The youth exchange entitled “Celebrate Europe”, organized by the Italian SMART Association and held from 6 to 14 September 2021, ended a few weeks ago. The project provided for the hospitality of 42 young people between 18 and 25 years old arriving from 7 differentiated nations: Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Italy.
The exchange had as its final purpose the promotion of education for diversity, which are of a religious, social, economic, political, cultural, gender and sexual orientation.
Through the project we therefore wanted to:
- To train and educate young people in order to make them ready to accept the challenges of cultural diversity;
- Spread the concept that every person is a global citizen, responsible for humanity, the planet, and the future;
- Share information on the phenomenon of immigration analyzed from various points of view;
- Know what the reasons for emigration are;
- Understand the difference between push and pull factors;
- Analyze the effects of migration on people and communities;
- Knowing how to decline the concept of citizenship in its various meanings;
- Know the different solutions that have been adopted in the countries of destination of migration regarding the right to citizenship.
Europe is above all a set of culture, freedom, and centrality given to the person. But these values must be able to be declined in a winning way towards the challenges that this century poses, on the various forms of democratic participation, on the governance of migratory flows, on the new inequalities.
The implementation of an immigration policy aimed at the dignified integration of those who live in the territory must start from educating young people to know and respect the diversities that have become part of our daily life, to create a spirit of welcome, exchange, and enrichment. In light of the above, we can say that the project has produced the desired results and that, through the final evaluation of each of the participants, it has achieved all the objectives set.
The young participants proved to be open to dialogue, mutual translation, and, above all, they stated that they have changed their vision of Europe and active citizenship thanks to the activities carried out daily during the days dedicated to the project.
Even the project partners: Spain – TABALA CULTURAL ASSOCIATION
- Bulgaria – Association of Ruse in aid of society and young people;
- Greece – Greek Youth Mobility;
- GYM Poland – Stowarzyszenie Inicjatyw Europejskich;
- ACTIVE Romania – Asociatia Prietenii Omului;
- Humanism, Culture Turkey – Uluslararasi Genclik Aktiviteleri Merkezi Dernegi;
- Italy – Smart Association.
