TAYA -Training Active Youth Workers in Anti-Discrimination-Education

During and after the so-called “Summer of Migration” an unprecedented number of refugees entered the European continent, which led to a broad right-wing backlash on societal as well as political levels. This caused the common idea of European solidarity to dwindle and nationalism to thrive, while public attention towards the suffering at European borders decreased. One consequence of this polarization is social tensions and conflicts which rise parallel to concerns about the refugees’ plight on the one hand, and the well-being of European host societies on the other.

TAYA targets youth workers who are interested in anti-racist and decolonial concepts, and equips them with the tools to integrate anti-racism action into their work through pedagogical methodologies of anti-bias, enhancing their abilities to design and conceptualize educational activities that address racist patterns of thought and action. 

To further sustain the results of the project, findings and lessons learned will be spread through facilitation guidelines developed jointly by participants and CRISP/facilitators to support fellow youth workers to develop their own activities addressing racism in their communities. 

The project will take place in the form of training where participants will be introduced to theory and practice as well as methods of anti-discrimination education to foster youth awareness in their communities. In the first workshop, participants will learn the theoretical foundations of postcolonial and critical whiteness studies, as well as discrimination, racism and intersectionality. In the second workshop, participants will use decolonial and anti-racist approaches to develop facilitation guidelines focused on non-formal education-methodologies of anti-bias and anti-racism education. Both workshops will include various interactive methods such as betzavta exercises, simulation games, self-reflection, case studies, expert talks and related interactive exercises, forum theater methods, and day-long study visits. 

Through the 3 main areas of competence: 1) anti-discriminatory attitudes 2) pedagogical methodologies of anti-bias 3) knowledge about theoretical fundamentals, youth workers will become more aware of racial discrimination issues and will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate anti-racism approaches in their practice. 

Participants will design educational activities that address racist patterns of thought, and develop a tailor-made facilitation guideline to help other youth workers develop activities tackling racism in their communities, hence participants will become experts within their network and will act as multipliers, spreading the findings of the project in different contexts. 

Find out more on our webpage or in the open call for participants or click here for the application.