All bodies are equal!

In this project will participate 30 youngsters from 10 Balkan and European countries, partner organizations with strong cooperation with USB and organizations which want to build capacity on non formal education dealing with social issues. During 10 days(travel days included) of this training, participants will be involved into several non-formal education methods of intercultural dialogue and human rights in order to acquire new skills, attitudes and gain new knowledge and experience on how to use these methods in order to break the stereotypes and prejudices about human body, derived from the media. Participants will also have the chance to be trained on the use of media for youth empowerment and against body-shaming and discrimination about human body.

Who we are:

"United Societies of Balkans" (USB) is a Non Governmental Organization, founded in Thessaloniki in 2008 by a team of active young people, socially sensitized, and with rich experience around voluntary programs. Main vision is promotion of youth mobility, youth involvement in volunteering and their further sensitizing around social issues.

Balkans and Eastern Europe are geographical regions with many cultural features which offer a broad spectrum of actions and youth involvement initiatives. The organization was created as a respond to the pressure of constant changes in the Balkan and Eastern European region and under the need for the creation of a better social environment. Key areas of the organization's activities concern the defense of human rights, the organization of youth exchanges and training courses, which will bring young people from Balkans and Europe together, the organization of local educational seminars and multimedia production.

Trainers:
Experienced regional and international trainers with background on Intercultural learning, dealing with youth.

About the Project:
Through our experience dealing with social issues among Balkan countries and fighting with prejudices, intolerance and discrimination among youth, we came by the idea of “All bodies are equal”. In this project 30 youngsters from 10 countries of Balkans and Europe will participate, participants from partner organizations with strong cooperation with USB and organizations which want to build capacity on non formal education dealing with social issues. During the 10 days of the project, participants will be involved to several education methods of formal and non formal education of intercultural dialogue and human rights in order to acquire new skills, attitudes and gain new knowledge and experience on how to use these methods in order to break the stereotypes and prejudices related to body among Balkan countries and to deal with human rights and social issues of Balkans such as fat-phobia, racism, body shaming, lgbt etc. The project will increase awareness and experience of the benefits of intercultural learning and developing intercultural fluency.

The main goal of this project will be to enable participants to build knowledge and skills on the use of the media in order to fight through them the stereotypes and discrimination that derives from body and beauty standards. So this project through intercultural learning methods, the use of media and youth participation will strive to break stereotypes and prejudices that are created by the media themselves, to reinforce the networks between Balkan countries and to make future plans for collaboration. It will create environment for significant conversations about the beauty-idols, mass media, body-shaming, advertisement etc. . Engaging a full range of local, national, and international experiences and perspectives, the project will work toward offering methods for reducing the prejudices, thus generating sustainable solutions to the complex questions of our time.

Activities on our training course:

Intercultural learning (fighting prejudices, tolerance, respecting human rights and differences), youth participation, sharing past experience in implemented projects, making action plan and brainstorming ideas for future collaboration in the Erasmus+ programme, non-formal education and informal way of learning, using set of instruments and methods of experiential learning based on active and dynamic approach to work, networking. Workshops on the use of media for fighting prejudice and stereotypes related to the human body.

Target group:

Participants from partner organizations with strong cooperation with USB and organizations which want to build capacity on non formal education dealing with social issues.

Objectives:
 To identify the stereotypes and discrimination regarding human body from the media and the empire of advertisements.
 To provide opportunities for participants to develop skills and capacities on the use of media in order to fight discrimination and to promote through them equality, human rights and solidarity.
 to develop and improve the use of intercultural learning methods, non-formal educational methods
 to develop partnerships for new potential projects for the Erasmus+ program
 to enable participants to develop multicultural competencies that will assist them in their future professional, civic, and personal endeavors
 to increase the participants’ diversity awareness including national and international perspectives
 to assist participants in their ability to engage in a dialogue on issues of diversity, inclusiveness, human rights, European citizenship and multiculturalism

Working language:
English – all participants must be able to actively communicate using English language.

Location: Thessaloniki, Greece

Partners: Organizations from Program countries.

Funding: 100% for accommodation and food will be covered and 100% of travel costs will be reimbursed after receiving original receipts.

Participation fee: There will be a 30 euro participation fee which will be deducted from the travel reimbursement of the participants.

If you are interested to become a partner organization in our project please send to us:
1. Filled partner’s info document
2. Filled, Signed and Stamped the mandate from attachment and sent it to our email.

This project will be applied to the greek national agency.

Please: As we are applying on 2nd of February deadline, be as fast as possible in sending to us the documents really ASAP.

Further Information: Project Manager Mr. Aristodimos Paraschou Email: info@usbngo.gr
Tel. +30 2310215629, web site: www.usbngo.gr