2 – 10 April, 2016
Maribor, Slovenia

The Association Epeka, Soc. Ent., was the promoter of the EU Erasmus+ Youth Exchange project “Today them, tomorrow it could be you”. This was a nine-day project which aimed to present the current refugee problem in a local, regional, national and international context, in a unique way, in the whole European area and touched upon the so called Fortress Europe.

It pursued themes such as intercultural dialogue, active citizenship, political participation and European citizenship as a common space of life and work for all its citizens and residents, even if they do not live in the EU, like our partners from Macedonia and Turkey, but share the same orientations and views on the current crisis and are part of it themselves.

The exchange aimed to underline the importance and create a positive attitude towards people who are forced to leave on a journey into the unknown. Through the living library method, all participants got to know the refugees and their stories and spent the whole project with them. They attended a lecture by a Syrian expert, visited a refugee centre, learned about the work of experts, activists and others. They carried out activities such as flashmob, role play, collecting supplies for the refugees, participated in a workshop with decision-makers and organised a final charity concert for peace with a well-known music group.

In addition to the Association EPEKA, a social enterprise, six other organisations took part in the project, coming from the following countries: Turkey, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria. 29 young people aged 18-25 were present, including 17 young people with fewer opportunities. The activities were carried out by the young people themselves with the support of nine youth leaders.

The objectives of the project were:

  • To encourage the participants and the public to think about migration as a common phenomenon in the third millennium and to introduce them to concepts such as economic migrant, subsidiary protection, EURODAC and other concepts related to contemporary developments.
  • Compare illegal and legal migration and the reasons for it, and get to know the people who have experienced it all and are now among us.
  • To learn about the differences between EU countries in the reception of migrants and the rules of Schengen.
  • To address decision-makers and informally educate young people and help them to acquire key competences.

All participants received a Youthpass certificate of non-formal education.

Some highlights from the Youth Exchange Today they, tomorrow you:

GALLERY

For more information, please send an e-mail with a cover letter and CV to epeka@epeka.si.

Project coordinator: Štefan Simončič, President of the Association EPEKA, Soc. Ent., stefan@epeka.si.

Project Promotion: Tjaša Teržan, the Association EPEKA, Soc. Ent., associate, tjasa@epeka.si.

More at www.epeka.si / www.facebook.com/epeka.slovenia / epeka@epeka.si.

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