Building inclusive culture towards migrants and refugees

How to achieve positive impact during exceptional times?

In the light of recent global developments, the importance of fact-based, balanced and non-discriminate media coverage, education and forward-taking dialogue on migration, diversity and inclusion has become even more evident. COVID-19 pandemic and now the war in Ukraine have put Europe in a new position where its democratic structures are being tested. During this session the implementers of the I am European project will share their experience, methods and achieved results from the past 2,5 years focusing on their work on migration related topics with youth, teachers and young journalists. The team will also share approaches for adapting educational tools and digital innovations in the context of recent challenges and constantly changing operating environments.

“I Am European”: Migration Stories & Facts for the 21st Century aims to have a positive impact on achieving a more open, inclusive, and peaceful culture towards migrants and refugees in Europe. A consortium of 7 partners and 30 sub-grantees help the young people in Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia learn and take action about migration, organise peer-to-peer activities and engage with people of migration background and/or living in remote and/or rural areas. Additionally, the awareness-raising among youth is supported by engaging young journalists in creating balanced and fact-based media content and multipliers with global educational activities on migration themes. As the main result, we expect to see more solidarity and tolerance in Europe. In the current situation with the war against Ukraine this topic is more salient than ever. The response towards and acceptance of the millions of refugees who have arrived and who will be seeking for shelter in the European countries has been and particularly by the young people volunteering and donating has been open and proactively welcoming. When observing the attitude of the young journalists covering the war and the teachers adapting the Ukrainian students, one might argue that our youth have already demonstrated their solidarity and tolerance. We would like to share with the audience the approaches to engage with these three target groups – young people, young journalists and multipliers - and the key outcomes. We will present various educational tools and innovative online methods such as visual stories, VR/AR, journalistic interactive stories, simulation games in response to the challenges appearing during COVID-19 pandemic, the situation of refugees at Polish-Belarusian border, and the Ukrainian war. All the approaches and tools are aimed to show the interdependencies of migration and with other global education topics such as climate change, armed conflicts, media and fact-checking or health, to name just a few.

To continue the discussion, you can join the Capacity4DEV groups:

Public group on migration and asylum

Culture in Development Cooperation

Speakers

Agnieszka Skuratowicz

Head of Unit, INTPA.G.3 Youth, Education and Culture

Kristina Mänd

General Coordinator, Mondo (Estonia)

Meelis Niine

National Project Coordinator in Estonia, Mondo

Kirsi Koivuporras

National Project Coordinator in Finland, VIKES

Olga Khabibulina

National Project Coordinator in Poland, Center for Citizenship Education