We Belong - Exploring Europe’s Unity in Diversity

The core values for which the motto of the European Union-United in Diversity - stands are fundamental for ensuring lasting peace, social cohesion and societal welfare. With this project we aim to engage young people in exploring the concept of Unity in Diversity in specific application areas, thus demonstrating the concept meaning, validity and practical application through the political and societal structures and mechanisms European society is built upon. In the wake of the recent crises (Economic crisis, Refugee crisis, Brexit), the challenges the Union is confronted to, have resulted in the rise of Eurosceptism, Extreme Right Movements, raise in hate speech, intolerance, discrimination and racism. With this proposal, we aim to introduce a combination of informal training approaches, tools and instruments in order to assist young people to understand, orientate themselves and find fulfillment in an increasingly diverse and pluralistic society. With this project we aim to engage young people in exploring the concept of Unity in Diversity in specific application areas, thus demonstrating the concept meaning, validity and practical application through the political and societal structures and mechanisms European society is built upon. The main target groups of the project are both young people at risk of exclusion (ethnic minorities and immigrants) and young people, representatives of the majority population (with the main focus on the ones tending to support Eurosceptic and extreme right movements).The most important results to be expected during the project and on its completion are the following: 1. The We Belong Training Course with modules,organized following major societal challenges, which affect our society.2. A multilingual educational web platform will be created, which will host the interactive e-learning modules according to the training program and an intuitive digital storytelling tool, which will allow to participants to create powerful digital stories and social campaigns and share them with the world. 3. A training kit containing two training resources that will be produced in both printed and electronic form, in order to allow large use of the training methodology, and equip other teachers, trainers and young people with the necessary tools and approaches to implement it. 4. A six months long pilot training course will be organized in each country as part of the project, with the participation of 10 young people per country, which will allow us to involve representatives of the target groups directly in the development of project and thus make sure the results are achieved. 5. Two international training events, one for youth workers and one for young people, will be also implemented in order to directly train target group representatives from one side and to allow us to test, evaluate and improve the methodology with regards to the results achieved during the trainings, and the participant's feedback.The activities of the Project are expected to lead young people to:- discover the meaning , importance and significance of the concept of “Unity in Diversity”, as well as it’s practical application through the societal and political structures of our society. - acquire positive, life affirming values European citizenship encompasses, such as respect for human rights, tolerance, active non-violence, cooperation and social responsibility- acquire specific social, civic and intercultural competences which will allow them to be the drivers of positive social change, to actively participate in society and gain a sense of political efficacy'- strengthen their sense of initiative, notably in the social field- express their opinions to and influence elected policy-makers, public administrations, interest groups, civil society organisations, or individual citizens within any of the political or social processes affecting their lives- empower them to gain a better understanding of society and why it is the way it is, how ideals, social and political institutions have emerged and gain better understanding of complex multi-level governance- encourage empathy with people with different cultural and ethnic background thus increasing their inter-cultural awareness and cultural competences- improve their creative problem solving skills through the different perspectives applied to the same problem to reach solutions.