raising awareness
solidarity, Empathy & Civic Engagement
Part of our mission is to spread awareness about the refugee community in order to encourage solidarity, understanding, and action. We do this by spreading content on our social media platforms, as well as by holding (online & in-person) lessons and discussion groups for local schools, and online events with partner projects.
Between June and September 2020, we held a series of awareness classes with about 30 students between the ages of 12 and 18, focusing on solidarity, civic engagement and sustainability. Each series of classes was divided into six different syllabi, lasting around 2,5 hours per session. We used various methods of non-formal education to involve the students actively throughout the classes. Their participation and brainstorming helped challenge stereotypes and prejudices, and promoted a better understanding of the root causes of conflict and solution.
main
topics
Our awareness class series focuses on:
- increasing knowledge about migration, refugees & international policies
- exploring refugee stories and needs
- deepening an understanding of empathy, humanitarianism and civic engagement.
We also provide information on how students can take action to improve the lives of others, whether it is by volunteering on the ground or destigmatizing the word “refugee”.
our
method
​We used various methods of non-formal education to involve the students throughout the classes. The lessons are flexible and can be adjusted according to the age groups. We employ a range of interactive online tools and group exercises, often accompanied by the presence of refugees or international volunteers. To emphasize the importance of empathy, the lesson involves both simulation activities and board games. These games are specially designed by another project to facilitate communication and social interaction with refugees and support integration methods. Interactive activities help the students imagine what it might be like to be a refugee, in an aim to break stereotypes. The mix of creativity, fun, and in-depth thinking makes the classes successful. During this time, students develop their own ideas about how to support people in need (SolidariTREE) and how to analyze problems and their root causes (ConflicTREE). For our teaching volunteers, it was great to see how willing the students were to help and take action for equality.
our
goal
It is increasingly difficult to keep up with the complexity of global issues today. It can be tempting to play a passive role in the world around us. Therefore, we aim to educate younger generations to take action, to stand up against injustice, to practice solidarity, to embrace diversity, and to embrace the concepts of equality and empathy.
We hope that by the end of our sessions, students can answer the question: “How can I help?”
Contact
us
Are you interested in implementing these sessions in your classroom or personal life? Are you interested in how we organize the classes and what outcomes we achieved with our students? We are looking for interested educators to conduct a virtual coaching/seminar.
If your answer to any of those questions was yes, then send us an email and let us know who you are, why you’d like to learn more about these classes and we will get in contact with you about a date and time for this virtual learning experience.