Crossing Borders
Start date: Jun 17, 2014,
End date: Oct 16, 2014
PROJECT
FINISHED
Summary
„Crossing Borders“- „Ideal Vision or reality?” – Our project is dealing with a very important topic, which concerns nearly everybody living in a modern society- migration and immigration. The migrants/refugees brought possibilities even as many problems with them. Migration, especially from non-european countries and cultures to European countries, became a big issue over the last years and has a long history. Due to recent discussions in media and society, migration is a very important, relevant and actual topic for the seminar. We would like to make our international participants discover different “sides” of the topic “multiculturalism” and “migration” to compare their experience (positive as negative), share their ideas and make up their mind in the end. It’s important for us to have a balance in between the “pros” and “contras” and to minimalize the stereotypes.
We plan that 31 people, aged 18-26, from different countries (Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Poland and Armenia), will take part in this project. If possible, we would like the group to be composed of people with different experience, background, opinions and experience in dealing with the topic.
We expect from our participant’s group to be interested in the topic and willing to challenge their ideas, discuss their thoughts and share (personal) experience, a good knowledge of English and open spirit towards other people.
The main activities we are going to conduct will be based on the principles of non-formal learning methodology. The participants will gain theoretical as practical knowledge about the topic in workshops, presentations, lectures, city games and other creative activities.
Migration leads to multiculturalism. To be able to define the advantages and disadvantages of this situation caused by migration, the participants are going to structure their own ideas about it- in preparing a mind-map/brainstorming and such as join a lecture about country’s policies (EU).
On this basis, they will go a step further and explore certain kinds of migration in their country/family, this will be made more authentic and imaginable in working with pictures from situations of migrations and talks about personal destinies in the participant’s family. The participants get the opportunity to realize, that migration nearly afflicts everybody anyhow. The results of the first day will be a clearer idea of the characteristics of migration, different reasons for migration (and the question whether they depend on the country) and personal experience.
We will make sure to do this first part of workshops in international groups to provide a first step for exchangingthe experience, knowledge und personal thoughts. The different view on the topic will enrich the group’s knowledge.
The second day will now face certain the reasons for migration and the aroused stereotypes. An active workshop dealing with the map of the world will give the group an overview of more or less preferable countries to migrate to and which skills and knowledge are needed. A workshop in international and national groups will explore different characteristics of stereotypes (out of both perspectives), the reasons for stereotypes and what we can learn from them. In this way, the participant faces both “sides” of stereotypes, which are also brought as proved by migration- being stereotyped and labeled also as judging somebody because of his origin. Everybody will get the opportunity to prove his stereotypes, get to know the picture other nations have about his country and will be able to compare.The third day will be filled with a city game in Kraków, a city with a variety of cultures, languages and history. The method is to let them discover the city with a creative task as making a video or interview, taking the topic multiculturalism into consideration. Day four will deal with the concrete opportunities and dangers of migration and immigration. In facing the problems of asylum seekers even as the possibilities, migrants bring with them, the participants can use the knowledge they gained in the first days and try to picture solutions for living in a multicultural society. We will try to picture this problems by making a collage and do workshops about how it feels to be a foreigner. In the end, the participants should be able discuss their opinions, maybe challenge by experience they made during the seminar and knowledge they gained. The participants will have an opportunity to share their new ideas and thoughts about the stereotypes they had before and that how their judgments changes during the seminar. We’ll discuss whether the project fulfilled their expectations and talk about the results of the seminar for the future of the participants. The immediate results are opinions and ideas we discuss during the workshops.
The long term benefits may be a raised awareness for the topic, tolerance and understatement.