Open call for Youth Exchange “VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY MATTERS”
Name of the project: ”VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY MATTERS”
Date of Project: 27.07.2022. – 05.08.2022.
Sending Organization: ”BRAVO”
Place: Orahovica, Croatia
Participants age: +18
The number of participants: 5
Working language: English
Deadline for applying: 12.06.2022.
This project is financed by the European Commission through the Erasmus Plus Program. This publication reflects the view only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. By Erasmus+ rules organizers will cover travel costs, accommodation and food.
ABOUT THE YOUTH EXCHANGE
The youth exchange will gather around 40 participants from Croatia, Portugal, Lebanon, Georgia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Hungary and Armenia from 27 July – 5 August 2022, travel days included.
In this project young people will explore why people have different opinions as well as how to overcome these differences in a productive and non-violent way. The activities will take place in various locations in Orahovica. Every partner should send a team of 4 participants (18-25) plus a youth leader (18+). In total, every national team will have 5 members.
The youth exchange will take place in Orahovica, Croatia. The name Orahovica is derived from the word orah, meaning a walnut tree.
Orahovica was first officially mentioned in the year 1228, in a historical document issued by king Andrew II. Ružica fortification, not far from Orahovica, was first mentioned in the year 1357 as a royal estate. In the 15th and the first half of the 16th century the town was a thriving community owned by various patricians Nikola Kont, Lovro Iločki, Ladislav More etc.
Suleiman II, in his 1542 campaign, conquered Orahovica. It was renamed as “Rahoviçe” and initially was kaza centre in Sanjak of Pojega, which initially part of Budin Eyalet (1542-1580), later in Bosna Eyalet (1580-1600) and finally in Kanije Eyalet. It became a notable sanjak centre in Kanije Eyalet in 1601. The Turkish rule lasted till the year 1687. After the liberation, and up until the end of the 19th century many prominent noble families, like the Pejačević family, and the Mihalović family, owned the town.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
In recent decades rights of many groups have improved significantly and diversity in gender, sexuality, race and religion has been strongly prioritized by many European governments and companies.
However, there is one diversity which is receding – diversity of opinions. The concept of hate speech has been vastly extended and is used to deplatform and silence people whose views do not align with theirs.
The driving force behind this “cancel culture” are young people – mostly students from elite universities. Freedom of speech has been the pillar of Western civilisation for centuries and it is important to understand why it is important, where are its limits and the consequences of limiting free speech.
Goals:
promote tolerance and respect for different points of view
better understand the concept of human rights and freedom of speech
better understand the concept of “cancel culture” and “de-platforming” and how it impacts democracy and human rights
Methods employed at this youth exchange will be based on non-formal learning and will include:
Participants will discuss very controversial topics on the global level and in their home countries and will have to find positives in the view point that they personally disagree with and also negatives in the viewpoint they agree with.
We will use theoretical concepts like Thomas Sowell’s constrained vs unconstrained vision of human abilities and Jonathan Haidt’s five key principles of morality to find philosophical and moral assumptions of conservative and progressive worldview.
ACCOMODATION
The youth exchange will be held in Centre for Education of Red Cross in Orahovica. The centre is in a green hilly area on a hill a bit further away from the town. The centre will also provide us with all three meals. The centre also has a swimming pool which will be open so bring your swimsuits.
Croatian National Agency regularly has training courses in these facilities so we are sure that all of our participants will be satisfied with the centre’s facilities.
Participants will be placed in a 4-bed same-sex room. Every room has its own bathroom. The centre will also provide breakfast, lunch and dinner for all participants.
The conference room where workshops will be held is also in the same building. Blankets, towels and bed linen will be provided by the hostel. If necessary, we can organise washing of clothes for participants one time half-way through the project.
YOUTH EXCHANGE STRUCTURE
There will be four 90-minute workshops per day. The workshops will be arranged in the following way:
The topics we will cover are very controversial with wide-ranging opinions within society.
The more detailed outline of the project will be provided at a later date.
Methods employed at this youth exchange will be based on non-formal learning and will include:
analysing pros and cons of theoretical concepts of liberal vs illiberal democracy
reflect on the biggest challenges young people face in their countries and try to find out the root causes of these problems and if they are connected with liberal democracy or the failures of democracy
analysing speeches and policy proposals of politicians to look for clues of populism look for clues as to why is liberal democracy more resilient in some countries, while it is backsliding into illiberal democracy more easily in other countries creating plans for direct action.
TRAVEL COSTS REIMBURSEMENT
Bosnia and Herzegovina
180 €
Armenia
360 €
Georgia
360 €
Croatia
180 €
Portugal
360 €
Lebanon
360 €
Hungary
180 €
North Macedonia
275 €
Transportation costs will be reimbursed upon obtaining originals or scanned invoices and boarding passes. We will transfer the money for the whole group after the youth exchange to one account, in order to minimise bank transfer fees.
IMPORTANT: travel reimbursement will be provided only upon submitting proof of organised dissemination activities (minimum 1 presentation for young people). We strongly encourage partners to organise this presentation for other youth in a week after they return from the youth exchange. The date and place should be arranged before coming to the youth exchange. At the youth exchange young people will have time to prepare dissemination outputs so there is no reason why the presentation cannot be in the first week after coming back from the youth exchange.
IMPORTANT: The maximum travel reimbursement per participant depends on the distance between Orahovica and the sending city (check E+ distance calculator). Participants can also apply for green travel (not flying) and in that case they receive more money for transportation and are paid additional accommodation for upto four nights, if necessary (please check with the organiser for any specific situations). We will reimburse only the actual travel costs, and not the full maximum amount per participant. For example, if your travel costs are 200 euros per participant and your travel budget was 275 euros, we will refund 200 euros, not 275. However, if your travel costs are 400 euros per participant, we will refund only 275 euros per participant.
IMPORTANT: Only economic travel will be reimbursed. In special circumstances (e.g. if you are traveling late at night and there is no public transportation) you can use a taxi but you must previously write to inform the organisers. Also, only travel from the home city to Zagreb will be reimbursed – touristic travel will not be reimbursed.
In case you are unable to find flights within the budget limits please contact us ASAP.
PREPARATION AND SELECTION
Every group will have 4 youth (ages 18-25) plus one youth leader (18+). The participants must understand that this is not a free vacation but a learning experience where they will be required to do work before coming to the youth exchange and after finishing the youth exchange (i.e. dissemination activities).
Every national group will be in charge of implementing workshops they were assigned to. Also, we plan to organise zoom meetings with interesting people who work on overcoming the boundaries between different groups in a productive way and the participants are expected to attend these zoom sessions, which will be announced in advance.
IMPORTANT: since one of the dissemination outputs will be videos, we strongly encourage every national group to select at least one participant who knows how to make videos well.
IMPORTANT: during the preparation for implementation of workshops, partners can add additional tasks to their groups. In this case they should contact the project coordinator ASAP in order to forward this information to other partners.
Also, the participants are expected to participate in dissemination activities. Every national group must organise a minimum of one presentation for other kids about the project.
OTHER USEFUL INFO
Croatia does not require any tests (rapid antigen tests or PCR tests) for participants with valid Covid 19 passports. Participants without valid Covid 19 passports have to get tested before coming to Croatia. These tests will be covered by the organiser upon submitting invoices for testing.
We will reimburse this amount to participants together with their However, additional expenses for Covid 19 positive participants (e.g. due to missed flights) have to be covered by the participants.
Therefore, we strongly urge participants to have valid Covid 19 passports so they do not need to get tested prior to their arrival/departure to the project.
Croatian currency is kuna (HRK) and it is semi-pegged to Euro and it is around 7.5 kunas for 1 euro.
Croatia is not in the Schengen zone so if you are traveling by land you will need to show your passport/ID on the border.
Croatia has virtually free health care service so make sure all participants have European Health Insurance Card.
Make sure that all your participants have European Health Insurance Card. Phone number for emergencies (police, ambulance, firefighters) is 112.
Emergency contact:
Ivan Grgurić
ivan@platypus.hr
+385 95 107 1981
FOOD
Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided by the Red Cross Educational centre. Breakfast is a buffet. Before participants arrive they will have to declare their food preferences (vegetarians, food allergies and similar) and they will be provided with appropriate meals. The first meal will be dinner on 27 July and the last meal will be breakfast on 5 August.
TRAVEL
The only way to get to Orahovica is with a train. On arrival day (27 July), participants traveling from Zagreb have to take a direct train from Zagreb to Čačinci (village near Orahovica) at 16:35 and the arrival time is 20:03. The dinner will be served at 20:30. On departure day (5 August) the participants will take the train to Zagreb at 06:43 am. The train arrives at Zagreb at 10:00 am. The applicant will buy the group train tickets for all participants, but you have to make sure that you can arrive in time to these trains. Important note: Croatian trains have a tendency to be 15-minutes late, so make sure you have enough time to catch your connecting trip.
If you have problems with this time schedule please let me know ASAP. Train and bus schedules are prone to changes so inform us which buses/trains you wish to use so we can make sure there are no changes to the schedule.
👇 HERE TO APPLY 👇
Preuzeto sa: BRAVO BiH