Description
This project will present, in the first person, life stories of young people living in vulnerable social contexts. The life stories of these youths are often marked by great suffering, integration difficulties and various types of discrimination. These essential issues will be worked in workshops and activities undertaken within the project. The use of the personal storytelling methodology allows for a positive integration of the past, through a training and awareness-raising process which values one's identity, strengthen self-confidence and promotes a culture of acceptance, respect and mutual aid. The peer training team consists of young people who participated in Ubuntu Academy, a non-formal education project for training young people coming from social exclusion contexts.
Summary of project results
The descendants of immigrants and minorities have complex feelings of simultaneous belonging to different worlds and this often leads to "non-belonging". They sometimes feel social pressure to erase the traces of ancestral belonging which often causes anguish and disintegration. On the other hand, children and young people coming from vulnerable contexts or with life paths marked by risk and disintegration, who suffered from some kind of discrimination, have life histories which correspond to turbulent and not pacified grounds. They are often the source of their revolt, of eventual violence and potentially deviant behaviours. The life stories of young people of these social contexts are often difficult, with great suffering and difficult integration. The project targeted young people (14-25) from those risky backgrounds and tried to achieve a better social inclusion through the Ubuntu methodology: understanding and harmonious integration of their past, identity reinforcement, mutual help and culture of trust through storytelling. 1 677 young people from 124 entities were involved in 44 Ubuntu workshops and 198 professionals, teachers and mentors were trained on this methodology. 1 188 life story videos were produced across the country corresponding to that same number of young participants. It is expected that those youngsters can now plan their future lives on the basis of their life experiences; they enhance their social and cultural roots as a basis of their identity; they are better skilled in oral communication and media support; they know better how to design and organize a project; and their self-esteem and confidence have increased. A trainer manual and a participant’s manual were produced in order to disseminate and replicate the methodology. The project has been mainstreamed by the Ministry of Education with the financial support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for at least one more year.
Summary of bilateral results