EKO is happy to announce that one more amazing youth exchange has been successfully completed. The project “Build Peace: Master’s of Thoughts: Kant, Erasmus, Mevlana (KEM) ” united 39 young people from Turkey, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Estonia. It was coordinated by the German organization PlanImpact, and took place in Frankfurt, Germany from 25th of April  to 3rd of May 2023. 

Aims & Objectives of the project

The project aims to empower young people in Europe to be agents of change in the participating countries by promoting respect for diversity, tolerance, and human rights in their societies in the battle to overthrow structural racism by equipping them with a toolbox of methods and practical skills in social inclusion, non-violent communication, and fostering peace processes. To do so, the project will introduce to young people the works of the intellectual ambassadors of culture, peace, and tolerance of Europe: Kant, Erasmus, and Mevlana, their pioneering works, and contributions to the harmonious coexistence of nations from many different religions, cultures, ethnicities.

More specifically the objectives were:

 – To increase the knowledge and awareness of the participants about different forms of discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and related problems such as prejudices and stereotypes as well as methods to actively fight against them.

– To foster intercultural dialogue and cooperation, and social inclusion between young individuals coming from different parts of Europe and create a safe space for sharing experiences and different realities and exploring the effects of intolerance and racism-related topics.

– To equip young people with non-violent communication skills and practical tools for conflict transformation for fostering a peace culture in participants’ local realities and Europe broadly.

– To promote a greater understanding of the ideas, works, and methods of the masters of thought of Europe and to introduce to the participants how they can build upon what they have learned from the lives and works of masters of thought for promoting respect for diversity, tolerance, and human rights in their societies in the battle to overthrow structural racism.

Workshops & Activities of the project

During the project, non-formal activities and social experiments were organized and held directly with the participants so that the participants both developed their skills and learned from each other extensively. The collaboration of young people who are taking a step together to make a change could avert stereotypical acting and bring about social integration and inclusion into societies. In addition, participants had the chance to point out their own views about discrimination, stereotypes and xenophobia as well as participate in many activities and they gained a lot of knowledge about the philosophers.

An amazing opportunity and great experience for EKO’s team

Maria, Damianos, Vasiliki, Panos, Alexia and Kostas 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 them and we thank our partner PlanImpact and all the members of the hosting organization for all their hard work and for creating such an impactful project! 

Danke – Ευχαριστούμε – Thank you