EUtopia? Diversity in Changing Europe - Creative youth work lab for rethinking diversity solutions

Have you ever heard that diversity is necessary for a peaceful prosperous society? Has somebody said it has gone too far? Or that diversity is impossible and unnecessary? Have you ever wondered if maybe that is true? When everything seems to be changing so fast, and often what feels like for the worse, how do you work with young people to make sense of it all? Imagine a world where you knew at least some of the answers. Or a world where people would ask those questions. Or a world where you would have time to ask questions and think about answers. Would you like to go on a six months creative journey with a dynamic community of learners? Would you like to try your hand at slow youth work in a world that is changing rapidly? Join us for EUtopia? Diversity in a Changing Europe - a long-term creative lab for rethinking approaches to diversity in youth work. It is designed for critical thinkers, who work with young people and are not afraid of opening controversial questions and questioning concepts. It is for the very experienced among us, who sometimes feel tired of thinking, and the very fresh ones, who sometimes feel lost as to where to even begin. The aim of the lab is to provide youth field professionals with an opportunity 1) to explore the complex and diverse realities of young people in a changing Europe and 2) to prepare to better respond to those realities by applying values-based perspective of diversity and reshaping their youth work practices. The objectives of the lab are: • to create a community of learners ready to engage in a challenging, self-reflective, long term, dynamic learning process; • to identify the relevant socio-political and cultural conditions that influence the lives of young people on local and European level; • to explore the contexts in which young people grow up today, and critically evaluate the current youth work responses to them; • to understand reasoning and motivation behind young people’s views and attitudes, discover how opinions are formed and encourage critical thinking; • to challenge/ radicalize the concept of diversity, exploring it based on a values-based, rather than from a normative policy perspective; • to develop the most relevant competences for reconsidering and reshaping youth work practices that fit the current challenges; • to incorporate principles of slow youth work in diversity related practices; • to discover opportunities to incorporate values- based approach to diversity within Erasmus+ activities and to support international cooperation among participants. EUtopia? Diversity in a Changing Europe is a creative, analytical and critical experiment which will last six months. It will bring new life to old concepts and will capture it all in a dynamic tool, co-created by all participants. It is comprised of four elements: • 1st part: Home Lab for Introduction – online learning process consisting of 24 hours of individual guided work from July to August (participants are required to dedicate about 3 hours a week for online learning throughout the summer) • 2nd part: Lab for Critical Analysis – challenging, exploring and developing concepts in Kosovo, from 8th to 14th of September 2018 • 3rd part: Piloting Lab for Creativity and Experimentation – personal labs of participants in their local communities • 4th part: Designing Lab – lab for tools and approaches in Latvia, from 9th to 13th of December 2018 The call is open to all people working professionally with young people. Any previous involvement with diversity topics will be an advantage. The selected participants are requested to take part in all parts of the Lab. This long-term lab is the 5th international edition of a training concept developed jointly by the Latvian National Agency for the Erasmus+: Youth in Action Programme and SALTO South East Europe and Cultural Diversity Resource Centres.