EKO designs and implements a variety of local & international advocacy and awareness events, as well as educational activities for the promotion of peace and intercultural dialogue & solidarity, such as:

• • • Implementation of awareness Campaigns and Community Events for combating xenophobia and racism, promoting intercultural awareness, social inclusion, conflict resolution and peace
    • Youth exchange and transnational dialogue projects bringing together youth from different backgrounds and from areas in conflict
    • Active contribution to the Observatory to Prevent Extremist Violence (OPEV) international network, via organization of conferences and events related to peacebuilding and countering hate speech and violent extremism
    • Implementation of local workshops on Human Rights, combating discrimination and fostering intercultural awareness and understanding diversity, in the context of EKO’s Youth Club in collaboration with Greek CSOs
    • Development of education material and tools for youth workers, so as to integrate specialized intercultural competences training approaches in their daily work with youth
    • Volunteering activities as sending, hosting and coordinating partner (ESC) and as a hosting organization (EYE, Leonardo, KEK placements etc)

Our experience relevant to intercultural competences, dialogue and solidarity includes, among others, the following projects and activities:

» “Globalization vs.Cultural Diversity” : YE with participants from 8 different countries. The YE addressed the complex issue of globalization and its consequences and the concepts of cultural identity and diversity, parallel to examining ways of promoting intercultural respect and smooth cooperation, while safeguarding cultural heritage

» “Countering Violent Extremism”: YE for 42 young people from 7 different countries (Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, and Tunisia), on the topics of radicalization and violent extremism, the role of hate speech and online propaganda, as well as the great potential of civil society organizations and youth in fighting all facets of extremism.

» “Breaking Walls, Building Bridges”: YE for 40 young participants from 4 countries characterized by ongoing tensions in their relations: Armenia, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. The project aimed to provide a communication platform for young people, who otherwise lacked the opportunity to get in direct contact with each, guide them through the principles of effective intercultural and interreligious dialogue and contribute to their breaking of stereotypes, developing multicultural competences & cultivating a strong sense of solidarity.

» “Peacemakers: Through your world I see mine”: An international Photo Contest open to young people from all over the world, organized by EKO, under the auspices of the International Alliance for Peace and Development (IAPD), which raised awareness on the role of civil society and youth in securing solidarity among nations and promoted a culture of peace through art. The best 30 photos were displayed in a Photo Exhibition in Athens, attended by an international audience from 7 different countries. The same photos were later exposed in Geneva in front of the broken Chair in a peaceful intervention of IAPD and EKO in front of the United Nations.

» “Intercultural Action Competence Tool”: An Erasmus+ KA205 project, with a partnership of 6 European countries, that aims to mainstream recognition of acquired intercultural competences through youth work and non-formal education by developing a complete collection of tools organized around a web-based app that will both teach and validate learning of Intercultural Action Competences (IAC)