"Migrants and refugees in media and real life"
The Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project "Migrants and refugees in media and real life" (2020-2021) is designed by partners from Denmark, Estonia, France and the Netherlands for youth workers/ educators who seek to incorporate media literacy skills into their daily work. The project aims are directly connected with the objectives of Erasmus+ Programme. Coordinator of the project is Copenhagen Youth Network.
It is not secret that most of the media narratives contribute to developing the central bias of migration by means of metaphorical delegitimization that is discursively constructed through the opposition between “them” and “us.” Such attitudes are rapidly developing into radicalisation, fueling nationalist parties and extremist movements that in turn affect young people in very negative way.
Partners of agreed that youth leaders, workers and representatives of civil society can play an important role in understanding, creation and spreading true messages about migrants and refugees. The aim of the project is to empower youth workers and young people in the field of media literacy and preventing extremism and radicalization in media and social media. The focus will be on local young people and youth with migrant and refugees background. Partners agreed that after and between the transnational meetings and the training course the main work will be done locally.
The specific objectives of this project are:
• creation innovative E-Book for training in youth organisations;
• to give youth workers the ability to build knowledge, skills and attitude based on media literacy and critical thinking;
• to explore the dimensions of diversity in migrant and refugee related issues;
• to promote non-formal learning and cooperation in the field of youth work in EU countries;
• to support the professional development of those who work in education, training and youth fields.
Partners expressed needs to build capacity of staff members of their organisations, youth workers and human right activists in the youth field in order they could provide adequate support to refugees and migrants in the areas of education, social services, linguistic or psychological support, social mentoring and integration processes and represent themselves in adequate way in media.
There is also a necessity to empower youth workers and youth organisations to work closely with local young people in Europe and promote harmonic, inclusive and tolerant European communities. Partners are interested to empower youth leaders to become stronger actors for current problematic and to contribute to the resolution of the crisis through influencing media and particularly social media coverage of migrants and refugees.
The main target group in this project is youth workers, partners’ organisations' staff members and youth leaders. The final beneficiaries are young people: local European youth and young people with migrant and refugee backgrounds. Special target group will be women and girls-migrants and refugees. Project will tackle also different youth and other organisations, media and social media. At least 150 youth workers and young people will directly benefit from project activities. Dissemination activities will serve as campaign to raise awareness about media coverage of migrants and refugees, and at least 160 people will be involved in face-to-face meetings and more than 800 via Facebook project page.
Participants directly involved in the project activities (transnational meetings, research, training course, local and dissemination activities) will get new competences, first of all, the methods of working with media in youth groups, changing attitudes and views and helping others to change. For participating organisations the most obvious impact is broadening networks, establishing new contacts for further cooperation, new intercultural experience and sharing of vision in the project E-Book, as well as learning new methods and implementing them to organisation’s daily practice.
Project E-Book will be used and exploited in the longer-term, it will be available online. Because is an e-product, it will be constantly added with new materials and will has the potential long term benefits, the same as new gained competencies of youth workers, staff members of partners' organisations and young people - participants of this Strategic Partnership project.
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
