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Mediterranean Talks – Youth activism and alternati..
Mediterranean Talks – Youth activism and alternative information
Start date: Nov 1, 2016,
End date: Aug 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
"Mediterranean Talks" is a project of European Voluntary Service implemented in partnership by two associations: CISS of Palermo (coordination and hosting organization) and the Student's Forum Institute of Bethlehem (sending organization); both of them are involved in support of youth participation across the two shores of the Mediterranean. Two volunteers aged between 22 and 30 years from Palestine will be hosted in the city of Palermo for a period of six months, during which they will be part of a highly dynamic and participatory environment that will see them entering in direct contact with around 30 local young volunteers; together, they will conduct a cycle of activities that will involve local population, particularly the youth citizens.The project is realized in a region characterized by an extraordinary coexistence of different cultures. Palermo is a city with a strong Mediterranean character, whose potential in support of the euro-Mediterranean dialogue, however, is struggling to emerge due to a strong socio-economic and cultural deprivation that inhibits democratic and civic participation of young people, both Italians and foreigners.The project objective is to promote volunteering as a tool for active participation, social and intercultural promotion. Young volunteers will contribute to the creation of a physical and virtual space - the Intercultural Alternative Information Centre - an itinerant process of information and territorial animation for young people of different belongings and backgrounds who live and share the urban space.The volunteers will provide their creativity and their own perspectives at support of the construction of tools and independent information materials that will be disseminated through the proposals of alternative center. Information meetings, debates and cultural initiatives will animate the Centre’s activities addressing various issues of socio-economic thickness and cultural relevance for the youth of the Euro-Mediterranean region, such as migration policies, the condition of refugees, gender issues, media independence, the protection of human rights, sustainable and alternative economies in the region. The meetings will be aimed to stimulate the civic and political participation of local and foreign young people but also to disseminate volunteering, youth empowerment, and the values of building community and solidarity, especially in situations with a high risk of exclusion, social marginalization and radicalization.The project will comprise three phases of intervention. The activity 1 consists in coordination, identification of two volunteers and pre-departure training. It is the responsibility of SFI to identify young people really motivated to the creation of the voluntary service, whose profile embodies the spirit of the project. Activity 2 is the period of voluntary service, an experience of personal growth, exchange with a different community and non-formal education, fully in line with the objectives of Erasmus+. Activity 3 is the phase of return and restitution of the experience achieved on their own country and community.The project will have a significant impact on the lives of the two young volunteers; they will improve their language skills, the ability to work in a team, the spirit of initiative, the ability to dialogue and intercultural understanding, the meaning and the value of active participation volunteering, the ability of creative learning, the use of ICT and of the means of social communication, the ability of critical thinking. The two young volunteers will live an experience of life allowing them to increase and improve their interpersonal and professional skills experienced in a different context and to feel part of a Euro-Mediterranean youth community. Their experience will impact not only on their personal growth, but also will result in a stimulus for their communities of origin. With regard to the hosting community, the project represents an opportunity to offer an exchange experience in an intercultural perspective.In the medium and long term, the Alternative Intercultural Information Centre will continue its activities as an expression of the active participation of other young volunteers: local, European or from other countries of the southern shore of the Mediterranean will continue to come into contact with the hosting organization and support the Centre’s experiences for individual and collective growth.