About the project:
“Combating Extremism with Youth Force” is an Erasmus+ Training Course that organised by the Learning Association (TR: Öğrenme Derneği) and funded by the Turkish National Agency with the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. It contained 37 youth workers from Turkey, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, N. Macedonia, Romania, Poland and Greece and took please in Istanbul, Turkey on 24-31 July 2021.
The project where the Learning Association was hosting and coordinating organisation had partners as below:
Paragraf International (France), Asociación “Eo, Eo” (Spain), Associazione Culturale Beyond Borders Corato (Italy), Together Macedonia (N. Macedonia), Kobiety.Lodz.Pl (Poland), ARTE M Associacao Cultural e Artistica Na Madeira (Portugal), Rise and Shine Youth Association (Romania), United Societies of Balkans (Greece), and Sosyal Sorumlulukta Kalite Dernegi (Turkey).
Background and Objectives of the Project:
Devastating terrorist attacks in Europe and Turkey in 2015–16 have increased concern at levels of extremism, including violent extremism. The EU’s Terrorism Situation and Trend Report of 2015 referred to ‘unprecedented’ numbers of people going from Europe to Syria and Iraq to become involved in armed conflict. Meanwhile, right-wing extremist violence remains a significant threat to security across European states and Turkey.
Governments, policymakers and young people themselves are all concerned to deter young people from becoming involved in extremism, especially violent extremism. The Paris Declaration issued by the Council of the European Union in 2015 noted the rise of extremism in European society and expressed commitment to upholding fundamental values – including respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights. It emphasized the role of education, along with the need for co-operation across the EU’s member states, to ensure that, ‘Children and young people acquire social, civic and intercultural competences, by promoting democratic values and fundamental rights, social inclusion and non-discrimination, as well as active citizenship.’
The training course aimed to enable participants to increase their understanding of this area and explore the role of youth work in response.
Purpose and objectives of the training course:
– identify and understand the causes of extremism and radicalization;
– recognize the importance of dialogue on the concept of citizenship and to explore questions of identity, including religious and political beliefs;
– equip participants with the ability to identify those most at risk and with tools to respond to different levels of extremism and radicalization;
– design and implement activities using the Erasmus+ framework to help young people at risk from extremism and radicalization.
The Learning Association was established by a group of youth workers to ensure and develop youth work and youth participation. The Learning Association is particularly concerned with issues such as culture, ethnicity, faith and identity to promote cultural diversity. It has a strong interest in contributing to new approaches to youth and extremism and fostering international partnerships that support greater learning and exchange in this field. For this reason, we consider implementing this project as realizing the purpose of the association. We aim to establish new partnerships with people and organizations working in this field, to assume the responsibility of being a manager, and to develop cultural, sports and artistic activities and activities. In this context, we decided to implement this project in line with the aims of our association.
Roles of leaders in the project:
President of the Learning Association, İ. Halil ÇETİNKAYA, Vice President Mehmet ÇETİNKAYA and Secretary General H.Şansel ÇETİNKAYA, Ioana SERBAN from the Rise and Shine Association in Romania and Ümit YARDIM, the president of the Association for Quality in Social Responsibility, took part as trainers, while Şule ÇANKAYA, Hacer Şuheda AKSU and Şirin ŞEREN included as facilitators. The representative from Parangraph International France prepared the final film of the Johnny PROCACI Training Course.
About the Erasmus+ Program
Erasmus+ Program is the program that covers grant support in the field of education, youth and sports of the European Union. Within the scope of the program, individuals are offered the opportunity to take part in youth activities based on education, training, internship, professional development and non-formal learning abroad. In addition, collaborations between institutions are supported through partnership activities. European Solidarity Program (European Solidarity Corps, ESC); is a new European Union initiative that aims to meet social needs, creating opportunities for young people to volunteer, work or network on projects that benefit society in their own country or abroad, while promoting their personal, educational, social, civil and professional development.
Erasmus+ provides grants for different actions aimed at promoting innovative policy development, policy dialogue and implementation, and promoting knowledge exchange in the fields of education, training and youth. It offers opportunities for Youth Dialogues that take place at home and abroad and bring together decision-makers and young people. It provides students, trainers, youth and youth workers with the opportunity to study and study in another country. It also allows young people between the ages of 18-30 to engage in voluntary activities in their own countries in projects that benefit society.
The Learning Association is particularly concerned with topics such as culture, ethnicity, faith and identity, in order to promote cultural diversity. It has a keen interest in contributing to new approaches in relation to young people and extremism, and in promoting international partnerships which support further learning and exchange in this area.