EUtopia?- Diversity in Changing Europe

The past few years have witnessed major changes in Europe. The unity of the EU and Europe as a whole have been seriously questioned and the European political climate is influenced by the rise of new nationalism and right-wing populism. More rigorous policies concerning immigration and border controls are put in practice. Legislative limitations have been issued on the freedom of expression, at the same time as so called “fake news” are ever more common. Does it all mean that one of the central values of Europe, diversity, has lost its meaning? As a consequence, how is contemporary Europe dealing with diversity? And what is the role and potential of youth work to react? The long-term training course “Eutopia? - diversity in changing Europe” will provide time and space to reflect upon the current developments and explore how Europe is dealing with diversity amid social and political change. It will give an opportunity to reflect also on youth workers' professional responsibilities in relation to those processes and encourage new practices in youth work. This training course will be beneficial for people working with youth who would like to take time to gain a deeper critical understanding of the concept of diversity and its relation to youth work, as well as create and test various approaches to working with youth in settings reflecting challenges of today.” This training is the 4th international edition of a training concept developed jointly by the Latvian National Agency for the Erasmus+: Youth in Action Programme and SALTO South East Europe and Cultural Diversity Resource Centres. AIM: To support youth work practitioners to better understand the realities of young people in a changing Europe and to be more equipped to react upon them. OBJECTIVES: • To identify the relevant socio-political and cultural conditions that influence the lives of young people on local and European international level; • to explore the contexts in which young people grow up today, and critically evaluate the current youth work responses to them; • to understand reasoning and motivation behind young people’s views and attitudes, discover how opinions are formed and encourage critical thinking; • to challenge/ radicalize the concept of diversity, exploring it based on a values-based, rather than from a normative policy perspective; • to re-define the role of youth work practitioners in responding to socio-political and cultural conditions by applying values-based perspective of diversity; • to discover opportunities to incorporate values- based approach to diversity within Erasmus+ activities and to support international cooperation among participants. The training course is planned to be a journey of four interrelated parts. The process is intended to facilitate self-reflection on working with youth in changing contexts. 1) Online preparatory phase to discover concepts of the activity /April, 8 hours of individual work/. 2) Training course to explore mentioned concepts / May 6 to 12 in Riga, Latvia/ 3) Practice part implemented by all participants in their local communities. 3) Training course to evaluate practice activities and plan further work on the topic / September 6 to 10, Bosnia and Herzegovina/. Participants are requested to take parts in all parts of the activity and plan their time accordingly.