EKO is happy to announce that one more amazing youth exchange has been successfully completed. The project “PANdamnit!” united 32 young participants from Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Greece, Malta, Romania, Spain and Ukraine. It was coordinated by the Romanian Organization ADA, and took place in Slanic Moldova, Romania from 12 to 24 of March 2023. 

Aims & Objectives of the project

1. – To improve the perception of the LGBTGIA+ community among young people and to increase their understanding of key concepts in the field of gender or sexual minorities.

1. – To equip young people with the motivation, the skills and tools to fight against homophobia and hate speech directed against people from the LGBTGIA+ community and their supporters.

1. – To involve young people in promoting human rights, cultural diversity, solidarity, tolerance and social inclusion of young people from the LGBTQIA+ community through visual arts.

1. – To make visible the gender inequalities and the challenges that the LGBTQIA+ community faces in everyday life through community journalism and media advocacy.
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Workshops & Activities of the project per day through the eyes of the participants

By participating in the project PANdamnit!, we developed our multilingual, personal, social, digital and cultural awareness and expression competences and we gained valuable knowledge about the challenges LGBTQIA+ community faces in th3e participating countries, especially during the pandemic as well as gender issues.

The first day, we did ice-breaking activities and we expressed our fears and expectations. We established the rules of our co-existence. The second day, we got introduced to our topic, by getting information about important dates that shaped the movements about LGBTQAI+ and women’s rights. In addition, we got introduced to the relevant terminology and we presented  the situation in our countries. The third day, we presented the challenges of our country in terms of gender equality during the pandemic as well as the challenges LBTQAI+ faced during the pandemic. We also visited a living library and the day ended with a fun intercultural night.

The fourth day, we discussed fake news, public policies, representation in the media and sex education using the method of world cafe. We played Riley’s game to reflect on our values, we expressed our gratitude to each other and we had a movie night. The fifth day, we discussed social change regarding LGBTQAI+ in terms of services for people, policy change, changing public perception, social protection and education. Moreover, we played John’s story to draw conclusions about social inclusion and the different ways it can happen. We also played the walk of privilege to simulate various characters who are in danger of social exclusion. Last but not least, we created a campaign in groups.

The sixth day, we created a painting to support our campaign, we presented them and we learned tips on how to write an article. The seventh day, we continued being creative by searching for a song suitable for our campaign to lipdub it. After voting on the proposed songs, we chose two and we started rehearsing. The eighth day, we continued filming to finish our lip dubs and we enjoyed the Romanian night. The ninth day, we  were assigned to create a brochure which combines digital drawing and storytelling. We had a self-management day to complete the task and we presented our work in the end. The tenth day, we enjoyed a day trip to Peles castle and Brasov, where we had the chance to spend more informal time together. The last day, we reflected on our learning experience during the project, we had the youthpass ceremony, the secret friend revealing and the final evaluation of the project. To sum up, it was a very rewarding  experience where we gained new knowledge and we developed ourselves.

An amazing opportunity and great experience for EKO’s team

Ilektra, Mohamed, Anastasia, Martha, Lito, Vasileios and Elissavet were the members of this amazing Greek team whom we really wanna thank for all their contribution and collaboration throughout the project!

As EKO, we are very grateful for that amazing opportunity given to the Greek team and we thank our partner Victor Toma and the rest members of the hosting organization for all their hard work and for creating such an impactful project!