- Funded by: European Youth Foundation
- Leader organization: Youth for Exchange and Understanding – Cyprus
- Period: 01/09/2022 – 28/02/2023
Description
“Out and Loud” is a 3-phased project which aims to spread awareness about the power and impact that social movements can have, build bridges between activist groups from both sides of the island, investigate the needs of local young leaders of social movements and capacitate them in order to enhance the culture of non-violent protests, ultimately contributing to fruitful public dialogue for social change.
More specifically, the 1st phase will be a social media campaign to raise awareness and inspiration about the topic, disseminate the project and recruit the participants of the focus groups and the training. The target audience will be the followers of our social media, mostly young people, youth workers and people involved in the civil society.
The 2nd phase will be a focus group to which we will invite local young leaders of social movements and activists in order to get their insight from their experience so far, and map their needs for skills development as well as the specific context of the country. Activists from across the island are to participate in order to also compare and exchange their experiences.
The 3rd phase will be a 2 day capacity building training from experts in the field (CANVAS organization), based on the input we will get from the focus group. The training will be focused on activism, good practices in organising non- violent protests and other forms of public interventions and how to maximise the sustainability and impact of the groups. We will invite the participants of the focus groups as well as other young people who are not involved in such initiatives. Thus apart from building the capacities of activists, we will encourage newcomers to the field to get involved either as leaders or participants of such interventions.
The youth dimension of our project will be ensured through the selection of the participants of the focus group and the training, who will be between 18-30. The young activists will have the opportunity to develop their skills in nonviolent resistance and protesting and maximise the impact of their actions. The training will take place in the village of Galata in order to reach out to participants of rural areas and include their experience and perspective on the topic and to eliminate distractions allowing for better bonding of the group.
The idea of creating the “Out and Loud” is perfectly aligned with the first focused theme supported by the European Youth Foundation, namely Revitalizing pluralistic democracy. In particular, it would be an action supporting young people’s participation in political life, including those living in rural communities in both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, and empower them in order to have an impact on decision-making at local and regional levels. Through the project we aim to enhance the culture of non-violent protests and other public interventions, ultimately contributing to revitalizing pluralistic democracy.