The Danger of the Single Story

WHAT IS IT?

Young people need to learn how to be critical users of media content, and how to be producers of information, not only passive users. We want to explore the challenges democracies are facing nowadays, such as environment, refugees, rise of radical and violent politics, and the ways in which media - in particular, social media - contribute to the creation of stereotypes, prejudice, intolerance and violent movements. Can this be reversed? How can we play our role as educators and youth workers?

"The Danger of the Single Story" is a training course that combines stories, media, global education and active citizenship to empower trainers, educators, youth workers and give them better tools to do their work in these fast changing times.

The project will take place in Sermugnano, a small village in central Italy, from the 11th to the 17th of March 2019 (travel days included). It will involve 20 participants from 9 different European countries (Italy, Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and United Kingdom).

WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES?

The main objectives of the training course are:

 - to inform and reflect on the evolution of media, and on how to have critical access to them as users and creators of content; contrasting the spreading of violence, extremism and phenomena such as cyberbullying, hate speech and online harassment;

- to reflect on the consequences that media have on the formation of stereotypes and prejudices, majority / minority dynamics, racism and intolerance - at every level: and how is it possible to contrast its negative effects;

- to create learning opportunities on how to use storytelling techniques in the everyday work of educators and youth workers, and to stimulate reflections on their impact as tools to improve society and the life of individuals;

- to work on the phenomenon of migrations looking at it from the perspective of Global Education, reflecting on the way we perceive ourselves, the world and the others;

- to provide tools to trainers, youth workers and educators to deal with and address the next European elections;

- to create a space to practice the methods and concepts acquired, and develop innovative tools to improve the effectiveness of participants' working practice, as well as the impact of partner organisations.

HOW WILL WE WORK?

The programme will include many different activities, theory and practice of different forms of storytelling (from theatre to writing, comics, presentation skills, social media), plus reflection, discussions, open workshops to encourage critical thinking and personal contributions. A strong focus will be put on how to pass the results of the course to the organisations and the beneficiaries back home. The dissemination of results, being this a training course on media awareness and use, will have a central role and we will produce infographics and reports easy to share and with a high visibility.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

Some of the competences that will be developed during the course will be:

- effective communication;

- awareness about the relations between ecology, economics, technology, media & democracy;

- active citizenship;

- better understanding of global issues around education and democracy;

- new knowledge on models and scientific theories (geopolitics, global education) and on mass media history;

- a better awareness on theories and communication tools, and storytelling forms;

- technical skills on software and online platforms;

- practical skills (such as photo/video, drawing, comics, blogging);

- knowledge and understanding of different situations in Europe, good practice exchange and development of common initiatives;

- and not least, personal motivation to put all this in practice - the "inner readiness" - tested and developed for example in the activities related to the "Hero's Journey" and in theatre workshops.

WHO IS IN THE TRAINER TEAM?

Bobby Mc Cormack (Ireland)

Bára Rodi (Czech Republic)

Carmine Rodi Falanga (Italy / Czech Republic)