Building and sustaining multi-ethnic communities in tension areas
Duration: 19 – 23 October 2021
The first part of the MYW will have a theoretical focus and will include experts from the consortium and invited prominent outside experts; it will be designed as a seminar with extensive time allocated to debates. The central focus will be on exploring strategies of building sustainable multi-ethnic communities in areas facing tensions and nationalist extremism. Many of the tensions that mark WB and also EU communities originate in lack of interaction and understanding between different ethnic groups living in the same area (e.g. many cafes in Kosovo have an informal but quite strictly adhered to policy of serving either Serbs or Albanians). While this unofficial segregation is very hard to overcome when dealing with adults, it is easier to challenge through long term bottom-up youth work targeting a specific problem. Firstly, we will outline the historical and sociological background of this problem in WB countries and communities, with a special focus on Kosovo. An overview of good practices, effective strategies and existing tools targeting youth will follow (e.g. sport activities, cultural activities, fighting common problems, joint entrepreneurship etc.).
The second part of the MYW will be practical in nature; through expert-led workshops, work in the field (visiting local organisations working on inter-ethnic community building, visiting local good practices etc.) and implementation of a public art intervention addressing the topic youth workers will gain key competences in the field.
The final part of the MYW will unite experts and youth workers in working and supplementing the toolkit. Group evaluation of the MYW.
Outputs: webinar, toolkit draft, cultural event, press conference