Description
Dobrogea is an ethnical diverse region in Romania. Here, there are 25 ethnic communities, different from the perspective of traditions, customs, religion that managed yet to harmoniously cohabitate on the same territory. Dobrogea is recognized as a model of interethnic cohabitation. The project goal is to promote multicultural values of minorities living in Romania, by following the interplay between cultures of minorities. Through the proposed activities, within the project a program of intercultural education of 25 young people in Constantza between 16 - 22 years old). The young people selected in the target group will be part of different ethnic groups (Turkish, Tatars, Russian-Lipovens, Greeks, Italians, Armenians, Rroma people) and they will be both genders. The program of intercultural education consists of organizing 7 workshops of intercultural education and 2 intercultural exhibitions (in Constantza and Oslo).The intercultural education workshops are organized monthly for 7 months. The International Organization For Democracy And Human Rights – IODHR (Norway) is partner. It takes part at one of the intercultural education workshops, with a spokesman of the institution, that will moderate the activity of the selected target group, and, indirectly, through some video-conferences, after the third or fourth of the intercultural education workshops. Each of the 7 workshops will end with a creation that the members of the target group will elaborate, The best creations will be exposed within the intercultural exhibitions and will be promoted online elaborated to touch the proposed objectives: the website and the Facebook page. The Facebook page functions as a virtual community of intercultural dialogue, where members of the target-group will initiate interactions to promote own cultural values, as well as values of other representatives of ethnic minorities that can be found on Romanian and Norwegian territory.
Summary of project results
Constanta is located in a multiethnic and multicultural area where live many ethnic minorities alongside ethnic Romanian majority. In this context PP considered it needed a Center for Intercultural Education, where the younger generation to be educated for a better understanding of cultural diversity and in the spirit of intercultural dialogue, in line with current European guidelines. The general objective of the project was to promote intercultural education among young people to understand the multicultural identity and protecting cultural diversity by encouraging intercultural dialogue. This was done at the Center for Intercultural Education Constanta, which was founded through this project, through meetings between young people, representatives of different ethnic groups in Dobrogea and intercultural experts. The specific objectives were successfully achieved and the project has fulfilled its purpose. The objectives will be sustained after the implementation of the project by organizing intercultural activities with young people in the Center for Intercultural Education. The activities funded under the project in order to achieve the expected results, have been materialized in: founding a Center for Intercultural Education endowed with IT equipment that were conducted seven workshops on intercultural education to educate youth in the spirit of interculturalism valences; a Manual for intercultural education; two intercultural exhibitions that were meant to promote the young selected of the target group of the project, as well as artists from Romania and Norway; an intercultural catalog, with works exhibited in the two intercultural exhibitions. The young of target group of the project were educated in the spirit of formation of positive attitudes to apply in intercultural community in which they live, and not only, in the spirit of respect for diversity and for identity of those that are perceived as different. By participating in intercultural education workshop we believe that young people were aware of the causes and roots of their cultural determinations, stereotypes, prejudice and will be able to identify the others, rejecting intolerance and discriminatory attitudes towards them.
Summary of bilateral results
The two intercultural experts and the PR expert employed by the Norwegian partner in the project were actively involved in carrying out their activities. Intercultural experts have contributed to the implementation of the Intercultural Education Manual - support for the development of intercultural education workshops; have interrelated with the target group youngsters at four intercultural workshops through skype, giving them valuable information about the topics they approached and were present at the Center for Intercultural Education Constanta at one of the intercultural workshops (on the issue of stereotypes prejudices about ethnic communities) where they shared with members of the target group information and examples from the current life of the subject. Also, the two intercultural Norwegian experts were present at the first intercultural exhibition of the project, realized at the Constanta Art Museum, where they brought together the works of 8 artists from Norway, which were exhibited alongside those of the young people in the target group and The works of 13 artists in Constanta and the organization of the second intercultural exhibition at the Baerum Kommune City Hall, Sandvika, Norway, being a link to the 8 artists in Norway, who exhibited with young people The target group and 10 artists from Constanta. The Norwegian PR expert has been actively involved in promoting the project activities and promoting them on social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.