Let's Create a Literacy

“Let's Create aLiteracy” (LCAL) is an Erasmus Plus multiactivity project focused on training youth workers to foster the development of Cultural Literacy to tackle increasing cultural diversity in terms of diffusion of racism and xenophobic among young people from different national and cultural realities through their social inclusion to a global citizenship in an increasingly digital multicultural reality. The project will involve 30 youth workers who are willing to spread their knowledge and act as multipliers from Germany, Denmark and Italy.

Project understanding of the meaning of “Cultural Literacy” falls under this definition the range of skills and competences necessary to grasp the multilevel set of signs, symbols, historical events and connections making up the implicit layers of meaning in written, visual and spoken communication within a given national/cultural context.

According to the “2015 Youth Report” of the European Comission the future work cycle of the cooperation framework should prioritise evolving skills demands, including citizenship, media and digital literacy, critical judgment and intercultural understanding. LCL considers Cultural Literacy as a vehicle for fostering an increasingly sensitive and effective use of language in cross-cultural communication through an enhanced understanding of the implicit meanings and connections typical of different cultural backpacks, with a specific focus on young people and on the digital environment.
As the migration phenomena, which alter substantially the cultural, ethnic and religious composition of established Western states, are coupled and amplified by the unprecedented development of communication technologies- with Social Media and ICT tools playing a paramount role, particularly for their popularity among younger generations-cross-border and cross-cultural contacts and communication become increasingly widespread and reticular, from the perspective of both users and producers. In the above-highlighted context, the ever increasing opportunities brought about by visibility and viral dissemination ensured by digital instruments are at risk of being offset by the pitfalls of a shallow understanding of different cultural sensibilities and peculiarities, whose potential outcomes might result in a dampened communication. Youth operators and organizations need therefore to develop, and to directly support young migrants in developing, a cultural dimension of literacy as a necessary and principled component of the growing digital citizenship.

LCL gathers youth operators and organizations from different European and neighbouring countries with the purpose of sharing complementary sensibilities and expertise on the topic of cultural literacy and communication, processing the latter in the production of comprehensive reference materials (Guide on Cultural Literacy in Communication) for dissemination among youth operators and young migrants in partner countries and beyond. The methodological results acquired in this first phase will be thereafter tested and further developed in a specific Youth Exchange wherein young migrants from all partner countries will share their cultural sensibilities and cooperate in the production of a Video on Cultural Literacy, providing an illustrative and easily accessible summary of the whole learning path.

Project aims are:
- Enhancing cultural sensitiveness and effectiveness in cross-cultural communication, particularly in the digital arena.
- Raising awareness about Cultural Literacy as a necessary component of digital citizenship.
- Enhance the capacity of youth workers in cross-cultural, trans-border communication and debate, with a focus on the digital arena.
- Sharing knowledge and experience about the topics of Digital Literacy and communication among organizations from different national and cultural environments in Europe. 
- Developing a network of like-minded organizations working in the field of promoting Cultural Literacy.