C.A.S.T.! Community building, Awareness raising and Social inclusion through forum Theatre!

During the last years, the financial crisis all over Europe has created more “youth with fewer opportunities”, raising the unemployment rates in high percentages especially in the ages between 18-30. Youth are becoming demotivated, entering a negative psychological circle, which is reducing their employability skills and inhibits creativity. In addition, one can observe in European Societies the augmentation of nationalism, the intensification of stereotypes (promoted also by the media), the increase of feelings of xenophobia and racism (targeting mostly people of different cultural backgrounds, immigrants, etc) and the increased marginalization and intolerance towards certain groups of people (Roma, homosexuals, people living in extreme poverty, etc). Many youth organizations are asked to respond to these new needs and they are experimenting with new, innovative, methodologies. During this training course we would like to explore how Forum Theatre can be used in Youth Work as a tool for building a sense of community, raising awareness on current issues, promoting solidarity and social inclusion, and giving the motivation and will to the young people to become more active citizens and, as Boal himself said, “build their own future, rather than just waiting for it”. The objectives of this project are: - To introduce the participants to Forum Theatre and explore how it can be used as a tool in Youth Work - To map the challenges youth are facing and the ways that youth work, using different tools, can empower the young people in order to overcome them - To promote the exchange of best practices and the transfer of innovation. - To train participants on how to adapt forum theatre methods to the particularities and needs of their own target – group, in order to achieve the best possible results - To develop competences in setting up activities for young people from marginalized communities and analyze the challenges they face in their everyday work with youth with fewer opportunities. - To share knowledge about the ERASMUS+ programme and create a network for the development of common projects in the near future To achieve the objectives of the project we will use a combination of non-formal learning methods and tools (round table discussions, presentations, experiential exercises, peer to peer, reflection, role playing etc) and theoretical background, while the main tool that will be presented and which the participants would learn to use is the forum theatre, a technique that is used, among others, to empower groups in crisis, dramatizing the experiences of the participants and exploring different ways to respond to them. The project is expected to have a direct impact on participants, the organizations that they represent and their target groups, by improving the skills of people working in the youth sector and the services offered to young people and through the exchange of good practices and tools. In the long term, and using a well-thought strategy for dissemination and exploitation of the project’s results, the impact is expected to pass to a wider European and global context, further promoting the importance of non-formal learning and the skills acquired through it, and also the importance and role of youth workers in strengthening and stimulating the confidence of young people to become themselves more active on issues that concern them.