Projects and Research ~ ICDI

Cyprus

Current projects

Project:

Youth Activism.Net in Europe

The project ‘YouthActivism.Net in Europe’ is implemented by the Foundation of Social and Political Studies (Cyprus) together with its four partners: the NGO Support Centre from Cyprus, DICOCOM from Italy, AVANZZA and ICDI. The project is funded within the framework of the EU Youth in Action Programme – Action 4.5 ‘Supporting information activities for young people and youth workers’. The project, which runs from March 2009 to September 2010, addresses the following two themes: (1) Participation of young people and (2) European citizenship. Project activities include, among other things, the development of audiovisual/ multimedia materials and publications for young people and the identification and sharing of good practices.

The introduction, cultivation, and promotion of civic activism amongst young Cypriots, Spanish and Italians aged 15- 28 is an especially innovative aspect of the project, taking into consideration that the active participation of youth in these countries is lower in comparison with other western societies. For the first time, these youngsters have the opportunities to be informed and inspired on how they can make a difference in their communities, and in the European context in general on issues that are of interest to them. ICDI is especially interested in this as we have worked in Cyprus on several youth related projects. We believe that young people are essential in tackling the deep rooted barriers that still divide Cyprus.

The project activities will enable the young participants to gain a wide array of activism skills (e.g. leadership and team building, creative thinking, problem solving) and skills on initiating their own youth and community projects. To the best of the consortium’s knowledge this is the first time young Cypriots, Italians and Spanish will be able to find all the necessary information about national and European activist groups and resources to initiate their own projects.

The project aims to directly encourage the participation of the youngsters in public life and to promote the European citizenship. By making knowledge and resources available to young people and providing them with skills based teaching, it is expected that at the very least, the members of the Youth Advisory Committees will become active citizens and serve as multipliers among their peers, cherishing and promoting active participation and European citizenship. It is also expected that youth and youth workers across Europe will benefit from the web-portal YouthActivism.net, a virtual information centre for all who are interested in youth activism in Europe. This will help them engage in a creative and democratic dialogue for the future of youth activism in Europe.

In this ICDI has a special role, as in 2009 we have started to prepare a study visit (scheduled in 2010) to the Netherlands, where they will meet and learn from organisations and people who have a keen interest in involving youth in today’s most pressing issues.

Project Manager Rutger van Oudenhoven

Van 2009
Tot 2011

Partner
European University Cyprus

Donor
EU

Past projects

Project:

Multicultural Youth Camp Trainings in Cyprus ( www.multiculturalcyprus.org )

Project goal(s): More efficient organization of successful and sustainable multicultural youth camps in Cyprus, to promote Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot cooperation.

Project activities:

1.Trainings for multicultural youth camp coordinators, camp instructors and youth leaders (15-25 years old). A total of around 100 adults and young people will be trained on topics that are relevant when organizing multicultural youth camps. This includes topics like: communication, conflict resolution, use of drama, music and sports as tools for creating mutual trust and understanding, camp management, etcetera.

2.Setting up of an island-wide network of organizations that organize multicultural activities for children and youth. The idea is that such a network will strengthen the –till now- dispersed actions in this field. Multiculturalism is not very popular on Cyprus; there is a lot of distrust and even plain hatred between members of the communities. A lot of work needs to be done; such a network might support these efforts more effectively.

3.Development of four multicultural youth camp models. Based on available experience and knowledge, and together with organizations on the island, we aim to develop four multicultural youth camp models for different age groups of children and young people (9-12,12-16,16-20 and 20-25). These models should become a kind of guidelines that will help camp organizers to implement multicultural youth camps more effectively. One of these models will also be “tested” by organizing a camp by the project partners them selves in 2008.

4.Organization of several integrative events. Through the project we will organize meetings where people involved in the trainings can meet each other and learn about certain topics and share experiences with each other. In 2008 we will organize an international conference on the subject of children and youth as builders of multicultural societies. Eight of the trainees will also go on exchange trips to other countries like Israel/Palestine and Bosnia, to learn about multicultural youth activities in those contexts.

Project Manager Mathijs

Van May 2007
Tot December 2008

Partner
Mediation Association (Turkish Cypriot), http://welcome.to/uzlasim European University Cyprus (Greek Cypriot), www.euc.ac.cy World Child Kosovo, www.worldchildkosova.com

Donor
USAID via UNDP Action for Cooperation and Trust (ACT)