with youths.
Summary of project results
According to the Centrum Badań Opinii Społecznej study, nearly half of young people believe that they have no impact on matters concerning their immediate environment. At the same time, in our hometown Białystok we could observe high polarisation of the society, e.g., negative approach among youths to people with different outlooks. This is something that could be observed in the reaction to the Equality March in Białystok in 2019 or during nationalist marches in Hajnówka in 2020. Our experience showed that youths appreciated our educational activities and wished to engage in them to a larger extent.
We organised a year-long development programme for young people from Bialystok on empowerment and self-determination, as well as anti-discrimination and violence. Part of the programme included classes on the value of social diversity and basic civic education issues, such as developing leadership and communication skills despite differences. Half of the classes in the series were led by a permanent pair of trainers, who also provided support between meetings. The 3 groups participating in the project, planned one civic action each, involving the local community. We also organised an educational trip to Warsaw, during which 2 study visits were made to national and local non-governmental organisations active in the area of, for example, human rights, ecology or participation, where young people learned more about civic activity. In order to practice the acquired skills in practice, the young people organised during the summer holidays, with the help of a pair of trainers, a "Civic Expedition", which was an educational trip with activities invented by the participants and the participants. The aim of the trip was integration and the development of independence and self-confidence in the young people.
Our partner was Furuset Idrettsforening, an organisation in Oslo that works to support young people at risk of exclusion. We went to them and invited them to join us to exchange experiences and methods of working with young people.
The evaluation shows that the young people participating in the project improved their civic competences, as well as developing skills that they had previously found difficult. These included areas such as the ability to work in a group, joint decision-making, independence or self-confidence.
Summary of bilateral results
We have been in contact with our Norwegian partner organisation since 2016, having established contact on the occasion of the previous EEA grant programme. The implementation of the project has further strengthened our acquaintance and resulted in a product in the form of a board game on gender equality of our authorship in the Norwegian version, which joined the existing English, German and Romanian versions already developed in other projects.As part of the project, we carried out 2 study visits. The first was a trip of the 9twelfth team to the partner organisation Furuset IF (Oslo) implementing the youth project Alnaskolen - similar in idea to the 9twelfth Social Championship Academy, which is to counteract the exclusion of young people from minority groups. Both teams shared their experiences of educating and empowering community leaders and counteracting their social exclusion, as well as neutralising the polarisation of indigenous and migrant communities.What is all the more valuable in such a situation is the opportunity to learn directly about the working methods of a related organisation and to exchange experiences with each other - which, in the situation in Poland at that time, was an important impulse to work towards strengthening the potential and maintaining the independence of our organisation.After several months, a team from the partner organisation Furuset IF visited us in Białystok. The visit lasted from 6 to 9 September 2022 and was attended by 5 people from the 9twelfth team and 5 people from the Furuset IF side.One of the recommendations from the team of the partner organisation was to translate the text of the board game on gender equality into Norwegian, instead of the English version previously planned to be used in Norway. The translation was done with cultural adaptation to Norwegian conditions in mind. This is a concrete lasting result of our cooperation.